46. Do you recognize Who that is? Can a man
be king of righteousness, when himself he can hardly be
righteous? Can he be king of peace, when he can hardly be
peaceable? He it is Who is without mother according to His
Godhead, for He was begotten of God the Father, of one substance with
the Father; without a father according to His Incarnation, for He was
born of a Virgin; having neither beginning nor end, for He is the
beginning and end of all things, the first and the last. The
sacrament, then, which you received is the gift not of man but of God,
brought forth by Him Who blessed Abraham the father of faith, whose
grace and deeds we admire.