Miscellanies 4.22.141
Summary: Sleep and death both withdraw the soul, as Heraclitus says; Paul calls us to wake, for salvation is near, and to put on the weapons of light, that is, the Son's precepts; hence washing before prayer.
Greek text · Stählin 2:310
ὅσα δʼ αὖ περὶ ὕπνου λέγουσι, τὰ αὐτὰ χρὴ καὶ περὶ θανάτου ἐξακούειν. ἑκάτερος γὰρ δηλοῖ τὴν ἀπόστασιν τῆς ψυχῆς, ὃ μὲν μᾶλλον, ὃ δὲ ἧττον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ καὶ παρὰ Ἡρακλείτου λαβεῖν· ἄνθρωπος ἐν εὐφρόνῃ † φάος ἅπτεται ἑαυτῷ ἀποθανών, ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις· ζῶν δὲ ἅπτεται τεθνεῶτος εὕδων, ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις· ἐγρηγορὼς ἅπτεται εὕδοντος. μακάριοι γὰρ οἱ εἰδότες τὸν καιρὸν κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον, ὅτι ὥρα ὑμᾶς ἤδη ἐξ ὕπνου ἐγερθῆναι· νῦν γὰρ ἐγγύτερον ἡμῶν ἡ σωτηρία ἢ ὅτε ἐπιστεύσαμεν. ἡ νὺξ προέκοψεν, ἡ δὲ ἡμέρα ἤγγικεν. ἀποθώμεθα οὖν τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκότους, ἐνδυσώμεθα δὲ τὰ ὅπλα τοῦ φωτός. ἡμέραν δὲ τὸν υἱὸν ἀλληγορεῖ καὶ φῶς, τάς τε αὖ παραγγελίας ὅπλα φωτὸς μεταφορικῶς. ταύτῃ τοι λελουμένους φασὶ δεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς ἱεροποιίας καὶ τὰς εὐχὰς ἰέναι, καθαροὺς καὶ λαμπρούς·
English · Claude translation
And whatever they say about sleep must be understood of death too. For each shows the withdrawal of the soul, the one more, the other less; which one can also take from Heraclitus: “Man in the night … kindles a light for himself when he has died, his sight quenched; living, he touches the dead when asleep, his sight quenched; awake, he touches the sleeper.” “For blessed are those who know the time,” according to the apostle, “that it is already the hour for you to awake from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. Let us, then, put off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light.” By the day and light he allegorically means the Son, and by the weapons of light, metaphorically, the precepts. For this reason they say that one must go to sacred rites and prayers washed, pure, and bright;
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Heraclitus (fragment 26; the text is corrupt, dagger) and Rom 13:11–12. “Blessed are those who know the time” is not in Romans; it may be an unwritten saying.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on ἀποσβεσθεὶς): ἀποσβεσθείς ὄψεις· ζῶν → ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις· ζῶν.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.141 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/141/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.22.141 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/22/141/).
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