Fragments (complete)

… not naked of possessions (for that is a small and common thing), but, as a righteous man, he departs naked of evil and … But Job's words are to be understood more subtly thus: naked of evil and sin, as from his mother's womb, that is, “I was formed from the earth in the beginning, and to the earth I shall also depart”; naked not of property, for that is a small and common thing, but of evil and wickedness and of the ugly phantom that follows those who have lived unjustly. In the obvious sense, however, all men are born naked and are bound up naked again. [For God has prepared another life for us, and has made the present life the road of the course toward that one, appointing the things we need from our possessions only as provisions for the road; and when we have gone out of this road, the wealth of what we acquired [stays behind]. For of all that we have had, we have nothing as our own; we are owners of one possession only, piety. This, death when it comes will not plunder; but of all the rest it will strip us even against our will. For we have all received our property in life only to hand it on, and each departs having enjoyed only its use, carrying away from life a small memorial: this is the end of all prosperity, this the conclusion of the goods of life. Rightly, then, the infant, peeping out of the womb, begins at once with wailing, not with laughter; for it weeps as though crying out against life, from which from the very start it tastes mortal gifts. For as soon as it is born its hands are swaddled, and its feet, and wrapped in bonds it enjoys the breast. O preamble of life, forerunner of death! The infant has just passed into life, and at once the dress of the dead is put on it; for nature reminds those who are born of their end. Therefore the child, when born, laments, as though crying out to its mother through its wailing: “Why, … , have you brought me forth to this life, in which every addition to living is progress toward death? Why have you brought me into a world full of trouble, in which swaddling bands are my first gift at birth? Why have you handed me over to such a life, in which youth is pitiable, wasting away before old age, and old age is to be shunned as near to death? Terrible, mother, is the racecourse of life, which has death as the turning post of the runners. Bitter is the road of life we travel, which has the tomb as the inn of the travelers; hard is the sea of life we sail across, for it has Hades standing by as a pirate.” Alone of all creatures man is born naked, having no weapon, no clothing born with him: not because he is inferior to the other animals, but so that nakedness might bring care, and care might display wisdom, drive out idleness, bring in the arts through need, and give birth to all kinds of contrivances. For the naked man is full of devices, pricked by need as by a goad: how he may escape the rains, how he may outwit the cold, how [he may avoid] the blows of wild beasts, how he may tame the creatures stronger than he. Rained on … , struck, he has contrived a breastplate; … thorns … he found, out of fear, an art that frightens what frightens him. Nakedness gave birth to one understanding after another, so that nakedness too is a gift and a grace from the Master. So Job too, stripped of money, of possessions, of good children and many children, and losing everything in a short time, cried out this thankful word: “Naked I came out of the womb, naked I shall also depart thither” — that is, to God, and to that blessed lot and rest.

Of all things the most precious possession is freedom from disturbance. Such is the blessed Job whom the word describes to us; for it is said of him, “What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water?” For he is truly to be envied and worthy, I think, of all admiration, if anyone has come to such patience that he can easily bear the grief that comes from being wronged, a grief truly bitter and not easily fought down by ordinary people.

Alms are to be given, but with judgment and to the worthy, so that we may find a recompense from the Most High. But woe to those who have and yet take in hypocrisy, or who are able to help themselves and wish to receive from others; for he who has and takes through hypocrisy or idleness … The word that proclaims the kingdom of heaven is sharp and biting, like mustard; it destroys bile, that is, anger, and cuts through phlegm, that is, pride; and from this word comes the true health of the soul and its everlasting good balance. And the growth of the word advanced to such size that what grew from it (this would be the Church of Christ, established everywhere on earth) filled all things, so that the birds of heaven, that is, divine angels and lofty souls, nest in its branches. Jesus too is a pearl, transparent and most pure, whom the Virgin bore from the divine lightning. For as the pearl, formed in flesh and shell and in moisture, appears to be a body moist and transparent, full of light and spirit, so too God the Word, made flesh, is spiritual light, shining out through a body of light and moisture.

