Miscellanies 1.24.164
Summary: Early Greeks worshiped pillars before statues; the pillar of fire and the burning bush symbolize the holy light that returns to heaven through the wood of the cross.
Greek text · Stählin 2:102–103
πρὶν γοῦν ἀκριβωθῆναι τὰς τῶν ἀγαλμάτων σχέσεις κίονας ἱστάντες οἱ παλαιοὶ ἔσεβον τούτους ὡς ἀφιδρύματα τοῦ θεοῦ. γράφει γοῦν ὁ τὴν Φορωνίδα ποιήσας· Καλλιθόη κλειδοῦχος Ὀλυμπιάδος βασιλείης, Ἥρης Ἀργείης, ἣ στέμμασι καὶ θυσάνοισι πρώτη ἐκόσμησεν περὶ κίονα μακρὸν ἀνάσσης. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τὴν Εὐρωπίαν ποιήσας ἱστορεῖ τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς ἄγαλμα Ἀπόλλωνος κίονα εἶναι διὰ τῶνδε· ὄφρα θεῷ δεκάτην ἀκροθίνιά τε κρεμάσαιμεν σταθμῶν ἐκ ζαθέων καὶ κίονος ὑψηλοῖο. Ἀπόλλων μέντοι μυστικῶς κατὰ στέρησιν τῶν πολλῶν νοούμενος ὁ εἶς ἐστι θεός. ἀλλʼ οὖν τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἐοικὸς στύλῳ καὶ πῦρ τὸ διὰ βάτου σύμβολόν ἐστι φωτὸς ἁγίου τοῦ διαβαίνοντος ἐκ γῆς καὶ ἀνατρέχοντος αὖθις εἰς οὐρανὸν διὰ τοῦ ξύλου, διʼ οὗ καὶ τὸ βλέπειν ἡμῖν νοητῶς δεδώρηται.
English · Claude translation
Before the forms of statues were perfected, the ancients set up pillars and worshiped them as images of the god. At any rate the author of the Phoronis writes: “Callithoe, key-bearer of the Olympian queen, Argive Hera, who first adorned with garlands and tassels the tall pillar of the queen.” And the author of the Europia relates that the statue of Apollo at Delphi was a pillar, in these words: “that we might hang up the tithe and first-fruits to the god, from the sacred pegs and the high pillar.” Apollo, however, understood mystically by the negation of the many, is the one God. But that fire like a pillar and the fire through the bush are a symbol of the holy light that passes from earth and returns again to heaven through the wood, through which the power of seeing spiritually has been given to us.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Apollo” was read as “not many” (a-pollōn), hence the one God. “The wood” is the cross; the burning bush is Exod 3:2.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.164 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/164/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.24.164 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/24/164/).
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