Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 1.4

Clement of Alexandria · Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? · ca. 190–210 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The truly loving course is to help the rich toward salvation, by prayer to God and by teaching that leads them to the truth and to good works.

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

Greek text · Stählin 3:156

ἐμοὶ δὲ φαίνεται μακρῷ φιλανθρωπότερον εἶναι τοῦ θεραπεύειν............ τοὺς πλουτοῦντας.......... ἐπὶ κακῷ τὸ συναίρεσθαι.......... τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς.............. ἅπαντα τὸν δυνατὸν τρόπον, τοῦτο μὲν ἐξαιτουμένους παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ βεβαίως καὶ ἡδέως τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τέκνοις τὰ τοιαῦτα προϊεμένου, τοῦτο δὲ λόγῳ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ σωτῆρος ἰωμένους τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, φωτίζοντας καὶ προσάγοντας ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας κτῆσιν, ἧς ὁ τυχὼν καὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ἐλλαμπρυνόμενος μόνος τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀναιρήσεται.

English · Claude translation

To me it seems far more humane, instead of flattering … the rich … to their harm, to help … their salvation … in every possible way: on the one hand by asking it of God, who surely and gladly grants such things to his own children; on the other by healing their souls with the Word through the grace of the Savior, enlightening them and leading them to the possession of the truth. Whoever obtains it and is made illustrious by good works will alone carry off the prize of eternal life.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:156 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. 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), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Topics
Ethics, Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

  • The dots mark gaps in the manuscript.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/1/4/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 1.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/1/4/).

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