Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.8.54

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

Summary: The law of the uncovered pit teaches teachers to hide the depths of knowledge from those not ready, lest they stumble; the knowing teacher is accountable to God for those harmed by teaching beyond their capacity.

Greek text · Stählin 2:362–363

ἐνταῦθά μοι τὴν προφητείαν ἐκείνην ἔπαγε· ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐ συνῆκεν. ἵνα οὖν μή τις τούτων, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ σοῦ διδασκομένην γνῶσιν, ἀκροατὴς γενόμενος τῆς ἀληθείας, παρακούσῃ τε καὶ παραπέσῃ, ἀσφαλής, φησί, περὶ τὴν χρῆσιν τοῦ λόγου γίνου, καὶ πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀλόγως προσιόντας ἀπόκλειε τὴν ζῶσαν ἐν βάθει πηγήν, ποτὸν δὲ ὄρεγε τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας δεδιψηκόσιν. ἐπικρυπτόμενος δʼ οὖν πρὸς τοὺς οὐχ οἵους τε ὄντας παραδέξασθαι τὸ βάθος τῆς γνώσεως κατακάλυπτε τὸν λάκκον. ὁ κύριος οὖν τοῦ λάκκου, ὁ γνωστικὸς αὐτός, ζημιωθήσεται, φησί, τὴν αἰτίαν ὑπέχων τοῦ σκανδαλισθέντος ἤτοι καταποθέντος τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ λόγου, μικρολόγου ἔτι ὄντος, ἢ μετακινήσας τὸν ἐργάτην ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρίαν καὶ ἀποστήσας διὰ προφάσεως τῆς αὐτοσχεδίου πίστεως. ἀργύριον δὲ δώσει, τῷ παντοκρατορικῷ βουλήματι ὑπέχων λόγον καὶ εὐθύνας.

English · Claude translation

Here apply to me that prophecy: “The ox knew its owner and the donkey its lord's manger; but Israel has not understood me.” So that none of these, falling into the knowledge taught by you and becoming a hearer of the truth, may mishear and fall away, be careful, it says, in the use of the word; and shut off from those who approach irrationally the living spring in the depth, but hold out drink to those who thirst for the truth. Hiding it, then, from those not able to receive the depth of knowledge, cover the pit. The owner of the pit, then, the knower himself, will be penalized, it says, bearing the blame for the one who stumbled or was swallowed by the greatness of the word, being still small-minded; or for having moved the worker to contemplation and drawn him away by the pretext of an improvised faith. And he will give silver, rendering account and reckoning to the almighty will.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:362–363 · 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
Scripture and canon, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Isa 1:3. The allusion is Exod 21:33–34.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/54/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/54/).

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