Clement Of Alexandria

Clement Of Alexandria

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

Both these teachers, however, were prominent in the so-called "'onostic'? movement of the period, and their opinions were not acceptable to the Church at large. 'To these men Clement of Alexandria owed much, both as provoking reaction and as commanding assent.

Of the life of Clement himself not much is known. He was born about the middle of the second century, probably in Athens, of pagan parents. His father may have been a descendant of a freedman of the Titus Flavius Clemens who shared the consulship with the emperor Domitian in A.D. 95. Like many men of that age, he travelled about to receive instruction from various teachers. In a famous passage he tells us about his education (Sérom., I, 11): '""This book is not written to show off my skill as a writer; it is rather that I am treasuring up notes for my old age, a remedy for forgetfulness.2 They are intended simply as a picture and rough sketch of those clear and living teachings and of those blessed and truly honourable men whom

I was privileged to hear. Of them one was an Ionian who taught in Greece. Others were in Magna Graecia [i.e., Southern Italy]; of them one came from Coele-Syria, the other from Egypt.

Others lived in the East; of these one was an Assyrian, one a Palestinian Hebrew. After I met the last (who was first of them in importance) I abandoned further search, having discovered him hiding in Egypt. A truly Sicilian bee, he drew honey from the flowers in the meadow3 of the apostles and prophets, and implanted in the souls of his pupils pure knowledge."'

The identity of Clement's last teacher is not in doubt. He was Pantaenus, described here as "'a truly Sicilian bee." The best honey came from Sicily, so that this is Clement's way of complimenting him upon the brilliance of his lectures. (The phrase gives us no compelling reason for supposing, as has been thought by many writers on Clement, that Pantaenus was a Sicilian.)

Pantaenus was head of the Christian school at Alexandria, and before his conversion was said to have been a Stoic (Eusebius,

H.E., V, 10); we are also told that he had visited India. Little is known of his teaching, and it has proved a forlorn undertaking to attempt any reconstruction of his ideas from Clement's works.

Clement met Pantaenus perhaps about a.p. 180. Not long 2 A commonplace; cf. Cicero, pro Sulla, 45.

3 A reminiscence of Euripides, ENppolytus, 76 ff. (cf. W. Telfer, in 7.T.S.,

XXVIII (1927), p. 169).

4 Varro, de Re Rustica, III, 16:4; Pliny, Wat. Hist., XI., 13:32. That Clement here refers to Pantaenus is indicated by Eusebius, H. Bak Voh

U0s23

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

se afterwards he succeeded Pantaenus at the Christian school, and proceeded to give lectures and to write works intended to win over to the Church the educated classes of Alexandria.

Clement's chief extant writings are his great trilogy: (a) ""The Exhortation to the Greeks" (Protrepticus) in one book: (d) '""The Instructor'' (Paedagogus) in three books; (c) ""The Miscellanies"'

(Stromateis). The title Stromateis was not uncommonly used in Clement's age for writings without any strict order and containing varied subject-matter.5 In the manuscripts there are eight books of the Stromateis, and Eusebius of Caesarea thought the whole work was complete in the eight books before him.® But the eighth book was evidently not intended for publication, and consists of notes of a preparatory nature on which Clement draws in the first seven books. Probably it was appended to the incomplete work after Clement's death. How many books Clement meant to write we cannot tell. At the end of Book VII (cf. also VII, 89) he writes of continuing further.

The only other complete work from Clement's pen is the tractate on the rich young ruler (Quis Dives Salvetur?),7 written to reassure his wealthy and cultured Christian pupils that Christ condemned only the wrong attitude to wealth, not wealth as such.

Numerous fragments of other works are quoted in later writers, and the manuscripts also preserve two works which throw important light on gnosticism entitled "Selections from the Prophetic Sayings"' (Eclogae Propheticae) and "'Epitomes from the Writings of Theodotus and the so-called Eastern Teaching of the Time of Valentinus" (Excerpta ex Theodoto). Of the latter there is an edition with English translation and notes by Dr R. P.

Casey (1934.).8 It is scarcely intelligible without an extensive commentary.

II Clement's life work was a war, waged on two fronts; unlike other such conflicts, it ended in success. The gnostic teachers

5 On the title see J. B. Mayor, Clement of Alexandria: Miscellanies, Book VII, pp. Xi-xx1.

6 Eusebius, H.F., VI, 13:1.

7 This work is excellently translated by G. W. Butterworth in the Loeb Classical Library. In the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vols. IV and XII, W. Wilson translates the trilogy, excepting Strom., III, which is given in Latin.

8 Recently a French edition has been produced by F. Sagnard (Paris, 1948); thereon see A. J. Festugiére in Vigiliae Christianae, III (1949),

Pp: 193-207.

A.C.—2

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

had tended to approximate Christianity to notions drawn from Graeco-Oriental syncretism and heterodox Judaism. These sects had given ordinary church folk such a fright that they had come to fight shy of any form of Christianity which claimed philosophical support. That philosophy was the mother of all heresy was the firm conviction of Tertullian of Carthage,

Clement's contemporary. He remarks that the heretics quote 'Seek and ye shall find"' to defend their curiosity. But for Tertullian Christian believers have already found the object of their search: ''after one has believed there is but one thing more to be believed, namely that there is nothing more to believe' (de

Praescr., 9). The pagan critic of Christianity Celsus, writing about A.D. 177-180, probably at Alexandria or perhaps at Rome, says that while indeed there are some educated Christians, the majority commonly say: "Do not ask questions, only believe. Faith will save you. Wisdom is an evil thing and foolishness good."® Galen, the distinguished medical writer of this time, caustically remarks: "'If I had in mind people who taught their pupils in the same way as the followers of Moses and Christ teach theirs—for they order them to accept everything on faith

—TI should not have given you a definition."'!° Distrust of learning and argument was evidently characteristic of much Christian feeling at this period. The most Tertullian was prepared to give in justification of his belief was Credo quia absurdum. And the Roman Hippolytus, Clement's junior contemporary, constructed his refutation of all heresies on the assumption that each heretic derived his ideas from some pagan philosopher—an assumption for which classical scholars have every reason to be grateful to him, since he thus preserves valuable fragments of early philosophers like Heraclitus.

Accordingly, in the eyes of many Christians it was doing the devil's work to pretend that anything more than simple faith was required. Such an attitude did nothing to commend Christianity to educated people. Clement conceives of his task as a vocation to see to it that the Church is made safe for a more positive evaluation of Greek philosophy. For him it is a pastoral necessity arising directly out of his work among the cultured classes of Alexandria. To tell a well-educated catechumen that even the greatest of Greek poets and philosophers were inspired by the devil, would be catastrophic. ""The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," quotes Clement in self-justifica9 Origen, contra Celsum, I, 9.

10 See R. Walzer, Galen on Jews and Christians (1949), pp. 15, 48-56.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Ig tion; '"'and anyone who seeks to help catechumens, especially if they are Greeks, must not shrink from scholarly study.''!1 "But the multitude are scared of Greek philosophy, as children are of masks, fearing that it will lead them astray."'!2 Like the companions of Odysseus passing the Sirens, '"'they stop up their ears because they know that if they once allow themselves to listen to Greek learning they will not be able afterwards to find their way home again.''!3 "'I am well aware of what is said by some who stupidly take fright at any noise. They assert that one must concern oneself only with what is necessary and is bound up with faith, that we ought to pass by anything outside this as superfluous because it distracts us to no purpose and absorbs our energies in studies which are of no help towards our ultimate end. There are others who even think that philosophy was introduced into human life by some evil inventor for the ruin of men."

The existence of such critics makes Clement cautious in his expressions. It has even been suggested that only this obscurity of his style prevented Clement from suffering condemnation like

Origen in later centuries.15 The Miscellames is a baffling and enigmatic work to read because Clement is constantly passing from one subject to another, leaving hints and allusions unexplained and undeveloped. He himself makes it clear that this is a deliberate attempt to cover his tracks.!° He wishes to be conciliatory to his opponents, and never lashes them with scorn.

At most he allows himself a gentle irony.!7 To his critics he admits that pagan philosophy is a harlot. But the scripture says:

"Be not much with a strange woman"? (Prov. 5:20). "This is an admonition that we are to use but not to linger and spend too much time with worldly culture.'' 18

Clement believes that philosophy is of divine origin. In an important passage he discusses various possible explanations of the origin of philosophy: 19 ""They may say that it is mere chance that the Greeks have expressed something of the true philosophy.

11 Strom., VI, 89.

12 [bid., VI, 80.

13 [bid., VI, 89.

14 Jbid., I, 18.

15 A, Jiilicher, art. ''Clemens Alexandrinus,'"' in Pauly-Wissowa, Realenc., IV (1901), col. 13. Photius (cod. 109, 111) utters a word of warning about Clement's unsoundness.

16 Clement is explicit on this point (Strom., I, 20-21, 56; IV, 4; VI, 2; VII,

IIO-1ITI).

17 Cf. Strom., I, 43; VI, 80, cited above.

18 Strom., I, 29.

19 [bid., I, 94. Valuable comments on this passage by E. Molland in Symbolae Osloenses, XV-XVI (1936), pp. 57 ff.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

But that chance is subject to divine providence. For no one will make chance into a god merely in order to get the better of their argument with us. Or they may call it a happy coincidence. Or in the next place it may be said that the Greeks possessed an idea of the truth implanted by nature. But we know that the Creator of nature is one only. .

. And if it is said that they had a common mind, let us examine who is author of it and of the righteousness which is apparent in the distribution of mind to all men.2° But if anyone says that the cause of this anticipation in Greek philosophy is a 'previous proclamation' or says that it is due to a coincidental agreement, he is implying that it is a form of prophecy. Moreover, others affirm that many teachings of the philosophers arise from a reflection of the truth " (i.e., by introspection the philosopher contemplates the image of God within himself, which is a reflection of God; cf. I Cor. 13:12).

It is with the last view that Clement associates himself. But it is characteristic of him not to be too decided on the point. And elsewhere he alludes favourably to the view that Greek philosophy goes back to the fallen angels of Genesis, ch. 6, who were supposed to have imparted their secrets to their women folk, so that the truth, albeit in distorted form, had come down to men

(Strom., V, 10; cf. I, 81). He is particularly attracted by the theory, taken over from traditional Jewish apologetic, that the Greek philosophers had plagiarized Moses. The Lord had said,

'"'All who came before me were thieves and robbers.' Clement devotes inordinate space to proving the priority of Moses and to arguing that the Greeks had stolen their ideas from the Old

Testament. And in a long section (Strom., V, 89-139) he even argues that this is only to be expected, since the Greeks were in the habit of plagiarizing from one another. It is necessary to observe that much of this section, like other parts of the Miscellanies, seems itself to have been a compilation drawing on earlier sources. ?1

Clement's debt to other writers is so great that some modern scholars have treated him as if he had not a single idea of his own and was merely a compiler of other men's work. If Clement were no more than an expert with scissors and paste he would scarcely merit Jerome's high praise that of all the Fathers he was the most learned (Hpist., LX X, 4). It is of course demonstrable that he draws much from elsewhere. For his too-numerous poetic

20 Allusion to Plato, Laws, 714 A.

21 For a recent discussion see K. Ziegler's article '"'Plagiat" in PaulyWissowa, Realenc., XX, 2 (1950), cols. 1984-1991.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

quotations he uses anthologies, and for his philosophy he uses the current handbooks of "'potted'' philosophy, summarizing the opinions of the various schools;22 the same practice was adopted by many others of his time, both pagan and Christian.

There can, however, be no question that he had an excellent first-hand knowledge of most of the classics of Greek literature.

He knew well Homer and Euripides, Plato and the Stoics.

