Miscellanies 5.6.37
Summary: The high priest's robe symbolizes the sensible world: the stones are the planets or ways of salvation, the 360 bells the year of the Lord's favor proclaiming the Savior, and the golden crown Christ's kingship as head of the church.
Greek text · Stählin 2:351
Ἀπόχρη μέχρι τοῦδε προχωρῆσαι τὴν μυστικὴν ἑρμηνείαν· τοῦ δὲ ἀρχιερέως ὁ ποδήρης κόσμου ἐστὶν αἰσθητοῦ σύμβολον, τῶν μὲν ἑπτὰ πλανητῶν οἱ πέντε λίθοι καὶ οἱ δύο ἄνθρακες διά τε τὸν Κρόνον καὶ τὴν Σελήνην· ὃ μὲν γὰρ μεσημβρινὸς καὶ ὑγρὸς καὶ γεώδης καὶ βαρύς, ἣ δὲ ἀερώδης· διὸ Ἄρτεμις πρός τινων εἴρηται ἀεροτόμος τις οὖσα, ζοφερὸς δὲ ὁ ἀήρ. συνεργοῦντας δὲ εἰς γένεσιν τῶν τῇδε τοὺς ἐφεστῶτας τοῖς πλανήταις κατὰ τὴν θείαν πρόνοιαν ἐπί τε τοῦ στήθους καὶ τῶν ὤμων εἰκότως ἱδρῦσθαι διαγράφει, διʼ ὧν ἡ πρᾶξις ἡ ἐπιγενεσιουργός, ἡ ἑβδομὰς ἡ πρώτη· στῆθος δʼ οἰκητήριον καρδίας τε καὶ ψυχῆς. εἶεν δʼ ἂν καὶ ἄλλως λίθοι ποικίλοι σωτηρίας τρόποι, οἳ μὲν ἐν τοῖς ὑπεραναβεβηκόσιν, οἳ δʼ ἐν τοῖς ὑποβεβηκόσιν ἱδρυμένοι παντὸς τοῦ σῳζομένου σώματος. οἵ τε τριακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα κώδωνες οἱ ἀπηρτημένοι τοῦ ποδήρους χρόνος ἐστὶν ἐνιαύσιος, ἐνιαυτὸς κυρίου δεκτός, κηρύσσων καὶ κατηχῶν τὴν μεγίστην τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπιφάνειαν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πῖλος ὁ χρυσοῦς ὁ ἀνατεταμένος τὴν ἐξουσίαν μηνύει τὴν βασιλικὴν τοῦ κυρίου, εἴ γε ἡ κεφαλὴ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὁ σωτήρ.
English · Claude translation
It is enough to have gone this far with the mystical interpretation. The long robe of the high priest is a symbol of the sensible world; the five stones and the two carbuncles, of the seven planets, for Saturn and the Moon; for the one is southern, moist, earthy, and heavy, the other airy; that is why she is called by some Artemis, as “air-cutter” (aerotomos), and air is dark. And those set over the planets, cooperating according to divine providence in the begetting of things here, he fittingly describes as set on the breast and shoulders, through which comes the activity that produces generation, the first seven; and the breast is the dwelling place of heart and soul. The stones might also otherwise be various ways of salvation, some set in the upper, others in the lower parts of the whole body being saved. And the three hundred and sixty bells hanging from the long robe are the time of a year, “the acceptable year of the Lord,” proclaiming and resounding the greatest appearing of the Savior. And the golden headdress raised up shows the royal authority of the Lord, since the Savior is the head of the church.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Exod 28:4–38 (Exod 28:33–35 on the bells), Isa 61:2 (Luke 4:19), and Eph 5:23. The number 360 of the bells is from tradition (compare Justin, Dial. 42.1).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.6.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/6/37/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 5.6.37 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/5/6/37/).
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