Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.11.79

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

Summary: Persecutors unwillingly testify to Christians' innocence; the unjust judge acts freely and so does not implicate God's providence; he condemns from prejudice, simply because we are Christians.

Greek text · Stählin 2:283

ἄκοντες οὖν μαρτυροῦσιν ἡμῖν τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῖς διὰ δικαιοσύνην ἀδίκως κολαζομένοις. ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸ ἄδικον τοῦ δικαστοῦ τῆς προνοίας ἅπτεται· δεῖ γὰρ κύριον εἶναι τὸν κριτὴν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ γνώμης, μὴ νευροσπαστούμενον ἀψύχων δίκην ὀργάνων ἀφορμὰς ἴσως μόνον παρὰ τῆς ἔξωθεν αἰτίας λαμβάνοντα. δοκιμάζεται γοῦν ἐν ᾧ κρίνει καθάπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς κατά τε τὴν τῶν αἱρετῶν ἐκλογὴν κατά τε τὴν ὑπομονήν· κἂν μὴ ἀδικῶμεν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἀδικοῦσιν ἡμῖν ὁ δικαστὴς ἀφορᾷ· οὐ γὰρ οἶδεν τὰ καθʼ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲ θέλει μαθεῖν, προλήψει δὲ συναπάγεται κενῇ, διὸ καὶ κρίνεται. διώκουσι τοίνυν ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἀδίκους εἶναι καταλαβόντες, ἀλλʼ αὐτῷ μόνῳ τῷ Χριστιανοὺς εἶναι τὸν βίον ἀδικεῖν ὑπολαμβάνοντες αὐτούς τε οὕτω πολιτευομένους καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τὸν ὅμοιον αἱρεῖσθαι βίον προτρεπομένους.

English · Claude translation

Unwillingly, then, they bear witness to our righteousness, we who are unjustly punished for righteousness. But the injustice of the judge does not touch providence either; for the judge must be master of his own judgment, not pulled by strings like lifeless instruments, perhaps taking only occasions from the external cause. He is tested, at any rate, in how he judges, as we are in the choice of what is to be chosen and in endurance. And even if we do no wrong, the judge looks on us as wrongdoers; for he does not know our affairs nor wish to learn them, but is carried away by an empty prejudice; that is why he too is judged. They persecute us, then, not having found us unjust, but supposing that by the mere fact of being Christians we wrong life, both living so ourselves and urging others to choose the same life.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:283 · 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.
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong breathing on εἶναι): τῷ Χριστιανοὺς εἷναι → τῷ Χριστιανοὺς εἶναι.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.11.79 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/11/79/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.11.79 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/11/79/).

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