Miscellanies 7.1.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2

Ταύτῃ ἄρα φιλόθεος [τε τὸ πρῶτον]. ὡς γὰρ ὁ τιμῶν τὸν πατέρα φιλοπάτωρ, οὕτως ὁ τιμῶν τὸν θεὸν φιλόθεος. ᾗ καί μοι καταφαίνεται τρία εἶναι τῆς γνωστικῆς δυνάμεως ἀποτελέσματα, πρῶτον τὸ γινώσκειν τὰ πράγματα, δεύτερον τὸ ἐπιτελεῖν ὅ τι ἂν ὁ λόγος ὑπαγορεύῃ, καὶ τρίτον τὸ παραδιδόναι δύνασθαι θεοπρεπῶς τὰ παρὰ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἐπικεκρυμμένα. ὁ τοίνυν θεὸν πεπεισμένος εἶναι παντοκράτορα καὶ τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια παρὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς παιδὸς αὐτοῦ ἐκμαθών, πῶς οὗτος ἄθεος; ἄθεος μὲν γὰρ ὁ μὴ νομίζων εἶναι θεόν, δεισιδαίμων δὲ ὁ δεδιὼς τὰ δαιμόνια. ὁ πάντα θειάζων καὶ ξύλον καὶ λίθον καὶ πνεῦμα ἄνθρωπον τὸν μὴ λογικῶς βιοῦντα καταδεδουλωμένον.

English · Claude translation

In this way, then, he is a lover of God. For as the one who honors his father is a lover of his father, so the one who honors God is a lover of God. Hence it appears to me that there are three effects of the power of knowledge: first, to know things; second, to carry out whatever reason dictates; and third, to be able to hand on, in a manner worthy of God, what is hidden in the truth. The one, then, who is persuaded that God is almighty, and has learned the divine mysteries from his only-begotten Son, how is he an atheist? For the atheist is the one who does not think there is a God, and the superstitious person is the one who fears the daemons, who makes everything divine, wood and stone alike, and has enslaved his spirit, a human being who does not live according to reason.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2 · 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.

Notes

Translation notes

The words bracketed in the edition after “lover of God” (“first”) are marked by Stählin for deletion and are not translated. The syntax of the last sentence is loose; “has enslaved his spirit” renders the Greek as printed. “Son” renders παῖς, which can also mean “servant”.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (missing breathing on ὁ): ὡς γὰρ ὸ τιμῶν → ὡς γὰρ ὁ τιμῶν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/1/4/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/1/4/).