Miscellanies 6.16.140
Summary: Seven is “motherless and childless,” an image of the resurrection rest; at the Transfiguration the Lord went up as the fourth, became the sixth with Moses and Elijah, was proclaimed by the seventh, the voice, and appears as the eighth, God hidden in flesh.
Greek text · Stählin 2:503
Εἰκότως ἄρα τὸν ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀμήτορα καὶ ἄγονον λογίζονται, τὸ σάββατον ἑρμηνεύοντες καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως εἶδος ἀλληγοροῦντες, καθʼ ἣν οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίσκονται ἔτι· οὔτε γὰρ ἔκ τινος ἀριθμοῦ ἐπί τινα λαμβάνουσι γίνεται ὁ ἑπτὰ οὔτε ἐπί τινα ληφθεὶς ἀποτελεῖ τῶν ἐντὸς τῆς δεκάδος ἕτερον. τήν τε ὀγδοάδα κύβον καλοῦσι, μετὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ πλανωμένων τὴν ἀπλανῆ συγκαταριθμοῦντες σφαῖραν, διʼ ὧν ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς γίνεται οἷον περίοδός τις τῆς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀνταποδόσεως. ταύτῃ τοι ὁ κύριος τέταρτος ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἕκτος γίνεται καὶ φωτὶ περιλάμπεται πνευματικῷ, τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ παραγυμνώσας εἰς ὅσον οἷόν τε ἦν ἰδεῖν τοῖς ὁρᾶν ἐκλεγεῖσι, διʼ ἑβδόμης ἀνακηρυσσόμενος τῆς φωνῆς υἱὸς εἶναι θεοῦ, ἵνα δὴ οἳ μὲν ἀναπαύσωνται πεισθέντες περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὃ δέ, διὰ γενέσεως, ἣν ἐδήλωσεν ἡ ἑξάς, ἐπίσημος, ὀγδοὰς ὑπάρχων φανῇ, θεὸς ἐν σαρκίῳ τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδεικνύμενος, ἀριθμούμενος μὲν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, κρυπτόμενος δὲ ὃς ἦν· τῇ μὲν γὰρ τάξει τῶν ἀριθμῶν συγκαταλέγεται καὶ ὁ ἕξ, ἡ δὲ τῶν στοιχείων ἀκολουθία ἐπίσημον γνωρίζει τὸ μὴ γραφόμενον.
English · Claude translation
Fittingly, then, they regard the number seven as motherless and childless, interpreting the Sabbath and allegorizing the form of the rest in which “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” any longer. For seven neither comes from any number multiplied by another, nor, multiplied by any, produces another number within the decad. And they call the eight a cube, counting the fixed sphere together with the seven planets, through which the great year comes about, as a kind of period of the recompense of the promises. In this way the Lord, who went up the mountain as the fourth, becomes the sixth and is illumined all around with spiritual light, laying bare the power that comes from him as far as it was possible for those chosen to see it, and is proclaimed through the seventh, the voice, to be the Son of God; so that they might rest, persuaded about him, while he, through birth, which the six signified, being the episemon, might appear as the eight, showing forth God in flesh, numbered as a man but hidden as to who he was. For in the order of numbers the six is counted among the rest, but the sequence of the letters recognizes the episemon, which is not written.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Matt 22:30 and Matt 17:1–5 (the Transfiguration: Jesus with Peter, James, and John is the fourth; with Moses and Elijah, the sixth; the voice from the cloud, the seventh). The episemon is the numeral sign ϛ (6), which stands among the numbers but is not a letter of the alphabet. The “great year” is the period in which all the heavenly bodies return to their starting positions.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray comma in the digital text): ἑπτὰ, πλανωμένων → ἑπτὰ πλανωμένων.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/140/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/140/).
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