Miscellanies 7.14.84
Summary: Clement closes his sketch of the one who knows and turns to 1 Corinthians 6: going to law before the unjust is seeking revenge, praying for retribution is better but still imperfect, and the perfect pray for their enemies.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα διὰ βραχυτάτων περὶ τοῦ γνωστικοῦ τοῖς Ἕλλησι σπερματικῶς εἰρήσθω. ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι ἐὰν ἓν τούτων ὁ πιστὸς ἢ καὶ δεύτερον κατορθώσῃ, ἀλλʼ οὔ τί γε ἐν πᾶσιν ἅμα οὐδὲ μὴν μετʼ ἐπιστήμης τῆς ἄκρας, καθάπερ ὁ γνωστικός. καὶ δὴ τῆς κατὰ τὸν γνωστικὸν ἡμῖν ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀπαθείας, καθʼ ἣν ἡ τελείωσις τοῦ πιστοῦ διʼ ἀγάπης »εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας« προβαίνουσα ἀφικνεῖται, ἐξομοιουμένη θεῷ, »ἰσάγγελος« ἀληθῶς γενομένη. πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα ἐκ γραφῆς μαρτύρια ἔπεισι παρατίθεσθαι. ἄμεινον δὲ οἶμαι ὑπερθέσθαι τὴν τοιαύτην φιλοτιμίαν διὰ τὸ μῆκος τοῦ λόγου, τοῖς πονεῖν ἐθέλουσι καὶ προσεκπονεῖν τὰ δόγματα κατʼ ἐκλογὴν τῶν γραφῶν ἐπιτρέψαντα. μιᾶς δʼ οὖν διὰ βραχυτάτων ἐπιμνησθήσομαι, ὡς μὴ ἀνεπισημείωτον παραλιπεῖν τὸν τόπον. λέγει γὰρ ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ [τῆς] πρὸς Κορινθίους ἐπιστολῇ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος· »τολμᾷ τις ὑμῶν πρᾶγμα ἔχων πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον κρίνεσθαι ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδίκων καὶ οὐχὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων; ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἅγιοι τὸν κόσμον κρινοῦσι;« καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. μεγίστης δʼ οὔσης τῆς περικοπῆς, ταῖς ἐπικαίροις τῶν ἀποστολικῶν συγχρώμενοι λέξεσι, διὰ βραχυτάτων ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς οἷον μεταφράζοντες τὴν ῥῆσιν, τὴν διάνοιαν τοῦ ῥητοῦ τοῦ ἀποστόλου παραστήσομεν, καθʼ ἣν τοῦ γνωστικοῦ τὴν τελειότητα ὑπογράφει. οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀδικεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ ἀδικεῖν ἵστησι τὸν γνωστικὸν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀμνησίκακον εἶναι διδάσκει, μηδὲ εὔχεσθαι κατὰ τοῦ ἀδικήσαντος ἐπιτρέπων· οἶδεν γὰρ καὶ τὸν κύριον ἄντικρυς »εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν« παραγγείλαντα. τὸ μὲν οὖν »ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδίκων κρίνεσθαι« τὸν ἠδικημένον φάσκει οὐδὲν ἀλλʼ ἢ ἀνταποδοῦναι βούλεσθαι δοκεῖν καὶ ἀνταδικῆσαι δεύτερον ἐθέλειν, ὅπερ ὁμοίως ἐστὶν ἀδικῆσαι καὶ αὐτόν. τὸ δὲ »ἐπὶ τῶν ἁγίων κρίνεσθαι« ἐθέλειν τινὰς λέγειν ἐμφαίνει τοὺς διʼ εὐχῆς τοῖς ἀδικήσασιν ἀνταποδοθῆναι τὴν πλεονεξίαν αἰτουμένους, καὶ εἶναι μὲν τῶν προτέρων τοὺς δευτέρους ἀμείνους, οὐδέπω δὲ ἀπαθεῖς, ἢν μὴ ἀμνησίκακοι τέλεον γενόμενοι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου διδασκαλίαν προσεύξωνται καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐχθρῶν.
English · Claude translation
Let these things, then, be said to the Greeks about the one who knows, in seed form and as briefly as possible. But it must be understood that if the believer does one or even two of these things rightly, he does not do so in all things together, nor with the highest understanding, as the one who knows does. And indeed, concerning what we may call the freedom from passion of the one who knows, by which the perfection of the believer, advancing through love, arrives “at the perfect man, at the measure of stature,” being made like God and having become truly “equal to the angels,” many other testimonies from Scripture come to mind that could be set out. But I think it better to put off such ambition because of the length of the discourse, leaving it to those who are willing to toil and to work out the doctrines by a selection of the Scriptures. One, however, I will mention very briefly, so as not to leave the topic without some mark. For the divine apostle says in the first letter to the Corinthians: “Does any of you, having a dispute with another, dare to go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” and what follows. Since the passage is very long, we will use the apostle's apt expressions and, paraphrasing the saying very briefly and in summary, set out the sense of the apostle's words, in which he sketches the perfection of the one who knows. For he does not only set the one who knows on the ground of suffering wrong rather than doing wrong, but also teaches him to bear no grudge, not permitting him even to pray against the one who has wronged him; for he knows that the Lord plainly commanded us “to pray for enemies.” “To go to law before the unjust,” then, he says, means nothing else than that the one who has been wronged appears to wish to retaliate and to want to do wrong in turn, which is equally to do wrong himself. And to say that some wish “to go to law before the saints” indicates those who ask in prayer that their wrongdoers be repaid for their greed; the second are better than the first, but not yet free from passion, unless, having become completely free from grudges according to the Lord's teaching, they pray even for their enemies.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Eph 4:13, Luke 20:36, 1 Cor 6:1–2, and Matt 5:44. A garbled word in the digital text after “in all things” is read as ἅμα (“together”). The bracketed τῆς is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (garbled in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): ἐν πᾶσιν (??)μα → ἐν πᾶσιν ἅμα; μετʼ ἐπιστήμης τῆς ἄκρας. καθάπερ → μετʼ ἐπιστήμης τῆς ἄκρας, καθάπερ; »εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον. εἰς μέτρον → »εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον; οὔσης τῆς περικοπῆς. ταῖς → οὔσης τῆς περικοπῆς, ταῖς; τοῦ ἀποστόλου παραστήσομεν. καθʼ ἣν → τοῦ ἀποστόλου παραστήσομεν, καθʼ ἣν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.14.84 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/14/84/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.14.84 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/14/84/).
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