Miscellanies 3.7.59
Summary: Self-control extends beyond sex to money, luxury, speech, and thought; even angels fell through desire; Valentinus claimed Jesus did not digest food; Christians embrace self-control out of love for the Lord, sanctifying the Spirit's temple.
Greek text · Stählin 2:223
ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐ μόνον περί τι ἓν εἶδος τὴν ἐγκράτειαν συνορᾶν προσήκει, τουτέστι τὰ ἀφροδίσια, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ περὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα σπαταλῶσα ἐπιθυμεῖ ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἀρκουμένη τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις, περιεργαζομένη δὲ τὴν χλιδήν. ἐγκράτειά ἐστιν ἀργυρίου καταφρονεῖν, τρυφῆς, κτήσεως, θέας καταμεγαλοφρονεῖν, στόματος κρατεῖν, κυριεύειν λογισμῶν τῶν πονηρῶν. ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἄγγελοί τινες ἀκρατεῖς γενόμενοι ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἁλόντες οὐρανόθεν δεῦρο καταπεπτώκασιν. Οὐαλεντῖνος δὲ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἀγαθόποδα ἐπιστολῇ πάντα φησὶν ὑπομείνας ἐγκρατὴς ἦν· θεότητα Ἰησοῦς εἰργάζετο, ἤσθιεν καὶ ἔπινεν ἰδίως οὐκ ἀποδιδοὺς τὰ βρώματα. τοσαύτη ἦν αὐτῷ ἐγκρατείας δύναμις, ὥστε καὶ μὴ φθαρῆναι τὴν τροφὴν ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐπεὶ τὸ φθείρεσθαι αὐτὸς οὐκ εἶχεν. Ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν διʼ ἀγάπην τὴν πρὸς τὸν κύριον καὶ διʼ αὐτὸ τὸ καλὸν ἐγκράτειαν ἀσπαζόμεθα, τὸν νεὼν τοῦ πνεύματος ἁγιάζοντες· καλὸν γὰρ διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εὐνουχίζειν ἑαυτὸν πάσης ἐπιθυμίας καὶ καθαρίζειν τὴν συνείδησιν ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων εἰς τὸ λατρεύειν θεῷ ζῶντι.
English · Claude translation
But self-control should be seen not only in one kind of thing, that is, sexual pleasures, but also in the other things that our soul, living luxuriously, desires, not content with necessities but busy about luxury. Self-control is to despise money, to look down on luxury, possessions, and shows, to control the mouth, and to master evil thoughts. Indeed some angels, becoming without self-control and caught by desire, have fallen from heaven to here. And Valentinus, in his letter to Agathopus, says: “Enduring all things, he was self-controlled; Jesus practiced divinity; he ate and drank in a peculiar way, not giving back the food. Such was the power of his self-control that the food was not even corrupted in him, since he himself did not have corruption.” We, then, embrace self-control through love for the Lord and for the sake of the good itself, sanctifying the temple of the Spirit. For it is good, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, to make oneself a eunuch from all desire, and “to cleanse the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation of Valentinus (fragment 3) is preserved only here; it reflects a docetic view of Christ's body. The allusions are Gen 6:2, 1 Cor 6:19, Matt 19:12, and Heb 9:14.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/7/59/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.7.59 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/7/59/).
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