Miscellanies 5.10.64
Summary: The prophets and David speak of hidden treasures and secret wisdom; Christ the Teacher has opened what was hidden, and Paul reserved the fullness of the tradition for teaching in person.
Greek text · Stählin 2:369
πάλιν ὁ προφήτης· καὶ δώσω σοι θησαυροὺς ἀποκρύφους, σκοτεινούς, ἀοράτους, ἵνα γνῶσιν ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός. τὰ εἰκότα τούτοις καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ ψάλλει· ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀλήθειαν ἠγάπησας, τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας σου ἐδήλωσάς μοι. ἡμέρα γὰρ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, τὸ γεγραμμένον ἄντικρυς, καὶ νὺξ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν, τὴν ἐπικεκρυμμένην μυστικῶς, καὶ οὔκ εἰσι λόγοι οὐδὲ λαλιαί, ὧν οὐκ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν τῷ θεῷ τῷ φήσαντι· ποιήσει τις κρύφα, καὶ οὐχὶ ἐπόψομαι αὐτόν; διὰ τοῦτο φωτισμὸς ἡ μαθητεία κέκληται ἡ τὰ κεκρυμμένα φανερώσασα, ἀποκαλύψαντος μόνου τοῦ διδασκάλου τὸ πῶμα τῆς κιβωτοῦ, ἔμπαλιν ἢ οἱ ποιηταὶ τὸν Δία φασὶ τὸν μὲν τῶν ἀγαθῶν πίθον ἐπιλαβεῖν, ἀνοῖξαι δὲ τὸν τῶν φαύλων. οἶδα ὅτι ἐρχόμενος φησὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐν πληρώματι εὐλογίας Χριστοῦ ἐλεύσομαι, τὸ πνευματικὸν χάρισμα καὶ τὴν γνωστικὴν παράδοσιν, ἣν μεταδοῦναι αὐτοῖς παρὼν παροῦσι ποθεῖ (οὐ γὰρ διʼ ἐπιστολῆς οἷά τε ἦν ταῦτα μηνύεσθαι), πλήρωμα Χριστοῦ καλέσας, κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν μυστηρίου χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσιγημένου, φανερωθέντος δὲ νῦν διά τε γραφῶν προφητικῶν κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν τοῦ αἰωνίου θεοῦ εἰς ὑπακοὴν πίστεως εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη γνωρισθέντος, τουτέστι τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πιστεύοντας, ὅτι ἐστίν· ὀλίγοις δὲ ἐκ τούτων καὶ τό, τίνα ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ ἐν μυστηρίῳ, δείκνυται.
English · Claude translation
Again the prophet: “And I will give you treasures hidden, dark, unseen, that they may know that I am the Lord God.” David too sings things like these: “For behold, you have loved truth; the unclear and hidden things of your wisdom you have shown to me.” “For day to day pours forth speech” (what is written plainly), “and night to night proclaims knowledge” (what is hidden mystically), “and there are no words or speech whose voices are not heard” by God, who said: “Will anyone do something in secret, and I not see him?” For this reason discipleship, which has made manifest what was hidden, has been called illumination, since the Teacher alone has uncovered the lid of the ark; the opposite of what the poets say, that Zeus closed the jar of good things and opened that of evil ones. “I know that when I come to you,” says the apostle, “I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ,” calling the spiritual gift and the tradition of knowledge, which he longs to impart to them when he is present with them (for these things could not be disclosed through a letter), “the fullness of Christ”: “according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent through eternal ages, but now made manifest through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all the nations for the obedience of faith,” that is, to those of the nations who believe that it is; but to a few of these it is shown also what the things in the mystery are.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Isa 45:3, Ps 51:6 (50:8 LXX), Ps 19:2–3 (18:3–4 LXX), Jer 23:24, Rom 15:29, and Rom 16:25–26. The jars of Zeus are from Homer, Il. 24.527–533, where Zeus has two jars, of good and of evil gifts; Clement's version of the poets' story is his own. “Illumination” (φωτισμός) is also a name for baptism.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.10.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/10/64/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.10.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/10/64/).
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