Miscellanies 6.7.60
Summary: The righteous man is refined like silver; abstaining from evil is the perfection of the ordinary believer, but the one who knows goes on to a settled habit of doing good, in the likeness of God.
Greek text · Stählin 2:461–462
ἤτοι ὡς ἄργυρος πολλάκις ἀποκαθαρθεὶς εἰς δοκίμιον καθίσταται ὁ δίκαιος, νόμισμα κυρίου γενόμενος καὶ χάραγμα βασιλικὸν ἀναδεξάμενος, ἤ, ἐπεὶ καὶ Σολομὼν λέγει γλῶσσαν δικαίου ἄργυρον πεπυρωμένον, τὴν δεδοκιμασμένην καὶ σοφὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐπαινετὴν καὶ ἀποδεκτὴν τυγχάνει μηνύων, ὅταν ἐκκεκαθαρμένη πλουσίως τυγχάνῃ τῇ γῇ, τουτέστιν ὅταν πολυτρόπως ἡ γνωστικὴ ψυχὴ ἁγιάζηται κατὰ τὴν ἀποχὴν τῶν γεωδῶν πυρώσεων. ἁγνίζεται δὲ καὶ τὸ σῶμα, ἐν ᾧ οἰκεῖ, ἐξιδιοποιούμενον εἰς εἰλικρίνειαν ἁγίου νεώ· ὁ δὲ ἐν τῷ σώματι καθαρισμὸς τῆς ψυχῆς πρώτης πρῶτος οὗτός ἐστιν, ἡ ἀποχὴ τῶν κακῶν, ἥν τινες τελείωσιν ἡγοῦνται, καὶ ἔστιν ἁπλῶς τοῦ κοινοῦ πιστοῦ, Ἰουδαίου τε καὶ Ἕλληνος, ἡ τελείωσις αὕτη· τοῦ δὲ γνωστικοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἄλλοις νομιζομένην τελείωσιν ἡ δικαιοσύνη εἰς ἐνέργειαν εὐποιίας προβαίνει· καὶ ὅτῳ δὴ ἡ ἐπίτασις τῆς δικαιοσύνης εἰς ἀγαθοποιίαν ἐπιδέδωκεν, τούτῳ ἡ τελείωσις ἐν ἀμεταβόλῳ ἕξει εὐποιίας καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ θεοῦ διαμένει· οἳ μὲν γὰρ σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ, δοῦλοι ἔτι τοῦ θεοῦ, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ κλητοί· υἱοὶ δὲ Ἰακὼβ οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ αὐτοῦ, οἱ τῆς κακίας πτερνίσαντες τὴν ἐνέργειαν.
English · Claude translation
Either the righteous man, like silver often refined, becomes tested, having become the Lord's coin and received the royal stamp; or, since Solomon too says, “The tongue of the righteous is silver refined by fire,” he is indicating that teaching that is tested and wise is praiseworthy and acceptable when it has been richly purified “in the earth,” that is, when the knowing soul is sanctified in many ways by abstaining from earthly fires. And the body too, in which it dwells, is purified, being claimed as its own for the purity of a holy temple. This first cleansing of the soul in the body is abstinence from evils, which some consider perfection; and this is simply the perfection of the common believer, Jew and Greek. But in the one who knows, after what others consider perfection, righteousness advances to the activity of doing good; and in whomever the heightening of righteousness has grown into doing good, in him perfection abides in an unchangeable habit of doing good, after the likeness of God. For those who are the seed of Abraham, still servants of God, are the called; but the sons of Jacob are his elect, who have tripped up the activity of evil.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Prov 10:20, 1 Cor 6:19, and Ps 105:6 (104:6 LXX); “tripped up” (πτερνίζω, “to take by the heel”) plays on Jacob's name (Gen 25:26; 27:36).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/60/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.7.60 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/7/60/).
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