Miscellanies 5.11.70
Summary: Those who hunger for truth will be filled with knowledge; Euripides unknowingly hints at the Father and the Son and at Christ's fireless sacrifice, and the Greek mysteries begin with purification as Christians begin with the washing.
Greek text · Stählin 2:373
Εἰ τοίνυν λογικὸν ἡμῖν βρῶμα ἡ γνῶσις εἶναι συμπεφώνηται, μακάριοι τῷ ὄντι κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὅτι πλησθήσονται τροφῆς ἀιδίου. πάνυ θαυμαστῶς ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς φιλόσοφος Εὐριπίδης τοῖς προειρημένοις ἡμῖν συνῳδὸς διὰ τούτων εὑρίσκεται, πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν ἅμα οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως αἰνισσόμενος· σοὶ τῷ πάντων μεδέοντι χοὴν πέλανόν τε φέρω, Ζεὺς εἴτʼ Ἀίδης ὀνομαζόμενος στέργεις· σὺ δέ μοι θυσίαν ἄπυρον παγκαρπείας δέξαι πλήρη προχυτίαν. ὁλοκάρπωμα γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἄπυρον θῦμα ὁ Χριστός. καὶ ὅτι τὸν σωτῆρα αὐτὸν οὐκ εἰδὼς λέγει, σαφὲς ποιήσει ἐπάγων· σὺ γὰρ ἔν τε θεοῖς τοῖς οὐρανίδαις σκῆπτρον τὸ Διὸς μεταχειρίζεις χθονίων τʼ Ἀίδῃ μετέχεις ἀρχῆς. ἔπειτα ἄντικρυς λέγει· πέμψον δʼ ἐς φῶς ψυχὰς ἐνέρων τοῖς βουλομένοις ἄθλους προμαθεῖν πόθεν ἔβλαστον, τίς ῥίζα κακῶν, τίνα δεῖ μακάρων ἐκθυσαμένους εὑρεῖν μοχθῶν ἀνάπαυλαν. οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἄρα καὶ τῶν μυστηρίων τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησιν ἄρχει μὲν τὰ καθάρσια, καθάπερ καὶ τοῖς βαρβάροις τὸ λουτρόν.
English · Claude translation
If, then, it has been agreed that knowledge is our rational food, truly “blessed,” according to the Scripture, “are those who hunger and thirst” for the truth, “for they shall be filled” with everlasting food. Quite wonderfully Euripides, the philosopher of the stage, is found in harmony with what we have said, in these lines, in which he hints, I know not how, at the Father and the Son together: “To you, the ruler of all, I bring a libation and a cake, whether you love to be named Zeus or Hades; but you, receive from me a fireless sacrifice of all fruits, a full offering poured out.” For Christ is a whole offering of all fruits for us, a fireless victim. And that he speaks of the Savior himself without knowing it, he will make clear by adding: “For you, among the heavenly gods, wield the scepter of Zeus, and share with Hades the rule of those beneath the earth.” Then he says outright: “And send into the light the souls of the dead, for those who wish to learn beforehand of the struggles: whence they sprang, what is the root of evils, which of the blessed ones they must appease with sacrifice to find respite from toils.” Not unreasonably, then, among the mysteries of the Greeks too, purifications come first, as the washing does among the barbarians.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 5:6 (freely) and Euripides, fragment 912 (Nauck). By “the barbarians” Clement means the Hebrews and the Christians, whose “barbarian philosophy” is the Scriptures; “the washing” (λουτρόν) is baptism.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.11.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/11/70/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.11.70 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/11/70/).
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