Miscellanies 4.6.41
Summary: The sum of virtue is to despise death for love of God; Christ blesses the persecuted, in the Gospels and in variant forms; we must endure persecutors without hating them, knowing every trial is an occasion for witness.
Greek text · Stählin 2:266–267
Κεφάλαιον δʼ, οἶμαι, πάσης ἀρετῆς κύριος παιδεύων ἡμᾶς τὸ δεῖν γνωστικώτερον διʼ ἀγάπην τὴν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν θανάτου καταφρονεῖν· μακάριοι, φησίν, οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ θεοῦ κληθήσονται, ἢ ὥς τινες τῶν μετατιθέντων τὰ εὐαγγέλια· μακάριοι, φησίν, οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ὑπὲρ τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἔσονται τέλειοι. καὶ μακάριοι οἱ δεδιωγμένοι ἕνεκα ἐμοῦ, ὅτι ἕξουσι τόπον ὅπου οὐ διωχθήσονται. καὶ μακάριοί ἐστε, ὅταν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μισήσωσιν ὑμᾶς, ὅταν ἀφορίσωσιν, ὅταν ἐκβάλωσι τὸ ὄνομα ὑμῶν ὡς πονηρὸν ἕνεκα τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· ἐὰν μὴ βδελυσσώμεθα δηλονότι τοὺς διώκοντας καὶ ὑπομένωμεν τὰς παρʼ αὐτῶν τιμωρίας, μὴ μισοῦντες αὐτούς, βράδιον ἢ προσεδοκήσαμεν πεπειρᾶσθαι διανοούμενοι, ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνο γινώσκοντες πρόφασιν εἶναι μαρτυρίου τὸν ὁντινοῦν πειρασμόν.
English · Claude translation
The sum of all virtue, I think, the Lord teaches us: that we must, in the way of knowledge, despise death through love for God. “Blessed,” he says, “are those persecuted for righteousness' sake, for they will be called sons of God”; or, as some of those who paraphrase the Gospels have it, “Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness, for they will be perfect.” And “Blessed are those persecuted for my sake, for they will have a place where they will not be persecuted.” And “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you, when they cast out your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man”; that is, if we do not abhor our persecutors and we endure their punishments, not hating them, thinking that we have been tried later than we expected, but knowing this too, that any temptation whatever is an occasion for martyrdom.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Matt 5:10 (with a variant ending “sons of God,” compare 5:9), two sayings from “those who paraphrase the Gospels” (not in the canonical Gospels), and Luke 6:22.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/41/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.6.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/4/6/41/).
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