Sophia Scriptura

Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? 25.4

Clement of Alexandria · Who Is the Rich Man That Is Saved? · ca. 190–210 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The hardest persecution comes from within, from a soul tormented by godless desires and passions until it despairs of life and despises God.

Greek text · Stählin 3:176

ὁ δὲ χαλεπώτατος ἔνδοθέν ἐστι διωγμός, ἐξ αὐτῆς ἑκάστῳ τῆς ψυχῆς προπεμπόμενος λυμαινομένης ὑπὸ ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀθέων καὶ ἡδονῶν ποικίλων καὶ φαύλων ἐλπίδων καὶ φθαρτικῶν ὀνειροπολημάτων, ὅταν ἀεὶ τῶν πλειόνων ὀρεγομένη καὶ λυσσῶσα ὑπὸ ἀγρίων ἐρώτων καὶ φλεγομένη, καθάπερ κέντροις ἢ μύωψι τοῖς προσκειμένοις αὐτῇ πάθεσιν ἐξαιμάσσηται πρὸς σπουδὰς μανιώδεις καὶ ζωῆς ἀπόγνωσιν καὶ θεοῦ καταφρόνησιν.

English · Claude translation

but the hardest persecution is from within, sent forth for each person from his own soul, which is ruined by godless desires, various pleasures, base hopes, and corrupting dreams, when, always craving more, raging and inflamed with savage loves, it is goaded as with spurs or gadflies by the passions that beset it, until it bleeds, into frenzied pursuits, despair of life, and contempt of God.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:176 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics
Ethics, Persecution

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ὅταν. ἀεὶ τῶν → ὅταν ἀεὶ τῶν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 25.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/25/4/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Quis div. 25.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-quis-dives/25/4/).

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