Miscellanies 4.11.80
Summary: Death is no harm to Christians but a release to the Lord, for which we may even thank our persecutors; as Socrates said, the worse cannot harm the better; the Lord is our helper, and the souls of the righteous are in God's hand.
Greek text · Stählin 2:283–284
Διὰ τί δὲ οὐ βοηθεῖσθε διωκόμενοι; φασί. τί γὰρ καὶ ἀδικούμεθα ὡς πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτούς, θανάτῳ ἀπολυόμενοι πρὸς τὸν κύριον καὶ καθάπερ ἡλικίας μεταβολήν, οὕτω δὲ καὶ βίου ἐναλλαγὴν ὑπομένοντες; εἰ δὲ εὖ φρονοῖμεν, χάριν εἰσόμεθα τοῖς τὴν ἀφορμὴν τῆς ταχείας ἀποδημίας παρεσχημένοις, εἰ διʼ ἀγάπην μαρτυροῖμεν· εἰ δὲ μὴ φαῦλοί τινες ἄνδρες εἶναι τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐδοκοῦμεν ἡμεῖς, εἰ ᾔδεσαν δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, πάντες μὲν ἂν ἐπεπήδων τῇ ὁδῷ, ἐκλογὴ δὲ οὐκ ἂν ἦν. ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἡ ἡμετέρα πίστις, φῶς οὖσα τοῦ κόσμου, ἐλέγχει τὴν ἀπιστίαν. ἐμὲ μὲν γὰρ Ἄνυτός τε καὶ Μέλητος ἀποκτείνειεν μέντʼ ἄν, βλάψειεν δʼ ἂν οὐδʼ ὁπωστιοῦν· οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι θεμιτὸν εἶναι τὸ ἄμεινον πρὸς τοῦ χείρονος βλάπτεσθαι. ὥστε θαρροῦντα ἡμῶν ἕκαστον λέγειν· κύριος ἐμοὶ βοηθός, οὐ φοβηθήσομαι· τί ποιήσει μοι ἄνθρωπος; δικαίων γὰρ ψυχαὶ ἐν χειρὶ θεοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἅψηται αὐτῶν βάσανος.
English · Claude translation
“Why, then, are you not helped when persecuted?” they say. What wrong, indeed, are we done as regards ourselves, being released by death to the Lord and undergoing a change of life as a change of age? If we are right-minded, we will be grateful to those who provided the occasion of a swift departure, if we bear witness out of love. If we did not seem to the many to be bad men, and if they too knew the truth, all would rush onto the road, and there would be no election. But our faith, being the light of the world, convicts unbelief. “For Anytus and Meletus might indeed kill me, but they could not harm me in any way; for I do not think it lawful for the better to be harmed by the worse.” So each of us may say boldly: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what will man do to me?” “For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Plato, Apology 30c–d, Ps 118:6 (117:6 LXX; Heb 13:6), and Wis 3:1. The allusion is Matt 5:14.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.11.80 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/11/80/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.11.80 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/11/80/).
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