Platonic allusions are particularly frequent, and probably even now not all of them have been noticed and identified. Equally familiar to him were the writings of Philo of Alexandria, from whom he quotes almost as often as from Plato. Philo provided him with a ready-made attitude to Greek philosophy; he had interpreted the story of Hagar and Sarah as an allegory of the relations of philosophy and theology, to show that the former is to be the handmaid of the latter.23 It is an attitude Clement is glad to make his own.

Paul had spoken of the Law of Moses as a pazdagogos until the coming of Christ (Gal. 3:24). Clement would attribute the same role to Greek philosophy: "Even if Greek philosophy does not comprehend the truth in its entirety and, in addition, lacks the strength to fulfil the Lord's command, yet at least it prepares the way for the teaching which is royal in the highest sense of the word, by making a man self-controlled, by moulding his character, and by making him ready to receive the truth"

(Strom., I, 80). "'Greek philosophy, as it were, provides for the soul the preliminary cleansing and training required for the reception of the faith, on which foundation the truth builds up the edifice of knowledge" (Strom., VII, 20).

Du If, on the one hand, Clement is anxious to vindicate for Christian teachers the right to study the Greek philosophers and poets, on the other hand he wishes to make it clear that this does not leave the door open for unorthodox gnostic speculations.

Between Clement and the gnostics there were two chief points 22 H. Diels, Doxographi Graect, pp. 244 ff.

23 fae de Congressu Eruditionis gratia, freely pillaged by Clement, Strom., I,

The Jewish Wisdom-literature was also of great importance to Clement in enabling him to bridge the gulf between the biblical theology of church tradition and the rational inquiry of philosophy. Cf. W. Volker,

"Die Verwertung der Weisheit-Literatur bei den christlichen Alexandrinern,"' in Zeits. f. Kirchengeschichte, LXIV (1953); pp. 1-33.

FU, CLEMENT

OF ALEXANDRIA

at issue: their pessimistic view of the world, and their denial of the part played by free will in the attainment of salvation.

The gnostics took so pessimistic a view of the created world that they refused to recognize in its Creator the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This present evil world must be the work of an inferior, perhaps even of an evil, power; it certainly could not have been made by the supreme God, of whom it was entirely unworthy. It followed from this that the Old Testament which was inspired by the Creator must be similarly inferior, and could tell us little or nothing about the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

In the third book of his Miscellanies Clement has a full-scale discussion of the implications of this view of the world. The gnostic estimate of the world led to two opposed attitudes to sex and marriage. Clement himself divides his opponents into two groups, the extreme ascetics and the licentious (Strom., III, 40).

Of the former class the most prominent representatives are Marcion and Tatian. Although in other respects Marcion stood apart from the "gnostic"? movement, he shared their idea of the Old Testament and the Creation. The inferior Creator-God had given the command: "Increase and multiply and replenish the earth" (Gen. 1:28). The good Marcionite would therefore do nothing whatever to assist the Creator in his business. In fact, in Marcion's eyes the methods chosen by the Creator for replenishing the world were as nasty as could be. Marcion's language about sex and the process of reproduction shows him to have been a psychopathic case; the contemplation of sex overwhelmed him with a sense of nausea. No member of the Marcionite church was allowed to be married.

A similarly ascetic line was adopted by Tatian, former pupil of the apologist Justin Martyr. There is all too little evidence of the details of the heretical doctrines he came to hold. Irenaeus has three complaints to make against him: (a) he adopted

Valentinian ideas about invisible aeons; (5) he called marriage fornication, like Marcion and Saturninus; (c) he denied that Adam could be saved.24 He evidently came to attribute an inferior status to the Creator and the created world, since he interpreted "Let there be light'? (Gen. 1:3) as a request from the Creator, who found himself in darkness and had to ask the supreme God for light so that he could see to make the world.?5

In Strom., III, 80-81 Clement quotes from Tatian's work en24 Irenaeus, adv. Haer., I, 28, quoted by Eusebius, H.E., IV, 29:1.

25 See Prof. Oulton's note on Origen, de Orat., XXIV, 5 (p. 358 below).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

titled ""On Perfection according to the Saviour." It was probably the ascetic tendency of this work which led to Tatian's separation from the Church. His excommunication is dated by Eusebius in A.D. 172.26 When the church at Rome became too hot to hold him, he returned to his native land, Mesopotamia, where he exercised wide influence and would, it seems, have found many like-minded persons who held the married state to be incompatible with the Christian profession.27? His ""Harmony of the Gospels" (Diatessaron) remained in general use, especially in the Syrian church for which it was originally composed. A Greek version was soon made for the many Greek-speaking

Christians of the Eastern provinces.28 Whether the Oration to the Greeks, for which he is chiefly known, was written at Rome or in Mesopotamia is not certain. If, as has recently been urged,?9 it was written late in 177 or early in 178, then it is clear that even after his separation from the Church Tatian remained faithful to the apologetic tradition he had inherited from Justin.

It is interesting that Clement's quotations from Tatian's work "On Perfection according to the Saviour'? show that he expounded Paul, and give no hint that he rejected the apostle's writings. His followers, however, according to the statements of Hippolytus and Origen, rejected the Pauline epistles, and Eusebius says that they also rejected the Acts. 3°

Of the ascetic wing of the "'gnostic'? movement Clement's third representative is Julius Cassianus. We know nothing about him other than what we are told by Clement (Jerome's statements about him are wholly dependent on Clement). We learn that he was the originator of Docetism—a statement which cannot be accepted in view of the New Testament evidence for the prevalence of this tendency before the end of the first century

(I John 4:1 ff.). In the first book of the Miscellanies Cassian is mentioned with respect in company with Tatian as having proved in his ""commentaries"' the priority of Moses to Greek

26 Eusebius, Chronicle, p. 206, ed. Helm.

27 Epiphanius, Panarion, XLVI. Cf. F. C. Burkitt in Camb. Anc. Hist., XII, .

499.

28 See P. E. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza (1947), pp. 197 ff.; A. Véébus, History of the Gospel Text in Syriac (1951).

29 R. M. Grant, '"The Date of Tatian's Oration," in Harvard Theological Review, XLVI

(1953), pp. gg—-1o1. J. Geffcken, Zwei griech. Apologeten (1907), pp. 105-106, dates Tatian's Oration after his break with the Church. Cf. also Grant in 7.T.S. n.s. V (1954), pp. 62-68.

30 Hippolytus, Refut., VIII, 20:1; Origen, contra Celsum, V, 65; Eusebius,

H.LE., TV, 29:5.

24.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

philosophers (Strom., I, 101). He was at one time a Valentinian, but fell out with the school perhaps because of his extreme docetic opinions and his rejection of marriage (Strom., III, 92).

At the opposite extreme to the ascetic sects were the Carpocratians. This sect is a peculiar phenomenon even in the curious penumbra of eccentric sects which gathered round the Church in the second century and claimed the name of Christian. The evidence concerning the sect is not a little obscure. The origin of the sect is ascribed by Clement and Irenaeus to a man Carpocrates, but his historical existence has been doubted. We have to examine the possibility that Clement and Irenaeus assumed that the sect was founded by a man of this name, just as Tertullian invents a mythical Ebion as founder of the Ebionites.

The earliest writer to speak of the sect is Celsus, the pagan critic of Christianity whose True Doctrine was probably written about A.D. 177-180. He enumerates several Christian sects, observing that none is willing to co-operate with any other. 'There are, he says, 'Marcellians who follow Marcellina, and Harpocratians who follow Salome, and others who follow Mariamme, and others who follow Martha." The immorality ofsome of these groups is even more shameful, he thinks, than that associated with the hero-cult paid to Hadrian's favourite Antinous. For his factual information about these sects Celsus seems to. have been dependent not upon a first-hand acquaintance but upon some orthodox Christian pamphlet (elsewhere his remarks about Marcion strongly suggest that such anti-heretical literature lay before him; cf. Origen, contra Celsum, V1, 53, with my note thereon). He goes on to observe that some of these heretics are called (presumably by their orthodox critics) "'Circes and wily agitators," and others 'Sirens... who seal the ears of their converts and make their heads like pigs."'3!

Contemporary with Celsus is the bare mention of the Carpocratians in the Memoirs of Hegesippus (in Eusebius, H.£., IV,

22:5), but this tells us nothing of the doctrine of the sect.32

31 Origen, contra Celsum, V, 62-64. For "' Circes " cf. Clem. Strom., VII, 95.

32 Bishop Lightfoot, St. Clement of Rome, I (1890), pp. 328 ff., tried to prove that the account of the Carpocratians in Epiphanius, Panarion, XX VII, 6, was based on the lost Memoirs of Hegesippus. His view was accepted by Zahn (Forsch. z. Gesch. d. N. T. Kanons, VI (1900), pp. 258 f.), Harnack

(Chronologie, I (1897), pp. 184 f.), and H. J. Lawlor (Eusebiana (1912), pp.

73 ff.). This view, however, has not survived the criticisms of Karl Holl in his notes on this passage in his edition of Epiphanius (Vol. I (1915), pp.

308-309), which make it clear that Epiphanius gives no evidence of having had any sources in front of him other than Irenaeus and Eusebius.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

According to the summary of Irenaeus, reproduced in essentials by most of the later anti-heretical writers,33 Carpocrates believed that the world was created by inferior angels. Jesus, son of Joseph, however, exercising his Platonic powers of anamnesis, remembered what he had seen in the divine sphere, and on this account power came upon him from the Father to enable him to escape from the world-creators. Souls like Jesus can similarly overcome the world, being visited by the same power which they can obtain by magic. Those who possess it can indulge in any practice without danger, since right and wrong are merely human conventions. It is by faith and love that we are saved. If it is to avoid reincarnation the soul must have experience of everything, this being the meaning of Jesus' words,

"Thou shalt not go forth thence till thou hast paid the last farthing."

Irenaeus concludes his account of the Carpocratians by observing that one group of them was led by a lady named Marcellina who came to Rome in the time of Pope Anicetus (c. A.D.

155-166). This group had a ceremony of initiation which was a literal baptism by fire; initiates were branded with a hot iron at the back of the lobe of the right ear. Irenaeus' information thus fills out and substantiates the obscure references in Celsus. The Carpocratian ceremony of baptism by branding the ear is also mentioned by the Valentinian Heracleon.?4

Hitherto the evidence considered is reasonably coherent and self-consistent.

But some modern writers doubt whether Clement's information in the third book of the Miscellanies is equally reliable. Clement gives here substantial quotations from a book attributed to Carpocrates' son Epiphanes entitled Concerning Righteousness. This work merely consists of the scribblings of an intelligent but nasty-minded adolescent of somewhat pornographic tendencies. The work attempts to justify extreme sexual licence by a communistic theory: the existence of private property is of human invention and has no divine sanction; communism is therefore to be practised in sexual relationships.

33 Irenaeus, adv. Haer., I., 25; Hippolytus, Refui., VII, 32; Tertullian, de Anima, 23 and 35; Eusebius, H.E., IV, 7:9 f.; Ps.-Tertullian, adv. Omn.

Haer., 3; Filastrius, 35; Theodoret, Haer. Fab. Comp., I, 5; Augustine, de Haer., 7; Didymus, de Trinitate, III, 42; Ps.-Anthimus of Nicomedia (? =

Marcellus of Ancyra), de Sancta Ecclesia, 6 (Studi e Testi, V, 1901).

34 "Some brand with fire the ears of those whom they seal'' (ap. Clem. Alex., Ecl. Proph., XXV, 1). See F. J. Délger, ""Die Sphragis als religidse Brandmarkung im Einweihungsakt der gnostischen Karpokratianer,"' in Antzke und Christentum, I (1929), pp. 73-78.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

The difficulty, however, lies in Clement's remarkable account of the posthumous cult of Epiphanes. He affirms that Epiphanes' father, Carpocrates, was an Alexandrian. His mother, named

Alexandria, came from the town of Same in the island of Cephallenia in the Ionian islands. After their son died at the tender age of seventeen they founded a temple in his honour at Same, and the islanders used to gather once a month for a religious beano in celebration of the hero's birthday.

