The Instructor 2.1.10
Summary: Christians may accept invitations and eat what is set before them, giving thanks, but should avoid gluttony, refrain for the sake of the weak, and not eat with a brother who lives immorally.
Greek text · Stählin 1:160–161
μὴ γὰρ ἀφαιροῦμεν τὴν συμπεριφοράν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ὄλισθον τῆς συνηθείας ὡς συμφορὰν ὑποπτεύομεν. διὸ παραιτητέον τὴν λιχνείαν ὀλίγων τινῶν καὶ ἀναγκαίων μεταλαμβάνοντας· καὶ εἴ τις ἡμᾶς καλεῖ τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ πορεύεσθαι κρίνομεν (καλὸν γὰρ μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι τοῖς ἀτάκτοις), πᾶν τὸ παρατιθέμενον κελεύει ἡμῖν ἐσθίειν »μηδὲν ἀνακρίνουσιν διὰ τὴν συνείδησιν«, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐκ μακέλλου ἀπεριέργως ὠνεῖσθαι προσέταξεν. οὐκ ἀφεκτέον οὖν παντελῶς τῶν ποικίλων βρωμάτων, ἀλλʼ οὐ περὶ αὐτὰ σπουδαστέον· μεταληπτέον δὲ τῶν παρατιθεμένων, ὡς πρέπον Χριστιανῷ, τιμῶντας μὲν τὸν κεκληκότα κατὰ τὴν ἀβλαβῆ καὶ ἀπροσκορῆ τῆς συνουσίας κοινωνίαν, ἀδιάφορον δὲ ἡγουμένους τῶν εἰσκομιζομένων τὴν πολυτέλειαν, καταφρονοῦντας τῶν ὄψων ὡς μετʼ ὀλίγον οὐκ ὄντων. »ὁ ἐσθίων τὸν μὴ ἐσθίοντα μὴ ἐξουθενείτω, ὁ δὲ μὴ ἐσθίων τὸν ἐσθίοντα μὴ κρινέτω.« μικρὸν δὲ ὑποβὰς καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς παραγγελίας ἐξηγήσεται, »ὁ ἐσθίων« λέγων »κυρίῳ ἐσθίει καὶ εὐχαριστεῖ τῷ θεῷ· καὶ ὁ μὴ ἐσθίων κυρίῳ οὐκ ἐσθίει καὶ εὐχαριστεῖ τῷ θεῷ«· ὡς εἶναι τὴν δικαίαν τροφὴν εὐχαριστίαν· καὶ ὅ γε ἀεὶ εὐχαριστῶν οὐκ ἀσχολεῖται περὶ ἡδονάς. εἰ δὲ καὶ προτρεποίμεθα ἐπʼ ἀρετὴν τῶν συνεστιωμένων τινάς, ταύτῃ πλέον ἀφεκτέον τῶν λίχνων τούτων βρωμάτων, ἐναργὲς ὑπόδειγμα ἀρετῆς σφᾶς αὐτοὺς παριστάντας, ὡς Χριστὸν ἐσχήκαμεν αὐτοί. »εἰ γάρ τι τῶν τοιούτων βρωμάτων σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν, οὐ μὴ φάγω«, φησίν, »τοῦτο εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἵνα μὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν μου σκανδαλίσω«, ὀλίγης ἐγκρατείας κερδαίνων τὸν ἄνθρωπον. »μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἔχομεν ἐξουσίαν φαγεῖν καὶ πιεῖν;« καὶ »τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπεγνώκαμεν«, φησίν, »ὅτι οὐδὲν εἴδωλον ἐν κόσμῳ, ἀλλὰ μόνος ὄντως ἐστὶν εἷς ἡμῶν θεός, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἷς κύριος Ἰησοῦς.« ἀλλὰ »ἀπόλλυται«, φησί, »τῇ σῇ γνώσει ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἀσθενῶν, διʼ ὃν Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν. οἱ δὲ τὴν συνείδησιν τύπτοντες τῶν ἀσθενούντων ἀδελφῶν εἰς Χριστὸν ἁμαρτάνουσιν.« ταύτῃ τοι ὁ ἀπόστολος εὐλαβούμενος περὶ ἡμῶν τὰ δεῖπνα διακρίνει »μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι« φάσκων, »εἴ τις ἀδελφὸς λεγόμενος εὑρίσκοιτο πόρνος ἢ μοιχὸς ἢ εἰδωλολάτρης, τούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν«, ἢ τὸν λόγον ἢ τὸ ὄψον, ὑποπτεύων τὸν μολυσμὸν τὸν ἐντεῦθεν, καθάπερ καὶ τῶν δαιμονίων τὰς τραπέζας.
English · Claude translation
We do not do away with social intercourse, but we regard the slippery slope of habit with suspicion, as a calamity. So we must decline daintiness, partaking of a few necessary things. And if one of the unbelievers invites us and we decide to go (for it is good not to mix with the disorderly), he commands us to eat whatever is set before us, “asking no questions for conscience's sake”; and likewise he ordered us to buy what is sold in the meat market without inquiry. We must not, then, abstain altogether from various foods, but we must not be eager about them. We should partake of what is set before us, as befits a Christian, honoring the host by a harmless and moderate sharing in the gathering, regarding the expense of what is brought in as indifferent, and despising the dishes, which will shortly be gone. “Let not the one who eats despise the one who does not eat, and let not the one who does not eat judge the one who eats.” A little further on he explains the reason for the precept: “The one who eats, eats to the Lord and gives thanks to God; and the one who does not eat, abstains to the Lord and gives thanks to God,” so that righteous food is thanksgiving (eucharistia); and the one who always gives thanks is not occupied with pleasures. And if we would urge any of our fellow guests to virtue, we should abstain all the more from these dainty foods, presenting ourselves as a clear example of virtue, as we ourselves have Christ. “For if any such food makes my brother stumble,” he says, “I will never eat it, so that I may not make my brother stumble,” gaining the human being by a little self-control. “Do we not have the right to eat and drink?” And “we know the truth,” he says, “that an idol is nothing in the world, but there is truly only one God for us, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus.” But “by your knowledge,” he says, “the weak brother is destroyed, for whom Christ died; and those who wound the conscience of weak brothers sin against Christ.” So the apostle, taking care for us, distinguishes suppers, saying “not to associate”: “if anyone called a brother is found to be sexually immoral or an adulterer or an idolater, not even to eat with such a one,” whether in speech or at table, suspecting the defilement from it, as also from the tables of demons.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Righteous food is thanksgiving (εὐχαριστία)” plays on the word used for the Eucharist, here in its general sense of giving thanks.
- The quotations are 1 Cor 10:27 and 25, Rom 14:3 and 6, 1 Cor 8:13, 1 Cor 9:4, 1 Cor 8:4, 6, 1 Cor 8:11–12, and 1 Cor 5:11.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing space after the closing quotation mark): ἁμαρτάνουσιν.«ταύτῃ → ἁμαρτάνουσιν.« ταύτῃ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/1/10/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/1/10/).
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