Miscellanies 4.25.159
Summary: Perfect purification is faith leading through law and prophets to the gospel, and propitiation is obedient purity until the soul's release; whether the seven are periods or heavens and the eighth the fixed sphere, the knower must rise above becoming and sin.
Greek text · Stählin 2:318–319
τέλειος δʼ, οἶμαι, καθαρισμὸς ἡ διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον πίστις· ἱλασμὸς δὲ ἡ διʼ ὑπακοῆς πάσης ἁγνεία σὺν καὶ τῇ ἀποθέσει τῶν κοσμικῶν εἰς τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἀπολύσεως τῆς ψυχῆς εὐχάριστον τοῦ σκήνους ἀπόδοσιν. εἴτʼ οὖν ὁ χρόνος εἴη ὁ διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ περιόδων τῶν ἀριθμουμένων εἰς τὴν ἀκροτάτην ἀνάπαυσιν ἀποκαθιστὰς εἴτε ἑπτὰ οὐρανοί, οὕς τινες ἀριθμοῦσι κατʼ ἐπανάβασιν, εἴτε καὶ ἡ ἀπλανὴς χώρα ἡ πλησιάζουσα τῷ νοητῷ κόσμῳ ὀγδοὰς λέγοιτο, πλὴν ἐξαναδῦναι γενέσεώς τε καὶ ἁμαρτίας χρῆναι λέγει τὸν γνωστικόν. ἐπὶ γοῦν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις τὰ ἱερεῖα ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν θύεται, ἔτι γὰρ τροπῆς εὐλάβεια καὶ τῆς ἑβδόμης ἅπτεται περιφορᾶς.
English · Claude translation
Perfect purification, I think, is faith through the law and the prophets into the gospel; and propitiation is purity through all obedience, together with laying aside worldly things, up to the thankful surrender of the tent at the release of the soul. Whether, then, it is time which, through the seven numbered periods, restores to the highest rest, or seven heavens, which some count by ascent, or whether the fixed region, which borders on the intelligible world, is called the eighth, he says that the one who knows must rise out of becoming and sin. At any rate, after the seven days the victims are sacrificed for sins; for there is still caution about change, and it touches the seventh cycle.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusion is 2 Cor 5:1, 4 (“tent”).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.159 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/159/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.25.159 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/25/159/).
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