Miscellanies 6.16.146
Summary: The fifth commandment's father is God and its mother is divine wisdom, not matter or the church; the commandment against adultery forbids forsaking true knowledge of God for false opinion and idolatry.
Greek text · Stählin 2:506–507
Ὁ δὲ πέμπτος ἑξῆς ἐστι λόγος περὶ τιμῆς πατρὸς καὶ μητρός. πατέρα δὲ καὶ κύριον τὸν θεὸν λέγει σαφῶς. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ἐπιγνόντας αὐτὸν υἱοὺς ἀναγορεύει καὶ θεούς. κύριος οὖν καὶ πατὴρ ὁ κτίστης πάντων, μήτηρ δὲ οὐχ, ὥς τινες, ἡ οὐσία ἐξ ἧς γεγόναμεν, οὐδʼ, ὡς ἕτεροι ἐκδεδώκασιν, ἡ ἐκκλησία, ἀλλʼ ἡ θεία γνῶσις καὶ ἡ σοφία, ὥς φησι Σολομών, μητέρα δικαίων ἀνακαλῶν τὴν σοφίαν. καὶ ἔστι διʼ αὑτὴν αἱρετή. πᾶν τε αὖ τὸ καλὸν καὶ σεμνὸν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ διʼ υἱοῦ γιγνώσκεται. Ἕπεται τούτῳ ὁ περὶ μοιχείας λόγος. μοιχεία δʼ ἐστίν, ἐάν τις καταλιπὼν τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν καὶ ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν καὶ τὴν περὶ θεοῦ διάληψιν ἐπὶ τὴν μὴ προσήκουσαν ἔρχηται ψευδῆ δόξαν, ἤτοι θεοποιῶν τι τῶν γενητῶν ἢ καὶ ἀνειδωλοποιῶν τι τῶν μὴ ὄντων εἰς ὑπέρβασιν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἔκβασιν γνώσεως. ἀλλοτρία δὲ τοῦ γνωστικοῦ ἡ ψευδὴς δόξα ὥσπερ ἡ ἀληθὴς οἰκεία τε καὶ σύζυγος.
English · Claude translation
The fifth word, next, is about honoring father and mother. It clearly calls God father and lord. That is why it also proclaims those who have come to know him sons and gods. The Maker of all, then, is lord and father; and the mother is not, as some say, the substance from which we have come, nor, as others have explained it, the church, but divine knowledge and wisdom, as Solomon says, calling wisdom the mother of the righteous. And it is to be chosen for its own sake. And again, all that is good and holy is known from God through the Son. Next comes the word about adultery. Adultery is when someone, abandoning the church's true knowledge and his understanding of God, goes over to a false opinion that is not fitting, either deifying some created thing or making an idol of something that does not exist, in excess—or rather departure—from knowledge. False opinion is alien to the one who knows, just as true opinion is his own and his spouse.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Exod 20:12, Ps 82:6 (81:6 LXX, “sons and gods”), and Exod 20:14. The phrase “mother of the righteous” is not found in this form; compare Wis 7:12 and Sir 15:2. Clement's allegory of the commandment against adultery does not replace its literal sense, which he upholds elsewhere.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.146 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/146/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.16.146 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/16/146/).
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