Miscellanies 2.12.55
Summary: All assent is a kind of faith; the Shepherd of Hermas makes faith the virtue that holds the church together, with the other virtues its daughters; fear God, not the devil; repentance is great understanding.
Greek text · Stählin 2:142–143
πᾶσα οὖν δόξα καὶ κρίσις καὶ ὑπόληψις καὶ μάθησις, οἷς ζῶμεν καὶ σύνεσμεν αἰεὶ τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, συγκατάθεσίς ἐστιν· ἣ δʼ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ πίστις εἴη ἄν, ἥ τε ἀπιστία, ἀπόστασις οὖσα τῆς πίστεως, δυνατὴν δείκνυσι τὴν συγκατάθεσίν τε καὶ πίστιν· ἀνυπαρξίας γὰρ στέρησις οὐκ ἂν λεχθείη. κἄν τις τἀληθὲς σκοπῇ, εὑρήσει τὸν ἄνθρωπον φύσει διαβεβλημένον μὲν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ψεύδους συγκατάθεσιν, ἔχοντα δὲ ἀφορμὰς πρὸς πίστιν τἀληθοῦς. ἡ τοίνυν συνέχουσα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ποιμήν, ἀρετὴ ἡ πίστις ἐστί, διʼ ἧς σῴζονται οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ· ἡ δὲ ἀνδριζομένη ἐγκράτεια. ἕπεται δʼ αὐταῖς ἁπλότης, ἐπιστήμη, ἀκακία, σεμνότης, ἀγάπη. πᾶσαι δὲ αὗται πίστεώς εἰσι θυγατέρες. καὶ πάλιν· προηγεῖται μὲν πίστις, φόβος δὲ οἰκοδομεῖ, τελειοῖ δὲ ἡ ἀγάπη. φοβητέον οὖν τὸν κύριον, λέγει, εἰς οἰκοδομήν, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸν διάβολον εἰς καταστροφήν. ἔμπαλιν δέ· τὰ μὲν ἔργα τοῦ κυρίου, τουτέστι τὰς ἐντολάς, ἀγαπητέον καὶ ποιητέον, τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου φοβητέον καὶ οὐ ποιητέον· ὁ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ φόβος παιδεύει καὶ εἰς ἀγάπην ἀποκαθίστησιν, ὁ δὲ τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἔργων μῖσος ἔχει σύνοικον. ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ τὴν μετάνοιαν σύνεσιν εἶναί φησι μεγάλην· μετανοῶν γὰρ ἐφʼ οἷς ἔδρασεν οὐκέτι ποιεῖ ἢ λέγει, βασανίζων δὲ ἐφʼ οἷς ἥμαρτεν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἀγαθοεργεῖ. ἄφεσις τοίνυν ἁμαρτιῶν μετανοίας διαφέρει, ἄμφω δὲ δείκνυσι τὰ ἐφʼ ἡμῖν.
English · Claude translation
Every opinion, then, and judgment, supposition, and learning, by which we live and are always in company with the human race, is an assent; and this would be nothing other than faith. And unbelief, being a departure from faith, shows that assent and faith are possible; for a privation of what does not exist could not be spoken of. And if one examines the truth, he will find that man is by nature misled into assenting to falsehood, but has starting points for faith in the truth. The virtue, then, that holds the church together, as the Shepherd says, is faith, through which the elect of God are saved; and the manly one is self-control. And following them are simplicity, knowledge, innocence, reverence, love; and all these are daughters of faith. And again: “Faith leads, fear builds up, and love perfects.” The Lord, then, he says, must be feared for building up, but not the devil for destruction. And conversely: the works of the Lord, that is, the commandments, must be loved and done; but the works of the devil must be feared and not done. For the fear of God trains and restores to love; but the fear of the works of the devil has hatred dwelling with it. The same writer also says that repentance is great understanding; for the one who repents of what he has done no longer does or says it, but, tormenting his own soul for the sins he committed, he does good. Forgiveness of sins, then, differs from repentance; but both show what rests with us.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Shepherd is Hermas: Vis. 3.8.3–7 (faith and her daughters), Mand. 7.1–4 (fearing the Lord and not the devil), and Mand. 4.2.2 (repentance). The sentence “Faith leads, fear builds up, and love perfects” is Clement's summary, not a quotation.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misreading in the digital text (καὶ); wrong accent on the relative ἣ): ἥ δʼ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ πίστις → ἣ δʼ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ πίστις; ἀγαπητέον παὶ ποιητέον → ἀγαπητέον καὶ ποιητέον.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.12.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/12/55/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 2.12.55 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/2/12/55/).
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