St. Hippolytus of Rome ca. 170-235
There be three things which I cannot understand, and the fourth I know not (Prov. 30:18-19): the tracks of an eagle flying,
i.e., Christ’s ascension; and the ways of a serpent upon a rock,
i.e., that the devil did not find a trace of sin in the body of Christ; and the ways of a ship crossing the sea,
i.e., the ways of the Church, which is in this life as in a sea, and which is directed by her hope in Christ through the cross; and the ways of a man in youth,
— the ways of Him, namely, who is born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin. For behold, says the Scripture, a man whose name is the Rising. (On Proverbs)
