The Instructor 1.2.6
Summary: The Word, who made the whole human being, heals both body and soul, as his healing of the paralytic and raising of Lazarus show; he forgives sins and orders all creation for humanity's sake.
Greek text · Stählin 1:93–94
Ἔστιν οὖν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν λόγος διὰ παραινέσεων θεραπευτικὸς τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς παθῶν. κυρίως μὲν γὰρ ἡ τῶν τοῦ σώματος νοσημάτων βοήθεια ἰατρικὴ καλεῖται, τέχνη ἀνθρωπίνῃ σοφίᾳ διδακτή. λόγος δὲ ὁ πατρικὸς μόνος ἐστὶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἰατρὸς ἀρρωστημάτων παιώνιος καὶ ἐπῳδὸς ἅγιος νοσούσης ψυχῆς. »σῶσον τὸν δοῦλόν σου,« φησίν, »ὁ θεός μου, τὸν ἐλπίζοντα ἐπὶ σοί· ἐλέησόν με, κύριε, ὅτι πρὸς σὲ κεκράξομαι ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν.« »ἰατρικὴ μὲν γὰρ« κατὰ Δημόκριτον »σώματος νόσους ἀκέεται, σοφίη δὲ ψυχὴν παθῶν ἀφαιρεῖται«· ὁ δὲ ἀγαθὸς παιδαγωγός, ἡ σοφία, ὁ λόγος τοῦ πατρός, ὁ δημιουργήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὅλου κήδεται τοῦ πλάσματος, καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἀκεῖται αὐτοῦ ὁ πανακὴς τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἰατρός. ὁ σωτὴρ »ἀνάστα,« φησὶ τῷ παρειμένῳ, »τὸν σκίμποδα ἐφʼ ὃν κατάκεισαι λαβὼν ἄπιθι οἴκαδε«. παραχρῆμα δὲ ὁ ἄρρωστος ἐρρώσθη. καὶ τῷ τεθνεῶτι »Λάζαρε,« εἶπεν, »ἔξιθι«· ὃ δὲ ἐξῆλθεν τῆς σοροῦ, ὁ νεκρός, οἷος ἦν πρὶν ἢ παθεῖν, μελετήσας τὴν ἀνάστασιν. ναὶ μὴν καὶ καθʼ αὑτὴν ἰᾶται τὴν ψυχὴν ἐντολαῖς καὶ χαρίσμασιν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς μὲν ὑποθήκαις τάχα δὴ μέλλει· χαρίσμασι δὲ πλούσιος »ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι« τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἡμῖν λέγει. ἡμεῖς δὲ ἅμα νοήματι νήπιοι γεγόναμεν, τὴν ἀρίστην καὶ βεβαιοτάτην τάξιν παρὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ εὐταξίας μεταλαμβάνοντες, ἣ πρῶτον μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τάς τε ἡλιακὰς περιδινήσεις κύκλους τε καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἄστρων τὰς φορὰς ἀσχολεῖται διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἔπειτα δὲ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αὐτόν, περὶ ὃν ἡ πᾶσα σπουδὴ καταγίνεται· καὶ τοῦτον ἔργον ἡγουμένη μέγιστον, ψυχὴν μὲν αὐτοῦ φρονήσει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ κατηύθυνεν, τὸ δὲ σῶμα κάλλει καὶ εὐρυθμίᾳ συνεκεράσατο, περὶ δὲ τὰς πράξεις τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος τό τε ἐν αὐταῖς κατορθοῦν καὶ τὸ εὔτακτον ἐνέπνευσεν τὸ αὐτῆς.
English · Claude translation
Our Instructor, then, is the Word, who by his counsels heals the unnatural passions of the soul. Strictly speaking, the help given for the diseases of the body is called medicine, an art taught by human wisdom; but the Father's Word is the only healer of human infirmities, the physician and holy charmer of the sick soul. “Save your servant,” it says, “my God, who hopes in you; have mercy on me, Lord, for I will cry to you all the day long.” “Medicine,” according to Democritus, “heals the diseases of the body, but wisdom rids the soul of passions.” But the good Instructor, Wisdom, the Word of the Father, who made the human being, cares for the whole of his creature; the all-healing physician of humanity heals both its body and its soul. The Savior says to the paralytic, “Rise, take the couch on which you lie, and go home”; and at once the sick man was made strong. And to the dead man he said, “Lazarus, come out”; and the dead man came out of the coffin, just as he had been before he suffered, having rehearsed the resurrection. Indeed, he heals the soul by itself too, by commandments and by gifts: by his counsels, perhaps, he takes time; but, rich in gifts, he says to us sinners, “Your sins are forgiven you.” And in the same instant we have become children, receiving from his good order the best and most secure order, which is concerned first with the world and the heavens, the courses of the sun and the circuits and movements of the other stars, for the sake of the human being; and then with the human being himself, on whom all its care is spent. Considering him its greatest work, it directed his soul by wisdom and self-control, blended his body with beauty and proportion, and breathed into human actions its own rightness and good order.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Ps 86:2–3 (85:2–3 LXX), Democritus (fragment 31, Diels–Kranz), Mark 2:11 (Matt 9:6), John 11:43, and Matt 9:2 (Luke 5:20).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: enclitic σοι throws an accent back onto ἀφέωνταί; stray space before the closing quotation mark): »ἀφέωνται σοι αἱ → »ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ; ου, « → ου,«; τα, « → τα,«; ρε, « → ρε,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.2.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/2/6/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.2.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/2/6/).
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