… [that she may not] make them stumble into … For the real angels in heaven see her even when she is veiled. “Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh.” As in us what is according to the flesh is what is in sins, and what is outside these is not according to the flesh, so also in Christ what is according to the flesh is yielding to the natural passions, and not yielding is not according to the flesh; but as, he says, he was set free, so are we. … you. “But you are constrained in your own affections,” that is, in the love toward God with which you ought to love me. “But those who are Christ's [have crucified] the flesh.” “And why do I speak,” he says, “of each kind of virtue one by one? For there are some who have even crucified themselves as far as the passions are concerned, and the passions as far as they themselves are concerned.” On this interpretation the “but” is not superfluous: “But those who are Christ's,” that is, straining, “have crucified their own flesh.” Yes, truly the apostles were baptized, as Clement the Stromatist records in the fifth book of the Hypotyposes. For explaining the apostolic saying, “I give thanks that I baptized none of you,” he says: “Christ is said to have baptized Peter alone, Peter Andrew, Andrew James and John, and they the rest.” Clement, writing in the sixth book of the Hypotyposes, sets it out thus. For he says that Peter and James and John, after the ascension of the Savior, though they had been preferred by the Lord, did not contend for glory, but chose James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem … So, then, when the divine word had come to dwell among them, the power of Simon was quenched and at once destroyed together with the man; and so great a light of piety [shone] on the minds of Peter's hearers that they were not satisfied with hearing him once only, nor with the unwritten teaching of the divine proclamation, but with all kinds of entreaties [they begged] Mark, whose Gospel is extant, since he was [Peter's] follower, … to leave them in writing a memorial of the teaching handed down to them by word; and they did not let up until they had prevailed on the man, and so they became the cause of the writing of the Gospel called according to Mark. And they say that [the apostle], knowing what had been done, … Peter. And having put him in bonds, [he would] all but … In the Hypotyposes, to put it briefly, … he says is [Paul's], but written to Hebrews … the people to the faith. … as to men. … having stumbled, to fall under the judgment and … of disobedience. … Christ the Son of God. “Through many witnesses”: that is, of the law and the prophets; for these the apostle made witnesses of his own preaching. To James the Just and John and Peter, after the resurrection, the Lord imparted knowledge; these imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy, of whom Barnabas also was one. About this James, Clement also gives a story worth remembering in the seventh book of the Hypotyposes, saying that he has it from the tradition of those before him: that the man who had brought him into court, seeing him bear witness, was moved and confessed that he was … both, he says, [were led away together], and on the way he asked to be forgiven by James. And he, after considering a little, said, “Peace be to you,” and kissed him. And so … as the blessed presbyter used to say: since the Lord, being the apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, out of modesty, as one sent to the Gentiles, does not inscribe himself apostle of the Hebrews, both out of honor for the Lord and because he wrote to the Hebrews too as something beyond his duty, being herald and apostle of the Gentiles. When Peter had publicly preached the word in Rome and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, those present, who were many, urged Mark, as one who had followed him for a long time and remembered what had been said, to write down what was spoken; and when he had made the Gospel, he gave it to those who asked him for it. When Peter learned of this, he neither forbade it nor urged it on. But John, last, seeing that the bodily facts had been set forth in the Gospels, urged on by his acquaintances … Gospel.

X. Substance in God. God is a divine substance, eternal and without beginning, incorporeal and uncircumscribed, and the cause of the things that exist. Substance is that which subsists throughout. … ; according to others, the coming into being of the things brought into existence; according to others, the providence of God, producing in the things that come to be their being and the manner of their being. … Will is a natural power that desires what is according to nature. Will is a natural appetite, a self-determining [motion] of the … mind, or mind moving toward something of its own choice. Self-determination is mind moving according to nature, or the self-governing intellectual motion of the soul.

