Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 11.3

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

Summary: Mere poverty is not a virtue; otherwise all beggars, even those ignorant of God, would be the most blessed.

Greek text · Stählin 3:166–167

οὔτε γὰρ μέγα καὶ ζηλωτὸν τὸ τηνάλλως ἀπορεῖν χρημάτων μὴ οὐκ ἐπὶ λόγῳ ζωῆς (οὕτω μέν γʼ ἂν ἦσαν οἱ μηδὲν ἔχοντες μηδαμῇ, ἀλλὰ ἔρημοι καὶ μεταῖται τῶν ἐφʼ ἡμέραν, οἱ κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἐρριμμένοι πτωχοί, »ἀγνοοῦντες« δὲ θεὸν καὶ »δικαιοσύνην θεοῦ«, κατʼ αὐτὸ μόνον τὸ ἄκρως ἀπορεῖν καὶ ἀμηχανεῖν βίου καὶ τῶν ἐλαχίστων σπανίζειν μακαριώτατοι καὶ θεοφιλέστατοι καὶ μόνοι ζωὴν ἔχοντες

English · Claude translation

For it is nothing great or enviable simply to lack money without a reason connected with life. (Otherwise those who have nothing at all, destitute and beggars for their daily bread, the poor lying along the roads, “not knowing” God and “the righteousness of God,” would be most blessed and most beloved of God and the only ones to have eternal life,

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:166–167 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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)
Scripture
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The phrase “not knowing … the righteousness of God” is from Rom 10:3. The parenthesis closes in the next section.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/3/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/3/).

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