Miscellanies 5.11.73 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:375

πάλιν· ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀναβλέψας ὁρᾷ τὸν τόπον μακρόθεν· πρώτη μὲν γὰρ ὁ διʼ ὄψεως τῶν καλῶν ἵμερος, δευτέρα δὲ ἡ ψυχῆς τῶν ἀρίστων ἐπιθυμία, τῇ τρίτῃ δὲ ὁ νοῦς τὰ πνευματικὰ διορᾷ, διοιχθέντων τῶν τῆς διανοίας ὀμμάτων πρὸς τοῦ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ διαναστάντος διδασκάλου. εἶεν δʼ ἂν καὶ αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι τῆς σφραγῖδος μυστήριον, διʼ ἧς ὁ τῷ ὄντι πιστεύεται θεός. μακρόθεν οὖν ἀκολούθως ὁρᾷ τὸν τόπον· δυσάλωτος γὰρ ἡ χώρα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃν χώραν ἰδεῶν ὁ Πλάτων κέκληκεν, παρὰ Μωυσέως λαβὼν τόπον εἶναι αὐτόν, ὡς τῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν ὅλων περιεκτικόν. ἀτὰρ εἰκότως πόρρωθεν ὁρᾶται τῷ Ἀβραὰμ διὰ τὸ ἐν γενέσει εἶναι, καὶ διʼ ἀγγέλου προσεχῶς μυσταγωγεῖται.

English · Claude translation

Again: “Abraham, coming to the place which God had told him, on the third day, looking up, sees the place from afar.” For the first day is the longing for beautiful things that comes through sight; the second is the soul's desire for the best things; on the third the mind discerns spiritual things, the eyes of the understanding having been opened by the Teacher who rose on the third day. The three days might also be the mystery of the seal, through which the true God is believed in. It is consistent, then, that he sees the place from afar; for the region of God is hard to reach, the region Plato called the region of ideas, having learned from Moses that God is a place, as containing all things and the universe. But fittingly it is seen by Abraham from afar, because he is in the realm of becoming, and he is initiated at once through an angel.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:375 · 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

Gen 22:3 · quotation, high confidence
Gen 22:4 · quotation, high confidence
Gen 22:11 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is Gen 22:3–4; the angel is Gen 22:11. “The seal” is baptism; the three days may point to the threefold name in which it is given. For Plato's “region” of the intelligible, compare Republic 508c and 517b; the exact reference is uncertain.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/11/73/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.11.73 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/11/73/).