Miscellanies 4.23.148

Summary: Obedience for reward is bait; the knower turns from sensible to intelligible things out of love, admiring creation and its Maker, and prays to be free of desire, content with little, near to God.

Greek text · Stählin 2:313–314

διὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν αἱροῦνται οἱ διὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ὑπακηκοότες τῷ θεῷ, δελέατι ἡδονῆς ᾑρημένοι, οὐδὲ μὴν ἡ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀποστροφὴ τὴν πρὸς τὰ νοητὰ οἰκείωσιν ἀκολούθως ποιοίη ἄν, ἔμπαλιν δὲ ἡ πρὸς τὰ νοητὰ οἰκείωσις κατὰ φύσιν περιαγωγὴ τῷ γνωστικῷ ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν γίνεται κατʼ ἐκλογὴν τῶν καλῶν τἀγαθὸν ἑλομένῳ γνωστικῶς, θαυμάζοντι μὲν τὴν γένεσιν καὶ ἁγιάζοντι τὸν ποιητήν, ἁγιάζοντι δὲ τὴν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐξομοίωσιν· αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν ἐμὲ λύσομαι τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, φήσει, διὰ τὴν πρὸς σὲ οἰκείωσιν, κύριε. καλὴ γὰρ ἡ κτισθεῖσα δὴ οἰκονομία καὶ πάντα εὖ διοικεῖται, οὐδὲν ἀναιτίως γίνεται, ἐν τοῖς σοῖς εἶναί με δεῖ, παντοκράτορ· κἂν ἐνταῦθα ὦ, παρὰ σοί εἰμι· ἀδεὴς δʼ εἶναι θέλω, ἵνα σοὶ συνεγγίζειν δυνηθῶ, καὶ ὀλίγοις ἀρκεῖσθαι, μελετῶν τὴν σὴν ἐκλογὴν τὴν δικαίαν τῶν καλῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων.

English · Claude translation

Those who have obeyed God because of the promise are caught by the promise, taken by the bait of pleasure; nor would turning away from sensible things produce, as a consequence, attachment to intelligible things. On the contrary, attachment to intelligible things brings about, according to nature, a turning away from sensible things for the one who knows, who has chosen the good in the way of knowledge by the selection of the beautiful, admiring creation and sanctifying the Creator, and sanctifying likeness to the divine. “But I will free myself from desire,” he will say, “because of my kinship with you, Lord. For the arrangement created is good, and all things are well governed; nothing happens without cause; I must be in what is yours, Almighty; and even if I am here, I am with you. I wish to be without fear, so that I may be able to draw near to you, and to be content with little, practicing your just selection of good things from their likes.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:313–314 · 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

Luke 2:49 · allusion, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Euripides, Bacchae 498 (Euripides (plays and fragments)) · allusion, low confidence

Topics

Ethics, Prayer

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.23.148 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/23/148/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.23.148 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/23/148/).

Greek text · Stählin 2:313–314

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage