Miscellanies 7.16.93
Summary: Seekers of truth must find their proof in the Scriptures and lay aside conceit; whoever has once received the gospel must not look back, like Lot's wife, either to his old life or to the heresies.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ἀλλʼ οἱ πονεῖν ἕτοιμοι ἐπὶ τοῖς καλλίστοις οὐ πρότερον ἀποστήσονται ζητοῦντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν πρὶν ἂν τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν λάβωσι τῶν γραφῶν. ἔστι μὲν οὖν κοινά τινα τῶν ἀνθρώπων κριτήρια καθάπερ τὰ αἰσθητήρια. τὰ δʼ ἄλλα τῶν βουληθέντων καὶ ἀσκησάντων τὰ ἀληθῆ, τὰ διὰ νοῦ καὶ λογισμοῦ τεχνικὰ λόγων ἀληθῶν τε καὶ ψευδῶν. μέγιστον δὲ τὸ καὶ τὴν οἴησιν ἀποθέσθαι, ἐν μέσῳ καταστάντας ἀκριβοῦς ἐπιστήμης καὶ προπετοῦς δοξοσοφίας, καὶ γνῶναι ὅτι ὁ τὴν αἰώνιον ἐλπίζων ἀνάπαυσιν γιγνώσκει καὶ τὴν εἴσοδον αὐτῆς ἐπίπονον οὖσαν καὶ »τεθλιμμένην«. ὁ δὲ ἅπαξ εὐαγγελισθεὶς καὶ »τὸ σωτήριόν« φησιν »ἰδών«, ἐν ᾗ ὥρᾳ ἂν ἐπιγνῷ, μὴ »ἐπιστρεφέσθω εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καθάπερ ἡ Λὼτ γυνὴ« μηδὲ εἰς τὸν πρότερον βίον τὸν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς προσανέχοντα, μηδὲ μὴν εἰς τὰς αἱρέσεις παλινδρομείτω· ἐρίζουσι γὰρ ἁμῇ γέ πῃ, τὸν ὄντα μὴ γινώσκουσαι θεόν. »ὁ γὰρ φιλῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ὑπὲρ ἐμέ«, τὸν ὄντως πατέρα καὶ διδάσκαλον τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸν ἀναγεννῶντα καὶ ἀνακτίζοντα καὶ τιθηνούμενον τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν ἐξειλεγμένην, »οὐκ ἔστι μου ἄξιος«, ἄξιος λέγει τοῦ εἶναι υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ μαθητὴς θεοῦ ὁμοῦ καὶ φίλος καὶ συγγενής. »οὐδεὶς γὰρ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω βλέπων καὶ ἐπιβάλλων τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἄροτρον εὔθετος τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ.« Ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἔοικεν,
English · Claude translation
But those who are ready to toil for the finest things will not give up seeking the truth before they obtain the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves. There are, then, certain criteria common to all human beings, such as the sense organs; and there are others that belong to those who have willed and practiced what is true, the criteria of true and false arguments that work skillfully through mind and reasoning. And the greatest thing is to lay aside conceit, taking one's stand between exact understanding and rash pretension to wisdom, and to know that whoever hopes for eternal rest knows also that its entrance is toilsome and “narrow.” And let the one who has once received the good news and, as it says, “seen salvation,” in the very hour in which he recognizes it, not “turn back, like Lot's wife,” either to his former life devoted to the things of sense, or to the heresies; for they are somehow quarrelsome, not knowing the God who is. “For he who loves father or mother more than me,” the true Father and Teacher of the truth, who regenerates, recreates, and nurses the chosen soul, “is not worthy of me”; worthy, he means, of being a son of God and a disciple of God, and at the same time his friend and kin. “For no one who looks back and puts his hand to the plow is fit for the kingdom of God.” But, it seems,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Matt 7:14, Luke 2:30, Luke 17:31–32 with Gen 19:26, Matt 10:37, and Luke 9:62.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (Λώτ); stray period in the digital text; stray periods in the digital text): ἀσκησάντων τὰ ἀληθῆ. τὰ διὰ νοῦ → ἀσκησάντων τὰ ἀληθῆ, τὰ διὰ νοῦ; τὴν οἴησιν ἀποθέσθαι. ἐν μέσῳ → τὴν οἴησιν ἀποθέσθαι, ἐν μέσῳ; ἡ Αὼτ γυνὴ → ἡ Λὼτ γυνὴ; Ἀλλʼ. ὡς ἔοικεν. → Ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἔοικεν,.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.16.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/16/93/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.16.93 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/16/93/).
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