Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 6.9.72

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: United with God by love, the one who knows has no desires and strives to be like his teacher in freedom from passion; the mind is God's image in man, so sin against a man is impiety.

Greek text · Stählin 2:467–468

οὔτʼ οὖν ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ ὀρέξει τινὶ περιπίπτει οὔτε ἐνδεής ἐστι κατά γε τὴν ψυχὴν τῶν ἄλλων τινός, συνὼν ἤδη διʼ ἀγάπης τῷ ἐραστῷ, ᾧ δὴ ᾠκείωται κατὰ τὴν αἵρεσιν, καὶ τῇ ἐξ ἀσκήσεως ἕξει τούτῳ προσεχέστερον συνεγγίζων, μακάριος ὢν διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν περιουσίαν, ὥστε ἕνεκά γε τούτων ἐξομοιοῦσθαι βιάζεται τῷ διδασκάλῳ εἰς ἀπάθειαν· νοερὸς γὰρ ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, καθʼ ὃ ὁ τοῦ νοῦ εἰκονισμὸς ὁρᾶται ἐν μόνῳ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ᾗ καὶ θεοειδὴς καὶ θεοείκελος ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἀνὴρ κατὰ ψυχὴν ὅ τε αὖ θεὸς ἀνθρωποειδής· τὸ γὰρ εἶδος ἑκάστου ὁ νοῦς, ᾧ χαρακτηριζόμεθα. παρʼ ὃ καὶ οἱ εἰς ἄνθρωπον ἁμαρτάνοντες ἀνόσιοί τε καὶ ἀσεβεῖς.

English · Claude translation

So he does not fall into desire or any craving, nor is he in need, as far as the soul is concerned, of anything else, since he is already united through love with the Beloved, to whom he has been made akin by his own choice, and drawing nearer to him by the habit that comes from discipline, being blessed through the abundance of good things; so that for these reasons he strives to be made like the teacher in freedom from passion. For the Word of God is intellectual, and in this respect the image of mind is seen in man alone; hence the good man is godlike and resembles God in soul, and God in turn is manlike; for the form of each is the mind, by which we are characterized. That is why those who sin against a man are also unholy and impious.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:467–468 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is Gen 1:26–27.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.9.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/9/72/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.9.72 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/9/72/).

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