And the Bishops answered and said unto him (Gregory), "Well hast thou spoken, and thy word is true, and what thou hast expounded and interpreted to us is clear. Even as Paul saith, 'Hath not the seed of Abraham exalted the seed of Shem?' They are all kings of the earth, but the chosen ones of the Lord are the people of Ethiopia. For there is the habitation of God, the heavenly Zion, the Tabernacle of His Law and the Tabernacle of His Covenant, which He hath made into a mercy-seat through [His] mercy for the children of men; for the rains and the waters from the sky, for the planted things (or, vegetation) and the fruits, for the peoples and the countries, for the kings and nobles, for men and beasts, for birds and creeping things."
And Gregory the Bishop, the worker of wonders, answered and said unto them, "Verily, salvation hath been given unto all of us Christian people, unto those who have believed in our Lady Mary, the likeness of the heavenly Zion. For the Lord dwelt in the womb of the Virgin, and was brought forth by her without carnal union. And the Ten Words (Decalogue) of the Law were written by the Finger of God, and made (i.e. placed) in Zion, the Tabernacle of the Law of God. And now, come ye, and we will declare from the Law of Moses the prophecies of the Prophets our Fathers, the holy men of olden time, and the prophecies concerning Christ our Redeemer, so that the generations of posterity may hear the interpretation (or, explanation) of the story, and we will relate unto them the narrative of the interpretation of the Scriptures. We will begin then with the beginning of the Book, and we will make [you] to understand in the Spirit, as David saith, through the Holy Spirit, 'In the beginning the Book was written because of me.'" 1
And one answered and said, "What is the beginning of the Book?" And they answered and said unto him,
167:1 John xxi, 25.
169:1 Psalm xl, 7.
170:1 Genesis i, 1.
