Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.8.65

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

Summary: Paul's household code in Colossians sets out the duties of wives and husbands, children and fathers, slaves and masters, all under the one Lord in whom there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free.

Greek text · Stählin 2:277–278

κἀν τῇ πρὸς Κολοσσαεῖς αἱ γυναῖκες φησίν, ὑποτάσσεσθε τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὡς ἀνήκει ἐν κυρίῳ. οἱ ἄνδρες, ἀγαπᾶτε τὰς γυναῖκας καὶ μὴ πικραίνεσθε πρὸς αὐτάς. τὰ τέκνα, ὑπακούετε τοῖς γονεῦσι κατὰ πάντα· τοῦτο γὰρ εὐάρεστον τῷ κυρίῳ. οἱ πατέρες, μὴ ἐρεθίζετε τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν, ἵνα μὴ ἀθυμῶσιν. οἱ δοῦλοι, ὑπακούετε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς κατὰ σάρκα κυρίοις, μὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοδουλείαις ὡς ἀνθρωπάρεσκοι, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον. καὶ πᾶν ὃ ἐὰν ποιῆτε, ἐκ ψυχῆς ἐργάζεσθε ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ δουλεύοντες καὶ οὐκ ἀνθρώποις, εἰδότες ὅτι ἀπὸ κυρίου ἀπολήψεσθε τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν τῆς κληρονομίας. τῷ γὰρ κυρίῳ Χριστῷ δουλεύετε· ὁ γὰρ ἄδικος κομίσεται ὃ ἠδίκησεν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι προσωποληψία. οἱ κύριοι, τὸ δίκαιον καὶ τὴν ἰσότητα τοῖς δούλοις παρέχετε, εἰδότες ὅτι καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔχετε κύριον ἐν οὐρανῷ, ὅπου οὐκ ἔνι Ἕλλην καὶ Ἰουδαῖος, περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος, ἀλλὰ πάντα καὶ ἐν πᾶσι Χριστός.

English · Claude translation

And in the letter to the Colossians he says: “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Slaves, obey in everything your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service as people-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. And whatever you do, work at it from the soul, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will receive back the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. Masters, grant your slaves what is just and fair, knowing that you too have a Lord in heaven,” where there is neither Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:277–278 · 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 quotation is Col 3:18–4:1, with Col 3:11.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/65/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.8.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/8/65/).

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