The Instructor 3.12.99
Summary: Christians, nurtured by the Instructor, should run to Mother Church; the Word who created all things refashions human beings as the bridle guides the horse.
Greek text · Stählin 1:290
Ὢ τῆς μακαρίου θρέμματα παιδαγωγίας· τὸ καλὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας πληρώσωμεν πρόσωπον καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀγαθὴν προσδράμωμεν οἱ νήπιοι μητέρα, κἂν ἀκροαταὶ τοῦ λόγου γενώμεθα, τὴν μακαρίαν δοξάζωμεν οἰκονομίαν, διʼ ἣν παιδαγωγεῖται μὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἁγιάζεται δὲ ὡς θεοῦ παιδίον, καὶ πολιτεύεται μὲν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς παιδαγωγούμενος, πατέρα δὲ ἐκεῖ λαμβάνει, ὃν ἐπὶ γῆς μανθάνει. πάντα ὁ λόγος καὶ ποιεῖ καὶ διδάσκει καὶ παιδαγωγεῖ. ἵππος ἄγεται χαλινῷ, καὶ ταῦρος ἄγεται ζυγῷ, θηρίον βρόχῳ ἁλίσκεται, ὁ δʼ ἄνθρωπος μεταπλάσσεται λόγῳ, ᾧ θηρία τιθασεύεται καὶ νηκτὰ δελεάζεται καὶ πτηνὰ κατασύρεται. οὗτος ὡς ἀληθῶς τεχνάζεται ἵππῳ χαλινόν, ταύρῳ ζυγόν, θηρίῳ βρόχον, κάλαμον ἰχθύι, πάγην ὀρνέῳ· οὗτος πολιτεύεται καὶ γεωργεῖ, ἄρχει καὶ ὑπουργεῖ καὶ τὰ ὅλα δημιουργεῖ· ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξʼ, ἐν δʼ οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, ἐν δὲ τὰ τείρεα πάντα, τά τʼ οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται.
English · Claude translation
O nurslings of blessed instruction! Let us fill up the beautiful face of the church, and run as little children to our good mother; and if we become hearers of the Word, let us glorify the blessed dispensation by which man is instructed and sanctified as a child of God, and, instructed on earth, has his citizenship in heaven, and there receives the Father whom he learns on earth. The Word does all things, teaches all things, instructs in all things. A horse is led by a bridle, a bull by a yoke, a wild beast is caught in a noose; but man is refashioned by the Word, by whom wild beasts are tamed, fish are lured, and birds are brought down. He it is who truly devises the bridle for the horse, the yoke for the bull, the noose for the beast, the rod for the fish, the snare for the bird. He governs and tills, rules and serves, and creates all things: “on it he wrought the earth, and on it the heaven, and on it the sea, and on it all the constellations with which the heaven is crowned.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The closing lines are Homer's description of the shield of Achilles (Iliad 18.483–85), applied to the Word as Creator. “Citizenship in heaven” recalls Phil 3:20.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.99 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/99/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.12.99 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-paedagogus/3/12/99/).
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