Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 3.6.54

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

Summary: Christ's command to give and lend presupposes private property, refuting Carpocrates' “community”; he identifies himself with the needy, and the old covenant also commands giving to the poor.

Greek text · Stählin 2:221

Ἡ δὲ Καρποκράτους δικαιοσύνη καὶ τῶν ἐπʼ ἴσης αὐτῷ τὴν ἀκόλαστον μετιόντων κοινωνίαν ὧδέ πως καταλύεται. ἅμα γὰρ τῷ φάναι τῷ αἰτοῦντί σε δός ἐπιφέρει· καὶ τὸν θέλοντα δανείσασθαι μὴ ἀποστραφῇς, ταύτην διδάσκων τὴν κοινωνίαν, οὐχὶ δὲ τὴν λάγνον. πῶς δὲ ὁ αἰτῶν καὶ λαμβάνων καὶ δανειζόμενος ἀπὸ μηδενὸς ὑπάρχοντος τοῦ ἔχοντος καὶ διδόντος καὶ δανείζοντος; τί δʼ ὅταν ὁ κύριος φῇ· ἐπείνασα καὶ ἐχορτάσατέ με, ἐδίψησα καὶ ἐποτίσατέ με, ξένος ἤμην καὶ συνηγάγετέ με, γυμνὸς καὶ περιεβάλετέ με. εἶτα ἐπιφέρει· ἐφʼ ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. οὐχὶ δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ διαθήκῃ νομοθετεῖ; ὁ διδοὺς πτωχῷ δανείζει θεῷ καὶ μὴ ἀπόσχῃ εὖ ποιεῖν ἐνδεῆ φησίν.

English · Claude translation

The “justice” of Carpocrates and of those who pursue licentious community equally with him is refuted in this way. For at the same time as saying, “Give to the one who asks you,” he adds, “and do not turn away from the one who wishes to borrow,” teaching this kind of sharing, not the lustful kind. And how can there be one who asks, receives, and borrows, if there is no one who has, gives, and lends? And what of when the Lord says: “I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me”? Then he adds: “Inasmuch as you did it to one of these least, you did it to me.” And does he not lay down the same things in the old covenant too? “The one who gives to the poor lends to God,” and, “Do not refrain from doing good to the needy,” it says.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:221 · 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
Heresy, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Matt 5:42, Matt 25:35–36, 40, Prov 19:17, and Prov 3:27.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/54/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.6.54 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/6/54/).

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