Miscellanies 4.6.27
Summary: The Lord's discipline separates the soul from the body; “whoever loses his soul will find it” means losing the sinful self in repentance and finding it alive by faith; to find the soul is to know oneself.
Greek text · Stählin 2:260
καὶ ὅλως ἡ κυριακὴ ἄσκησις ἀπάγει τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ σώματος εὐχαρίστως, εἴ γε καὶ αὐτὴ αὑτὴν κατὰ μετάθεσιν ἀποσπᾷ. ὁ γὰρ εὑρὼν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτὴν καὶ ὁ ἀπολέσας εὑρήσει αὐτήν, ἢν μόνον τὸ ἐπίκηρον ἡμῶν ἐπιβάλωμεν τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀφθαρσίᾳ. θέλημα δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ, ἥτις ἐστὶ κοινωνία ἀφθαρσίας. ὁ τοίνυν ἐπιγινώσκων κατὰ τὸν τῆς μετανοίας λόγον ἁμαρτωλὸν τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπολέσει αὐτὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἧς ἀπέσπασται, ἀπολέσας δὲ εὑρήσει κατὰ τὴν ὑπακοὴν τὴν ἀναζήσασαν μὲν τῇ πίστει, ἀποθανοῦσαν δὲ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. τοῦτʼ οὖν ἐστι τὸ εὑρεῖν τὴν ψυχήν, τὸ γνῶναι ἑαυτόν.
English · Claude translation
And in general the Lord's discipline draws the soul away from the body with thanksgiving, if indeed it separates itself by transference. For “the one who finds his soul will lose it, and the one who loses it will find it,” if only we join what is perishable in us to the incorruption of God. And the will of God is the knowledge of God, which is fellowship with incorruption. The one, then, who recognizes his soul as sinful, according to the account of repentance, will lose it from the sin from which it has been torn away; and having lost it, he will find it, according to obedience, having come to life again by faith and died to sin. This, then, is to find one's soul: to know oneself.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Matt 10:39 (a free form).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ. ἥτις ἐστὶ → ἐπίγνωσις τοῦ θεοῦ, ἥτις ἐστὶ.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/27/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.27 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/27/).
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