Miscellanies 5.8.55
Summary: The law and prophets were types until John, who, pointing to Christ, confessed himself unworthy to loose his sandal, that is, to baptize with his power, and so loosed the meaning of the prophecies; Roman will ceremonies are also symbolic.
Greek text · Stählin 2:363–364
Οὗτος μὲν οὖν ὁ τύπος νόμου καὶ προφητῶν ὁ μέχρις Ἰωάννου· ὃ δέ, καίτοι φανερώτερον λαλήσας ὡς ἂν μηκέτι προφητεύων, ἀλλὰ δεικνύων ἤδη παρόντα τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς καταγγελλόμενον συμβολικῶς, ὅμως οὐκ εἰμὶ φησὶν ἄξιος τὸν ἱμάντα τοῦ ὑποδήματος λῦσαι κυρίου· μὴ γὰρ ἄξιος εἶναι ὁμολογεῖ τὴν τοσαύτην βαπτίσαι δύναμιν, χρῆναι γὰρ τοὺς καθαροποιοῦντας ἀπολύειν τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῶν τούτου ἁμαρτημάτων τὴν ψυχὴν ὥσπερ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τὸν πόδα. τάχα δὲ καὶ τὴν τελευταίαν τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐνέργειαν, τὴν προσεχῆ, λέγει, τὴν διὰ τῆς παρουσίας, ἐπικρυπτομένην τῷ τῆς προφητείας αἰνίγματι· ὁ γὰρ διὰ τῆς αὐτοψίας τὸν θεσπιζόμενον δείξας, τὴν εἰς φανερὸν πόρρωθεν ὁδεύουσαν μηνύσας ἥκουσαν παρουσίαν, ὄντως ἔλυσεν τὸ πέρας τῶν λογίων τῆς οἰκονομίας, ἐκκαλύψας τὴν ἔννοιαν τῶν συμβόλων. Καὶ τὰ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ἐπὶ τῶν διαθηκῶν γινόμενα τάξιν εἴληχε, τὰ διὰ δικαιοσύνην ἐκεῖνα ζυγὰ καὶ ἀσσάρια καρπισμοί τε καὶ αἱ τῶν ὤτων ἐπιψαύσεις, τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἵνα δικαίως γίνηται, τὰ δὲ εἰς τὸν τῆς τιμῆς μερισμόν, τὸ δʼ ὅπως ὁ παρατυχών, ὡς βάρους τινὸς αὐτῷ ἐπιτιθεμένου, ἑστὼς ἀκούσῃ καὶ τάξιν μεσίτου λάβῃ.
English · Claude translation
This, then, is the type of the law and the prophets up to John. And he, though he spoke more plainly, as no longer prophesying but now showing present the one proclaimed symbolically from the beginning, nevertheless says: “I am not worthy to loose the strap of the Lord's sandal.” For he confesses that he is not worthy to baptize so great a power; for those who purify must release the soul from the body and its sins, as the foot from its binding. Perhaps too he means the Savior's final, immediate activity toward us, that by his coming, hidden in the riddle of prophecy; for he who by his own sight showed the one prophesied, indicating that the coming long on its way into the open had arrived, truly loosed the end of the oracles of the arrangement, uncovering the meaning of the symbols. The practices of the Romans in wills too have their place: the scales and copper coins because of justice, the manumissions, and the touching of the ears; the first so that it may be done justly, the second for the division of the value, and the last so that whoever is present, as though a burden were laid on him, may stand and hear and take the place of a mediator.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions and quotations are Matt 11:13 (Luke 16:16) and John 1:27 (Mark 1:7). The Roman ceremony described is the mancipatio (sale by bronze and scales).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (wrong accents in the digital text): ὅμως οὔκ εἰμι φησὶν ἄξιος → ὅμως οὐκ εἰμὶ φησὶν ἄξιος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/55/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.8.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/8/55/).
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