The Instructor 1.6.51
Summary: Milk mixes with water, honey, and wine, as the Word is joined with baptism, heals and cleanses, and raises the suffering human being to incorruption.
Greek text · Stählin 1:120–121
δέχεται γὰρ μόνον τῶν ὑγρῶν τοῦτο καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὕδωρ μῖξιν ἐπὶ κάθαρσιν παραλαμβανόμενον καθάπερ τὸ βάπτισμα ἐπὶ ἀφέσει ἁμαρτιῶν. μίγνυται δὲ καὶ μέλιτι προσφυῶς καὶ τοῦτο ἐπὶ καθάρσει πάλιν μετὰ γλυκείας τῆς τροφῆς· μιγνύμενος γὰρ ὁ λόγος φιλανθρωπίᾳ ἰᾶταί τε ἅμα τὰ πάθη καὶ ἀνακαθαίρει τὰς ἁμαρτίας· καὶ τὸ »μέλιτος γλυκίων ῥέεν αὐδὴ« ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου λελέχθαι μοι δοκεῖ, ὅς ἐστιν μέλι· καὶ πολλαχοῦ δὲ ἡ προφητεία »ὑπὲρ μέλι καὶ κηρίον« ἀνάγει. ναὶ μὴν ἔτι μίγνυται τὸ γάλα καὶ οἴνῳ τῷ γλυκεῖ, ἐπωφελὴς δὲ ἡ μῖξις, καθάπερ ἀνακιρναμένου τοῦ πάθους εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν· ἐξορροῦται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ οἴνου τὸ γάλα καὶ σχίζεται, καὶ ὅτιπερ αὐτοῦ νόθον, τοῦτʼ ἀποχετεύεται. κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ δὲ τῆς πίστεως ἡ κοινωνία ἡ πνευματικὴ πρὸς τὸν παθητὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὰς σαρκικὰς ἐπιθυμίας ἐξορροῦσα, εἰς ἀιδιότητα συστέλλει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῖς θείοις ἀπαθανατίζουσα. [ἀλλ᾿] οἱ πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ τῷ λιπαρῷ τοῦ γάλακτος,
English · Claude translation
For milk alone of liquids accepts mixture with water, and is taken for cleansing, as baptism is taken for the forgiveness of sins. It also mixes naturally with honey, and this again for cleansing, with sweet food; for the Word, mingled with love for humankind, at once heals the passions and cleanses away sins. And the words “From his tongue flowed speech sweeter than honey” seem to me to have been said of the Word, who is honey; and prophecy often exalts him “above honey and the honeycomb.” Milk also mixes with sweet wine, and the mixture is beneficial, as when suffering is blended into incorruption. For milk is curdled by wine and separates, and whatever in it is impure is drained off. In the same way the spiritual fellowship of faith with the human being subject to suffering, curdling out the fleshly desires, draws the human being together into eternity, making him immortal by divine things. Many people also use the fat of milk,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Homer, Iliad 1.249 (of Nestor) and Ps 19:10 (18:11 LXX). The bracketed word is marked by the editor as spurious (to be deleted). The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (question mark in the digital text splits the sentence, which continues in 1.6.52): τῷ λιπαρῷ τοῦ γάλακτος; → τῷ λιπαρῷ τοῦ γάλακτος,.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.51 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/51/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.6.51 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/6/51/).
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