Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.22.140

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

Summary: The Greeks called night “the kindly time” because the soul then withdraws from the senses toward wisdom; Paul bids Christians, children of the day, to stay awake and sober, armed with faith, love, and hope.

Greek text · Stählin 2:310

ᾗ μοι δοκοῦσιν εὐφρόνην κεκληκέναι τὴν νύκτα, ἐπειδὴ τηνικάδε ἡ ψυχὴ πεπαυμένη τῶν αἰσθήσεων συννεύει πρὸς αὑτὴν καὶ μᾶλλον μετέχει τῆς φρονήσεως. διὰ ταῦτʼ οὖν καὶ αἱ τελεταὶ γίνονται νυκτὸς μάλιστα, σημαίνουσαι τὴν ἐν νυκτὶ τῆς ψυχῆς συστολὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. ἄρʼ οὖν μὴ καθεύδωμεν ὡς οἱ λοιποί, ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν. οἱ γὰρ καθεύδοντες νυκτὸς καθεύδουσι καὶ οἱ μεθυσκόμενοι νυκτὸς μεθύουσιν· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες νήφωμεν, ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ περικεφαλαίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίου.

English · Claude translation

For this reason, it seems to me, they called the night euphronē (“the kindly time”), since at that time the soul, having ceased from the senses, turns in on itself and shares more in prudence (phronēsis). That is why the mysteries too are celebrated mostly at night, signifying the withdrawal of the soul from the body at night. “So then let us not sleep like the rest, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night; but let us, who belong to the day, be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:310 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is 1 Thess 5:6–8.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/140/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.140 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/140/).

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