Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 2.20.126

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

Summary: We must avoid exciting foods and luxury; self-restraint is God's great gift, and he will not forsake those who choose it; Christ's kind yoke drives us from faith to faith to salvation.

Greek text · Stählin 2:181

χρὴ τοίνυν συνασκεῖν αὑτοὺς εἰς εὐλάβειαν τῶν ὑποπιπτόντων τοῖς πάθεσι, φυγαδεύοντας κατὰ τοὺς ὄντως φιλοσόφους τὰ πασχητιῶντα τῶν βρωμάτων καὶ τὴν παρὰ τὴν κοίτην ἔκλυτον ἄνεσιν καὶ τὴν τρυφὴν καὶ τὰ εἰς τρυφὴν πάθη, ἄλλοις εἶναι ἆθλον βαρύ, ἡμῖν δὲ οὐκέτι· δῶρον γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ σωφροσύνη τὸ μέγιστον. αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν, οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ οὐδʼ οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλείπω, ἄξιον κρίνας διὰ τὴν γνησίαν αἵρεσιν. οὕτω τοίνυν ἡμᾶς εὐλαβῶς προσιέναι πειρωμένους ἐκδέξεται ὁ χρηστὸς τοῦ κυρίου ζυγός, ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν ἑνὸς ἡνιόχου κατὰ προκοπὴν ἐλαύνοντος ἕκαστον ἡμῶν εἰς σωτηρίαν, ὅπως ὁ προσήκων τῆς εὐδαιμονίας περιγένηται καρπός. γίνεται δὲ ἡ ἄσκησις κατὰ τὸν Κῷον Ἱπποκράτην οὐ μόνον τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑγιείης ἀοκνίη πόνων, ἀκορίη τροφῆς.

English · Claude translation

We must, then, train ourselves to caution about what falls under the passions, banishing, as true philosophers do, the foods that excite, and the loose indulgence in bed, and luxury, and the passions that lead to luxury; for others let this be a heavy contest, but for us no longer; for self-restraint is the greatest gift of God. For he himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” judging one worthy because of a genuine choice. So the kind yoke of the Lord will receive us as we try to approach with caution, the one Charioteer driving each of us by advance “from faith to faith” to salvation, so that the fitting fruit of happiness may be gained. And training, according to Hippocrates of Cos, is not only of the body but also of the soul: “health: tirelessness in toil, not eating one's fill of food.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:181 · 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
Topics
Ethics, Fasting

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Heb 13:5 (Deut 31:6), Matt 11:30, Rom 1:17, and Hippocrates, Epidemics 6.4.18.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.126 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/126/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.20.126 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/20/126/).

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