Miscellanies 3.10.69
Summary: The triad may signify the called, the elect, and those of highest rank; the one who rises above anger and desire, uniting knowledge, faith, and love, becomes one, perfect in Christ's image, brother, friend, and son.
Greek text · Stählin 2:227
τάχα δὲ καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν τήν τε ἐκλογὴν δευτέραν καὶ τρίτον τὸ εἰς τὴν πρώτην τιμὴν κατατασσόμενον γένος αἰνίσσεται ἡ προειρημένη τριάς· μεθʼ ὧν ἡ πανεπίσκοπος τοῦ θεοῦ δύναμις ἀμερῶς μεριστή. ὁ τοίνυν ταῖς κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργείαις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν δέοντι χρώμενος ἐπιθυμεῖ μὲν τῶν καταλλήλων, μισεῖ δὲ τὰ βλάπτοντα, καθὼς αἱ ἐντολαὶ προστάττουσιν· ἐνευλογήσεις γάρ, φησί, τὸν εὐλογοῦντα καὶ καταράσῃ τὸν καταρώμενον. ὅταν δὲ καὶ τούτων ὑπεραναβάς, τοῦ θυμοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ἔργῳ ἀγαπήσῃ τὴν κτίσιν διὰ τὸν πάντων θεόν τε καὶ ποιητήν, γνωστικῶς βιώσεται, ἕξιν ἐγκρατείας ἄπονον περιπεποιημένος κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα ἐξομοίωσιν, ἑνώσας τὴν γνῶσιν, πίστιν, ἀγάπην, εἷς ὢν ἐνθένδε τὴν κρίσιν καὶ πνευματικὸς ὄντως, ἀπαράδεκτος τῶν κατὰ τὸν θυμὸν καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν διαλογισμῶν πάντῃ πάντως, ὁ κατʼ εἰκόνα ἐκτελούμενος τοῦ κυρίου πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ τεχνίτου, ἄνθρωπος τέλειος, ἄξιος ἤδη τοῦ ἀδελφὸς πρὸς τοῦ κυρίου ὀνομάζεσθαι, φίλος ἅμα οὗτος καὶ υἱός ἐστιν. οὕτως οἱ δύο καὶ οἱ τρεῖς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνάγονται, τὸν γνωστικὸν ἄνθρωπον.
English · Claude translation
Perhaps the triad just mentioned also hints at the calling, the election second, and third the race ranked in the first honor; with whom the all-overseeing power of God is present, divided without division. The one, then, who uses the natural activities of the soul as he should desires what is suitable and hates what is harmful, as the commandments prescribe: “For you will bless the one who blesses,” it says, “and curse the one who curses.” But when he rises above these too, anger and desire, and in deed loves the creation for the sake of God, the God and Maker of all, he will live in the way of knowledge, having acquired an effortless state of self-control according to his likeness to the Savior, uniting knowledge, faith, and love, being one henceforth in judgment and truly spiritual, altogether and entirely closed to thoughts arising from anger and desire; perfected according to the Lord's image by the Craftsman himself, a perfect man, now worthy to be called a brother by the Lord; this man is at once friend and son. So the two and the three are gathered into one, the man who knows.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Gen 27:29 (Num 24:9). The allusions are Heb 2:11 (brother) and John 15:15 (friend).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.10.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/10/69/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.10.69 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/10/69/).
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