The Instructor 1.5.15
Summary: Scripture calls believers young colts, tied to Christ the vine, and lambs gathered by the Shepherd.
Greek text · Stählin 1:98–99
»ὃ εὐλογηθήσεται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.« ἀλληγορῶν δὲ αὖθις ἡμᾶς πώλους καλεῖ, τοὺς ἀζυγεῖς κακίᾳ, τοὺς ἀδαμάστους πονηρίᾳ, ἀφελεῖς δὲ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν μόνον τὸν πατέρα σκιρτητικούς, οὐχὶ »τοὺς ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν πλησίον γυναιξὶν χρεμετίζοντας ἵππους, τοὺς ὑποζυγίους καὶ θηλυμανεῖς,« ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐλευθέρους καὶ νεογνούς, τοὺς γαύρους διὰ τὴν πίστιν, τοὺς εἰς ἀλήθειαν εὐδρόμους, τοὺς ταχεῖς πρὸς σωτηρίαν, τοὺς καταπατοῦντας καὶ κροαίνοντας τὰ κοσμικά. »χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών· κήρυσσε, θύγατερ Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι δίκαιος [πραῢς] καὶ σῴζων, καὶ αὐτὸς πρᾶος καὶ ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ ὑποζύγιον καὶ πῶλον νέον.« οὐκ ἤρκει τὸ πῶλον εἰρηκέναι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ νέον προσέθηκεν αὐτῷ, τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ νεολαίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος καὶ ἀγήρω μετὰ ἁπλότητος ἀιδιότητα ἐμφαίνων. τοιούτους δὲ ἡμᾶς νέους πώλους τοὺς νηπίους ὁ θεῖος ἡμῶν πωλοδάμνης ἀνατρέφει. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὄνος εἴη ὁ νέος ἐν τῇ γραφῇ, πλὴν ἀλλὰ πῶλος ὄνος καὶ οὗτος. »καὶ τὸν πῶλον«, φησί, »προσέδησεν ἀμπέλῳ·« τὸν ἁπλοῦν τοῦτον καὶ νήπιον λαὸν τῷ λόγῳ προσδήσας, ὃν ἄμπελον ἀλληγορεῖ· φέρει γὰρ οἶνον ἡ ἄμπελος, ὡς αἷμα ὁ λόγος, ἄμφω δὲ ἀνθρώποις ποτὸν εἰς σωτηρίαν, ὁ μὲν οἶνος τῷ σώματι, τὸ δὲ αἷμα τῷ πνεύματι. ὡς δὲ καὶ ἄρνας ἡμᾶς λέγει, ἐχέγγυος μάρτυς διὰ Ἡσαΐου τὸ πνεῦμα· »ὡς ποιμὴν ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ βραχίονι αὐτοῦ συλλέξει ἄρνας,« τὸ ἔτι ἁπαλώτερον τῶν προβάτων εἰς ἀφέλειαν ἄρνας ἀλληγορῶν.
English · Claude translation
“which shall be blessed on the earth.” And again, figuratively, he calls us colts: unyoked by vice, unbroken by wickedness, simple, and frisking toward the Father alone; not “horses neighing after their neighbors' wives,” beasts of burden mad for females, but free and newborn, spirited through faith, swift runners toward truth, quick to salvation, trampling and stamping on the things of the world. “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim it, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you, righteous [meek] and saving, and he is gentle and riding on a beast of burden and a young colt.” It was not enough to say “colt”; he added “young” as well, showing the youthfulness of humanity in Christ and its ageless eternity together with simplicity. Such young colts, us infants, our divine colt-tamer rears. And even if the young animal in the Scripture is an ass, still it too is a colt. “And he tied the colt to the vine,” it says: tying this simple and infant people to the Word, whom he calls figuratively a vine. For the vine bears wine, as the Word bears blood, and both are drink for human beings for salvation: the wine for the body, the blood for the spirit. And that he also calls us lambs, the Spirit is a trustworthy witness through Isaiah: “As a shepherd he will shepherd his flock, and gather the lambs with his arm,” calling figuratively “lambs” the part of the flock still more tender in simplicity.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Isa 65:16 (LXX), Jer 5:8, Zech 9:9 (the bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted)), Gen 49:11, and Isa 40:11. On Christ's blood as the wine of the vine, compare John 15:1 and Paed. 2.2.19–20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): ῖς, « → ῖς,«; ας, « → ας,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.5.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/5/15/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.5.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/5/15/).
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