Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 14.5

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

Summary: The mind has free will; one should destroy not one's possessions but the passions that prevent their good use.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:169

καὶ κριτήριον ἐλεύθερον ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τῆς μεταχειρίσεως τῶν δοθέντων· ὥστε μὴ τὰ κτήματά τις ἀφανιζέτω μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ πάθη τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰ μὴ συγχωροῦντα τὴν ἀμείνω χρῆσιν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων.

English · Claude translation

which has in itself free judgment and free will in handling what has been given it. So let no one destroy his possessions, but rather the passions of the soul, which do not allow the better use of what one has,

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:169 · 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)
Topics: Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 14.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/14/5/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 14.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/14/5/).

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