The Instructor 2.8.62
Summary: The anointed feet of the Lord are the apostles who spread his teaching; allegorically, too, the oil is Christ, the adulterated perfume Judas, the tears repentant sinners, and the loosened hair mourning Jerusalem.
Greek text · Stählin 1:194–195
καὶ εἰ μὴ φορτικὸς εἶναι δοκῶ, οἱ πόδες οἱ τοῦ κυρίου οἱ μεμυρισμένοι ἀπόστολοί εἰσιν προφητείᾳ τῆς εὐωδίας τοῦ χρίσματος ἁγίου μεταλαβόντες πνεύματος. οἱ γοῦν περινοστήσαντες τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀπόστολοι καὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον κηρύξαντες πόδες ἀλληγοροῦνται κυρίου, περὶ ὧν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ προθεσπίζει τὸ πνεῦμα· »προσκυνήσωμεν εἰς τὸν τόπον, οὗ ἔστησαν οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ«, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν, οὗ ἔφθασαν οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ οἱ ἀπόστολοι, διʼ ὧν κηρυσσόμενος ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα ἧκεν τῆς γῆς. δάκρυα δὲ ἡ μετάνοιά ἐστι, καὶ λελυμέναι τρίχες φιλοκοσμίας ἐκήρυσσον ἀπαλλαγὴν καὶ τὴν μετὰ τοῦ κηρύγματος διὰ τὸν κύριον θλίψιν ἐν ὑπομοναῖς, τῆς παλαιᾶς ἐκείνης διὰ τὴν πίστιν τὴν νέαν λελυμένης κενοδοξίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ πάθος ἐμφαίνει δεσποτικὸν μυστικῶς ταύτῃ νοοῦσι· τὸ ἔλαιον αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κύριος, ἀφʼ οὗ τὸ ἔλεος τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς· τὸ δὲ μύρον, δεδολωμένον ἔλαιον, ἐστὶν ὁ Ἰούδας ὁ προδότης, ᾧ τοὺς πόδας ἐχρίσθη κύριος τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ ἀναστροφῆς ἀπαλλαττόμενος· μυρίζονται γὰρ οἱ νεκροί· δάκρυα δέ ἐσμεν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ μετανενοηκότες, οἱ εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότες, οἷς ἀφῆκεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ αἱ τρίχες αἱ λελυμέναι πενθοῦσα Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ καταλελειμμένη, διʼ ἣν οἱ θρῆνοι οἱ προφητικοί. διδάξει δὲ ἡμᾶς αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος, ὅτι δεδολωμένος ὁ Ἰούδας ἐστίν, »ὃς ἂν ἐμβάψηται μετʼ ἐμοῦ« λέγων »εἰς τὸ τρύβλιον, οὗτός με παραδώσει«. ὁρᾷς τὸν συμπότην τὸν δόλιον; καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ Ἰούδας φιλήματι προὔδωκε τὸν διδάσκαλον· γέγονεν ὁ αὐτὸς ὑποκριτὴς καὶ φίλημα δεδολωμένον ἔχων, ἄλλον παλαιὸν μιμούμενος ὑποκριτήν, καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἐλέγχων ἐκεῖνον· »ὁ λαὸς οὗτος τοῖς χείλεσι
English · Claude translation
And if I do not seem tiresome, the perfumed feet of the Lord are the apostles, who by prophecy received the fragrance of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The apostles, who went about the world and preached the gospel, are figuratively called the Lord's feet; of them the Spirit also prophesies through the psalmist: “Let us worship at the place where his feet stood,” that is, where his feet, the apostles, arrived, through whom he came, preached, to the ends of the earth. The tears are repentance; and the loosened hair proclaimed release from love of adornment, and the affliction borne with patience that went with the preaching for the Lord's sake, the old vanity being loosed through the new faith. Understood in this way too, it mystically shows the Lord's passion: the oil (elaion) is the Lord himself, from whom mercy (eleos) comes to us; the perfume, adulterated oil, is Judas the traitor, with whom the Lord's feet were anointed as he departed from his life in the world; for the dead are anointed with perfume. The tears are we sinners who have repented, who have believed in him, whose sins he forgave; and the loosened hair is mourning Jerusalem, left desolate, for which the prophets' laments were made. The Lord himself will teach us that Judas is adulterated, saying, “He who dips with me in the dish, he will betray me.” Do you see the treacherous fellow guest? And this same Judas betrayed the Teacher with a kiss; he became a hypocrite with an adulterated kiss, imitating another hypocrite of old, and convicting that people: “This people kisses me with their lips,
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Clement plays on ἔλαιον (“oil”) and ἔλεος (“mercy”). The quotations and allusions are Ps 132:7 (131:7 LXX), Matt 26:23, Matt 26:48–49, and Isa 29:13 (quoted in a form with “kisses” for “honors”; the quotation continues in the next section).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.8.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/8/62/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 2.8.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/2/8/62/).
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