Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.24.163

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: A guiding fire led Thrasybulus by night, making the pillar of fire credible to Greeks; the pillar signifies that God cannot be imaged and that his light is unchanging.

Greek text · Stählin 2:102

Ἀλλὰ καὶ Θρασυβούλῳ τοὺς ἐκπεσόντας ἀπὸ Φυλῆς καταγαγόντι καὶ βουλομένῳ λαθεῖν στῦλος ὁδηγὸς γίνεται διὰ τῶν ἀτριβῶν ἰόντι. τῷ Θρασυβούλῳ νύκτωρ ἀσελήνου καὶ δυσχειμέρου τοῦ καταστήματος γεγονότος πῦρ ἑωρᾶτο προηγούμενον, ὅπερ αὐτοὺς ἀπταίστως προπέμψαν κατὰ τὴν Μουνυχίαν ἐξέλιπεν, ἔνθα νῦν ὁ τῆς Φωσφόρου βωμός ἐστι. πιστὰ τοίνυν τὰ ἡμέτερα κἂν ἐντεῦθεν γενέσθω τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὅτι ἄρα δυνατὸν τῷ παντοκράτορι θεῷ προηγεῖσθαι ποιῆσαι τοῖς Ἑβραίοις νύκτωρ στῦλον πυρὸς τὸν καὶ καθηγησάμενον αὐτοῖς τῆς ὁδοῦ. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἐν χρησμῷ τινι· στῦλος Θηβαίοισι Διώνυσος πολυγηθής, ἐκ τῆς παρʼ Ἑβραίοις ἱστορίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ Εὐριπίδης ἐν Ἀντιόπῃ φησίν· ἔνδον δὲ θαλάμοις βουκόλων κομῶντα κισσῷ στῦλον Εὐίου θεοῦ. σημαίνει δὲ ὁ στῦλος τὸ ἀνεικόνιστον τοῦ θεοῦ, ὁ δὲ πεφωτισμένος στῦλος πρὸς τῷ τὸ ἀνεικόνιστον σημαίνειν δηλοῖ τὸ ἑστὸς καὶ μόνιμον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ ἄτρεπτον αὐτοῦ φῶς καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον.

English · Claude translation

And Thrasybulus too, when he was bringing back the exiles from Phyle and wished to escape notice, had a pillar as guide as he went through untrodden ways. For Thrasybulus, at night, when there was no moon and the weather was stormy, a fire was seen going before, which, having escorted them safely, disappeared near Munychia, where the altar of the Light-Bearer now stands. So let our accounts be credible to the Greeks from this at least, that it is possible for God Almighty to make a pillar of fire go before the Hebrews at night, which also guided them on the way. It is also said in an oracle, “A pillar to the Thebans is Dionysus of many joys,” from the history among the Hebrews. And Euripides too says in the Antiope, “Within the chambers of the herdsmen, a pillar of the Evian god, crowned with ivy.” The pillar signifies that God cannot be represented by an image; and the luminous pillar, besides signifying this, shows the stability and permanence of God and his unchanging and formless light.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:102 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Euripides, Antiope fragment 203 (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Euripides quotation is Antiope, fragment 203.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.163 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/163/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.163 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/163/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage