Miscellanies 1.10.46
Summary: Christ spoke and gave thanks before breaking bread, so that we might eat “rationally”; good speech and good deeds belong together, and each person should serve by his own gift.
Greek text · Stählin 2:30–31
Διὰ τοῦτο οὖν ὁ σωτὴρ ἄρτον λαβὼν πρῶτον ἐλάλησεν καὶ εὐχαρίστησεν· εἶτα κλάσας τὸν ἄρτον προέθηκεν, ἵνα δὴ φάγωμεν λογικῶς, καὶ τὰς γραφὰς ἐπιγνόντες πολιτευσώμεθα καθʼ ὑπακοήν. καθάπερ δὲ οἱ λόγῳ χρώμενοι πονηρῷ οὐδὲν τῶν ἔργῳ χρωμένων πονηρῷ διαφέρουσιν (ἡ γὰρ διαβολὴ ξίφους διάκονος, καὶ λύπην ἐμποιεῖ βλασφημία, ἐξ ὧν αἱ τοῦ βίου ἀνατροπαί· ἔργα τοῦ πονηροῦ λόγου εἶεν ἂν ταῦτα), οὕτω καὶ οἱ λόγῳ ἀγαθῷ κεχρημένοι συνεγγίζουσι τοῖς τὰ καλὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐπιτελοῦσιν. ἀνακτᾶται γοῦν καὶ ὁ λόγος τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐπὶ καλοκἀγαθίαν προτρέπει· μακάριος δὲ ὁ περιδέξιος. οὔτʼ οὖν βλασφημητέος ὁ εὐποιητικὸς πρὸς τοῦ εὖ λέγειν δυναμένου οὐδὲ μὴν κακιστέος ὁ οἷός τε εὖ λέγειν πρὸς τοῦ εὖ ποιεῖν ἐπιτηδείου· πρὸς δὲ ὃ ἑκάτερος πέφυκεν ἐνεργούντων. ὃ δʼ οὖν τὸ ἔργον δείκνυσιν, τοῦτο ἅτερος λαλεῖ, οἷον ἑτοιμάζων τῇ εὐποιίᾳ τὴν ὁδὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν εὐεργεσίαν ἄγων τοὺς ἀκούοντας. ἔστι γὰρ καὶ σωτήριος λόγος ὡς καὶ ἔργον σωτήριον. ἡ δικαιοσύνη γοῦν οὐ χωρὶς λόγου συνίσταται.
English · Claude translation
That is why the Savior, taking bread, first spoke and gave thanks; then, breaking the bread, he set it before them, so that we might eat rationally and, recognizing the Scriptures, live in obedience. And as those who use evil speech are no different from those who do evil deeds (for slander is the servant of the sword, and blasphemy causes grief, from which come the overturnings of life; these would be the works of evil speech), so those who use good speech draw near to those who accomplish good deeds. At any rate, speech restores the soul and urges it to goodness; and blessed is the one who is skillful with both hands. So neither should the doer of good be reviled by the one able to speak well, nor should the one able to speak well be disparaged by the one fitted to do good; let each act according to his nature. What the one shows by deed, the other speaks, as it were preparing the way for good deeds and leading the hearers to beneficence. For there is saving speech as there is a saving deed. Righteousness, at any rate, is not constituted without the word.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is to the Last Supper (Matt 26:26; Luke 22:19).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.46 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/46/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.10.46 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/10/46/).
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