Miscellanies 7.16.98
Summary: Heretics, puffed up with conceit, cling to their positions out of ambition for leadership and first places at their love-feasts; conceit, like every passion, is healed by understanding its cause and by training the soul.
Greek text · Stählin 2
ὑπὸ δοξοσοφίας τοίνυν ἐπηρμένοι ἐρίζοντες διατελοῦσι, δῆλοι γεγονότες ὡς τοῦ δοκεῖν μᾶλλον ἤπερ τοῦ φιλοσοφεῖν προνοοῦνται. αὐτίκα οὐκ ἀναγκαίας ἀρχὰς πραγμάτων καταβαλλόμενοι δόξαις τε ἀνθρωπίναις κεκινημένοι, ἔπειτα ἀναγκαίως τέλος ἀκολουθοῦν αὑτοῖς ἐκποριζόμενοι, διαπληκτίζονται διὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους πρὸς τοὺς τὴν ἀληθῆ φιλοσοφίαν μεταχειριζομένους, καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον ὑπομένουσι καὶ πάντα, φασί, κάλων κινοῦσι, κἂν ἀσεβεῖν διὰ τὸ ἀπιστεῖν ταῖς γραφαῖς μέλλωσιν, ἤπερ μετατίθενται, ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας τῆς αἱρέσεως καὶ τῆς πολυθρυλήτου κατὰ τὰς ἐκκλησίας αὐτῶν πρωτοκαθεδρίας, διʼ ἣν κἀκείνην τὴν συμποτικὴν [διὰ] τῆς ψευδωνύμου ἀγάπης πρωτοκλισίαν ἀσπάζονται, ἡ παρʼ ἡμῖν δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπίγνωσις ἐκ τῶν ἤδη πιστῶν τοῖς οὔπω πιστοῖς ἐκπορίζεται τὴν πίστιν, ἥτις οὐσία ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀποδείξεως καθίσταται, ἀλλʼ, ὡς ἔοικεν, πᾶσα αἵρεσις ἀρχὴν ὦτα ἀκούοντα οὐκ ἔχει τὸ σύμφορον, μόνον δὲ τοῖς πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἀνεῳγότα. ἐπεὶ κἂν ἰάθη τις αὐτῶν, εἰ πείθεσθαι τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μόνον ἠβουλήθη. τριττὴ δὲ θεραπεία οἰήσεως, καθάπερ καὶ παντὸς πάθους, μάθησίς τε τοῦ αἰτίου καὶ τοῦ πῶς ἂν ἐξαιρεθείη τοῦτο, καὶ τρίτον ἡ ἄσκησις τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ὁ ἐθισμὸς πρὸς τὸ τοῖς κριθεῖσιν ὀρθῶς ἔχειν ἀκολουθεῖν δύνασθαι.
English · Claude translation
Puffed up, then, by a conceit of wisdom, they go on quarreling, having shown plainly that they care more for seeming than for philosophy. For example, laying down first principles of things that are not necessary, moved by human opinions, and then contriving an end that follows necessarily from them, they fight, because of the refutations, against those who practice the true philosophy; and they will endure anything and, as they say, pull every rope, even if they are going to be impious by disbelieving the Scriptures, rather than change their position. They do this out of ambition for their sect and for the much-talked-of first seat in their churches, for the sake of which they also embrace the first couch at the banquet of their falsely named love-feast. But among us the full knowledge of the truth supplies faith, from those already believing, to those not yet believing, and this faith becomes, so to speak, the substance of demonstration. But, it seems, no heresy at all has ears to hear what is beneficial, only ears open to pleasure. For one of them would be healed, if only he were willing to obey the truth. The treatment of conceit, as of every passion, is threefold: learning its cause and how it might be removed; and third, training the soul and accustoming it to be able to follow what has been judged right.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Pull every rope” (literally “move every cable”) is a proverb for doing everything possible. “First seat” echoes Matt 23:6. The “love-feast” (ἀγάπη) was the Christian fellowship meal. The bracketed διὰ is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text; stray periods and misspelling in the digital text (κάλων)): δόξαις τε ἀνθρωπίναις κεκινημένοι. ἔπειτα → δόξαις τε ἀνθρωπίναις κεκινημένοι, ἔπειτα; καὶ πάντα. φασί, κάλον κινοῦσι. κἂν → καὶ πάντα, φασί, κάλων κινοῦσι, κἂν; ἤπερ μετατίθενται. ὑπὸ → ἤπερ μετατίθενται, ὑπὸ; οὐκ ἔχει τὸ σύμφορον. μόνον → οὐκ ἔχει τὸ σύμφορον, μόνον; θεραπεία οἰήσεως. καθάπερ → θεραπεία οἰήσεως, καθάπερ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.16.98 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/16/98/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.16.98 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/16/98/).
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