Miscellanies 3.13.93
Summary: The saying Cassianus cites is not in the four Gospels handed down but in the Gospel of the Egyptians; male and female there mean anger and desire, and when they are overcome the soul becomes one, as Paul says there is neither male nor female.
Greek text · Stählin 2:238–239
Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐν τοῖς παραδεδομένοις ἡμῖν τέτταρσιν εὐαγγελίοις οὐκ ἔχομεν τὸ ῥητόν, ἀλλʼ ἐν τῷ κατʼ Αἰγυπτίους. ἔπειτα δὲ ἀγνοεῖν μοι δοκεῖ ὅτι θυμὸν μὲν ἄρρενα ὁρμήν, θήλειαν δὲ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αἰνίττεται, οἷς ἐνεργήσασι μετάνοια ἕπεται καὶ αἰσχύνη. ὅταν οὖν μήτε τις θυμῷ μήτʼ ἐπιθυμίᾳ χαρισάμενος, ἃ δὴ καὶ ἐξ ἔθους καὶ τροφῆς κακῆς αὐξήσαντα ἐπισκιάζει καὶ ἐγκαλύπτει τὸν λογισμόν, ἀλλʼ ἀποδυσάμενος τὴν ἐκ τούτων ἀχλὺν ἐκ μετανοίας καταισχυνθεὶς πνεῦμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἑνώσῃ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λόγου ὑπακοήν, τότε, ὡς καὶ ὁ Παῦλός φησιν, οὐκ ἔνι ἐν ὑμῖν οὐκ ἄρρεν, οὐ θῆλυ. ἀποστᾶσα γὰρ τοῦδε τοῦ σχήματος, ᾧ διακρίνεται τὸ ἄρρεν καὶ τὸ θῆλυ, ψυχὴ μετατίθεται εἰς ἕνωσιν, οὐθέτερον οὖσα. ἡγεῖται δὲ ὁ γενναῖος οὗτος Πλατωνικώτερον θείαν οὖσαν τὴν ψυχὴν ἄνωθεν ἐπιθυμίᾳ θηλυνθεῖσαν δεῦρο ἥκειν εἰς γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν.
English · Claude translation
In the first place, then, we do not have this saying in the four Gospels handed down to us, but in the one according to the Egyptians. Then he seems to me not to know that by “male” it hints at anger, the impulse, and by “female” at desire; and when they have acted, repentance and shame follow. When, then, someone does not gratify either anger or desire, which, increased by habit and bad upbringing, overshadow and cover reason, but, stripping off the mist that comes from them and being put to shame by repentance, unites spirit and soul in obedience to the Word, then, as Paul too says, “There is among you neither male nor female.” For the soul, departing from this form by which male and female are distinguished, is transferred into unity, being neither. But this noble man thinks, rather in Plato's way, that the soul, being divine and made female by desire above, comes down here into birth and decay.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- This is an important early witness to the four-Gospel canon. The allusion is Gal 3:28 (a free form).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐγκαλύπτει τὸν λογισμόν. ἀλλʼ ἀποδυσάμενος → ἐγκαλύπτει τὸν λογισμόν, ἀλλʼ ἀποδυσάμενος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.13.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/13/93/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.13.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/13/93/).
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