Miscellanies 3.9.63
Summary: The ascetics cite the Gospel of the Egyptians, “I came to destroy the works of the female”; but the world still goes on, so Christ destroyed the works of desire, the vices that are the soul's decay, not natural birth.
Greek text · Stählin 2:225
Οἱ δὲ ἀντιτασσόμενοι τῇ κτίσει τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τῆς εὐφήμου ἐγκρατείας κἀκεῖνα λέγουσι τὰ πρὸς Σαλώμην εἰρημένα, ὧν πρότερον ἐμνήσθημεν· φέρεται δέ, οἶμαι, ἐν τῷ κατʼ Αἰγυπτίους εὐαγγελίῳ. φασὶ γάρ, ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν ὁ σωτήρ· ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὰ ἔργα τῆς θηλείας, θηλείας μὲν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας, ἔργα δὲ γένεσιν καὶ φθοράν. τί οὖν ἂν εἴποιεν; κατελύθη ἡ διοίκησις αὕτη; οὐκ ἂν φήσαιεν· μένει γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οἰκονομίας ὁ κόσμος. ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐψεύσατο ὁ κύριος· τῷ ὄντι γὰρ τὰ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κατέλυσεν ἔργα, φιλαργυρίαν, φιλονικίαν, φιλοδοξίαν, γυναικομανίαν, παιδεραστίαν, ὀψοφαγίαν, ἀσωτίαν καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια· τούτων δὲ ἡ γένεσις φθορὰ τῆς ψυχῆς, εἴ γε νεκροὶ τοῖς παραπτώμασι γινόμεθα· καὶ αὕτη ἡ θήλεια ἀκρασία ἦν. γένεσιν δὲ καὶ φθορὰν τὴν ἐν κτίσει προηγουμένως γίνεσθαι ἀνάγκη μέχρι παντελοῦς διακρίσεως καὶ ἀποκαταστάσεως ἐκλογῆς, διʼ ἣν καὶ αἱ τῷ κόσμῳ συμπεφυρμέναι οὐσίαι τῇ οἰκειότητι προσνέμονται.
English · Claude translation
Those who, under the fair name of self-control, oppose God's creation also cite the words spoken to Salome, which we mentioned before; they are found, I think, in the Gospel according to the Egyptians. For they say that the Savior himself said, “I came to destroy the works of the female”: by “female” meaning desire, and by “works” birth and decay. What, then, would they say? Has this order been destroyed? They would not say so; for the world remains under the same arrangement. But the Lord did not lie; for he truly destroyed the works of desire: love of money, love of strife, love of glory, madness for women, the corruption of boys, gluttony, profligacy, and the like. The birth of these is the decay of the soul, if indeed we become “dead in trespasses”; and this “female” was lack of self-control. But birth and decay in creation must go on in their proper course until the complete separation and restoration of the elect, through which the substances mixed up with the world are also assigned to what is proper to them.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is the Gospel of the Egyptians (a lost gospel). The allusion is Eph 2:1, 5.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.63 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/63/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.63 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/63/).
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