Volkmar entirely disbelieved in the existence of such a person as Epiphanes. He held that Clement had totally misunderstood a new moon festival at Same, in some account of which the new moon was entitled epzphanes.35 A modified form of this radical hypothesis was accepted by Lipsius.36 He saw that there must have been an Alexandrian gnostic named Epiphanes who was author of the book Concerning Righteousness, but this person has no connection with the moon-god worshipped on Cephallenia.

Celsus calls the sect ''Harpocratians."? From this the conclusion has been drawn that the name of the sect was not taken from any man Carpocrates, but from the Egyptian deity Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, who was worshipped by the Greeks under the name Carpocrates or Harpocrates (both forms of the name occur in inscriptions). Egyptian deities were worshipped in Asia

Minor and the Greek islands.37 Harpocrates may well have been worshipped at Cephallenia, although no inscriptions have been found there to prove it.38 He may there have been associated with a feminine consort named after the city Alexandria, and his cult fused with a local cult of some Cephallenian deity, theos epiphanes.39

35 G. Volkmar, "Uber die Haretiker Epiphanes und Adrianus,"' in Monatsschrift des wissenschaftlichen Vereins in Ziirich, I (1856), pp. 276-282, criticized by Hilgenfeld briefly in Zeitschr. f. wiss. Theol., V (1862), p. 426, n. 2, and at length in his Die Ketzergeschichte Urchristentums (1884), pp. 402 f.

For a good summary in English see G. Salmon in Dict. Chr. Biogr., 5.v.

**Epiphanes."'

36 R. A. Lipsius, Zur Quellenkritik des Epiphanios (Vienna, 1865), p. 161.

37 See T. A. Brady, The Reception of Egyptian Cults by the Greeks (Univ. of Missouri Studies, X (1935)); M. P. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion,

IT (1950), p. 118; D. Magie, ''Egyptian Deities in Asia Minor in Inscriptions and on Coins,"' in Amer. Journ. Arch., LVII (1953), pp. 163-187.

38 The poverty of epigraphical evidence of any kind from Same is remarked by G. Klaffenbach, "Bericht tiber eine epigraphische Reise durch Mittelgriechenland und die Ionischen Inseln,"' in Sitzungsberichte d. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. (1935), pp. 691-726, at pp. 711 f. For a dedication to Isis and Sarapis at nearby Corcyra, cf. Inscr. Gr., IX, 716.

39 W. Schultz, Dokumente der Gnosis (1910), pp. lxviii, 160; H. Leisegang, Die

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Against this view we have to reckon the explicit and detailed statements which Clement makes, even to the inclusion of the precise age at which Epiphanes died. Clement's story is circumstantial. And as a general rule it is safe to say that Clement is the most reliable of all early Christian writers on gnosticism. On Basilides and Valentine he is extremely well informed. It would be remarkable if he were to be completely mistaken in this instance. In a recent attempt to discredit Clement's evidence

Heinz Kraft has emphasized the silence of Clement regarding Marcellina and the ceremony of branding the ear with hot iron.

But this proves nothing. In any event Clement is in entire accord with both Celsus and Irenaeus in representing the sect as wholeheartedly licentious.

Clement's only statement about the metaphysics of the Carpocratians is that they believed in "'the monadic gnosis." This is not supported by Irenaeus or Hippolytus, but it is curiously echoed by two Latin Christian writers who have been suspected of using a lost work of Hippolytus.4° And it is entirely in Clement's manner to concentrate attention upon the ethics rather than the metaphysics of the heretical sects. Basilides is treated in exactly this way. The cryptic statement that the doctrine of the Monad was important for the Carpocratians is perhaps explained by the quotation Clement makes (Strom., ITI,

29) from a lost apocryphal work and which he regards as "'the mother of their licentiousness."' It is an account of the origin of the world: the Monad was alone at first, but since it seemed good to its unity not to be alone an Idea came forth from it, and from the intercourse of Monad and Idea came the invisible powers of the cosmos. Clement observes that the Valentinian doctrine is superficially akin to this, but that in Valentine's system the union of the pairs in the Pleroma is wholly "'spiritual,'' whereas the licentious sects have understood the union in crudely physical terms.

Clement's statement that Epiphanes' birthday was celebrated Gnosis (3rd edn., 1941), pp. 257 ff. The case has been argued with at least the maximum of plausibility by H. Kraft, ""Gab es einen Gnostiker Karpokrates?"' in Theol. Zeitschr., VIII (1952), pp. 434-443. The position of de

Faye (Gnostiques et Gnosticisme (1925), pp. 413-419) is agnostic: there is no proof that the Carpocratian sect was founded by Epiphanes' father; it may have been another man named Carpocrates, but we really have no certain knowledge about the sect whatever. The reliability of Clement's statements is upheld by Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte, p. 403; H. Liboron,

Die karpokratianische Gnosis (1938), pp. 10 ff.

40 Strom., III, 5. Cf. Ps.-Tertullian, adv. Omn. Haer., 3; Filastrius, 35.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

monthly offers no ground for supposing that he was really a moon-god. There is plenty of evidence that in antiquity birthdays were celebrated monthly.*!

The story of the posthumous cult of Epiphanes at Same is certainly remarkable. Clement evidently thought so, or he would not have reported the details. The cult does not appear to be more remarkable than the hero-cult paid to Hadrian's favourite, the boy Antinous who was drowned in the Nile in A.D. 130. The emperor believed the boy had become a star. 42

The celebrations at Antinoopolis in Egypt were attended by nocturnal orgies so notorious that they were generally deplored by such writers as Celsus and were a godsend to critics of paganism like the Christian apologists. Indeed, when Celsus compares the licentiousness of the Carpocratians with that of the revellers of the cult of Antinous he may have been nearer the truth than he knew. It is not impossible that the Carpocratians modelled their practice on the recently founded cult of Hadrian's favourite. The activities of Carpocrates are no doubt rightly dated by Theodoret in the time of Hadrian. And it would not be a unique case of cultus offered to a young child early ripened for heaven. A famous inscription found on the island of 'Thera records that a Mouseion was built by a husband and wife, whose impulse to found the place came from the early death of their young son. An annual sacrifice was offered and a meal eaten there in memory of dead members of the family.43 Clement does not say that the Carpocratian sect flourished in Cephallenia.

But that Epiphanes' parents founded a temple there in his memory and venerated him as a hero is not inconceivable. Nor is it incredible that a seventeen-year-old boy of some ability, even if of little moral education, should have written the work Concerning Righteousness.

Clement makes the Carpocratians responsible for bringing 41 See E. Schiirer, "Zu II Macc. 6, 7 (monatliche Geburtstagfeier),'' in Ketschr. f. d. N. T. Wiss., II (1901), pp. 48-52; G. Wissowa, ''Monatliche

Geburtstagfeier,"'? in Hermes, XX XVII (1902), pp. 157-159; E. Rohde, Psyche (Eng. tr., 1925), p. 197.

42 Dio Cassius, 69, 11; Tatian, Oratio ad Graecos, 10. For the widespread ancient belief that a dead child became a star and for the practice of offering sacrifice to such, cf. F. Cumont, Lux Perpetua (1949), pp. 183-184.

43 The comparison between Epiphanes and the Thera inscription (Jnscr.

Gr., XII, 3:330) is made by Usener, Das Wethnachtsfest (2nd edn., 1911), p114, n. 10, though Usener could not believe that the Cephallenian

Epiphanes is identical with the author of the book Concerning Righteousness. On the Thera inscription, cf. also Wilamowitz, Glaube der Hellenen

(1932), II, p. 140, n. 2.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

upon the Christians the popular scandal that they indulged in immorality. This charge is often rebutted by the apologists of the second century, though Celsus is sufficiently well informed to know that there is no truth in the story. Origen (who thought the story was put into circulation by the Jews) tells us that in his time "these allegations are now condemned even by the multitude and by people entirely alien to our religion as being a false slander against the Christians.'' But in the second century the scandal was widely believed. ""This malicious rumour,"

Origen observes, "'some time ago exercised an unreasonable influence on a very large number and persuaded people knowing nothing of the gospel that this really was the character of Christians. And even now it still deceives some who by such stories are repelled from approaching Christians even if only for a simple conversation.''44 When the rumour began it is not possible to say, but it is certainly earlier than the Carpocratians.

The language of 'Tacitus and of the younger Pliny about "'the vices with which the name Christian is associated''45 suggests that it was current by the end of the first century.

Three other groups of licentious gnostics are mentioned by Clement. Of those whom he calls Antitactae nothing is known from elsewhere. The Nicolaitans (cf. Rev. 2:6) claimed to follow

Nicolas the proselyte of Antioch. Clement disputes this claim; some scholars have thought him correct, and have explained the name "'Nicolaitans'' as due to the common anxiety of heretics to father their opinions on some New Testament personage.

On the other hand, it is obvious that Clement's remarks about Nicolas are whitewash. Clement was anxious to clear a prominent person of the apostolic age from any responsibility for those who claimed his authority, just as he also argues that the Cephas with whom Paul had a battle royal at Antioch (Gal.

2:11 f.) was not Simon Peter the apostle but another disciple of the same name who was one of the seventy sent out by Jesus.4°6

As late as the fifth century John Cassian attacks people who deny that the Nicolas of Acts, ch. 6, is to be identified with the leader of the Nicolaitan sect.47

| 44 Origen, contra Celsum, VI, 40, and 27.

45 Pliny, Epist., X, 96: flagitia cohaerentia nomini. Tacitus (Ann., XV, 44) similarly says that the Christians were "'hated for their vices'' (per flagitia

InNViSOS ).

46 cies in Eusebius, H.E., I, 12:1 f.

47 Coll., XVIII, 16:6. Further material on the Nicolaitans in Harnack, Geschichte der altchr. Litt., 1, p. 156; M. Goguel, ''Les Nicolaites,"' in Revue de l'hist. des religions, CXV (1937), pp. 5-36.

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Prodicus (Strom., III, 30) is a shadowy figure of uncertain date, and most of what we know about him is derived from Clement. Besides his immoral teaching he denied the utility of prayer on the ground that since God already knows all our needs there is not the slightest reason to inform him of them

(Strom., VII, 41), an opinion dealt with by Origen (de Orat.,V, 1).

Clement also says that his followers prided themselves on possessing some writings of Zoroaster (Strom., I, 69); we know from Porphyry's Life of Plotinus (c. xvi) that "'apocalypses of Zoroaster' were current among the gnostics.48 The followers of Prodicus knew themselves to be saved and that nothing could interfere with the predeterminate counsel of God; they therefore held that apostasy in persecution was a matter of no moral significance for the elect.49 This is about the sum of our knowledge about the sect. Apart from this there 1s only the dubious statement of Theodoret that Prodicus was leader of the Adamite sect, a group of nudist encratites of whom Epiphanius gives an account based on hearsay in his "'Medicine-Chest for the Cure of all Heresies.''5° Between the two extremes, the rigidly ascetic and the freely licentious, there stand the two most prominent Christian gnostics, Basilides and Valentine.

Basilides and his son Isidore held marriage to be no sin, and allowed it on the apostolic ground that it was indeed better to marry than to burn. But it was to be avoided by the man who was ambitious to attain perfection. The followers of Basilides in the next generation after his death departed from their master's teaching and fell into licentious ways (Strom., III, 3). When

Irenaeus accuses Basilides of immorality, the charge is evidently not true of the master himself, though we have Clement's testimony that it was true of the Basilidians of his own time.

Irenaeus, however, is not well informed about the teaching of the historical Basilides.

The Valentinians were distinguished from other gnostics by their warm approval of monogamous marriage. For Valentine there was no question of any licentiousness, nor of any frowning disapproval, much less outright rejection, of the married state.