Souls that breathe free of all things possess life; when they are separated from the body and are found to have longing for it, are borne immortal into the bosom of God; as in wintertime the vapors of the earth, drawn up by the rays of the sun, are borne toward it. All souls are immortal, even those of the ungodly, for whom it would be better not to be incorruptible. For, punished by unquenchable fire with endless punishment and not dying, they cannot find an end of their misery. Never stand in awe of the one who speaks evil to you of another; rather say: “Stop, brother; every day I commit worse faults, and how can I condemn him?” … yourself, and healing your neighbor. … shows what is truly evil. Hence through these circumstances God devised to make manifest the disposition of each. It is not abstaining from deeds that justifies the believer, but purity and sincerity of thoughts.

Repentance becomes effective in blotting out every sin when, upon the soul's fall, it admits no delay and does not put off the passion to a later time. For so the evil will not be able to leave a trace in us, since at the very moment it sets foot … As the creatures called crabs are easy to catch because they go sometimes forward and sometimes backward, so too the soul that now laughs, now mourns, now lives in luxury can achieve nothing useful. He who now mourns and now lives in luxury and laughs is like a man who stones the dog of pleasure with bread: in appearance he drives it away, in fact he encourages it to stay near. Some flatterers were calling a wise man blessed. He said to them: “If you stop praising me, I shall infer from your withdrawal that I am great; but if you do not stop praising me, I shall infer from your praise my own impurity.” Feigned praise is more dishonorable than true blame. To the feeble and sickly, moderation seems more than they can bear. Very trustworthy is reproof joined with knowledge. Sometimes too knowledge is found to be the most perfect proof. … as the divine word teaches. A pure word and a stainless life are the true throne and temple of God. [Not he who abs]tains only from the evil deed is righteous, unless he also achieves doing good.

… and giving in marriage before the time: when, so to speak, a girl is given to a husband before she is ripe, either by her own choice or by her parents.

Flattery is a disease of friendship. Most people are accustomed to court the good fortune of rulers rather than the rulers themselves. … avoiding sickness of soul and body. The acquisition and use of necessities is not harmful in its quality, but in a quantity beyond measure. Eating little is a necessary good. A vivid remembrance of death cuts off foods; and when foods are cut off in humility, the passions are cut off as well. Above all, Christians are not permitted to correct the failings of sins by force. For God crowns not those who abstain from evil by compulsion, but those who abstain by choice. It is not possible for anyone to be steadfastly good except by his own choice. For he who is made good by another's compulsion is not good, because he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each that makes the truly good, and …

[From the book On the Passover:] … the Lord, keeping the feast, ate the Passover sacrificed by the Jews. But when he had proclaimed that he himself was the Passover, the Lamb of God, led as a sheep to the slaughter, he at once taught his disciples the mystery of the type on the thirteenth day, on which they also asked him, “Where do you wish us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” On this day, then, took place both the consecration of the unleavened bread and the preparation for the feast. Hence John fittingly records that on this day the disciples, as already preparing, had their feet washed by the Lord. And our Savior suffered on the following day, being himself the Passover, offered as a fair sacrifice by the Jews. … The chief priests and the scribes, bringing him to Pilate, did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover in the evening without hindrance. With this precise reckoning of the days all the Scriptures agree, and the Gospels are in harmony. The resurrection also bears witness: at any rate he rose on the third day, which was the first of the weeks of the harvest, on which the priest was commanded by the law to offer the sheaf. [On the dove and the iota:] God did not wish here to show a human likeness, but gentleness, by the likeness of the dove at the new appearance of the Spirit. For the law was heavy and punished with the sword, but grace is cheerful and regulates by the word of gentleness. This is why the Lord, when the apostles said they would punish with fire, after the manner of Elijah, those who did not receive them, said, “You do not know of what spirit you are.” Perhaps through the iota and the stroke his righteousness has cried out: “If you come upright to me, I too will be upright to you; if you walk crookedly, I too will be crooked, says the Lord of hosts,” hinting at the rebukes of sinners as crooked ways. For the straight way and the one according to nature, which the iota of Jesus hints at, is his goodness, unmoved and unswerving toward those who have believed from obedience. “Not an iota nor a stroke will pass from the law,” that is, neither the [goodness] toward the upright … nor the punishment threatened. For the Lord does good to the upright, but those who turn aside into crooked ways he will lead away with the workers of iniquity. And with the innocent he is innocent, and with the perverse he is perverse, and to the crooked he sends crooked ways. [On the image of God:] With his own form of light, as with a great seal, God stamped man in his likeness, so that he might rule and be lord over all, and all might serve him. Therefore God judges man to be wholly his, and his own image. He is invisible, but his image, man, is visible. Whatever, then, anyone does to a man, whether good or bad, is referred to him. Therefore judgment from him, assigning to all according to their desert, will come; for he avenges his own form.

