Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 42.7

Summary: Despairing of salvation, he formed a band of robbers and became its most violent chief; later John was called back.

Greek text · Stählin 3:189

ἀπογνοὺς δὲ τελέως τὴν ἐν θεῷ σωτηρίαν οὐδὲν ἔτι μικρὸν διενοεῖτο, ἀλλὰ μέγα τι πράξας, ἐπειδήπερ ἅπαξ ἀπολώλει, ἴσα τοῖς ἄλλοις παθεῖν ἠξίου. αὐτοὺς δὴ τούτους ἀναλαβὼν καὶ λῃστήριον συγκροτήσας, ἕτοιμος λῄσταρχος ἦν, βιαιότατος, μιαιφονώτατος, χαλεπώτατος. χρόνος ἐν μέσῳ, καί τινος ἐπιπεσούσης χρείας ἀνακαλοῦσι τὸν Ἰωάννην.

English · Claude translation

Having completely despaired of salvation in God, he no longer planned anything small, but, doing something great, since he was lost once for all, he thought fit to suffer the same as the others. Taking these very men and forming a band of robbers, he became a ready robber chief, most violent, most bloodthirsty, most cruel. Time passed, and some need arose, and they summoned John again.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:189 · 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. 42.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/42/7/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 42.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/42/7/).