“See, Elizabeth your kinswoman.” It is full of mystery which befits the divine. I believe that
the Virgin was not unaware that she was in partnership with the Holy Spirit. This is why
she too submitted eagerly and hurried off straightaway to Elizabeth. For since Christ was
also the ruler of the rulers, just so indeed is he God and Lord of everything. The chief priest
himself pronounced an oracle when Christ became human, offering himself as a sacrifice and
an offering which purifies the sin of the world, and the acknowledgment in him of us by what is
› consecrated both to himself and to the Father. For Paul says, “Observe well the apostle and chief
› priest of our confession, Jesus.” * This was predisposed from the beginning that he should belong
› to the kingly tribe of Judah and the priestly tribe of Levi, so that Christ might be descended
as king and high priest from each side in what concerned the flesh. For it is written in Exodus,

according to the law, “took as his wife Elizabeth from the tribe of Judah, the daughter of
Aminadab” *. Aminadab was descended from Judah: so that no-one should erroneously assume
that this was another Aminadab, the sacred text continues showing it more clearly: say
“daughter of Aminadab but sister of Naason” *. Consider, I ask you, the all- wise dispensation
of the Spirit who also brought it about that this woman, the wife of Zechariah, the
mother of the Baptist and the relative of Mary the God-bearer, should also be named
Elizabeth and lead us back to that Elizabeth whom Aaron married and through whom
the unification of the two tribes began. I think that through her name she distinctly
proclaims that the kinswoman to the Virgin is descended from this Elizabeth. Let
no-one say that the Babylonian captivity confounded the Jewish people such that
there was no distinction of races or tribes afterwards. For Esdras shows that those who