Exhortation to the Greeks 1.10
Summary: Zechariah's silence ended with John's birth, as the prophets' riddles end in the Gospel; Christ is the door through which alone God is known.
Greek text · Stählin 1:10
ὁ μὲν Ἰωάννης, ὁ κῆρυξ τοῦ λόγου, ταύτῃ πῃ παρεκάλει ἑτοίμους γίνεσθαι εἰς θεοῦ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, παρουσίαν, καὶ τοῦτο ἦν ὃ ᾐνίσσετο ἡ Ζαχαρίου σιωπή, ἀναμένουσα τὸν πρόδρομον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καρπόν, ἵνα τῆς ἀληθείας τὸ φῶς, ὁ λόγος, τῶν προφητικῶν αἰνιγμάτων τὴν μυστικὴν ἀπολύσηται σιωπήν, εὐαγγέλιον γενόμενος· σὺ δὲ εἰ ποθεῖς ἰδεῖν ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸν θεόν, καθαρσίων μεταλάμβανε θεοπρεπῶν, οὐ δάφνης πετάλων καὶ ταινιῶν τινων ἐρίῳ καὶ πορφύρᾳ πεποικιλμένων, δικαιοσύνην δὲ ἀναδησάμενος καὶ τῆς ἐγκρατείας τὰ πέταλα περιθέμενος· πολυπραγμόνει Χριστόν· »ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ἡ θύρα,« φησί που· ἣν ἐκμαθεῖν δεῖ νοῆσαι θελήσασι τὸν θεόν, ὅπως ἡμῖν ἀθρόας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀναπετάσῃ τὰς πύλας· λογικαὶ γὰρ αἱ τοῦ λόγου πύλαι, πίστεως ἀνοιγνύμεναι κλειδί· »θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἔγνω, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ.« θύραν δὲ εὖ οἶδʼ ὅτι τὴν ἀποκεκλεισμένην τέως ὁ ἀνοιγνὺς ὕστερον ἀποκαλύπτει τἄνδον καὶ δείκνυσιν ἃ μηδὲ γνῶναι οἷόν τε ἦν πρότερον, εἰ μὴ διὰ Χριστοῦ πεπορευμένοις, διʼ οὗ μόνου θεὸς ἐποπτεύεται.
English · Claude translation
John, the herald of the Word, exhorted people in this way to be ready for the coming of God, the Christ; and this was what the silence of Zechariah hinted at, as it waited for the fruit that would go before Christ, so that the light of truth, the Word, might break the mystic silence of the prophetic riddles by becoming the Gospel. But you, if you long to see God truly, take part in purifications worthy of God: not with laurel leaves and fillets embroidered with wool and purple, but crowning yourself with righteousness and wreathing your head with the leaves of self-control; and seek out Christ. “For I am the door,” he says somewhere. Those who wish to know God must learn to know this door, so that he may throw open for us all at once the gates of heaven; for the gates of the Word are gates of reason, opened by the key of faith. “No one knows God except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son reveals him.” And I know well that he who opens the door that has been shut until now afterward reveals what is inside, and shows what could not be known before, except by those who have made their way through Christ, through whom alone God is beheld.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Laurel leaves and woolen fillets were used in pagan purification rites.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray space before the closing quotation mark): θύρα, « → θύρα,«.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/10/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/10/).
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