Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.8.60

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

Summary: Woman shares man's virtue in soul and differs in body; Paul teaches headship yet mutual dependence in the Lord; women, like men, must master pleasure by walking in the Spirit.

Greek text · Stählin 2:275–276

ᾗ μὲν τοίνυν ταὐτόν ἐστι, κατὰ ψυχήν, ταύτῃ ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἀφίξεται ἀρετήν· ᾗ δὲ διάφορον, κατὰ τὴν σώματος ἰδιότητα, ἐπὶ τὰς κυήσεις καὶ τὴν οἰκουρίαν, θέλω γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, εἰδέναι ὅτι παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἡ κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός, κεφαλὴ δὲ γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνήρ. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀνὴρ ἐκ γυναικός, ἀλλὰ γυνὴ ἐξ ἀνδρός. πλὴν οὔτε γυνὴ χωρὶς ἀνδρὸς οὔτε ἀνὴρ χωρὶς γυναικὸς ἐν κυρίῳ. ὡς γὰρ σώφρονα τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τῶν ἡδονῶν κρείττονα δεῖν εἶναί φαμεν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα σώφρονά τε ὁμοίως ἀξιώσαιμεν ἂν εἶναι καὶ πρὸς τὰς ἡδονὰς διαμάχεσθαι μεμελετηκυῖαν· λέγω δέ· πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε, ἡ ἀποστολικὴ συμβουλεύει ἐντολή· ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός. ταῦτα οὖν ἀντίκειται οὐχ ὡς κακὸν ἀγαθῷ, ἀλλʼ ὡς συμφερόντως μαχόμενα. ἐπιφέρει γοῦν·

English · Claude translation

Insofar, then, as she is the same, in soul, she will attain the same virtue; insofar as she differs, in the particularity of the body, she is for childbearing and housekeeping. “For I want you to know,” says the apostle, “that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nevertheless in the Lord neither is woman without man nor man without woman.” For as we say that the man must be self-restrained and superior to pleasures, so we would think it right that the woman too be self-restrained and practiced in fighting against pleasures. “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh,” the apostolic commandment counsels. “For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” These, then, are opposed not as evil to good, but as fighting beneficially. He adds, at any rate:

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:275–276 · 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
Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are 1 Cor 11:3, 8, 11 and Gal 5:16–17.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (σώματος)): κατὰ τὴν δώματος ἰδιότητα → κατὰ τὴν σώματος ἰδιότητα.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/60/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/60/).

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