Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.22.138

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

Summary: The perfect man has passed beyond self-control to freedom from passion; he gives and fasts in secret, doing good by settled habit; he must walk the narrow way, drawn by the Father through grace, and pities those who hate him.

Greek text · Stählin 2:309

οὐκ ἐγκρατὴς οὗτος ἔτι, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἕξει γέγονεν ἀπαθείας, σχῆμα θεῖον ἐπενδύσασθαι ἀναμένων. ἐὰν ποιήσῃς, φησίν, ἐλεημοσύνην, μηδεὶς γινωσκέτω, καὶ ἐὰν νηστεύσῃς, ἄλειψαι, ἵνα ὁ θεὸς μόνος γινώσκῃ, ἀνθρώπων δὲ οὐδὲ εἷς, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ὁ ἐλεῶν ὅτι ἐλεεῖ, γινώσκειν ὀφείλει· ἔσται γὰρ οὕτω ποτὲ μὲν οἰκτίρμων, ἄλλοτε δὲ οὔ. ἐπὰν δὲ ἐν ἕξει ποιήσῃ τὸ εὐεργετητικόν, φύσιν ἀγαθοῦ μιμήσεται· ἡ δὲ διάθεσις καὶ φύσις ἔσται καὶ συνάσκησις. οὐ δεῖ δὲ ἀρθέντας μετατεθῆναι, ἀλλὰ βαδίζοντας ἀφικέσθαι οἷ δεῖ, διὰ πάσης τῆς στενῆς διελθόντας ὁδοῦ· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἑλκυσθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός, τὸ ἄξιον γενέσθαι τὴν δύναμιν τῆς χάριτος παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λαβεῖν καὶ ἀκωλύτως ἀναδραμεῖν· κἂν μισῶσι τὸν ἐκλεκτόν τινες, οἶδεν οὗτος τὴν ἄγνοιαν αὐτῶν, οἰκτείρων τῆς ἀμαθίας τὴν γνώμην αὐτῶν.

English · Claude translation

He is no longer self-controlled, but has come into a state of freedom from passion, waiting to put on the divine form. “If you give alms,” it says, “let no one know; and if you fast, anoint yourself,” so that God alone may know and not one of men; but not even the one who shows mercy ought to know that he shows mercy; for so he will be merciful at one time and not at another. But when he does good by settled habit, he will imitate the nature of the good, and his disposition will be nature and practice together. We must not be carried off and transferred, but arrive where we must by walking, passing through the whole narrow way. For this is to be drawn by the Father: to become worthy to receive the power of grace from God and to run up without hindrance. And if some hate the elect one, he knows their ignorance, pitying the mind of their ignorance.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:309 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics, Fasting

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Matt 6:3, 17–18 (a free form), Matt 7:14, and John 6:44.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.138 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/138/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.138 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/138/).

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