Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 42.14

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

Summary: The young man stopped, threw down his weapons, wept, and embraced John, baptized a second time by his tears, hiding his blood-stained right hand.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:190

ὃ δὲ ἀκούσας πρῶτον ἔστη μὲν κάτω βλέπων. εἶτα ἔρριψε τὰ ὅπλα, εἶτα τρέμων ἔκλαιε πικρῶς· προσελθόντα δὲ τὸν γέροντα περιέλαβεν, ἀπολογούμενος ταῖς οἰμωγαῖς ὡς ἐδύνατο καὶ τοῖς δάκρυσι βαπτιζόμενος ἐκ δευτέρου. μόνην ἀποκρύπτων τὴν δεξιάν.

English · Claude translation

When he heard this, he first stood still, looking down; then he threw away his weapons; then, trembling, he wept bitterly. When the old man came up, he embraced him, pleading his defense with laments as best he could, and baptized a second time with his tears, hiding only his right hand.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:190 · 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: Baptism, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“Baptized a second time with his tears” is a famous image of repentance after baptism.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 42.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/42/14/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 42.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/42/14/).

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