According to Tertullian the Valentinians accounted the unmarried as on a lower level than the married (adv. Val., 30), a 48 Cf. H. C. Puech in Coptic Studies in Honor of W. E. Crum (Boston, Mass.,

1950), pp. 107-108, 132-134.

49 Tertullian, Scorpiace, 15 (cf. adv. Prax. 3).

50 Theodoret, Haer. Fab. Comp., I, 6; Epiphanius, Panarion, 52.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

view which was hardly likely to recommend Valentinianism to the North African rigorist.5! This feature is the more remarkable in that of all the gnostic teachers Valentine was the most deeply influenced by Platonism, which might have encouraged in him a pessimistic view of the world. His approval of marriage was grounded upon his fantastic metaphysics, to which the Hellenistic commonplace idea that things on earth have their counterpart of things in heaven is integral. 'The Godhead, the Pleroma or fullness, consists of thirty spiritual beings called aeons.

The Pleroma begins with Depth (Bythos) and his consort Silence (S2ge), whose marriage produces Mind and Truth. These in turn beget Word and Life, to whom are born Man and Church.

These eight form the Ogdoad. In the same kind of way the rest of the Pleroma gradually evolves until the full number of thirty aeons is attained. We need not stop here on the further development of the system. The sacred marriages of the aeons in the Godhead (cf. Strom., III, 29) are for Valentine the model for earthly activity. The marriage of the Valentinian bridegroom with his Valentinian bride is the earthly counterpart of the whole process of evolution enacted in the very life of God, who is the Pleroma. It is a foretaste, therefore, of that final bliss in the heavenly marriage feast to which all the saved (i.e. the Valentinians) are invited, when they are to strip themselves of their souls, their wedding garments, and pass into the bridal chamber, the Pleroma itself, where they enjoy unutterable union and the beatific vision. 52

With the teaching of Basilides and more especially of Valentine Clement found himself in a fair degree of sympathy. Both are men of eminence whom he always regards with respect, even though he is aware of important differences. His main complaint is against the general gnostic tendency to adopt extreme predestinarian views. Most of the sects held that they alone were the saved, they alone had the divine spark within.

The Naassene sect is quoted by Hippolytus as saying, ""We alone of all men are Christians''(Ref., V, 9:22).53 Basilides

51 According to Irenaeus (I, 6:4) the Valentinians taught that marriage was indeed a mark of the elect "'pneumatic."' But continence has to be practised by the "'psychic"' if he wished to be saved.

52 Clement, Exc. Theod., LXIII-IV; Heracleon in Origen, Comm. in Evang.

Loannis, X, 19; XIII, 52; Irenaeus, I, 7:1.

53 The pagan Celsus says of the Christian sects: '""They slander one another with dreadful and unspeakable words of abuse; and they will not make even the least concession to reach agreement, for they utterly detest each other'"' (Origen, contra Celsum, V, 63; cf. III, 10-12).

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OF ALEXANDRIA

stood far nearer to orthodox Christianity than the Naassenes, whose connections with the faith were, to say the least, thin.

He seems to have held a rigorous division of mankind into the saved and the lost in accordance with a "supra-cosmic election"

(Strom., II, 10; V, 3; IV, 165). But we are not told that he identified his own adherents with the saved exclusively. Valentine was more explicit. He divided mankind into three classes, following Paul's tripartite division of man into body, soul, and spirit (I Thess. 5:23). Humanity consisted of those whose essential nature was spirit, the pneumatics; those whose nature was of soul-stuff, the psychics; and those who were merely of the earth, earthy. The pneumatics with whom the Valentinians naturally identified themselves were wholly predetermined to gain complete salvation and incorporation into the Pleroma.

The earthy class were equally absolutely predestined for hell.

The middle class, however, the psychics, consisted of the ordinary members of the Christian Church who did not attend Valentine's conventicle. The Valentinian was permitted to hope for their salvation; they might be saved or they might be lost; everything depended on their use of free will.

This threefold division Valentine takes right through his entire system. He found the middle or "'psychic"' category particularly useful for his Christology. Jesus' body, he held, was not purely spiritual, as the cruder docetists had taught. Nor, on the other hand, was it of earthy matter, as simple church teachers believed. It was made of soul-stuff; it was psychic. Clement regards this idea with some anxiety as being at least in principle docetic; for in Strom., III, 102 he remarks that because they regard birth into a material body as an evil thing Cassian and Marcion hold their docetic opinions—"'and even Valentine indeed teaches that Christ's body was psychic." Nevertheless,

Clement is able to quote with approval Valentine's letter to one Agathopus, saying that Jesus "'ate and drank in a manner peculiar to himself and the food did not pass out of his body."

There was no normal digestive process (Strom., III, 59).54 Elsewhere Clement advances a similar view on his own, when he remarks that Jesus certainly ate and drank, not because he needed to do so, for his body was sustained by divine power, but 54 Origen attacks Valentinus' Christology in his Commentary on Galatians

Shere: in Pamphilus' Apology for Origen: Lommatzsch, XXIV, 365 ff.).

- Si vero quis indignas obscoenasque ad haec proferat inquisitiones, requirens si etiam digestiones in corpore fiebant, nihil absurdum videtur fateri secundum consequentiam naturae corporeae."'

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

because he wished to forestall the Docetists (Strom., VI, 71).

Valentine's concession to the docetic spirit in admitting that the body of Jesus was not of common matter but was psychic led to trouble in the Valentinian school. If psychic, why could it not be pneumatic? According to Hippolytus (Ref, VI, 35:5—7) this problem led to a split in the Valentinian ranks: the Italian school led by Ptolemy and Heracleon held that the body was psychic, the Eastern School led by Axionicus of Antioch and Bardesanes of Edessa that it was pneumatic.

EV Clement's personal attitude to marriage is curiously confused. Against the heretics he has to give a positive evaluation of marriage as the creation of a beneficent Creator. And in this spirit he can say that the unmarried man is inferior to the married man, because he tends to be more selfish and has fewer opportunities of self-denial; the married man, on the other hand, can show his mettle "by rising superior to every temptation that assails him through his children and his wife, his servants and possessions"' (Strom., VII, 70). Again, he remarks that the married and unmarried states are alike gifts of God (III, 79). Echoing Stoic teaching, he insists that marriage is to be undertaken for patriotic reasons and for the maintenance of the human race (II, 140). The first-century Stoic Musonius Rufus asks:

"Is it fitting for each man to act for himself alone or to act in the interest of his neighbour also, not only that there may be homes in the city but also that the city may not be deserted and that the common good may best be served? If you say that each one should look out for his own interests alone, you represent man as no different from a wolf. ... It is each man's duty to take thought for his own city, and to make of his home a rampart for its protection. But the first step toward making his home such a rampart is marriage. 'Thus whoever destroys human marriage destroys the home, the city, and the whole human race. For it would not last if there were no procreation of children and there would be no just and lawful procreation of children without marriage."55 Clement resists the gnostic world-denying understanding of the New Testament, insisting that the apostles themselves were married. Even Paul, he thinks,

55 Musonius, frag. 14 Hense. I cite the translation of Cora E. Lutz in Yale Classical Studies, 10 (1947), pp. 92-93. The "'patriotic"? motive for marriage is attacked by Tertullian, Exh. Cast., 12.

A.C.—3

34.

CLEMENT

OF ALEXANDRIA

was married, and "the only reason why he did not take her about with him was that it would have been an inconvenience for his ministry"' (Strom., III, 53).5¢ On the other hand, he often expresses himself in terms which are scarcely consistent with so positive an attitude. Indeed, although the apostles, as Paul tells us (I Cor. 9), took their wives about with them that the gospel might be preached in the women's quarters without scandal,57 they lived with their consorts as brother and sister. When the heretics who reject marriage affirm that they are living now the life of the world to come where there is no marriage (Strom., III, 48),58 Clement replies that to be consistent they ought equally to abstain from food and drink. Yet when he himself speaks of the spiritual perfection of the true gnostic, he can say that his passionless life, in that he lives with his wife as with a sister, is a realization on earth of the resurrection state (VI, 100). In short, the best

Christians in Clement's view are those who are married but have no sexual relations with their wives.5® 'The degree to which he shared his opponents' presuppositions is shown by his distinction between the pagan ideal of self-control and the Christian ideal. The difference is that while the pagan ascetic feels desire and does not give in to it, the Christian is not to feel anything at all (Strom., III, 57-58).

Thus Clement's position is vacillating. Despite his anxiety to vindicate marriage as created by God, at heart he shared the idea that sex relations are to be avoided. The notion that defilement attaches to sexual relations is ancient enough, and is prominent in much ancient religion. The Christians took it over, so that Origen, for example, directs that prayer should not be made in bed, since the marriage union takes place there (de

Orat.

XX XI, 4). Like Ignatius of Antioch, Origen also enjoins continence before receiving the eucharistic bread.© And he declares expressly that he cannot think of the presence of the Holy

Spirit at the time of sexual union: '"Lawful marriages are not 56 No doubt she would not have fitted comfortably into the basket when her husband escaped from Damascus over the city wall.

57 Similarly Didascalia Apost., 16 (ed. R. H. Connolly, p. 148).

58 That the celibate lives an angelic life on earth is commonplace in later ascetic writings: Basil of Ancyra, de Virginitate, 51 (Migne, P.G., XXX,

772 A); Jerome, adv. Lovin., I., 36; Augustine, de Bono Coniug., 8; de Sancta Virg., 4 and 12, etc.

° Similarly Methodius, Symposium, IX, 4:252.

60 Ignatius, Ep. ad Polye., V, 2; Origen, in I Cor., VII, 5 (ed. Jenkins, J.T.S., UX (1908), p. 502).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

sinful; but at the time when the sex act is performed the Holy Spirit will not be given, even if it were a prophet doing the act of generation. Moreover, there are many other things for which only human power is required, and for which neither does the act itself need, nor is it proper for it to have, the presence of the Holy Spirit.''6! Even Clement implies as much when he observes that after intercourse Christians need no ceremonial washing such as that prescribed in Leviticus, since they are cleansed once for all by their baptism for every such occasion

(Strom., III, 82).

The most obvious outcome of this tendency is the demand for clerical celibacy which becomes prominent in the fourth century. Since the clergy offer the Church's sacrifice, they must always be free from defilement; therefore they must abstain from all sexual intercourse. The argument is explicit in Ambrose of Milan (de Officits, I, 50:258), and the contemporary Pope

Siricius, Bishop of Rome 384-399, did all in his power to enforce the celibate ideal on the same ground. Chastity is required of "bishops, presbyters, and deacons, who take part in the divine sacrifices, by whose hands both the grace of baptism is given and the body of Christ made.''®? Paul, according to Siricius, teaches in I Cor. 7:5 that the laity must be continent if their prayers are to be heard—''How much more ought a priest to be ready at any moment, without anxiety whether he is pure and clean, in case he should either offer the sacrifice (of the eucharist) or be compelled to give baptism? If he should be contaminated by carnal desire, what is he to do? Is he to excuse himself?" 63 'The movement furthered with enthusiasm by Ambrose and Siricius was in full accord with the ascetic ideals of the age. Although the laity continued to express their preference for married clergy, it was explained that they did not know what was good for them.®4 The third and seventh books of Clement's Miscellanies are documents of the first importance for understanding the origins of Christian asceticism. The tremendous strength of the gnostic position against which Clement contends lay in its not unjustified appeal to the world-denying strain in New Testament

61 Origen, Hom. in Num., VI, 3.

62 Siricius, Ep. 10 ad Gallos episcopos, of A.D. 391 (P.L., XIII, 1184 B). Cf.

Jerome, c. Jovin, I, 34. For a full account of the development of clerical celibacy see H. Leclercq's article "'Célibat'"' in Dict. d'archéol. chrét. et de liturgie, I1, 2 (1910), cols. 2802~2832.

