Miscellanies 4.13.91
Summary: If the spiritual race destroys death, Christ did not; if Christ did, the Valentinians do not; their doctrine secretly sets them and Christ above the Creator, as if a son contended with his father.
Greek text · Stählin 2:288
ὅταν μὲν οὖν περὶ τοῦ ἕνα εἶναι τὸν θεὸν τὸν διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ εὐαγγελίου κηρυσσόμενον διαλαμβάνωμεν, καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο διαλεξόμεθα (ἀρχικὸς γὰρ ὁ λόγος), πρὸς δὲ τὸ κατεπεῖγον ἀπαντητέον. εἰ ἐπὶ τὸ καταλῦσαι θάνατον ἀφικνεῖται τὸ διαφέρον γένος, οὐχ ὁ Χριστὸς τὸν θάνατον κατήργησεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς ὁμοούσιος λεχθείη· εἰ δʼ εἰς τοῦτο κατήργησεν ὡς μὴ τοῦ διαφέροντος ἅπτεσθαι γένους, οὐχ οὗτοι τὸν θάνατον καταργοῦσιν οἱ ἀντίμιμοι τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ, οἱ τῇ ἐκ μεσότητος ψυχῇ, τῇ σφετέρᾳ εἰκόνι, ἐμφυσῶντες τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἄνωθεν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ δόγματος αἵρεσιν, κἂν διὰ τῆς μητρὸς τοῦτο συμβαίνειν λέγωσιν· ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰ σὺν Χριστῷ καταστρατεύεσθαι τοῦ θανάτου λέγοιεν, ὁμολογούντων τὸ δόγμα τὸ κεκρυμμένον, ὡς τῆς θείας τοῦ Δημιουργοῦ κατατρέχειν τολμῶσι δυνάμεως, τὴν κτίσιν τὴν αὐτοῦ ὡς κρείττους ἐπανορθούμενοι, πειρώμενοι σῴζειν τὴν ψυχικὴν εἰκόνα, ἣν αὐτὸς ῥύσασθαι τῆς φθορᾶς οὐ κατίσχυσεν. εἴη δʼ ἂν καὶ ὁ κύριος ἀμείνων τοῦ δημιουργοῦ θεοῦ· οὐ γὰρ ἄν ποτε ὁ υἱὸς τῷ πατρὶ διαφιλονεικοίη καὶ ταῦτα ἐν θεοῖς.
English · Claude translation
When, then, we treat of there being one God proclaimed through the law, the prophets, and the gospel, we will argue against this too (for the question is fundamental); but we must meet what is pressing. If the distinct race comes to destroy death, then Christ did not abolish death, unless he too is said to be of the same substance with them. But if he abolished it so that it might not touch the distinct race, these do not abolish death, these imitators of the Demiurge, who breathe the life from above into the soul from the middle, their own image, according to the choice of their doctrine, even if they say this happens through the Mother. And even if they should say they wage war against death together with Christ, let them confess the hidden doctrine, that they dare to run down the divine power of the Demiurge, correcting his creation as though they were better, trying to save the psychic image which he himself was unable to rescue from corruption. And the Lord too would be better than the Creator God; for a son would never contend with his father, especially among gods.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is 2 Tim 1:10. “The soul from the middle” is the psychic soul of Valentinian doctrine; “the Mother” is Sophia.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.91 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/91/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.91 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/91/).
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