Miscellanies 3.9.64
Summary: Christ's answer, “as long as women bear children,” means as long as desires are active, since sin is the soul's death; death follows birth by God's order, and woman, bearing children, is also the source of life.
Greek text · Stählin 2:225
ὅθεν εἰκότως περὶ συντελείας μηνύσαντος τοῦ λόγου ἡ Σαλώμη φησί· μέχρι τίνος οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀποθανοῦνται; ἄνθρωπον δὲ καλεῖ ἡ γραφὴ διχῶς, τόν τε φαινόμενον καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, πάλιν τε αὖ τὸν σῳζόμενον καὶ τὸν μή. καὶ θάνατος ψυχῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία λέγεται. διὸ καὶ παρατετηρημένως ἀποκρίνεται ὁ κύριος· μέχρις ἂν τίκτωσιν αἱ γυναῖκες, τουτέστι μέχρις ἂν αἱ ἐπιθυμίαι ἐνεργῶσι. διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ διʼ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους διῆλθεν, ἐφʼ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον· καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι Μωυσέως, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος· φυσικῇ δὲ ἀνάγκῃ θείας οἰκονομίας γενέσει θάνατος ἕπεται, καὶ συνόδῳ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ἡ τούτων διάλυσις ἀκολουθεῖ. εἰ δὲ ἕνεκεν μαθήσεως καὶ ἐπιγνώσεως ἡ γένεσις, ἀποκαταστάσεως δὲ ἡ διάλυσις· ὡς δὲ αἰτία θανάτου διὰ τὸ τίκτειν ἡ γυνὴ νομίζεται, οὕτω καὶ ζωῆς διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν λεχθήσεται ἡγεμών.
English · Claude translation
Fittingly, then, when the Word had spoken about the consummation, Salome says, “How long will men die?” Scripture speaks of man in two ways: the visible one and the soul; and again the one who is saved and the one who is not. And sin is called the death of the soul. That is why the Lord answers carefully, “As long as women bear children,” that is, as long as desires are active. “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death spread to all men, because all sinned; and death reigned from Adam to Moses,” says the apostle. By the natural necessity of the divine arrangement, death follows birth, and the dissolution of soul and body follows their union. And if birth is for the sake of learning and knowledge, dissolution is for the sake of restoration. As woman is considered a cause of death because she bears children, so for the same reason she will be called the leader of life.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are the Gospel of the Egyptians and Rom 5:12, 14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἂν): μέχρις ἄν τίκτωσιν → μέχρις ἂν τίκτωσιν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/64/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.9.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/9/64/).
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