_ .

63 Siricius, Ep. 5 ad episcopos Africae (P.L., XIII, 1160).

64 Jerome, c. Jovin., I, 34.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

thought. If redemption is made the focal point of theology at the expense of the doctrine of Creation, this present world can hardly seem other than something from which we must pray to be delivered at an early opportunity. So long as the Gospel remained on Palestinian soil, it was controlled by the tradition of Judaism which was very different from that of the GraecoOriental world. Dr. K. E. Kirk has written: "'Judaism ... was too deeply committed to the doctrine of the goodness of all

God's creation, and the divine authority for peopling the world and reaping the fruits of the earth, to admit any large element of asceticism or self-mortification into its constitution, even when it thought of the coming Day of the Lord.''®5 But when with Paul, a hellenistic Jew of the Dispersion, the Gospel is launched on the hellenistic world, this world-denying strain in the New

Testament meets, so to speak, with a resonant sounding-board upon which the gospel of redemption from sin becomes vastly magnified and filled out to be redemption from this material world, the body, and all the ills that flesh is heir to.

The Christian apologists of the second century were well aware that they were addressing a world in which renunciation of marriage was highly regarded. They could point with no little pride to Christian men and women devoted to lifelong chastity.°® The fact that Christian virgins had such a considerable '"'sales value" is in itself highly significant. We have the testimony of the medical writer Galen concerning the impression which such remarkable chastity made on his mind. He writes of the Christians as follows: '"Their contempt of death is patent to us every day, and likewise their restraint in cohabitation. For they include not only men but also women who refrain from cohabiting all through their lives; and they also number individuals who, in self-discipline and self-control in matters of food and drink, and in their keen pursuit of justice, have attained a pitch not inferior to that of genuine philosophers."' 67

The inconveniences and encumbrances of married life are a matter of frequent comment in ancient writers. ''From a dislike of its inconveniences the Greeks have made many adverse observations about the birth of children,'"? remarks Clement

65 The Vision of God, p. 61.

66 Justin, Apol., I, 15:6; Tatian, XXXII, 2; Athenagoras, Leg., XX XIII, 1; Minucius Felix, XX XI, 5; Tertullian, Apol., IX, 19; Eusebius of Caesarea,

Laus Const., XVII, 6; Origen, contra Celsum, VII, 48.

67 J quote the translation of R. Walzer, Galen on Jews and Christians (1949), p15 (see his discussion, pp. 56 ff.).

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

(Strom., III, 22). The works of Theophrastus and Seneca on marriage, and above all the writings of the third-century

Neoplatonist Porphyry, who collected together an enormous amount of material from earlier writers on this theme, illustrate

Clement's observation. The Christian writers on asceticism in the fourth century drew heavily on Porphyry, undeterred by the fact that he was the most prominent and dangerous critic of Christianity of his time. Jerome plunders his work On Abstinence to refute the claim of Jovinian that virginity was in no degree superior to marriage; he does not dare to make any acknowledgment of his borrowings from such a source.*8 Porphyry also exercised some influence upon the ascetic ideals of Basil the Great.°? We find frequent occurrence of the argument that if even good pagans practise the ascetic life, the chastity of Christians must at least exceed theirs.7°

Towards second marriage Clement shares the widespread early Christian feeling that it is best avoided, but with Paul he allows it on the ground that "it is better to marry than to burn."

If a man makes use of the concession allowed by the apostle, "he does not commit any sin according to the Old Testament

(for it was not forbidden by the Law) but he does not fulfil the heightened perfection of the gospel ethic" (Strom., III, 4 and 82). That second marriage is only tolerable as the lesser of two evils is a very general notion in Christian writers of this period, including the Shepherd of Hermas (Mand., IV, 4), Justin

Martyr (Apol., I, 15:5), and Athenagoras, who describes it as "fair-seeming adultery" (Leg., 33:2). The Montanists altogether excommunicated those who contracted second marriages, whether clerical or lay (see Tertullian, de Monogamia). But the Church at large took Paul to tolerate, though not to approve, the practice in the case of laymen.7!

A passage from one of Origen's sermons on St. Luke may illustrate Christian feeling in this matter: "'Just as not only fornication but marriage is a disqualification for ecclesiastical

68 FE, Bickel, Diatribe in Senecae Philosophi Fragmenia, I (Leipzig, 1915), pp.

129-220; P. Courcelle, Les Lettres grecques en Occident de Macrobe a Cassiodore (Paris, 1948), pp. 325 ff.

69 D, Amand, L'ascése monastique de saint Basile (Maredsous, 1949), p. 71 ff.

70 E.g., Basil of Ancyra, de Virgin., 67 (P.G., XXX, 805 B).

71 Origen comments in this sense on I Cor. 7:8-12 (7.7.S., IX (1908), p. 504). We may also note that the rigorist Novatianists of the East altogether rejected the twice married (canon 8 of Nicaea), but their

Western brethren freely received such people to communion (Socrates,

H.E., V, 22:60-61).

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

office, for neither bishop, nor presbyter, nor deacon, nor widow can be twice married: so also perhaps the twice-married will be expelled from the assembly of the firstborn and of the unspotted members of the Church that has no spot or blemish—not that he will be sent into eternal fire, but he will have no part in the kingdom of God. I remember that when I was expounding the word written to the Corinthians 'The church of God which is at Corinth with all who call upon him,' I said that there 1s a difference between the Church and those who call upon the name of the Lord. For I think that the once married and the virgin and he who perseveres in continence are of the Church of God.

He who is twice married may live a good life and have other virtues, but he is not of the Church, of that number who have neither spot nor blemish nor any such thing; he is rather of the second grade, of those who call on the name of the Lord and are saved in the name of Jesus Christ, but are certainly not crowned by him."

It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of Clement and Origen upon later Christian ideas of the ascetic life. The Alexandrian spiritual ideals were taken to the Western Church by John Cassian and so passed to Benedict.73 In the East the line of direct influence proceeds through Origen's enthusiastic admirer and defender, Eusebius of Caesarea,74 to the group of conservative theologians led by Basil of Ancyra and Eustathius of Sebaste, whose watchword that the Son was "'of like essence'' with the Father was to play a vital part at a crucial stage of the Arian controversy (A.D. 356-361). The tradition was inherited by Basil the Great, whose organization of monasticism was to prove decisive for the Eastern Church.

The seventh book of the Stromateis shows Clement setting forth his ascetic theology at its most impressive. The Christian life is conceived of as a ladder of ascent. The soul progresses from faith to knowledge; by suppression of the unreasoning passions and by works of love it mounts to union with God and the beatific vision. Dominant in Clement's thought is the idea of sanctification. The true '"'gnostic'" advances by a continuous moral progress until, "leaving behind all hindrances and scorn72 Origen, Hom. in Lucam, XVII.

73 W. O. Chadwick, Zohn Cassian (Cambridge, 1950). The spiritual ideals of Clement and Origen have been studied in two fine books by W. Volker,

Das Vollkommenheitsideal des Origenes (1931), and Der wahre Gnostiker nach Clemens Alexandrinus (1952).

74 ye summarizes his ideas about marriage in Demonstratio Evangelica, , 8-9.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

ing all the distractions of matter, he cleaves the heaven by his wisdom, and having passed through the spiritual entities and every rule and authority, he lays hold of the throne on high, speeding to that alone, which alone he knows'"' (Strom., VII, 82).

Admittedly Clement sets out his mystical ideal with more than half an eye on his rivals outside the Church. The heretical systems had great attractions for those who wanted to know the details of the heavenly hierarchy, and to learn by heart the passwords and correct amulets which would enable them at death to ascend through the planetary spheres to the supreme God.

Clement's language is frequently reminiscent of "'gnosticism'"' of a less orthodox stamp. His anxiety is to go one better than the sects. Accordingly, he describes the perfection of the true, orthodox "'gnostic'' in such absolute terms that it is hard to feel that he is in close touch with realities.

In the last section of the seventh book (89 ff.) Clement turns to the problem of Christian disunity. The existence of many warring sects raised in an acute form the question of the definition of orthodoxy. The problem of defining authentic Christianity raises questions of perennial interest in the history of the Church. This issue was never more acute than during the second century, when the "gnostic"' sects were at their height.

The translation of the third book of the Miscellanies has been made from the text of O. Stahlin in the Berlin Corpus (1906), and has been revised by comparison with Stahlin's translation in the Bibliothek der Kirchenvater (2. Reihe, Band xvii, Munich,

1936). The translation of the seventh book is taken from the edition by F. J. A. Hort and Joseph B. Mayor (London, Macmillan, 1902). Mayor's translation has been revised at some places in accordance with the text of Stahlin.

On Marriage Miscellanies, Book III THE TEXT

CHAPTER I

1. The Valentinians, who hold that the union of man and woman is derived from the divine emanation in heaven above, approve of marriage. The followers of Basilides, on the other hand, say that when the apostles asked whether it was not better not to marry, the Lord replied: "'Not all can receive this saying; there are some eunuchs who are so from their birth, others are so of necessity.""! And their explanation of this saying is roughly as follows: Some men, from their birth, have a natural sense of repulsion from a woman; and those who are naturally so constituted do well not to marry. Those who are eunuchs of necessity are those theatrical ascetics who only control themselves because they have a passion for the limelight. [And those who have suffered accidental castration have become eunuchs of necessity.

|]? Those, then, who are eunuchs of necessity have no sound reason for their abstinence from marriage. But those who for the sake of the eternal kingdom have made themselves eunuchs derive this idea, they say, from a wish to avoid the distractions involved in marriage, because they are afraid of having to waste time in providing for the necessities of life.

2. And they say that by the words "'it is better to marry than to burn''} the apostle means this: ""Do not cast your soul into the fire, so that you have to endure night and day and go in fear lest you should fall from continence. For a soul which has to 1 Matt. rg:11 f.

2 This sentence may be a scribe's marginal note which has crept into the text. The ground for suspecting it is that, except here, Basilides' exegesis of Matt. 19:12 assumes that in all three instances "eunuch"' is used figuratively rather than literally and simply means '"'celibate."'

3 I Cor. 7:9.

ON MARRIAGE

At concentrate upon endurance has lost hope." In his Ethics Isidore says in these very words: "'Abstain,* then, from a quarrelsome woman lest you are distracted from the grace of God. But when you have rejected the fire of the seed, then pray with an undisturbed conscience. And when your prayer of thanksgiving," he says, "descends to a prayer of request, and your request is not that in future you may do right, but that you may do no wrong, then marry. But perhaps a man is too young or poor or suffers from weak health, and has not the will to marry as the apostle's saying suggests. Such a man should not separate himself from his brother Christian. He should say, I have come into the sanctuary, I can suffer nothing. And if he has a presentiment that he may fall, he may say, Brother, lay your hand on me lest I sin, and he will receive help both spiritually and physically. Let him only wish to accomplish what is right and he will achieve his object.

3. "Sometimes, however, we say with our mouth 'I wish not to sin' while our mind is really inclined towards sin. Such a man does not do what he wishes for fear lest any punishment should be in store for him. Human nature has some wants which are necessary and natural, and others which are only natural. To be clothed is necessary and natural; sexual intercourse is natural but not necessary.''® I have quoted these remarks to prove in error those Basilidians who do not live purely, supposing either that they have the power even to commit sin because of their perfection, or indeed that they will be saved by nature even if they sin in this life because they possess an innate election. For the original teachers of their doctrines do not allow one to do the same as they are now doing. They ought not, therefore, to take as a covering cloak the name of Christ and, by living lewder lives than the most uncontrolled heathen, bring blasphemy upon his name.

