Sophia Scriptura

2 Clement 16.4

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: Almsgiving, fasting, prayer, and love: almsgiving lightens sin.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:154–156

καλὸν οὖν ἐλεημοσύνη ὡς μετάνοια ἁμαρτίας· κρείσσων νηστεία προσευχῆς, ἐλεημοσύνη δὲ ἀμφοτέρων· ἀγάπη δὲ καλύπτει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν, προσευχὴ δὲ ἐκ καλῆς συνειδήσεως ἐκ θανάτου ῥύεται. μακάριος πᾶς ὁ εὑρεθεὶς ἐν τούτοις πλήρης· ἐλεημοσύνη γὰρ κούφισμα ἁμαρτίας γίνεται.

English · Claude translation

Almsgiving, then, is good, as repentance from sin. Fasting is better than prayer, and almsgiving than both; and “love covers a multitude of sins,” and prayer from a good conscience rescues from death. Blessed is everyone who is found full of these; for almsgiving lightens sin.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:154–156 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Tob 12:8-9 (Tobit) · allusion, medium confidence
Topics
Fasting, Prayer, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The ranking of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving is unusual, and the sentence may be corrupt. The teaching that almsgiving lessens sin follows Jewish tradition (Tob 12:8–9).

Cite this passage

2 Clem. 16.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/16/4/).

Plain text
2 Clem. 16.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/2-clement/16/4/).

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