Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 25.7

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

Summary: If possessions or family bring this inner war, leave them, find peace, and choose Christ, the advocate of the soul, above all.

Greek text · Stählin 3:176

καὶ πόλεμος ὁ μὲν ἐπακτὸς ῥᾳδίως καταλύεται, ὁ δὲ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ μέχρι θανάτου παραμετρεῖται. μετὰ διωγμοῦ τοιούτου πλοῦτον ἐὰν ἔχῃς τὸν αἰσθητὸν κἂν ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς πρὸς αἵματος καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἐνέχυρα, κατάλιπε τὴν τούτων παγκτησίαν τὴν ἐπὶ κακῷ, εἰρήνην σεαυτῷ παράσχες, ἐλευθερώθητι διωγμοῦ μακροῦ, ἀποστράφηθι πρὸς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἀπʼ ἐκείνων, ἑλοῦ τὸν σωτῆρα πρὸ πάντων, τὸν τῆς σῆς συνήγορον καὶ παράκλητον ψυχῆς, τὸν τῆς ἀπείρου πρύτανιν ζωῆς.

English · Claude translation

And a war brought from outside is easily ended, but war in the soul lasts until death. If, with such persecution, you have sensible wealth, and brothers by blood, and other pledges, abandon the whole possession of these that leads to evil; give yourself peace; be set free from long persecution; turn from them to the gospel; choose the Savior before all, the advocate and paraclete of your soul, the ruler of boundless life.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:176 · 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, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Advocate and paraclete” (συνήγορον καὶ παράκλητον) applies to Christ the title of 1 John 2:1.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 25.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/25/7/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 25.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/25/7/).

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