Prophetic Extracts 27.7 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The mature Christian is not jealous of knowledge; out of love he may even share it with an unworthy but persistent inquirer.

Greek text · Stählin 3:145

φθόνος δὲ ἀπείη γνωστικοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ζητεῖ πότερον χεῖρον, ἀναξίῳ δοῦναι ἢ ἀξίῳ μὴ παραδοῦναι. καὶ κινδυνεύει ὑπὸ πολλῆς τῆς ἀγάπης οὐ μόνον παντὶ τῷ προσήκοντι, ἀλλʼ ἔσθʼ ὅτε καὶ ἀναξίῳ λιπαρῶς δεομένῳ κοινωνήσειν, οὐ διὰ τὴν δέησιν (οὐ γὰρ φιλοδοξεῖ), ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἐπιμονὴν τοῦ δεομένου μελετῶντος εἰς πίστιν διὰ πολλῆς τῆς δεήσεως.

English · Claude translation

But let envy be far from the one who knows. That is why he asks which is worse, to give to the unworthy or not to hand on to the worthy. And through great love he runs the risk of sharing not only with everyone fit, but sometimes even with an unworthy person who begs earnestly, not because of the begging (for he does not love glory), but because of the perseverance of the one who asks, training himself for faith by much asking.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:145 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Scripture and canon, Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/7/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/7/).