Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 11.2
Summary: “Sell your possessions” does not mean throwing money away, but banishing from the soul its attachment and anxious desire for wealth.
Greek text · Stählin 3:166
»πώλησον τὰ ὑπάρχοντά σου.« τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; οὐχ ὃ προχείρως δέχονταί τινες, τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν οὐσίαν ἀπορρῖψαι προστάσσει καὶ ἀποστῆναι τῶν χρημάτων, ἀλλὰ τὰ δόγματα τὰ περὶ χρημάτων ἐξορίσαι τῆς ψυχῆς, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὰ συμπάθειαν. τὴν ὑπεράγαν ἐπιθυμίαν, τὴν περὶ αὐτὰ πτοίαν καὶ νόσον, τὰς μερίμνας, τὰς ἀκάνθας τοῦ βίου, αἳ τὸ σπέρμα τῆς ζωῆς συμπνίγουσιν.
English · Claude translation
“Sell your possessions.” What is this? It is not what some hastily take it to mean, that he commands us to throw away the property we have and give up our money; but to banish from the soul its opinions about money, its attachment to it, its excessive desire, its excitement and disease over it, its anxieties, the thorns of life that choke the seed of life.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The thorns are from the parable of the sower (Mark 4:19; Matt 13:22).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/2/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 11.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/11/2/).
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