Exhortation to the Greeks 1.9
Summary: John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, and the angel who announced his birth to barren Elizabeth, foreshadow the fruitfulness the Word brings to the barren nations.
Greek text · Stählin 1:9–10
θεός. εἶτʼ οὐκ ἄτοπον, ὦ φίλοι, τὸν μὲν θεὸν ἀεὶ προτρέπειν ἡμᾶς ἐπʼ ἀρετήν, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἀναδύεσθαι τὴν ὠφέλειαν καὶ ἀναβάλλεσθαι τὴν σωτηρίαν; ἦ γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐπὶ σωτηρίαν παρακαλεῖ καὶ τὸ πᾶν γίνεται φωνὴ προτρεπτική; πυθώμεθα τοίνυν αὐτοῦ· »τίς πόθεν εἶς ἀνδρῶν;« Ἡλίας μὲν οὐκ ἐρεῖ, Χριστὸς δὲ εἶναι ἀρνήσεται· φωνὴ δὲ ὁμολογήσει ἐν ἐρήμῳ βοῶσα. τίς οὖν ἔστιν Ἰωάννης; ὡς τύπῳ λαβεῖν, ἐξέστω εἰπεῖν, φωνὴ τοῦ λόγου προτρεπτικὴ ἐν ἐρήμῳ βοῶσα. τί βοᾷς, ὦ φωνή; »εἰπὲ καὶ ἡμῖν.« »Εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς ὁδοὺς κυρίου.« πρόδρομος Ἰωάννης καὶ ἡ φωνὴ πρόδρομος τοῦ λόγου, φωνὴ παρακλητική, προετοιμάζουσα εἰς σωτηρίαν, φωνὴ προτρέπουσα εἰς κληρονομίαν οὐρανῶν· διʼ ἣν ἡ στεῖρα καὶ ἔρημος ἄγονος οὐκέτι. ταύτην μοι τὴν κυοφορίαν προεθέσπισεν ἀγγέλου φωνή· πρόδρομος ἦν κἀκείνη τοῦ κυρίου, στεῖραν εὐαγγελιζομένη γυναῖκα, ὡς Ἰωάννης τὴν ἔρημον. διὰ ταύτην τοίνυν τοῦ λόγου τὴν φωνὴν ἡ στεῖρα εὐτεκνεῖ καὶ ἡ ἔρημος καρποφορεῖ· αἱ πρόδρομοι τοῦ κυρίου φωναὶ δύο, ἀγγέλου καὶ Ἰωάννου, αἰνίσσονταί μοι τὴν ἐναποκειμένην σωτηρίαν, ὡς ἐπιφανέντος τοῦ λόγου τοῦδε εὐτεκνίας ἡμᾶς καρπὸν ἀπενέγκασθαι, ζωὴν ἀίδιον. ἄμφω γοῦν ἐς ταὐτὸν ἀγαγοῦσα τὰ φωνὰ ἡ γραφὴ σαφηνίζει τὸ πᾶν· »ἀκουσάτω ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα· ῥηξάτω φωνὴν ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὅτι πλείονα τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα.« ἡμῖν εὐηγγελίζετο ἄγγελος, ἡμᾶς προὔτρεπεν Ἰωάννης νοῆσαι τὸν γεωργόν, ζητῆσαι τὸν ἄνδρα. εἷς γὰρ καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς οὗτος, ὁ τῆς στείρας ἀνήρ, ὁ τῆς ἐρήμου γεωργός, ὁ τῆς θείας ἐμπλήσας δυνάμεως καὶ τὴν στεῖραν καὶ τὴν ἔρημον. ἐπεὶ γὰρ πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς εὐγενοῦς, ἄπαις δὲ ἦν διὰ ἀπείθειαν ἡ πολύπαις ἀνέκαθεν Ἑβραία γυνή, ἡ στεῖρα τὸν ἄνδρα λαμβάνει καὶ ἡ ἔρημος τὸν γεωργόν· εἶτα ἣ μὲν καρπῶν, ἣ δὲ πιστῶν, ἄμφω δὲ μητέρες διὰ τὸν λόγον· ἀπίστοις δὲ εἰσέτι νῦν καὶ στεῖρα καὶ ἔρημος περιλείπεται.
English · Claude translation
… God. Is it not absurd, then, my friends, that God should always be urging us toward virtue, while we shrink from the benefit and put off our salvation? Does not John too call us to salvation, and become wholly a voice of exhortation? Let us ask him, then: “Who are you, and where are you from?” He will not say that he is Elijah, and he will deny that he is the Christ; but he will confess that he is “a voice crying in the wilderness.” Who, then, is John? To put it figuratively, let us say: the exhorting voice of the Word, crying in the wilderness. What do you cry, O voice? “Tell us too.” “Make straight the ways of the Lord.” John is the forerunner, and the voice is the forerunner of the Word: an encouraging voice, preparing for salvation, a voice urging us toward the inheritance of heaven; through it the barren and desert land is no longer childless. This pregnancy was foretold to me by the voice of an angel, which was also a forerunner of the Lord, bringing good news to a barren woman, as John did to the desert. Because of this voice of the Word, then, the barren woman is blessed with children and the desert bears fruit. The two voices that went before the Lord, the angel's and John's, hint to me at the salvation laid up for us: that when this Word has appeared, we reap the fruit of fruitfulness, eternal life. Scripture brings both voices together and makes everything clear: “Let her hear who does not bear; let her break into a cry who is not in labor; for the children of the desolate one are more than those of her who has a husband.” To us the angel brought good news; us John urged to recognize the farmer and to seek the husband. For he is one and the same, the husband of the barren woman and the farmer of the desert, who filled both the barren woman and the desert with divine power. The noble woman had many children, but the Hebrew woman, once the mother of many, had become childless through disobedience; so the barren woman receives the husband and the desert the farmer. Then the one becomes a mother of fruits, the other of believers, both through the Word; but for unbelievers the barren woman and the desert remain barren even now.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Who are you, and where are you from?” is a Homeric formula (Odyssey 1.170). The quotations are John 1:20–23, Isa 40:3, and Isa 54:1 (quoted in Gal 4:27).
- The “barren woman” is Elizabeth (Luke 1), taken as a figure of the church of the Gentiles.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/9/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/1/9/).
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