Letter 73: Evangelus had sent Jerome an anonymous treatise in which Melchisedek was identified with the Holy Ghost, and had asked him what he thought of the theory. Jerome in his reply repudiates the idea as absurd and insists that Melchisedek was a real man, possibly, as the Jews said, Shem the eldest son of Noah. The date of the letter is 398 A.D.

Letter 73: To Evangelus, On Melchizedek (398 AD) [Evangelus had sent Jerome an anonymous treatise identifying Melchizedek with the Holy Spirit and asking for his opinion. Jerome's reply is blunt: the idea is absurd. Melchizedek was a real human being — possibly, as the Jewish tradition maintained, Shem the eldest son of Noah. The letter is a fine example of Jerome's instinct for sharp theological housekeeping: he could not let an exotic interpretation circulate without swatting it down, especially one that played fast and loose with the distinction between the human and the divine.]

To Evangelus Evangelus had sent Jerome an anonymous treatise in which Melchisedek was identified with the Holy Ghost, and had asked him what he thought of the theory. Jerome in his reply repudiates the idea as absurd and insists that Melchisedek was a real man, possibly, as the Jews said, Shem the eldest son of Noah. The date of the letter is 398 A.D.