Miscellanies 3.4.27
Summary: Some heretics call promiscuity “mystical fellowship”; one quoted “give to everyone who asks” to a Christian virgin, who answered innocently that he should speak to her mother about marriage; they falsify Christ's words.
Greek text · Stählin 2:208
Εἰσὶν δʼ οἳ τὴν πάνδημον Ἀφροδίτην κοινωνίαν μυστικὴν ἀναγορεύουσιν ἐνυβρίζοντες καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι· λέγεται γὰρ καὶ τὸ ποιεῖν τι κακὸν ἐργάζεσθαι, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τὸ ἀγαθόν τι ποιεῖν ὁμωνύμως ἐργάζεσθαι, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ κοινωνία ἀγαθὸν μὲν ἐν μεταδόσει ἀργυρίου καὶ τροφῆς καὶ στολῆς, οἳ δὲ καὶ τὴν ὁποίαν δήποτʼ οὖν ἀφροδισίων συμπλοκὴν κοινωνίαν ἀσεβῶς κεκλήκασιν. φασὶ γοῦν τινα αὐτῶν ἡμετέρᾳ παρθένῳ ὡραίᾳ τὴν ὄψιν προσελθόντα φάναι· γέγραπται ›παντὶ τῷ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου‹, τὴν δὲ σεμνῶς πάνυ ἀποκρίνασθαι μὴ συνιεῖσαν τὴν τἀνθρώπου ἀσέλγειαν· ἀλλὰ περὶ γάμου τῇ μητρὶ διαλέγου. ὢ τῆς ἀθεότητος· καὶ τῶν τοῦ κυρίου φωνῶν διαψεύδονται οἱ τῆς ἀσελγείας κοινωνοί, οἱ τῆς λαγνείας ἀδελφοί, ὄνειδος οὐ φιλοσοφίας μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ βίου, οἱ παραχαράσσοντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, μᾶλλον δὲ κατασκάπτοντες ὡς οἷόν τε αὐτοῖς· οἱ γὰρ τρισάθλιοι τὴν τε σαρκικὴν καὶ τὴν συνουσιαστικὴν κοινωνίαν ἱεροφαντοῦσι καὶ ταύτην οἴονται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοὺς ἀνάγειν τοῦ θεοῦ.
English · Claude translation
There are some who proclaim vulgar Aphrodite to be a mystical fellowship, insulting even the name. For doing something bad is called “working,” just as doing something good is called “working” by the same name; so too fellowship is good in the sharing of money, food, and clothing; but they have impiously called any kind of sexual coupling “fellowship.” They say, at any rate, that one of them approached a virgin of ours who was beautiful to look at and said, “It is written, ‘Give to everyone who asks you’”; and she, not understanding the man's licentiousness, answered very modestly, “But speak to my mother about marriage.” Oh, the godlessness! These partners in licentiousness, these brothers in lust, falsify even the Lord's words; a disgrace not only to philosophy but to all of life, counterfeiting the truth, or rather tearing it down as far as they can. For the thrice-wretched make a sacred mystery of carnal and sexual fellowship, and think that this leads them up to the kingdom of God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Matt 5:42 (Luke 6:30). “Vulgar Aphrodite” (πάνδημος) is Plato's term for common sexual love (Symposium 180d).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.4.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/4/27/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.4.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/4/27/).
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