The Instructor 1.8.65 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Reproof, rebuke, and admonition are like surgery, medicine, and diet for the soul; like a general, the Word punishes for the good of those he leads.

Greek text · Stählin 1:128

ἔστι δὲ οἱονεὶ χειρουργία τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς παθῶν ὁ ἔλεγχος, ἀπόστασις δὲ τὰ πάθη τῆς ἀληθείας, ἃ χρὴ διελέγχειν διαιροῦντα τῇ τομῇ. φαρμακείᾳ δὲ ἔοικεν ὁ ὀνειδισμὸς τὰ τετυλωμένα ἀναλύων τῶν παθῶν καὶ τὰ ῥυπαρὰ τοῦ βίου, τὰς λαγνείας, ἀνακαθαίρων, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὰς ὑπερσαρκώσεις τοῦ τύφου ἐξομαλίζων, εἰς τὸν ὑγιῆ καὶ ἀληθινὸν ἀνασκευάζων τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἡ νουθέτησις οὖν οἱονεὶ δίαιτά ἐστι νοσούσης ψυχῆς, ὧν χρὴ μεταλαμβάνειν συμβουλευτικὴ καὶ ὧν οὐ χρὴ ἀπαγορευτική· τὰ δὲ πάντα εἰς σωτηρίαν καὶ ἀίδιον ὑγείαν διατείνει. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ στρατηγὸς χρημάτων ζημίας καὶ τὰς εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ σώματα διηκούσας αἰκίας μετὰ δεσμῶν καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀτιμίας προσφέρων τοῖς ἠδικηκόσιν, ἔσθʼ ὅτε δὲ καὶ θανάτῳ κολάζων τινάς, τέλος ἔχει τὸ ἀγαθόν, ὑπὲρ νουθεσίας τῶν ὑπηκόων στρατηγῶν. ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ μέγας ἡμῶν ἐκεῖνος στρατηγός, ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἡγεμὼν λόγος, τοὺς παρὰ τὸν νόμον ἀφηνιάζοντας τὸν αὑτοῦ, ὑπὲρ ἀπαλλαγῆς δουλείας καὶ πλάνης καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου αἰχμαλωσίας εἰς καταστολὴν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς παθῶν νουθετῶν, ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερὰν τῆς πολιτείας ὁμόνοιαν εἰρηναγωγεῖ.

English · Claude translation

Reproof is like surgery on the passions of the soul; the passions are an abscess of the truth, which must be laid open by cutting. Rebuke is like a medicine, dissolving the callouses of the passions, cleansing the filth of life, the lusts, and smoothing down the proud flesh of arrogance, restoring the human being to health and truth. Admonition, then, is like the diet of a sick soul, advising what one must take and forbidding what one must not; and all these aim at salvation and eternal health. A general too, when he imposes fines on wrongdoers, and bodily punishments with chains and the utmost disgrace, and sometimes even punishes some with death, has the good as his aim, acting as general for the correction of those under him. In the same way that great general of ours, the Word, the ruler of all things, admonishing those who throw off the reins of his law, to free them from slavery and error and captivity to the adversary, and to calm the passions of the soul, leads them to the holy concord of the commonwealth.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 1:128 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 1, Protrepticus und Paedagogus, GCS 12 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 1: Protrepticus und Paedagogus (GCS 12, 1905), 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), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1905); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/65/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.8.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/1/8/65/).