"For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers"' as far as the words "whose end shall be like their works.''7

4. Continence is an ignoring of the body in accordance with | the confession of faith in God. For continence is not merely a matter of sexual abstinence, but applies also to the other things for which the soul has an evil desire because it is not satisfied with the necessities of life. There is also a continence of the tongue, of money, of use, and of desire.® It does not only teach

4 Adopting Epiphanius' reading.

5 Cf. Prov. 21:19.

6 Cf. Epicurus, frag. 456, Usener.

PIL Cor. 1ri1g,) 15.

8 Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 7:4. Strom., III, 59, below.

4.2

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OF ALEXANDRIA

us to exercise self-control; it is rather that self-control is granted to us, since it is a divine power and grace.® Accordingly I must declare what is the opinion of our people about this subject.

Our view is that we welcome as blessed the state of abstinence from marriage in those to whom this has been granted by God.

We admire monogamy and the high standing of single marriage, holding that we ought to share suffering with another and "'bear one another's burdens,''!° lest anyone who thinks he stands securely should himself fall.!! It is of second marriage that the apostle says, If you burn, marry.

CHAPTER II

5. But the followers of Carpocrates and Epiphanes!3 think that wives should be common property. Through them the worst calumny has become current against the Christian name. This fellow Epiphanes, whose writings I have at hand, was a son of Carpocrates and his mother was named Alexandria. On his father's side he was an Alexandrine, on his mother's a Cephallenian. He lived in all only seventeen years, and at Same in Cephallenia was honoured as a god. There a temple of vast blocks of stone was erected and dedicated to him, with altars, sacred precincts, and a ""museum."' The Cephallenians gather at the temple every new moon and celebrate with sacrifices the day when Epiphanes became a god as his birthday; they pour libations to him, feast in his honour, and sing his praises. He was educated by his father in the general education and in Platonism, and he was instructed in the knowledge of the Monad, which is the root-origin of the Carpocratians' heresy.!4

6. This is what he says, then, in the book Concerning Righteousness: ""The righteousness of God 1s a kind of universal fairness and equality. There is equality in the heaven which is stretched out in all directions and contains the entire earth in its circle. The night reveals equally all the stars. 'The light of the sun, which is the cause of the daytime and the father of light, God pours out from above upon the earth in equal measure on all who have

9 Cf. Strom., III, 57, below. That continence is a gift is a common idea in early Christian writers, e.g., I Clement, 38:2; Ignatius, ad Polyc., 5:2; and Augustine's famous prayer (Conf., 10:40) '"'Grant that which thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. Thou dost command us to be © continent.'' It goes back to Wisdom of Solomon 8:21.

10 Gal. 6:2.

11 I Cor. 10:12.

12 I Cor. 7:9; cf. Strom., III, 82, below.

13 See Introduction, pp. 24 ff.

14 Cf. the apocryphal work quoted below, III, 29.

ON MARRIAGE

power to see. For all see alike. There is no distinction between rich and poor, people and governor, stupid and clever, female and male, free men and slaves. Even the irrational animals are not accorded any different treatment; but in just the same way

God pours out from above sunlight equally upon all the animals.

He establishes his righteousness to both good and bad by seeing that none is able to get more than his share and to deprive his neighbour, so that he has twice the light his neighbour has. The sun causes food to grow for all living beings alike; the universal righteousness is given to all equally. In this respect there is no difference between the entire species of oxen and any individual oxen, between the species of pigs and particular pigs, between the species of sheep and particular sheep, and so on with all the rest. In them the universality of God's fairness is manifest.

Furthermore all plants of whatever sort are sown equally in the earth. Gommon nourishment grows for all beasts which feed on the earth's produce; to all it is alike. It is regulated by no law, but rather is harmoniously available to all through the gift of him_who gives it and makes it to grow.

7. "And for birth there is no written law (for otherwise it would have been transcribed). All beings beget and give birth alike, having received by God's righteousness an innate equality.

The Creator and Father of all with his own righteousness appointed this, just as he gave equally the eye to all to enable them to see. He did not make a distinction between female and male, rational and irrational, nor between anything and anything else at all; rather he shared out sight equally and universally.

It was given to all alike by a single command. As the laws (he says) could not punish men who were ignorant of them, they taught men that they were transgressors. But the laws, by presupposing the existence of private property, cut up and destroyed the universal equality decreed by the divine law."' As he does not understand the words of the apostle where he says ""Through the law I knew sin,"'!5 he says that the idea of Mine and Thine came into existence through the laws so that the earth and money were no longer put to common use. And so also with marriage. "For God has made vines for all to use in common, since they are not protected against sparrows and a thief; and similarly corn and the other fruits. But the abolition, contrary to divine law, of community of use and equality begat the thief of domestic animals and fruits.

8. "God made all things for man to be common property.

15 Rom. 7:7.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

He brought female to be with male and in the same way united all animals. He thus showed righteousness to be a universal fairness and equality. But those who have been born in this way have denied the universality which is the corollary of their birth and say, 'Let him who has taken one woman keep her,' whereas all alike can have her, just as the other animals do." After this, which is quoted word for word, he again continues in the same spirit as follows: ""With a view to the permanence of the race, he has implanted in males a strong and ardent desire which neither law nor custom nor any other restraint is able to destroy. For it is God's decree."'

And how can this man still be reckoned among our number when he openly abolishes both law and gospel by these words.

The one says: ""Thou shalt not commit adultery.''!® The other says: "Everyone who looks lustfully has already committed adultery."'!7 The saying in the law, "Thou shalt not covet,''!8 shows that one God is proclaimed by law, prophets, and gospel; for it says: '"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." But for a Jew the "'neighbour"' is not a Jew, for he is a brother and has the same spirit. Therefore it remains that "neighbour'' means one of another race. But how can he not be a neighbour who is able to share in the same spirit? For Abraham is father not only of the Hebrews, but also of the Gentiles. 19 g. If the adulteress and he who committed fornication with her are punished with death,?° clearly the command which says

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" speaks of the Gentiles, in order that anyone who, as the law directs, abstains from his neighbour's wife and from his sister may hear clearly from the Lord, "But I say unto you, Thou shalt not lust." The addition of the word "I,"' however, shows the stricter force of the commandment, and that Carpocrates fights against God, and Epiphanes likewise. The latter in the same notorious book, I mean Concerning Righteousness, writes in one passage as follows:

'Consequently one must understand the saying "Thou shalt not covet' as if the lawgiver was making a jest, to which he added the even more comic words 'thy neighbour's goods'. For he himself who gave the desire to sustain the race orders that it is to be suppressed, though he removes it from no other animals.

And by the words 'thy neighbour's wife' he says something even more ludicrous, since he forces what should be common property to be treated as a private possession."

16 Exod. 20:14.

17 Matt. 5:28.

18 Exod. 20:17.

19 Cf. Rom. 4:16 f.; Gen, 17:5.

20 Cf. Lev. 20:10 Deut. 22:22.

ON MARRIAGE

10. These then are the doctrines of the excellent Carpocratians. These, so they say, and certain other enthusiasts for the same wickednesses, gather together for feasts (I would not call their meeting an Agape), men and women together. After they have sated their appetites ("' on repletion Cypris, the goddess of love, enters,''2! as it is said), then they overturn the lamps and so extinguish the light that the shame of their adulterous

"righteousness" is hidden, and they have intercourse where they will and with whom they will.23 After they have practised community of use in this love-feast, they demand by daylight of whatever women they wish that they will be obedient to the law of Carpocrates—it would not be right to say the law of God.

Such, I think, is the law that Carpocrates must have given for the copulations of dogs and pigs and goats. He seems to me to have misunderstood the saying of Plato in the Republic24 that the women of all are to be common. Plato means that the unmarried are common for those who wish to ask them, as also the theatre is open to the public for all who wish to see, but that when each one has chosen his wife, then the married woman is no longer common to all.

| 11. In his book entitled Magica Xanthus says: ""The Magi think it permissible to have sexual intercourse with mothers and daughters and sisters, and that wives are to be held in common, not by force and in secret, but both parties may agree when one man wishes to marry another's wife.''25 Of these and other similar sects Jude, I think, spoke prophetically in his letter—

**In the same way also these dreamers"' (for they do not seek to find the truth in the light of day) as far as the words "'and their mouth speaks arrogant things.''26

CHAPTER III

12. If Plato himself and the Pythagoreans, as indeed later also the followers of Marcion,?7 regard birth as something evil

21 Euripides, frag. inc., 895.

23 Cf. Origen, contra Celsum, VI, 40, and note thereon in my translation.

24 Rep., 457 D, similarly interpreted by Epictetus, 2, 4:8-10. (Cf. also Epictetus, frag. 15, Schenkl.) 25 Xanthus of Lydia, frag. 28, Miiller (F.H.G., I, p. 43). On his work see J.

Bidez and F. Cumont, Les Mages hellénisés (1938), I, p. 5 ff.; II, p. 82, n. 1.

26 Jude 8-16.

27 Cf. A. von Harnack, Marcion2 (1924), pp. 273*-277*. For the Marcionite view of marriage cf. Origen, in I Cor., VII, 7:18-20 (7.T.S., LX (1908),

PP. 503, 507).

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

(though the last named was far from thinking that wives were to be held in common), yet by the Marcionites nature is regarded as evil because it was created out of evil matter and by _ajust Creator. On this ground, that they do not wish to fill the ' world made by the Creator-God, they decide to abstain from marriage. Thus they are in opposition to their Maker and hasten towards him who is called the good God, but not to the God, as they say, of the other kind. As they wish to leave nothing of their own behind them on this earth, they are continent, not of their own free choice, but from hatred of the Creator, being unwilling to use what he has made. But these folk, who in their blasphemous fight against God have abandoned natural reasoning, and despise the long-suffering and goodness of God, even if they do not wish to marry, use the food made by the Creator and breathe his air; for they are his works and dwell in his world.28 They say they have received the gospel of the knowledge of the Strange God;?9 yet at least they ought to acknowledge gratitude to the Lord of the world because they receive this gospel on this earth.

13. But we shall give a detailed answer to these people when we discuss the doctrine of First Principles.

3° The philosophers whom we have mentioned, from whom the Marcionites blasphemously derived their doctrine that birth is evil, on which they then plumed themselves as if it were their own idea, do not hold that it is evil by nature, but only for the soul which has perceived the truth. For they think the soul is divine and has come down here to this world as a place of punishment. In their view souls which have become embodied need to be purified. But this doctrine is not that of the Marcionites, but of those who believe that the souls are enclosed in bodies and change from this prison and undergo transmigration. There will be an opportunity to reply to these when we come to speak about the soul.3!

14. It is clear that Heraclitus regards birth as something evil when he says: ""When men are born they are fain to live and suffer death," or rather go to their rest, ''and they leave children

28 Clement adapts a pagan argument against the Christian refusal to worship pagan deities; cf. Celsus as quoted by Origen, contra Celsum, VIII, 28.

29 Cf. Celsus in Origen, contra Celsum, VI, 53.

30 Cf. Strom., III, 21; IV, 2, 16; V, 140; VI, 4; Quis dives, 26:8. Stahlin (introduction to his translation, p. 40) rightly observes that this was not a special work, but an intended section of the Miscellanies. The extant books do not contain this section.

31 Cf. Strom., II, 113; V, 88.

ON MARRIAGE

who also suffer death.''32 Empedocles is obviously in agreement with him when he says:

"When I saw the place, so strange it was, I wept and wailed."

And further:

"For out of the living he made the dead, changing their forms."

And again; "O woe, unhappy race of mortals, wretched men!

Out of what kind of dissensions and groans were you born!'?33

And the Sibyl also says:

"Mortal men are ye, and fleshly, being nothing,"'34 like the poet who writes:

*'Earth nurtures nothing weaker than a man.''35

15. Moreover Theognis shows that birth is evil when he speaks as follows:

"For mortals best it is not to be born at all And never to see the rays of the bright sun,

But if born to pass the gates of Hades as soon as possible." 36

With this agrees also the tragic poet Euripides when he writes:

"When a man is born we ought to assemble only to bewail His lot in coming into so much evil.

