Miscellanies 1.28.178
Summary: Dialectic leads to true wisdom only with the Savior, who clears the mist of ignorance from the soul's eye and reveals the Father to whom he wishes.
Greek text · Stählin 2:109
διὸ καὶ μόνη αὕτη ἐπὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ σοφίαν χειραγωγεῖ, ἥτις ἐστὶ δύναμις θεία, τῶν ὄντων ὡς ὄντων γνωστική, τὸ τέλειον ἔχουσα, παντὸς πάθους ἀπηλλαγμένη, οὐκ ἄνευ τοῦ σωτῆρος τοῦ καταγαγόντος ἡμῶν τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ τοῦ ὁρατικοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἐπιχυθεῖσαν ἐκ φαύλης ἀναστροφῆς ἄγνοιαν ἀχλυώδη καὶ τὸ βέλτιστον ἀποδεδωκότος, ὄφρʼ εὖ γινώσκοιμεν ἠμὲν θεὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἄνδρα. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τῷ ὄντι δείξας ὅπως τε γνωστέον ἑαυτούς, οὗτος ὁ τῶν ὅλων τὸν πατέρα ἐκκαλύπτων, ᾧ ἂν βούληται, καὶ ὡς οἷόν τε τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν χωρῆσαι νοεῖν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔγνω τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ.
English · Claude translation
That is why this alone leads by the hand to true wisdom, which is a divine power, knowing the things that are as they are, having the perfect, freed from every passion; not without the Savior, who by the divine Word removed from the soul's power of sight the misty ignorance poured over it by evil conduct, and gave back the best, “so that we may know well both God and man.” He it is who truly showed how we should know ourselves; he reveals the Father of the universe to whom he wishes, and as far as human nature can understand. “For no one knows the Son except the Father, nor the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Homer, Iliad 5.128 (adapted), and Matt 11:27.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.178 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/178/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.28.178 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/28/178/).
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