Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 5.6.32

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

Summary: Almost all Scripture speaks in riddles; the temple's enclosures and the high priest's robe are symbols, and the veil's four colors stand for the four elements that reveal God.

Greek text · Stählin 2:346–347

Μακρὸν δʼ ἂν εἴη πάντα ἐπεξιέναι τὰ προφητικὰ καὶ τὰ νομικὰ τὰ διʼ αἰνιγμάτων εἰρημένα ἐπιλεγομένους. σχεδὸν γὰρ ἡ πᾶσα ὧδέ πως θεσπίζεται γραφή. ἀπόχρη δʼ, οἶμαι, τῷ γε νοῦν κεκτημένῳ εἰς ἔνδειξιν τοῦ προκειμένου ὀλίγα τινὰ ἐκτεθέντα παραδείγματα. αὐτίκα ὁμολογεῖ τὴν ἐπίκρυψιν ἡ περὶ τὸν νεὼν τὸν παλαιὸν τῶν ἑπτὰ περιβόλων πρός τι ἀναφορὰ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις ἱστορουμένη ἥ τε κατὰ τὸν ποδήρη διασκευή, διὰ ποικίλων τῶν πρὸς τὰ φαινόμενα συμβόλων τὴν ἀπʼ οὐρανοῦ μέχρι γῆς αἰνισσομένη συνθήκην. τό τε κάλυμμα καὶ παραπέτασμα ὑακίνθῳ καὶ πορφύρᾳ κόκκῳ τε καὶ βύσσῳ πεποίκιλτο, ᾐνίττετο δʼ ἄρα, ὡς ἡ τῶν στοιχείων φύσις περιέχει τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐξ ὕδατος μὲν γὰρ ἡ πορφύρα, βύσσος δὲ ἐκ γῆς, ὑάκινθός τε ὡμοίωται ἀέρι ζοφώδης ὤν, ὥσπερ ὁ κόκκος τῷ πυρί.

English · Claude translation

It would be long to go through all the prophetic and legal sayings spoken in riddles, picking them out; for almost all Scripture is uttered in this way. It is enough, I think, for one who has sense, to set out a few examples to show what is proposed. For example, the reference of the seven enclosures around the old temple, recorded among the Hebrews, confesses concealment, as does the arrangement of the long robe, hinting by various symbols of the phenomena at the connection from heaven to earth. And the covering and the veil were embroidered with blue and purple, scarlet and linen, and hinted that the nature of the elements contains the revelation of God; for purple is from water, linen from the earth, blue, being dark, is like the air, as scarlet is like fire.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:346–347 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, Ant. 3.183 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, medium confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Exod 26:31, 36 and Exod 28:4, 31. The elemental reading of the veil's colors is from Philo and Josephus (Ant. 3.183).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.6.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/6/32/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.6.32 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/6/32/).

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