Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 1.6

Anonymous · 2 Clement · ca. 100–150 · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: An anonymous sermon, transmitted in the manuscripts after 1 Clement as Clement's “second letter to the Corinthians.” The text itself names no author and is not a letter; the ascription to Clement of Rome is traditional and not accepted by modern scholars.

Summary: Once blind idol-worshipers, we have been given sight.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:128–130

πηροὶ ὄντες τῇ διανοίᾳ, προσκυνοῦντες λίθους καὶ ξύλα καὶ χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον καὶ χαλκόν, ἔργα ἀνθρώπων· καὶ ὁ βίος ἡμῶν ὅλος ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἦν εἰ μὴ θάνατος. ἀμαύρωσιν οὖν περικείμενοι καὶ τοιαύτης ἀχλύος γέμοντες ἐν τῇ ὁράσει, ἀνεβλέψαμεν ἀποθέμενοι ἐκεῖνο ὃ περικείμεθα νέφος τῇ αὐτοῦ θελήσει.

English · Claude translation

We were maimed in understanding, worshiping stones and wood and gold and silver and bronze, the works of men; and our whole life was nothing but death. So then, wrapped in darkness and our sight full of such a mist, we recovered our sight, laying aside by his will the cloud that surrounded us.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:128–130 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 128–161 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9 (1896) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
  • Ps 115:4 (113:12 LXX) · echo, medium confidence
  • Rev 9:20 · echo, low confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The hearers were former pagans, Gentile converts.

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 1.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/1/6/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 1.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/1/6/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage