Miscellanies 1.12.56
Summary: The natural man cannot receive the Spirit's truths; the secret tradition must be handed on only to the fit; the Stromata scatter the truth so that only a good farmer will make it grow.
Greek text · Stählin 2:35–36
ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστιν. σοφοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἐκφέρουσιν ἐκ στόματος, ἃ διαλογίζονται ἐν συνεδρίῳ. ἀλλʼ ὃ ἀκούετε εἰς τὸ οὖς, φησὶν ὁ κύριος, κηρύξατε ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων, τὰς ἀποκρύφους τῆς ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως παραδόσεις ὑψηλῶς καὶ ἐξόχως ἑρμηνευομένας ἐκδέχεσθαι κελεύων, καὶ καθάπερ ἠκούσαμεν εἰς τὸ οὖς, οὕτω καὶ παραδιδόναι οἷς δέον, οὐχὶ δὲ πᾶσιν ἀνέδην ἐκδιδόναι τὰ ἐν παραβολαῖς εἰρημένα πρὸς αὐτοὺς παραγγέλλων. ἀλλʼ ἔστι τῷ ὄντι ἡ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων ὑποτύπωσις † ὅσα διασποράδην καὶ διερριμμένως ἐγκατεσπαρμένην ἔχουσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὅπως ἂν λάθοι τοὺς δίκην κολοιῶν σπερμολόγους. ἐπὰν δὲ ἀγαθοῦ τύχῃ γεωργοῦ, ἐκφύσεται ἕκαστον αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν πυρὸν ἀναδείξει.
English · Claude translation
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him.” The wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason out in council. “But what you hear in the ear,” says the Lord, “proclaim on the housetops,” commanding us to receive the secret traditions of true knowledge, interpreted loftily and excellently, and, as we heard them in the ear, so to hand them on to whom it is right, not to give out freely to all what was said to them in parables. But the sketch of these notes is truly … having the truth sown scattered and dispersed, so that it may escape those who, like jackdaws, pick up seeds; but when it meets with a good farmer, each of them will sprout and show forth the wheat.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are 1 Cor 2:14 and Matt 10:27. The text is corrupt in one place (dagger).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.12.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/12/56/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.12.56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/12/56/).
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