Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.6.52

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The righteous of old ate with thanksgiving and married with self-control; Paul forbids judging over food; Christ himself ate and drank; the ascetics cannot claim to surpass them.

Greek text · Stählin 2:220

τί δέ; οὐχὶ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ δίκαιοι εὐχαρίστως τῆς κτίσεως μετελάμβανον; οἳ δὲ καὶ ἐπαιδοποιήσαντο γήμαντες ἐγκρατῶς. καὶ τῷ μὲν Ἠλίᾳ οἱ κόρακες ἔφερον τροφὴν ἄρτους καὶ κρέα· καὶ Σαμουὴλ δὲ ὁ προφήτης, ἣν ὃν καταλελοίπει κωλεὸν ἐξ ὧν ἤσθιε, φέρων ἔδωκε τῷ Σαοὺλ φαγεῖν. οἳ δέ, καὶ τούτους ὑπερφέρειν λέγοντες πολιτείᾳ καὶ βίῳ, οὐδὲ συγκριθῆναι ταῖς ἐκείνων πράξεσι δυνήσονται. ὁ μὴ ἐσθίων τοίνυν τὸν ἐσθίοντα μὴ ἐξουθενείτω, ὁ δὲ ἐσθίων τὸν μὴ ἐσθίοντα μὴ κρινέτω· ὁ θεὸς γὰρ αὐτὸν προσελάβετο. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κύριος περὶ ἑαυτοῦ λέγων ἦλθεν φησὶν Ἰωάννης μήτε ἐσθίων μήτε πίνων, καὶ λέγουσι· δαιμόνιον ἔχει. ἦλθεν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων, καὶ λέγουσιν· ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος φάγος καὶ οἰνοπότης, φίλος τελωνῶν καὶ ἁμαρτωλός. ἢ καὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἀποδοκιμάζουσι;

English · Claude translation

What then? Did not the righteous of old partake of creation with thanksgiving? Some of them even married and begot children with self-control. Ravens brought Elijah bread and meat for food; and Samuel the prophet brought and gave Saul to eat the leg that he had kept back from what he ate. But those who say that they surpass even these in conduct and life will not be able even to be compared with their deeds. “Let the one who does not eat not despise the one who eats, and let the one who eats not judge the one who does not eat; for God has accepted him.” Besides, the Lord says of himself: “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’” Or do they reject the apostles too?

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:220 · 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
Topics
Marriage, Fasting, Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are 1 Kgs 17:6, 1 Sam 9:24, Rom 14:3, and Matt 11:18–19 (Luke 7:33–34).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/52/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.52 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/52/).

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