According to Donald Parry, Anabasis (Greek, "to go up") is a poetical devise where there is an apparent stepping up from one sense to another, until, at the pinnacle is a culmination of thought. Because anabasis consists of an ascension of thought, it is also known as gradational or staircase parallelism.. . .
Alma's explicatory remarks concerning Melchizedek, a segment of his larger discourse to the people of the land of Ammonihah, contains a staircase parallelism in Alma 13:18:
and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days:
therefore he was called the prince of peace,
for he was the king of Salem,
The three parallels of this statement are noteworthy:
-Line 1 "Melchizedek" . . . "peace"
-Line 2 "prince" . . . "peace"
-Line 3 "king" . . . "Salem" (Heb. "peace")
The first line represents Melchizedek, (which is a Hebrew name meaning "my king is righteous"), simply as a man who establishes peace in the land. Line two refers to Melchizedek as royalty, the son of a king, or the "prince." The culmination of the passage is found in line three, where Melchizedek is now referred to as the "king of Salem," or "king of peace," the ruler of the land known as Salem. Thus the gradation up, from man to prince to King is evident in this staircase parallelism. [Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, F.A.R.M.S., pp. xxi-xxii]
Alma 13:18 Melchizedek . . . did preach repentance unto his people ([Illustration]): Untitled. Artist: Del Parson. [Dennis A. Wright, " 'None Were Greater,' A Restoration View of Melchizedek," in The Ensign, February 1998, p. 31]