Miscellanies 2.11.49 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:138–139

αὐτίκα φησίν· ἐὰν ἔχητε πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, μεταστήσετε τὸ ὄρος· καὶ πάλιν· κατὰ τὴν πίστιν σου γενηθήτω σοι· καὶ ὃ μὲν θεραπεύεται προσλαβὼν τῇ πίστει τὴν ἴασιν, ὃ δὲ νεκρὸς ἀνίσταται διὰ τὴν τοῦ πιστεύσαντος ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ἰσχύν. ἡ δὲ δοξαστικὴ ἀπόδειξις ἀνθρωπική τέ ἐστι καὶ πρὸς τῶν ῥητορικῶν γινομένη ἐπιχειρημάτων ἢ καὶ διαλεκτικῶν συλλογισμῶν. ἡ γὰρ ἀνωτάτω ἀπόδειξις, ἣν ᾐνιξάμεθα ἐπιστημονικήν, πίστιν ἐντίθησι διὰ τῆς τῶν γραφῶν παραθέσεώς τε καὶ διοίξεως ταῖς τῶν μανθάνειν ὀρεγομένων ψυχαῖς, ἥτις ἂν εἴη γνῶσις. εἰ γὰρ τὰ παραλαμβανόμενα πρὸς τὸ ζητούμενον ἀληθῆ λαμβάνεται, ὡς ἂν θεῖα ὄντα καὶ προφητικά, δῆλόν που ὡς καὶ τὸ συμπέρασμα τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον αὐτοῖς ἀκολούθως ἀληθὲς ἐπενεχθήσεται· καὶ εἴη ἂν ὀρθῶς ἡμῖν ἀπόδειξις ἡ γνῶσις.

English · Claude translation

For example, he says: “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will move the mountain”; and again: “According to your faith let it be done to you.” And one is healed, receiving healing by faith, and another who is dead is raised through the strength of the one who believed that he would be raised. But demonstration based on opinion is human, and comes from rhetorical arguments or even dialectical syllogisms. For the highest demonstration, which we have hinted is scientific, implants faith, through the setting forth and opening up of the Scriptures, in the souls of those who long to learn; and this would be knowledge. For if what is taken up for the question is accepted as true, being divine and prophetic, it is clear that the conclusion drawn from them will also consequently be true; and knowledge would rightly be for us a demonstration.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:138–139 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 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 (1906–1909); 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) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Scripture

Matt 17:20 · quotation, high confidence
Matt 9:29 · quotation, high confidence
Luke 17:6 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Matt 17:20 and Matt 9:29.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray punctuation in the digital text): ἀνθρωπική· τέ ἐστι → ἀνθρωπική τέ ἐστι.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.11.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/11/49/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.11.49 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/11/49/).