Miscellanies 2.10.47
Summary: Egypt and Canaan symbolize the world and the passions; “he will live in them” means life for Jews and Gentiles alike; the repeated “I am the Lord your God” calls us to seek and know God, a knowledge never separated from just action.
Greek text · Stählin 2:138
εἴτʼ οὖν κόσμου καὶ ἀπάτης εἴτε παθῶν καὶ κακιῶν σύμβολον Αἴγυπτος καὶ ἡ Χανανῖτις γῆ, ὧν μὲν ἀφεκτέον, ὁποῖα δὲ ἐπιτηδευτέον ὡς θεῖα καὶ οὐ κοσμικά, ἐπιδείκνυσιν ἡμῖν τὸ λόγιον. ὅταν δὲ εἴπῃ ὁ ποιήσας ἄνθρωπος ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς, τήν τε Ἑβραίων αὐτῶν ἐπανόρθωσιν τήν τε τῶν πέλας, ἡμῶν αὐτῶν, συνάσκησίν τε καὶ προκοπὴν ζωὴν λέγει αὐτῶν τε καὶ ἡμῶν. οἱ γὰρ νεκροὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασι συζωοποιοῦνται Χριστῷ διὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας διαθήκης. πολλάκις δὲ ἐπαναλαμβάνουσα ἡ γραφὴ τὸ ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν δυσωπεῖ μὲν διατρεπτικώτατα, ἕπεσθαι διδάσκουσα τῷ τὰς ἐντολὰς δεδωκότι θεῷ, ὑπομιμνῄσκει δὲ ἠρέμα ζητεῖν τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὡς οἷόν τε γινώσκειν ἐπιχειρεῖν, ἥτις ἂν εἴη θεωρία μεγίστη, ἡ ἐποπτική, ἡ τῷ ὄντι ἐπιστήμη, ἡ ἀμετάπτωτος λόγῳ γινομένη. αὕτη ἂν εἴη μόνη ἡ τῆς σοφίας γνῶσις, ἧς οὐδέποτε χωρίζεται ἡ δικαιοπραγία.
English · Claude translation
Whether, then, Egypt and the land of Canaan are a symbol of the world and deceit, or of passions and vices, the oracle shows us what must be avoided and what must be practiced as divine and not worldly. And when it says, “The man who does them will live in them,” it calls both the correction of the Hebrews themselves and the training and progress of their neighbors, ourselves, life, theirs and ours. For those “dead in trespasses” are “made alive together with Christ” through our covenant. And Scripture, by often repeating “I am the Lord your God,” shames us most effectively, teaching us to follow God who gave the commandments; and it quietly reminds us to seek God and try, as far as possible, to know him, which would be the greatest contemplation, the contemplation of the initiated, the knowledge that truly is, which becomes unshakable by reason. This alone would be the knowledge of wisdom, from which just action is never separated.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Lev 18:5 and Eph 2:5 (Col 2:13). “Of the initiated” renders ἐποπτική, a term from the mysteries for the highest vision.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on γὰρ): οἱ γάρ νεκροὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασι → οἱ γὰρ νεκροὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασι.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.10.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/10/47/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.10.47 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/10/47/).
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