Miscellanies 7.15.92
Summary: The truth can be found by demonstration from the Scriptures, which shows that exact knowledge belongs to the ancient church alone; heretics either deceive themselves or knowingly deceive others, and they head schools, not a church.
Greek text · Stählin 2
Ματαία τοίνυν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἡ πρόφασις αὕτη· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ βουλομένοις ἐξέσται καὶ τὸ εὑρεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, τοῖς δὲ αἰτίας ἀλόγους προβαλλομένοις ἀναπολόγητος ἡ κρίσις. πότερον γὰρ ἀναιροῦσιν ἢ συγκατατίθενται εἶναι ἀπόδειξιν; οἶμαι πάντας ἂν ὁμολογήσειν ἄνευ τῶν τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἀναιρούντων. ἀποδείξεως δʼ οὔσης ἀνάγκη συγκαταβαίνειν εἰς τὰς ζητήσεις καὶ διʼ αὐτῶν τῶν γραφῶν ἐκμανθάνειν ἀποδεικτικῶς, ὅπως μὲν ἀπεσφάλησαν αἱ αἱρέσεις, ὅπως δὲ ἐν μόνῃ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἥ τε ἀκριβεστάτη γνῶσις καὶ ἡ τῷ ὄντι ἀρίστη αἵρεσις. τῶν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκτρεπομένων οἳ μὲν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς μόνους, οἳ δὲ καὶ τοὺς πέλας ἐξαπατᾶν ἐπιχειροῦσιν. οἳ μὲν οὖν, δοξόσοφοι καλούμενοι, [οἱ] τὴν ἀλήθειαν εὑρηκέναι νομίζοντες, οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀπόδειξιν οὐδεμίαν ἀληθῆ, ἑαυτοὺς οὗτοι ἀπατῶσιν ἀναπεπαῦσθαι νομίζοντες· ὧν πλῆθος οὐκ ὀλίγον τάς τε ζητήσεις ἐκτρεπομένων διὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους, ἀποφευγόντων δὲ καὶ τὰς διδασκαλίας διὰ τὴν κατάγνωσιν. οἳ δέ, τοὺς προσιόντας ἐξαπατῶντες, πανοῦργοι σφόδρα, οἳ καὶ παρακολουθοῦντες αὑτοῖς ὅτι μηδὲν ἐπίστανται, πιθανοῖς ὅμως ἐπιχειρήμασι σκοτίζουσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ἑτέρα δʼ, οἶμαι, τῶν πιθανῶν ἐπιχειρημάτων καὶ ἑτέρα τῶν ἀληθῶν ἡ φύσις. καὶ ὅτι τῶν αἱρέσεων ἀνάγκη τὴν ὀνομασίαν πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν τῆς ἀληθείας λέγεσθαι γινώσκομεν· ἀφʼ ἧς τινὰ ἀποσπάσαντες ἐπὶ λύμῃ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ σοφισταί, ταῖς ἐξευρημέναις σφίσιν ἀνθρωπικαῖς τέχναις ἐγκατορύξαντες, αὐχοῦσι προΐστασθαι διατριβῆς μᾶλλον ἢ ἐκκλησίας.
English · Claude translation
This excuse, then, is vain for the Greeks; for those who wish will be able to find the truth, while for those who put forward irrational excuses the judgment leaves no defense. Do they deny, or do they grant, that there is such a thing as demonstration? I think all would grant it, except those who abolish the senses. And if there is demonstration, one must come down to the inquiries and learn by demonstration from the Scriptures themselves how the heresies went astray, and how in the truth alone and in the ancient church are found both the most exact knowledge and the truly best school. Of those who turn aside from the truth, some try to deceive only themselves, and others their neighbors too. The first, who are called wise in their own conceit, thinking they have found the truth though they have no true demonstration, deceive themselves in thinking they have come to rest; and there is no small number of these, who turn away from inquiry because of the refutations and flee from teaching because of the condemnation. The others, who deceive those who come to them, are utterly unscrupulous; though aware that they know nothing, they nevertheless darken the truth with plausible arguments. But the nature of plausible arguments is one thing, I think, and that of true ones another. And we know that the heresies must be so named in contrast to the truth; from it the sophists have torn away certain things to the ruin of human beings, and have buried them in human arts they have invented, and they boast of presiding over a school rather than a church.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “School” translates αἵρεσις in its neutral sense; the last sentence contrasts a philosophical school (διατριβή) with the church. The bracketed οἱ is marked by Stählin for deletion.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on οἳ; stray period in the digital text): οἵ δὲ καὶ τοὺς πέλας → οἳ δὲ καὶ τοὺς πέλας; ἀνθρωπικαῖς τέχναις ἐγκατορύξαντες. αὐχοῦσι → ἀνθρωπικαῖς τέχναις ἐγκατορύξαντες, αὐχοῦσι.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.15.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/15/92/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 7.15.92 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/7/15/92/).
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