Miscellanies 4.13.92
Summary: Clement defers proof that the Creator is Christ's Father; Paul tells the Philippians suffering for Christ is a gift, and calls them “united in soul,” refuting the Valentinian contempt for the “psychic.”
Greek text · Stählin 2:288–289
ὅτι δὲ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ υἱοῦ πατήρ, ὁ δημιουργὸς τῶν συμπάντων, ὁ παντοκράτωρ κύριος, εἰς ἐκείνην ἀνεβαλόμεθα τὴν σκέψιν καθʼ ἣν πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις ὑπεσχήμεθα διαλέξασθαι, τοῦτον εἶναι μόνον δεικνύντες τὸν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κεκηρυγμένον. ἀλλʼ ἡμῖν γε ὁ ἀπόστολος εἰς τὴν τῶν θλίψεων ὑπομονὴν γράφων καὶ τοῦτο φησὶν ἀπὸ θεοῦ· ὅτι ὑμῖν ἐχαρίσθη τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, οὐ μόνον τὸ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν· τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα ἔχοντες, οἷον εἴδετε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ νῦν ἀκούετε ἐν ἐμοί. εἴ τις οὖν παράκλησις ἐν Χριστῷ, εἴ τι παραμύθιον ἀγάπης, εἴ τις κοινωνία πνεύματος, εἴ τις σπλάγχνα καὶ οἰκτιρμοί, πληρώσατέ μου τὴν χαράν, ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην ἔχοντες, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες. εἰ δὲ σπένδεται ἐπὶ τῇ θυσίᾳ καὶ τῇ λειτουργίᾳ τῆς πίστεως χαίρων καὶ συγχαίρων, τοὺς δέ, πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος τῷ ἀποστόλῳ, τοὺς Φιλιππησίους, συμμετόχους τῆς χάριτος καλῶν, πῶς αὐτοὺς συμψύχους καὶ ψυχικοὺς λέγει; ὁμοίως καὶ περὶ Τιμοθέου καὶ ἑαυτοῦ γράφων οὐδένα γὰρ ἔχω φησὶν ἰσόψυχον, ὅστις γνησίως τὰ περὶ ὑμῶν μεριμνήσει· οἱ πάντες γὰρ τὰ ἑαυτῶν ζητοῦσιν, οὐ τὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
English · Claude translation
That this is the Father of the Son, the Creator of all things, the Almighty Lord, we have postponed to that inquiry in which we have promised to argue against the heresies, showing that he alone is the one proclaimed by the Son. But the apostle, writing to us for endurance in afflictions, says this too comes from God: “Because it has been granted to you for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him, having the same struggle that you saw in me and now hear to be in me. If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any affection and compassion, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, united in soul (sympsychoi), minding one thing.” And if he is poured out upon the sacrifice and service of faith, rejoicing and rejoicing with them, and calls those to whom the apostle's word is addressed, the Philippians, partners in grace, how does he call them united in soul and yet psychic? Likewise, writing about Timothy and himself, he says: “For I have no one like-souled (isopsychon) who will genuinely care for your affairs; for all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Phil 1:29–30; 2:1–2, 17, 20–21. Clement plays on σύμψυχοι and ἰσόψυχον (“of one soul”) against the Valentinian term ψυχικοί (“psychics,” ordinary Christians).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/92/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.13.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/13/92/).
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