, But when one dies and comes to the end of troubles Then we should rejoice and praise his happy departure."' 37

And again he says the same in these words:

"Who knows if life be not in truth but death And death be life.''38

16. Herodotus, it is clear, makes Solon say the same as this:

*""O Croesus, every man is a misfortune." 39 And his myth about 32 Heraclitus, frag. 20, Diels.

33 Empedocles, frags.

118, 125, 124, Diels.

34 Orac. Sib. frag. 1:1 (=Theophilus of Antioch, ad Autolycum, 2:36).

35 Homer, Odyssey, 18:130.

36 Theognis, 425-427.

37 Euripides, Cresphontes, frag. 449.

38 Euripides, Polyidos, (frag. 638.

39 Herodotus, 1:32.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

Cleobis and Biton'° has obviously no other intention than to disparage birth and praise death. ''As scattered leaves, so is mankind,"' says Homer.4! And in the Cratylus Plato attributes to Orpheus the doctrine that the soul in this body is suffering punishment. This is what he says: "Some say that the body is a tomb of the soul, as being buried in it for the present life. And because the soul expresses (sémainet) by this body whatever it may wish to express, so it is rightly called a tomb (séma). The Orphics, in particular, seem to have given it this name, as they think the soul suffers punishment for its misdeeds.'' 42

17. It is also worth mentioning the remark of Philolaus. 'This Pythagorean speaks as follows: "The ancient theologians and seers testify that the soul is conjoined to the body to suffer certain punishments, and is, as it were, buried in this tomb.''43

And Pindar speaks of the Eleusinian mysteries as follows:

'Blessed is he who has seen before he goes under the earth; for he knows the end of life and knows also its divine beginning.44

Similarly in the Phaedo Plato does not hesitate to write as follows: "'And these men who established our mysteries .. ." down to the words "and will dwell with the gods." And what when he says, "As long as we have still the body and our soul is involved in such evil, shall we never have sufficient possession of that which we desire?''45 Does he not hint that birth is the cause of the worst evils? And in the Phaedo he bears witness again: "All who have rightly been concerned with philosophy run the risk that other men will fail to notice that their sole object is to pursue death and dying.''46

18. And in another place: "Accordingly here the soul of the philosopher mostly disregards his body and flees from it, and seeks to be existent by itself.''47 Does he not agree to some extent with the divine apostle when he says, ""O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?''48 unless he speaks of "'body of death" in a figurative sense to refer to the agreement of those who have been enticed into evil. And that sexual intercourse, as the cause of birth, was rejected long before Marcion by Plato is clear from the first book of the Republic. For after praising old age he continues: ''Mark it well, for me the more the other pleasures of the body fade away, the 40 Herodotus 1:31; cf. Plutarch, Solon, 27; Mor., 58 E.

41 Iliad, 6:146.

42 Plato, Crat., 400 BC, 43 Frag. 14, Diels.

44 Frag. 13'7a, Schréder.

45 Plato, Phaedo, 69 C; 66 B.

46 Phaedo, 64 A.

47 Ibid., 65 CD.

48 Rom. 7:24.

ON MARRIAGE

more grow the desires and pleasures of rational enquiry."

And with reference to sex relations: "'Be silent, O man, it is with the greatest joy that I escaped from it—as if I had escaped from a wild and raging tyrant.''49

19. Again in the Phaedo he disparages birth when he writes of "the doctrine which is secretly taught about this that we men are in a sort of prison.'' And again, ""Those who are manifestly distinguished for their holiness of life are liberated from these places on earth and are set free as if this earth were a prison, and go to the pure home above." Nevertheless, although he says this, he perceives that the administration of this world is good, and says: "One ought not to set oneself free and run away.''5°

And to sum up briefly, he has given Marcion no opening for his view that matter is evil, when he himself reverently says of the world, "'All that is good the world has received from him who has composed it; but from its previous state arise all the recalcitrant and unjust things in the heaven and from this it derives these elements and causes them in living beings."

20. With even greater clarity he adds: ""The cause of these things was the material element in the world's constitution, which was at one time bound up with its ancient nature. For before it came into its present ordered state it was in a condition of great chaos."'5! To the same effect in the Laws he laments the race of men saying: "The gods had mercy on mankind which was born for trouble, and to give them rest from their labours appointed the changing cycle of feasts."'52 And in the Epinomis he discusses the causes of this pitiful condition and says this:

"From the beginning birth was difficult for every human being; first to get to the state of being an embryo, then to be born, and then to be nourished and educated, all this is attended by countless pains, as we all agree.''53

21. What then? Does not Heraclitus call birth death, just as Pythagoras and Socrates in the Gorgzas,54 when he says: "Death is what we see when we are awake; and what we see in our sleep is a dream.''55

But enough of this. When we discuss First Principles5*® we shall consider the difference between the views of the philosophers and those of the Marcionites. But I think I have shown clearly enough that Marcion took from Plato the starting-point

49 Rep., 328 D, 329 C.

50 Phaedo, 62 B, 114 BC.

51 Plato, Polit., 273 BC.

52 Laws, 653 CD.

53 Epinomis, 973 D.

54 Plato, Gorg., 492 E.

55 Heraclitus, frag. 21, Diels.

56 Cf. Strom., III, 13, above.

A.C.—4

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

of his '"'strange''57 doctrines, without either grateful acknowledgment or understanding.

22. Now we may continue our discussion about continence.

We were saying that from a dislike of its inconveniences the Greeks have made many adverse observations about the birth of children, and that the Marcionites have interpreted them in a godless sense and are ungrateful to their Creator. For the tragedy says:

"For mortals it is better not to be born than to be born; Children I bring to birth with bitter pains;

And then when I have borne them they lack understanding.

In vain I groan, that I must look on wicked offspring While I lose the good. If the good survive,

My wretched heart is melted by alarm.

What is this goodness then? Is it not enough That I should care for one alone And bear the pain for this one soul?''58

And further to the same effect 'So now I think and have long so thought Man ought never children to beget, Seeing into what agonies we are born.''5?

But in the following verses he clearly attributes the cause of evil to the primal origins, when he speaks as follows:

'"O thou who art born for misfortune and disaster, thou art born a man, and thine unhappy life thou didst receive from the place where the air of heaven, which gives breath to mortals, first began to give food for all. Reet not of thy mortal state, thou who art mortal.'

23. Again he puts the same idea in these words:

"No mortal is content and happy Nor is any born free from sorrow."

57 Marcion's good God was called by him the "Stranger."

58 Euripides, frag. inc., 908.

59 Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. Nauck, Adesp., 111.

60 [bid., Adesp., 112 (probably Euripides).

61 Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis, 161-163.

ON MARRIAGE

And then again:

** Alas, alas, how many are the chances of mortal calamity!

How many forms it takes! None can tell the end.''® And further likewise:

"' Of what is mortal there is nothing which is happy without end.''63

24. It is asserted that on this ground the Pythagoreans exercised abstinence. But to me, on the contrary, it seems that they marry for the sake of procreating children, but after they have begotten children they desire to control sexual indulgence. That is why they give the mysterious command to abstain from beans, not because pulse leads to flatulence and is indigestible and causes troubled dreams,°* nor because the bean is shaped like a man's head; as the verse has it, "'It is alike to eat beans and the head of one's parents.''®5 The real reason is that if beans are eaten they make women barren. At any rate Theophrastus in the fifth book of his Causes of Plants®® relates that if the pods of beans are put round the roots of newly planted trees the shoots dry up and that if birds that live round houses are continuously fed on beans they become unable to lay eggs.

CHAPTER IV

25. Of the heretics we mentioned Marcion of Pontus as forbidding the use of this world's goods on the ground of opposition to the Creator. The Creator himself is thus the reason for his continence, if this can be called continence; for this giant who thinks he can resist God is not continent by an act of free choice, in that he attacks the creation and the process by which man is formed. If they quote the Lord's words to Philip, "'Let the dead bury their dead, but do thou follow me,''®7 they ought to consider that Philip's flesh is also formed in the same way; his body is not a polluted corpse. How then could he have a body of flesh which is not a corpse? Because he rose from the tomb

© 62 Euripides, Antiope, frag. 211.

63 Euripides, Hiketides, 260 f.

64 Cf. Plutarch, Mor., 286 DE.

65 Cf. Mullach, Fragmenta Philos. Graec., I, 200.

66 Theophrastus, de Caus. Plant., V, 15:1. Clement draws this section, with the quotation from Theophrastus, from Apollonius, Mirabilia, 46.

67 Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60 (not ascribed to Philip).

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

when the Lord killed his passions, and he began to live unto Christ. We also mentioned the blasphemous immorality of Carpocrates. But when we spoke about the saying of Nicolaus®® we omitted to say this. Nicolaus, they say, had a lovely wife.

When after the Saviour's ascension he was accused before the apostles of jealousy, he brought his wife into the concourse and allowed anyone who so desired to marry her. For, they say, this action was appropriate to the saying: "One must abuse the flesh." Those who share his heresy follow both his action and his words simply and without qualification by indulging in the gravest enormity.

26. I am informed, however, that Nicolaus never had relations with any woman other than the wife he married, and that of his children his daughters remained virgins to their old age, and his son remained uncorrupted. In view of this it was an act of suppression of passion when he brought before the apostles the wife on whose account he was jealous. He taught what it meant to "abuse the flesh" by restraining the distracting passions. For, as the Lord commanded,® he did not wish to serve two masters, pleasure and God. It is said that Matthias also taught that one should fight the flesh and abuse it, never allowing it to give way to licentious pleasure, so that the soul might grow by faith and knowledge."

27. There are some who call Aphrodite Pandemos7 [i1.e., physical love] a mystical communion. This is an insult to the name of communion. To do something wrong is called an action, just as also to do right is likewise called an action.

Similarly communion is good when the word refers to sharing of money and food and clothing. But they have impiously called by the name of communion any common sexual intercourse.

The story goes that one of them came to a virgin of our church who had a lovely face and said to her: "Scripture says, 'Give to every one that asks you.'''72 She, however, not understanding the lascivious intention of the man gave the dignified reply: ""On the subject of marriage, talk to my mother."? What godlessness!

Even the words of the Lord are perverted by these immoral 68 Strom., II, 118.

69 Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13.

70 Evidently from the Traditions of Matthias (cf. Strom., VII, 82), a work current among the followers of Basilides (Hippolytus, Refut., VII, 20:1).

See M. R. James, Apocryphal New Testament, p. 12 f. It appears that a Coptic version of this lost work has been found in the gnostic library discovered recently at Nag-Hammadi. Cf. H. C. Puech, in Coptic Studies in honor of W. E. Crum (1950), p. 120.

71 Plato, Symposium, 180 E ff.

72 Luke 6:30; Matt. 5:42.

ON MARRIAGE

fellows, the brethren of lust, a shame not only to philosophy but to all human life, who corrupt the truth, or rather destroy it, as far as they can. These thrice wretched men treat carnal and sexual intercourse as a sacred religious mystery, and think that it will bring them to the kingdom of God.

28. It is to the brothels that this "communion" leads. They can have pigs and goats as their associates. Those who have most to hope from them are the public harlots who shamelessly receive all who want to come to them. "'But you have not so learned Christ, if you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Christ Jesus; put off with the ways of your former life your old man which is corrupted by the deceitful lusts. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," so as to be made like unto God. "'Be therefore imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. But fornication and all impurity and covetousness and shamefulness and foolish talk, let them not be mentioned among you as is fitting for saints.''73 Moreover, the apostle teaches us to be chaste in speech when he writes,

"Know this well that no fornicator ..." and so on as far as the words "'but rather expose them.''74

29. They derived their doctrines from an apocryphal work.75

I will quote the text which is the mother of their licentiousness.

