Miscellanies 6.15.117
Summary: Paul calls Greek teaching elementary and Christ's teaching perfect; the grafted wild olive of Romans 11 grows like the cultivated tree, and wild trees take in much nourishment but cannot digest it.
Greek text · Stählin 2:490–491
ἤδη δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος, λέγων κατὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου καὶ οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν, τὴν μὲν διδασκαλίαν τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν στοιχειώδη παραδίδωσιν εἶναι, τελείαν δὲ τὴν κατὰ Χριστόν, καθάπερ ἤδη πρότερον ἐμηνύσαμεν. Αὐτίκα ἡ ἀγριέλαιος ἐγκεντρίζεται εἰς τὴν πιότητα τῆς ἐλαίας καὶ δὴ καὶ φύεται ὁμοειδῶς ταῖς ἡμέροις ἐλαίαις· χρῆται γὰρ τὸ ἐμφυτευόμενον ἀντὶ γῆς τῷ δένδρῳ τῷ ἐν ᾧ φυτεύεται· πάντα δὲ ὁμοῦ τὰ φυτὰ ἐκ κελεύσματος θείου βεβλάστηκεν. διὸ κἂν ἀγριέλαιος ὁ κότινος τυγχάνῃ, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ὀλυμπιονίκας στέφει καὶ τὴν ἄμπελον ἡ πτελέα εἰς ὕψος ἀνάγουσα εὐκαρπεῖν διδάσκει. ὁρῶμεν δὲ ἤδη πλείονα τὴν τροφὴν ἐπισπώμενα τὰ ἄγρια τῶν δένδρων διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι πέττειν. τὰ οὖν ἄγρια τῶν ἡμέρων ἀπεπτότερα ὑπάρχει, καὶ τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ ἄγρια εἶναι αὐτὰ στέρησις δυνάμεως πεπτικῆς.
English · Claude translation
And already the apostle too, saying “according to the elements of the world and not according to Christ,” teaches that Greek teaching is elementary and that according to Christ is perfect, as we have already indicated before. For instance, the wild olive is grafted into the richness of the olive and indeed grows like the cultivated olives; for the grafted shoot uses the tree in which it is planted in place of soil. And all plants together sprouted at the divine command. Therefore, even though the kotinos is a wild olive, it crowns the Olympic victors; and the elm, raising the vine to a height, teaches it to bear good fruit. We see too that wild trees draw in more nourishment because they cannot digest it. Wild trees, then, digest less well than cultivated ones, and the cause of their wildness is a lack of digestive power.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Col 2:8; the image of grafting is from Rom 11:17–24. The kotinos (wild olive) provided the victors' wreaths at Olympia.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.117 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/117/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.117 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/6/15/117/).
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