Miscellanies 4.6.30
Summary: Those who seek incorruption for its own sake stand at the right; those who bargain are hired servants; likeness and image correspond to choosing by knowledge and by imitation; the parables of Lazarus and of the two masters warn against love of money.
Greek text · Stählin 2:261
οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἐκ δεξιῶν ἵστανται τοῦ ἁγιάσματος· οἱ δὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν φθαρτῶν δόσεως οἰόμενοι ἀντικαταλλάσσεσθαι τὰ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἐν τῇ τῶν δυεῖν ἀδελφῶν παραβολῇ μίσθιοι κέκληνται, καὶ μή τί γε ἐνταῦθα τὸ καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν καὶ εἰκόνα ἀνακύπτει, ἵνʼ οἳ μὲν κατὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν σωτῆρα ὁμοίωσιν συμπολιτεύωνται, οἱ δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων ἱστάμενοι κατὰ τὴν τούτων εἰκόνα. † τρία τοίνυν ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, μιᾶς ῥίζης ἀμφοῖν ὑποκειμένης, αἱρέσεως δὲ οὐκ ἴσης, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν αἵρεσιν διαφορᾶς οὐκ ἴσης. διαφέρει δʼ οἶμαι, τὸ κατὰ μίμησιν ἑλέσθαι τοῦ κατὰ γνῶσιν ἑλομένου, ὡς τὸ πεπυρωμένον καὶ τὸ πεφωτισμένον τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ τοῦ φωτός. φῶς οὖν τῆς κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν ὁμοιότητος ὁ Ἰσραήλ, ὁ δὲ ἄλλος εἰκών. τί δὲ βούλεται ἡ τοῦ Λαζάρου παραβολὴ τῷ κυρίῳ πλουσίου καὶ πένητος εἰκόνα δεικνύουσα; τί δὲ οὐδεὶς δύναται δυσὶ δουλεύειν κυρίοις, θεῷ καὶ μαμωνᾷ, τὴν φιλαργυρίαν οὕτως ὀνομάσαντος τοῦ κυρίου;
English · Claude translation
Such people stand on the right of the sanctuary; but those who think to exchange the things of incorruption by giving perishable things are called hired servants in the parable of the two brothers. And does not “according to likeness and image” emerge here, so that some live as citizens according to likeness to the Savior, while those standing on the left live according to their image? … There are, then, three things from the truth, one root underlying both, but the choice not equal, or rather the difference in choice not equal. It differs, I think, to choose by imitation from one who chooses by knowledge, as what has been heated differs from fire and what has been lit from light. Israel, then, is the light of the likeness according to Scripture, while the other is the image. And what does the Lord mean by the parable of Lazarus, showing the image of a rich man and a poor man? And what by “No one can serve two masters, God and mammon,” the Lord so naming love of money?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The text is corrupt (dagger). The allusions and quotations are Matt 25:33, Luke 15:17–19 (the hired servants), Gen 1:26, Luke 16:19–31, and Matt 6:24 (Luke 16:13).
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.30 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/30/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.30 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/30/).
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