Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.1.12

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

Summary: Inquiry about God aimed at discovery, not strife, is saving; the psalm promises those who seek the Lord knowledge and life; but we should not open our ears to everyone, lest faith's pure hearing be spoiled, like cups whose handles break.

Greek text · Stählin 2:334

Τὸ δὲ ἄρα ζητεῖν περὶ θεοῦ, ἂν μὴ εἰς ἔριν, ἀλλὰ εἰς εὕρεσιν τείνῃ, σωτήριόν ἐστι. γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῷ Δαβίδ· φάγονται πένητες καὶ ἐμπλησθήσονται καὶ αἰνέσουσι κύριον οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες αὐτόν· ζήσεται ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος. οἱ γὰρ ζητοῦντες κατὰ τὴν ζήτησιν τὴν ἀληθῆ αἰνοῦντες κύριον ἐμπλησθήσονται τῆς δόσεως τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, τουτέστι τῆς γνώσεως, καὶ ζήσεται ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῶν· καρδία γὰρ ἡ ψυχὴ ἀλληγορεῖται ἡ τὴν ζωὴν χορηγήσασα, ὅτι διʼ υἱοῦ ὁ πατὴρ γνωρίζεται. οὐδὲ μὴν πᾶσιν ἀνέδην τοῖς λέγουσί τε καὶ γράφουσιν ἔκδοτα τὰ ὦτα παρέχειν χρή, ἐπεὶ καὶ αἱ κύλικες πρὸς πολλῶν λαμβανόμεναι τῶν ὤτων καταρυπανθεῖσαι ἀποβάλλουσι μὲν τὰ ὦτα, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἀποπίπτουσαι κατάγνυνται καὶ αὐταί. τὸν αὐτὸν γὰρ τρόπον καὶ οἱ ταῖς πολλαῖς φλυαρίαις καταρυπάναντες τὴν ἁγνὴν τῆς πίστεως ἀκοὴν τέλος ἤδη ἐκκωφούμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀχρεῖοί τε γίγνονται καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀποπίπτουσιν.

English · Claude translation

To inquire about God, then, if it tends not to strife but to discovery, is saving. For it is written in David: “The poor will eat and be satisfied, and those who seek him will praise the Lord; their heart will live forever and ever.” For those who seek according to true inquiry, praising the Lord, will be filled with the gift from God, that is, with knowledge; and their soul will live; for the heart is allegorized as the soul, which has supplied life, because the Father is made known through the Son. Nor must we offer our ears freely to all who speak and write, since cups too, when handled by many by the ears and soiled, lose their ears, and besides, falling, are themselves broken. In the same way those who have soiled the pure hearing of faith with much babbling, at last deafened to the truth, become useless and fall to the ground.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:334 · 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
  • Ps 22:26 (21:27 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Ps 22:26 (21:27 LXX). The pun is on ὦτα, “ears” and “handles.”

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.1.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/1/12/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.1.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/1/12/).

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