Miscellanies 4.6.28
Summary: Conversion is described by Stoics and Plato; the persecuting judge reveals who truly loves God; abstaining from evil deeds extinguishes vices; “sell your possessions … follow me” means following the Lord's words.
Greek text · Stählin 2:260
τὴν δὲ μεταστροφὴν τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα οἱ μὲν Στωικοὶ ἐκ μεταβολῆς φασι γενέσθαι μεταβαλούσης τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς σοφίαν, Πλάτων δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπὶ τὰ ἀμείνω περιαγωγὴν λαβούσης καὶ μεταστροφὴν ἐκ νυκτερινῆς τινος ἡμέρας. αὐτίκα εὔλογον ἐξαγωγὴν τῷ σπουδαίῳ συγχωροῦσι καὶ οἱ φιλόσοφοι, εἴ τι τοῦ πράσσειν αὐτὸν οὕτω στερήσειεν αὐτόν, ὡς μηκέτι ἀπολελεῖφθαι αὐτῷ μηδὲ ἐλπίδα τῆς πράξεως· ὁ δὲ ἐκβιασάμενος δικαστὴς ἀρνεῖσθαι τὸν ἠγαπημένον διελέγχειν μοι δοκεῖ τὸν φίλον τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὸν μή. ἐνταῦθα οὐδὲ σύγκρισις ἔτι ἀπολείπεται τί ἄν τις καὶ μᾶλλον ἕλοιτο, ἀπειλὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἢ τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ· καί πως ἡ τῶν κακῶν πράξεων ἀποχὴ μείωσίς τε καὶ σβέσις τῶν κακιῶν εὑρίσκεται, καθαιρουμένης τῆς ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν διὰ τῆς ἀπραξίας, καὶ τοῦτʼ ἔστι, πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς, καὶ δεῦρο ἀκολούθει μοι, τουτέστιν τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου λεγομένοις ἕπου.
English · Claude translation
The Stoics say that the turning to divine things comes from a change, the soul changing into wisdom; and Plato, from the soul receiving a turning around toward better things and a conversion from a kind of nighttime day. Indeed, the philosophers too allow the good man a reasonable departure from life, if anything should so deprive him of acting that no hope of action is left to him. But the judge who tries to force someone to deny the One he loves seems to me to show who is a friend of God and who is not. Here no comparison even remains of what one would rather choose, a human threat or the love of God. And somehow abstaining from evil deeds is found to be a lessening and extinguishing of vices, their activity being destroyed through inaction. And this is: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and come, follow me”; that is, follow what the Lord says.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions and quotations are Plato, Republic 7.521c and 518c–d, and Matt 19:21. “Reasonable departure” is the Stoic doctrine of permitted suicide.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/28/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/28/).
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