Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 4.7.51

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

Summary: Christians have crucified the old man; Paul describes the apostles as a spectacle to the world, hungry, beaten, persecuted, and treated as refuse.

Greek text · Stählin 2:271–272

τοῖς μὲν οὖν πολλοῖς ἡ ματαιοπονία αὕτη αἱρετή, ἡμῖν δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολός φησι· τοῦτο δὲ γινώσκομεν, ὅτι ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος ἡμῶν συνεσταύρωται, ἵνα καταργηθῇ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τοῦ μηκέτι δουλεύειν ἡμᾶς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. ἀρʼ οὐκ ἐμφανῶς κἀκεῖνα ἐπιφέρει ὁ ἀπόστολος δεικνὺς τὸν καταισχυμμὸν τῆς πίστεως παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς; δοκῶ γάρ, ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐσχάτους ἀπέδειξεν ὡς ἐπιθανατίους, ὅτι θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις· ἄχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν καὶ γυμνητεύομεν καὶ κολαφιζόμεθα καὶ ἀστατοῦμεν, διωκόμενοι ἀνεχόμεθα, δυσφημούμενοι παρακαλοῦμεν· ὡς περικαθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου ἐγενήθημεν.

English · Claude translation

For the many, then, this vain toil is to be chosen; but for us the apostle says: “We know this, that our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away, that we might no longer be slaves to sin.” Does not the apostle plainly add the following, showing the disgrace of faith among the many? “For I think God has exhibited us apostles last, as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. To this very hour we hunger and thirst, are naked and beaten and homeless; persecuted, we endure; slandered, we entreat. We have become like the refuse of the world.”

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:271–272 · 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
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Rom 6:6 and 1 Cor 4:9, 11–13.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.51 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/51/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.7.51 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/7/51/).

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