[On generation and death:] Just as it is possible even now for him to fashion men, as in the first forming of Adam, yet he no longer does so, because he once granted man to beget men, saying to nature, “[Fill] the earth”; so by his all-powerful and providential power [he also governs] the dissolution and end of bodies, by a certain natural sequence and order, … his essential knowledge and comprehension of God. [On spirit:] But Clement the Stromatist too, in the various definitions he composed so that they might guide every pious person who wishes to pursue theology, defining what spirit is and in how many senses “spirit” is used, says: “Spirit is a subtle, immaterial, shapeless, proceeding existence.” [Of Clement, presbyter of Alexandria, from the …:] Solomon the son of David, in the books entitled Kingdoms, understanding that the building of the true temple was not only heavenly and spiritual but also extended to the flesh, which the son and Lord of David was to build … for his own presence, where he had determined to be enthroned like a living statue, and to the Church raised up by the gathering of faith, says word for word, “Will God then truly dwell with men on the earth?” He dwells on earth clothed in flesh, and his dwelling with men comes about in the composition and harmony of the righteous, as he builds and raises a holy temple. For the righteous are earth, still clothed with earth; and earth, as compared with the greatness of the Lord. This is why the blessed Peter too does not hesitate to say, “You yourselves, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” And of the body, which the Lord consecrated to himself on earth as a divine place within bounds, he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “Forty-six years this temple was being built, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he spoke of the temple of his body. [Of the most holy and most blessed Clement, from the discourse On Providence:] What is God? God is, as the Lord also says, spirit. And spirit is properly an incorporeal and uncircumscribed substance. Incorporeal is that which is not completed by a body, or whose being is not according to breadth, length, and depth. Uncircumscribed is that which has no place, being wholly in all things, whole in each, and the same by itself. Nature (physis) is so called from “being grown” (pephykenai). First substance is everything that subsists by itself, as a stone is called a substance. Second substance is the growing, inasmuch as it grows and wanes: the plant. Third substance is the ensouled and sensitive: the animal, the horse. Second(?) substance ensouled, sensitive, rational: man. Hence also each [man] has come to be as one made from all, having an immaterial soul, and the mind as God's image. The fear of the impassible God is impassible. For one fears not God, but falling away from God. He who dreads this, falling into evils, fears and dreads evils; and he who dreads the fall wishes himself to be incorruptible and impassible. [Further fragments:] Let there be a law against those who handle holy and divine things without reverence … In general the Christian … solitude and quiet and … and death, the death that comes by the attack of persecutors … they believed the law …, but with bare word and fear … “[Even if we have known] Christ according to the flesh.” … in sins, and what is outside these is not according to the flesh; so also … [On 2 Cor 6:11–13:] For just as heat is wont to widen, so too love; for love is a warm thing. … “Not only with my mouth, but with my heart too, I love, and I have all of you within.” Therefore he says, “You are not constrained by us,” his longing widening his soul; “our heart is enlarged” to teach you all things; “but you are constrained in your own affections,” that is, in the love toward God with which you ought to love me. So Clement in the fourth [book of the Hypotyposes], on “In many and various ways God of old,” and so on. [Of Clement:] Since the Lord, being the Apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul out of modesty does not inscribe himself apostle of the Hebrews, out of honor for the Lord, and because he was herald and apostle of the Gentiles, and wrote to the Hebrews as something beyond his duty. … to die for …, and to show the trophy over death.