Miscellanies 7.14.86
Summary: All human beings are God's work and should be treated as brothers; retaliation in deed, word, or thought is wrong, and those washed and sanctified must, like the sun, show kindness to the just and unjust and forgive as they hope to be forgiven.
Greek text · Stählin 2
οὐκ ἴσμεν οὐδέπω ἡμεῖς. ἐξ ὧν συνάγεται σαφῶς εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντας εἶναι, ἡμῖν γε αὐτοὺς δοκεῖν δεῖν εἶναι ἀδελφούς, ἤδη δὲ καὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἑνὸς ὄντας ἔργον θεοῦ καὶ μίαν εἰκόνα ἐπὶ μίαν οὐσίαν περιβεβλημένους, κἂν τεθολωμένοι τύχωσιν ἄλλοι ἄλλων μᾶλλον, μόνος ὁ ἐπιστήμων γνωρίζει, καὶ τῶν κτισμάτων τὴν ἐνέργειαν. διʼ ἧς αὖθις τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, προσκυνεῖ. »Ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἄδικοι βασιλείαν θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν;« ἀδικεῖ οὖν ὁ ἀνταδικῶν εἴτʼ οὖν ἔργῳ εἴτε καὶ λόγῳ εἴτε καὶ τῇ τοῦ βούλεσθαι ἐννοίᾳ, ἣν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου παιδαγωγίαν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον περιγράφει. »καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε«, τοιοῦτοι δηλονότι οἷοι ἔτι τυγχάνουσιν οἷς αὐτοὶ οὐ συγγινώσκετε. »ἀλλὰ ἀπελούσασθε«, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὡς οἱ λοιποί, ἀλλὰ μετὰ γνώσεως τὰ πάθη τὰ ψυχικὰ ἀπερρύψασθε. εἰς τὸ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι ὅση δύναμις τῇ ἀγαθότητι τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας διά τε τῆς ἀνεξικακίας διά τε τῆς ἀμνησικακίας, »ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους« τὸ εὐμενὲς τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῶν ἔργων καθάπερ ὁ ἥλιος ἐπιλάμποντες· εἴτʼ οὖν μεγαλονοίᾳ τοῦτο περιποιήσεται ὁ γνωστικὸς εἴτε μιμήσει τοῦ κρείττονος· τρίτη δʼ αἰτία τὸ »ἄφες καὶ ἀφεθήσεταί σοι«, βιαζομένης ὥσπερ τῆς ἐντολῆς εἰς σωτηρίαν διʼ ὑπερβολὴν ἀγαθότητος. »ἀλλʼ ἡγιάσθητε·« τῷ γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο ἥκοντι ἕξεως ἁγίῳ εἶναι συμβαίνει, μηδενὶ τῶν παθῶν κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον περιπίπτοντι.
English · Claude translation
we do not yet know. From this it is clearly gathered that, even if not all are brothers, they must at least seem to us to be brothers; and indeed that all human beings, being the work of one God and clothed with one image upon one substance, even if some happen to be more muddied than others, only the one who understands recognizes; and he reveres the activity of created things, through which in turn he reveres the will of God. “Or do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God?” The one who retaliates, then, does wrong, whether in deed, or in word, or in the very thought of wishing it, which the gospel rules out after the tutelage of the law. “And such were some of you,” that is, such as those still are whom you yourselves do not forgive. “But you were washed,” not simply as the rest were, but with knowledge you washed away the passions of the soul, so as to become like, as far as possible, the goodness of God's providence, through patience and freedom from grudges, shining the kindness of your words and deeds “on the just and the unjust,” as the sun does. The one who knows will achieve this either by greatness of mind or by imitating what is better; and a third cause is “Forgive, and it will be forgiven you,” the commandment, as it were, compelling us to salvation through its surpassing goodness. “But you were sanctified”; for the one who has reached this state is holy, falling into none of the passions in any way,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 6:9, 11, Matt 5:45, and Luke 6:37. Clement reads “you were washed” (baptism) as cleansing from the passions through knowledge. The syntax of the first sentence is loose.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (garbled in the digital text): ε(??)τʼ οὖν → εἴτʼ οὖν; ἀφεθήσεταί σοι(??), → ἀφεθήσεταί σοι«,.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.14.86 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/14/86/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.14.86 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/14/86/).
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