Miscellanies 7.10.57
Summary: Knowledge leads the pure in heart to see God face to face; the two saving changes are from paganism to faith and from faith to knowledge, which ends in friendship with God and, after this life, an unchanging dwelling in the Father's house.
Greek text · Stählin 2
ὅθεν καὶ ῥᾳδίως εἰς τὸ συγγενὲς τῆς ψυχῆς θεῖόν τε καὶ ἅγιον μετοικίζει καὶ διά τινος οἰκείου φωτὸς διαβιβάζει τὰς προκοπὰς τὰς μυστικὰς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἄχρις ἂν εἰς τὸν κορυφαῖον ἀποκαταστήσῃ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως τόπον, τὸν καθαρὸν τῇ καρδίᾳ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον ἐπιστημονικῶς καὶ καταληπτικῶς τὸν θεὸν ἐποπτεύειν διδάξασα. ἐνταῦθα γάρ που τῆς γνωστικῆς ψυχῆς ἡ τελείωσις, πάσης καθάρσεώς τε καὶ λειτουργίας ὑπεκβᾶσαν σὺν τῷ κυρίῳ γίγνεσθαι, ὅπου ἐστὶν προσεχῶς ὑποτεταγμένη. ἡ μὲν οὖν πίστις σύντομός ἐστιν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τῶν κατεπειγόντων γνῶσις, ἡ γνῶσις δὲ ἀπόδειξις τῶν διὰ πίστεως παρειλημμένων ἰσχυρὰ καὶ βέβαιος, διὰ τῆς κυριακῆς διδασκαλίας ἐποικοδομουμένη τῇ πίστει εἰς τὸ ἀμετάπτωτον καὶ μετʼ ἐπιστήμης [καὶ] καταληπτὸν παραπέμπουσα. καί μοι δοκεῖ πρώτη τις εἶναι μεταβολὴ σωτήριος ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν εἰς πίστιν, ὡς προεῖπον, δευτέρα δὲ ἡ ἐκ πίστεως εἰς γνῶσιν· ἣ δέ, εἰς ἀγάπην περαιουμένη, ἐνθένδε ἤδη φίλον φίλῳ τὸ γιγνῶσκον τῷ γιγνωσκομένῳ παρίστησιν. καὶ τάχα ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐνθένδε ἤδη προλαβὼν ἔχει τὸ »ἰσάγγελος« εἶναι. μετὰ γοῦν τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ τελευταίαν ὑπεροχὴν ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβάλλων, εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν αὐλὴν ἐπὶ τὴν κυριακὴν ὄντως διὰ τῆς ἁγίας ἑβδομάδος ἐπείγεται μονήν, ἐσόμενος, ὡς εἰπεῖν, φῶς ἑστὸς καὶ μένον ἀιδίως, πάντῃ πάντως ἄτρεπτον.
English · Claude translation
Hence it also easily transfers a person to what is akin to the soul, divine and holy, and by a light of its own carries him through the mystic stages of progress, until it restores the pure in heart to the highest place of rest, having taught him to behold God face to face with understanding and full comprehension. For here, I think, is the perfection of the knowing soul: having passed beyond all purification and service, to be with the Lord, where it is placed directly under him. Faith, then, is, so to speak, a concise knowledge of what is essential, while knowledge is a strong and firm demonstration of what has been received through faith, built upon faith through the Lord's teaching, and bringing it to a state that is unchangeable and grasped with understanding. And it seems to me that the first saving change is the change from paganism to faith, as I said before, and the second the change from faith to knowledge; and this last, being completed in love, already here presents the knower to the known as friend to friend. And perhaps such a person already here has in advance the condition of being “equal to the angels.” At any rate, after the final excellence in the flesh, always changing for the better as is fitting, he hastens to the Father's court, to the Lord's own dwelling, through the holy seventh, to be, so to speak, a light that stands and remains everlastingly, in every way wholly unchangeable.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are 1 Cor 13:12 (face to face), Luke 20:36 (“equal to the angels”), Heb 4:9–11 (rest), and John 14:2 (dwelling). “The holy seventh” (ἑβδομάς) probably refers to the seven heavens or stages of ascent; the exact sense is uncertain. The bracketed “and” is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.10.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/10/57/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.10.57 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/10/57/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text