Miscellanies 6.5.39
Summary: The best Greeks worship the same God as Christians but without full knowledge; the Preaching of Peter tells believers to worship the one God, not in the Greek manner.
Greek text · Stählin 2:451
Καὶ ὡς μὲν κλέπται πάσης γραφῆς Ἕλληνες ᾕρηνται. ἱκανῶς, οἶμαι, διὰ πλειόνων δέδεικται τεκμηρίων· ὅτι δὲ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν ἴσασι τὸν θεόν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ περίφρασιν Ἑλλήνων οἱ δοκιμώτατοι, Πέτρος ἐν τῷ κηρύγματι λέγει· γινώσκετε οὖν ὅτι εἷς θεός ἐστιν, ὃς ἀρχὴν πάντων ἐποίησεν, καὶ τέλους ἐξουσίαν ἔχων· καί· ὁ ἀόρατος, ὃς τὰ πάντα ὁρᾷ, ἀχώρητος, ὃς τὰ πάντα χωρεῖ, ἀνεπιδεής, οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐπιδέεται καὶ διʼ ὅν ἐστιν, ἀκατάληπτος, ἀέναος, ἄφθαρτος, ἀποίητος, ὃς τὰ πάντα ἐποίησεν λόγῳ δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, τῆς γνωστικῆς γραφῆς τουτέστι τοῦ υἱοῦ. εἶτα ἐπιφέρει· τοῦτον τὸν θεὸν σέβεσθε μὴ κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας· ὡς δηλονότι τὸν αὐτὸν ἡμῖν σεβόντων θεὸν καὶ τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι δοκίμων, ἀλλʼ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν παντελῆ, τὴν διʼ υἱοῦ παράδοσιν μὴ μεμαθηκότων. μή, τοίνυν φησί, σέβεσθε — οὐκ εἶπεν θεὸν ὃν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ μὴ κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας, τὸν τρόπον τὸν τῆς σεβάσεως ἐναλλάττων τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐχὶ δὲ ἄλλον καταγγέλλων.
English · Claude translation
That the Greeks have been caught as thieves of every kind of writing has, I think, been sufficiently shown by many proofs. But that the most esteemed of the Greeks know God not by full knowledge but by roundabout description, Peter says in the Preaching: “Know, then, that there is one God, who made the beginning of all things and has power over their end”; and: “The invisible, who sees all things; uncontainable, who contains all things; needing nothing, whom all things need and through whom they exist; incomprehensible, everlasting, incorruptible, unmade, who made all things by the word of his power,” that is, in the language of knowing Scripture, by the Son. Then he adds: “Worship this God, not as the Greeks do”; as though plainly the esteemed among the Greeks worship the same God as we, but not with perfect knowledge, since they have not learned the tradition given through the Son. “Do not,” then, he says, “worship”: he did not say “the God whom the Greeks worship,” but “not as the Greeks do,” changing the manner of the worship of God, not proclaiming another God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are from the Preaching of Peter (Kerygma Petri), an early second-century work known only in fragments. “The word of his power” echoes Heb 1:3.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.5.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/5/39/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.5.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/5/39/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text