The Instructor 2.10.103
Summary: The lilies are clothed by God; Christians are told not to seek “what” they will eat, that is, dainties and luxury, which the nations seek, but plain food, which the Father knows we need.
Greek text · Stählin 1:218–219
τί οὖν ὡραιότερον καὶ εὐανθέστερον ἀνθέων; τί δὲ ἐπιτερπέστερον κρίνων [ἢ μύρων] ἢ ῥόδων; »εἰ δὲ τὸν χόρτον σήμερον ἐν ἀγρῷ ὄντα καὶ αὔριον εἰς κλίβανον βαλλόμενον ὁ θεὸς οὕτως ἀμφιέννυσι, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς, ὀλιγόπιστοι. καὶ ὑμεῖς μὴ ζητεῖτε τί φάγητε ἢ τί πίητε.« ἐνταῦθα τὸ »τί« μόριον τὴν ποικιλίαν τῆς τροφῆς ἐκβέβληκε, σημαίνεται γὰρ ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς τοῦτο· μὴ μεριμνᾶτε ποῖα φάγητε ἢ ποῖα πίητε· πλεονεξία γὰρ καὶ τρυφὴ μεριμνᾶν ταῦτα· τὸ δὲ φαγεῖν μόνον ψιλῶς νοούμενον ἀνάγκης ἐστὶ τεκμήριον, τὸ πλήρωμα, ὡς ἔφαμεν, τῆς ἐνδείας· τὸ δὲ »τί« ἐκ περισσοῦ, τὸ δὲ περιττὸν ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου μεμήνυκεν ἡ γραφή. σαφηνίζει δὲ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡ ἐπιφερομένη λέξις. »μὴ γὰρ ζητεῖτε τί φάγητε ἢ τί πίητε« εἰπών, ἐπήγαγεν· »καὶ μὴ μετεωρίζεσθε·« μετεώρους δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀλαζονεία καὶ τρυφὴ ποιεῖ, καὶ ἡ εἰς τὰ περιττὰ ἀπασχολοῦσα ἡδυπάθεια ἀπάγει τῆς ἀληθείας· διὸ καί φησι παγκάλως· »ταῦτα δὲ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τοῦ κόσμου ζητεῖ.« οἱ ἄτακτοι καὶ ἀνόητοι τὰ ἔθνη εἰσίν. τίνα δὲ λέγει »ταῦτα«; τὴν τρυφήν, τὴν ἡδυπάθειαν, τὴν καρυκείαν, τὴν ὀψοφαγίαν, τὴν λαιμαργίαν· ταῦτά ἐστι τὸ »τί«. περὶ δὲ ψιλῆς τῆς τροφῆς, τῆς τε ξηρᾶς καὶ τῆς ὑγρᾶς, ὡς ἀναγκαίων οὐσῶν, »οἶδε«, φησίν, »ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὅτι χρῄζετε«. εἰ δὲ ὅλως ζητητικοὶ γεγόναμεν, μὴ εἰς τρυφὴν τὸ ζητητικὸν ἀπολλύωμεν, ἀλλὰ εἰς τὴν εὕρεσιν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀναζωπυρήσωμεν.
English · Claude translation
What is lovelier and more blooming than flowers? What more delightful than lilies [or perfumes] or roses? “If God so clothes the grass that is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more you, you of little faith. And do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink.” Here the word “what” has thrown out variety of food; for this is what is meant by the Scripture: do not be anxious about what sort of things you will eat or drink; for to be anxious about these is greed and luxury. Eating alone, understood simply, is a sign of necessity, the filling, as we said, of want; but the “what” comes from excess, and Scripture has declared that excess comes from the devil. The following words make the meaning plain. Having said, “Do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink,” he added, “and do not be anxious” (literally, “up in the air”); for pretension and luxury put people up in the air, away from the truth, and voluptuousness occupied with superfluities leads away from the truth. So he says very beautifully, “For all the nations of the world seek these things.” The disorderly and foolish are the nations. What does he mean by “these things”? Luxury, voluptuousness, sauces, gourmandise, gluttony: these are the “what.” But about plain food, both dry and liquid, as necessary things, he says, “Your Father knows that you need them.” And if we have become seekers at all, let us not waste our seeking on luxury, but rekindle it for the finding of the truth.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Luke 12:28–30 (Matt 6:30–32); “excess comes from the evil one” recalls Matt 5:37. Clement's reading turns on the word “what” (τί) and on μετεωρίζεσθαι (“be anxious,” literally “be lifted up”). The bracketed words are marked by the editor as an intrusion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: ξηρᾶς): τῆς τε ξηρὰς καὶ → τῆς τε ξηρᾶς καὶ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.103 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/103/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.10.103 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/10/103/).
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