Exhortation to the Greeks 12.122
Summary: Following God with all our strength, we are his friends, and since friends share all things, all things belong to the godly person, who becomes an image of God.
Greek text · Stählin 1:85–86
οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ τῷ θεῷ αὐτῷ ἀρεστόν, εἰ ἡμεῖς τὰ μὲν πλείστου ἄξια περὶ ἐλαχίστου ποιούμεθα, ἀγνοίας δὲ καὶ ἀμαθίας καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας καὶ εἰδωλολατρείας ὕβρεις περιφανεῖς καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην δυσσέβειαν περὶ πλείονος αἱρούμεθα. οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ τρόπου φιλοσόφων παῖδες πάντα ὅσα πράττουσιν οἱ ἀνόητοι. ἀνοσιουργεῖν καὶ ἀσεβεῖν νομίζουσιν καὶ αὐτήν γε [ἔτι] τὴν ἄγνοιαν μανίας εἶδος ὑπογράφοντες οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ μεμηνέναι τοὺς πολλοὺς ὁμολογοῦσιν. οὐ δὴ οὖν ἀμφιβάλλειν αἱρεῖ ὁ λόγος, ὁπότερον αὐτοῖν ἄμεινον, σωφρονεῖν ἢ μεμηνέναι· ἐχομένους δὲ ἀπρὶξ τῆς ἀληθείας παντὶ σθένει ἕπεσθαι χρὴ τῷ θεῷ σωφρονοῦντας καὶ πάντα αὐτοῦ νομίζειν, ὥσπερ ἔστι, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς τὸ κάλλιστον τῶν κτημάτων μεμαθηκότας ὄντας αὐτοῦ, σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἐπιτρέπειν τῷ θεῷ, ἀγαπῶντας κύριον τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοῦτο παρʼ ὅλον τὸν βίον ἔργον ἡγουμένους. εἰ δὲ »κοινὰ τὰ φίλων«, θεοφιλὴς δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος (καὶ γὰρ οὖν φίλος τῷ θεῷ, μεσιτεύοντος τοῦ λόγου), γίνεται δὴ οὖν τὰ πάντα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὅτι τὰ πάντα τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ κοινὰ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν φίλοιν τὰ πάντα, τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπου. ὥρα οὖν ἡμῖν μόνον τὸν θεοσεβῆ [Χριστιανὸν] εἰπεῖν πλούσιόν τε καὶ σώφρονα καὶ εὐγενῆ καὶ ταύτῃ εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ μεθʼ ὁμοιώσεως, καὶ λέγειν καὶ πιστεύειν »δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως« γενόμενον ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον
English · Claude translation
For it is not pleasing to God himself if we make least of what is worth most, and prefer the open outrages of ignorance, stupidity, idleness, and idolatry, and the utmost impiety. For not without reason do the sons of the philosophers think that everything the foolish do is sacrilege and impiety; and describing ignorance itself as a form of madness, they confess that the many are simply mad. So the Word does not allow us to doubt which of the two is better, to be sane or to be mad. Rather, holding fast to the truth, we must follow God with all our strength, being of sound mind, and consider all things to be his, as they are; and, having learned that we too are the most beautiful of his possessions, entrust ourselves to God, loving the Lord our God, and considering this our work through our whole life. And if “friends have all things in common,” and the human being is dear to God (for he is indeed God's friend, the Word being mediator), then all things belong to the human being, because all things belong to God, and all things are common to both friends, God and the human being. It is time, then, for us to say that only the godly [Christian] is rich and self-controlled and noble, and in this way an image of God with likeness; and to say and believe that he has become “just and holy with wisdom” through Christ Jesus, and to that extent …
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Friends have all things in common” is a proverb cited by Plato (Phaedrus 279c); “just and holy with wisdom” is Plato, Theaetetus 176b. The human being as God's friend recalls Jas 2:23. The bracketed word is marked by the editor as a gloss. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 12.122 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/12/122/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Protr. 12.122 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-protrepticus/12/122/).
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