And whether they themselves, I mean the authors of the book, are responsible (see their madness, for by their licence they do grievous wrong to God) or whether they derived their ideas from some others whom they fell in with, they have taken a sound doctrine and perversely misapplied it. The passage reads as follows: '"'All things were one; but as it seemed good to its unity not to be alone, an idea came forth from it, and it had intercourse with it and made the beloved. In consequence of this there came forth from him an idea with which he had intercourse and made powers which cannot be seen or heard ..

." down to the words "each by her own name."

If these people spoke of acts of spiritual union like the Valentinians,76 perhaps one could accept their view. But to suppose that the holy prophets spoke of carnal and wanton intercourse is the way of a man who has renounced salvation.

73 Eph. 4:20-24.

74 Eph. 5:1-4, 5-11.

75 The work is lost except for this quotation.

76 See Introduction, p. 31.

54.

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30. These are also the doctrines of the adherents of Prodicus,77 who falsely entitle themselves gnostics, asserting that they are by nature sons of the first God. But they misuse their noble birth and freedom and life as they desire. And their desire is for pleasure, thinking that no one is superior to them, as they are lords of the sabbath and are royal sons far above the rest of mankind. To a king, they say, there is no law prescribed. But in the first place they cannot do all they desire since there is much to prevent them, however much they desire and essay to do it. And even what they can do, they do not like kings, but like cringing slaves. For it is only in secret that they commit adultery, as they are scared of being caught. They want to avoid condemnation and are afraid of punishment. What freedom is there in their licence and filthy talk? "Everyone who sins is a slave,''78 says the apostle.

31. The Lord has said: "But I say unto you, you shall not lust."?79 How then can he live according to God's will who surrenders himself to every desire? And is a man to decide of his own free will that he can sin, and lay it down as a principle that one may commit adultery and revel in sin and break up other men's marriages, when we even take pity on others if they fall into sin against their will? And if they regard the world into which they have come as an alien country they will not possess the truth if they have not been faithful in that which is another's.8° Does a foreign visitor insult the citizens and do them injury? Does he not rather behave as a guest8! and conform to the necessary rules, living without causing offence to the citizens? And how can they say that they alone know God when they do the same things as those who are loathed by the heathen because they do not do what the laws direct, that is, as the wicked and incontinent and covetous and adulterous? They ought to live good lives even while they are dwelling in an alien country, to manifest their truly kingly nature.

32. But because they have chosen to disobey the laws, they make themselves objects of hatred both to human lawgivers and to the law of God. At any rate in Numbers the man who thrust his spear into the fornicator is evidently blessed by God.82 And John says in his epistle: "If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with him, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from sin." 83

77 See Introduction, p. 30.

78 John 8:34; cf. Rom. 6:16.

79 Matt. 5:28.

80 Cf. Luke 16:12.

81 Cf. I Peter a:11.

82 Num. 25:8.

83 I John 1:6 f.

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33. How then are they who do these things superior to worldly men when they behave like the very worst men of this world? 'Those whose actions are alike are in my opinion of like nature. Those who think they are superior to others by their nobility of birth ought to be superior to them also in their moral characters, that they may escape incarceration in the prison.®4

For indeed as the Lord said: "Except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of God."'5 However, abstinence from food is exemplified in the book of Daniel.8* And to sum up in a word, concerning obedience David speaks in the Psalms: "How shall a young man correct his way?" And at once he hears "'by keeping thy word with his whole heart.''87 And Jeremiah says: ""Thus saith the Lord,

You shall not walk in the ways of the heathen.''88

34. Because of this certain other depraved and worthless fellows have been impelled to assert that man was formed by various powers, and that down as far as the navel his body shows the work of godlike craftsmanship, but his lower parts indicate inferior workmanship.®® In consequence of the latter man has a sexual impulse. They fail to observe that the upper parts also want food and in some men are lustful. And they contradict Christ when he said to the Pharisees that the same

God made both our outer and our inner man.° Moreover, desire is not a bodily thing, though it occurs because of the body.9!

Certain others, whom we may call Anittactae [i.e., opponents |, assert that the God of the universe is our Father by nature, and all that he has made is good. But one of the beings made by him sowed tares and so caused the origin of evils. He involved us all in them and so made us opponents of the Father. Therefore even we ourselves are set in opposition to him to avenge the Father, and act contrary to the will of the second. Since, then, the latter has said, ""Thou shalt not commit adultery,''9? let us, say they, commit adultery to abolish his commandment.

35. To them we would say: We have been taught to recognize by their works false prophets and all who merely pretend to the truth.23 And your works tell against you. How can you still assert that you adhere to the truth? For either nothing evil

84 Cf. I Peter 3:19.

85 Matt. 5:20.

86, Dan. 1:10.

87 Ps. 119: gf.

88 Jer. 10:2.

89 Epiphanius (Panar. haer., 45:2) says this view was held by the Severians.

Even Basil of Ancyra (de Virginitate, 7, Migne, P.G., XXX, 684 A) suggests that God made man like a centaur, his upper parts rational, lower bestial.

99 Luke 11:40.

91 Plato, Phil., 35 C.

92 Ex. 20:14.

93 Cf. Matt. 7:16.

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exists, in which case there is no question of finding fault with him whom you attack as being in opposition to God, and he is not the originator of anything evil (both the fruit and the tree are done away together), or, if wickedness really does exist, let them tell us what they have to say of the commandments given to us about righteousness, self-control, patience, longsuffering, and other such virtues, whether they think them bad or good?

If the command is bad which forbids one to do almost all that is disgraceful, then evil must enact laws against itself in order te destroy its own fruit, which is impossible. If it is good, by opposing good commandments they must confess that they are opposing what is right and doing wrong.

36. But the Saviour himself, whom alone they think one should obey, has forbidden hatred and reviling?+ and says:

'"'When you go with your adversary to court, try to achieve a friendly reconciliation with him.'5 Accordingly, they will either refuse to accept Christ's exhortation, in that they are in opposition to the adversary, or they will become his friends and cease to oppose him. What then? Do you not realize, my worthy friends (I speak as if you were present with me) that by conflict with these excellent commandments you fight against your own salvation? You overturn yourselves, not these beneficial instructions. The Lord said, "'Let your good works shine out.''96 But you make your licentiousness manifest to all. Besides, if your aim is to destroy the lawgiver's commands, why is it the commands

"Thou shalt not commit adultery" and 'Thou shalt not corrupt boys,''9? and all the commandments enjoining purity, which through your incontinence you seek to destroy? Why do you not abolish winter, which he made, and make it summer when it is still midwinter, and make dry land navigable and the sea passable on foot,98 as the historians say Xerxes the barbarian desired to do?99

37. Why do you not oppose all the commandments? For he says, "Increase and multiply.""! You who are opposed to him ought to abstain from sexual relations altogether. And if he says, '"I have given you all things for food and enjoyment,''? you ought to enjoy nothing at all. Moreover, he says, "An eye for an eye.''3 You ought not, therefore, to repay opposition with 94 Cf. Matt. 5:44.

95 Matt. 5:25.

96 Matt. 5:16.

97 Cf. Didache, 2:1; Ep. Barnab., 19:4.

98 II Maccabees 5:21 (of Antiochus Epiphanes).:

99 Herodotus, 7:54.

1 Gen. 1:28; g:1.

2 Gen. 1:29; 9:3.

3 Ex. 21:24.

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opposition. If he tells the thief to restore fourfold,4 you ought even to give something to the thief. Similarly again, you who oppose the command "Thou shalt love the Lord''s ought not to love the God of the universe at all. And if he says, ""Thou shalt not make any graven or molten image,''® it follows that you ought to bow down to graven images. Are you not blasphemous, therefore, when you oppose, as you say, the Creator, and endeavour to do the same as fornicators and adulterers? Do you not perceive that you make him all the greater whom you regard as weak if what is taking place is what he wishes and not what the good God wills? For, on the contrary, your father, as you call him, is shown to be weak by you yourselves.

38. These folk also collect extracts from the prophets, making a selection and mischievously stringing them together. They interpret in a literal sense sayings intended to be understood allegorically. It is written, they say, ""They resisted God and were saved.''7? But they add the "'shameless'"' God, and interpret this saying as if it gave them advice, thinking it will bring them salvation if they resist the Creator. In fact, scripture does not mention the " shameless' God. And if it did, you fools, you should have understood the word "shameless" to refer to him who is called the devil, either because he slanders men, or because he accuses sinners, or because he is an apostate. The people to whom the passage refers were unwilling to be punished for their sins, and they spoke the words quoted in a spirit of complaining and grumbling, on the ground that other nations were not punished when they transgressed, and that on every occasion they alone were humiliated, so that even Jeremiah said, ""Why is the way of the ungodly easy?''' Similar in sense to this is the saying in Malachi which has been quoted: "They resisted God and were saved." In uttering their oracles the prophets do not only say that they have heard some message from God; it is also evident that they take up phrases in common use among the people and reply to them, as if they were reporting certain questions raised by them. The saying under discussion is an instance of this.

39. Perhaps it is such people that the apostle attacks in the epistle to the Romans when he writes: ""And not as we are blasphemously accused and some assert that we say, Let us do evil that good may come, an argument which is rightly condemned."'? These are they who when reading the Bible pervert

4 Ex. 22:1, 5 Deut. 6:5.

6 Deut. 27:15.

7 Mal. 3:15.

Sjen. (rast 9 Rom. 3:8.

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the sense to their own desires by their tone of voice, and by changing certain accents and marks of punctuation! twist words that are wise and useful to conform to their own lusts.

"You who provoke God with your words," says Malachi, "'have even said Wherein have we provoked him? In this, that you have said, Anyone who does evil is good in the Lord's sight, and he is well pleased with them; and, Where is the God of righteousness?"'!1

CHAPTER V

40. It is not our aim to pursue this subject in further detail and to mention further senseless heresies. To put them to shame we should be forced to deal with each one, and to state our objections to each point, which would extend these notes to an unconscionable length. Accordingly we may divide all the heresies into two groups in making answer to them. Either they teach that one ought to live on the principle that it is a matter of indifference whether one does right or wrong, or they set a too ascetic tone and proclaim the necessity of continence on the ground of opinions which are godless and arise from hatred of what God has created. First we may discuss the former group.

If it is lawful to live any sort of life one likes, obviously one may live in continence; or if any kind of life has no dangers for the elect, obviously one of virtue and self-control is far less dangerous. If the "lord of the sabbath''!2 has been given the right to pass uncorrected if he lives an immoral life, a fortior: there will be no correction for him who behaves decently. "All things are lawful, but all things are not expedient,"'!3 says the apostle. If all things are lawful, obviously this includes self-control.

41. Therefore if one who uses his power to live a virtuous life receives praise, then much more worthy of reverence and honour is he who has given us this free and sovereign power and has allowed us to live as we choose, not allowing us to become enslaved and subjected to necessity by our acts of choice and rejection. But if both can have no anxiety, he who chooses incontinence and he who chooses abstinence, yet the honour is not equal.

He who indulges his pleasures gratifies his body; but he who is controlled liberates from its passions his soul which is master of the body. And if they tell us that we are called to freedom, only let us not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, as the 10 For the accentuation of the scriptures cf. Epiphanius, de Mens. et Pond., 2.

11 Mal. 2:17.

12 Matt. 12:8. Cf. Strom. III, 30 above.

131 Cor. 6:12; 10:23.

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apostle says.!4 If lust is to be gratified and a life of sin regarded as morally neutral, as they say, either we ought to indulge our desires in every direction and, if this is our desire, do the most lascivious and immoral acts, in that we are following our instincts in every way; or we may suppress certain desires and live no longer a life which recognizes no distinction of right and wrong, nor be absolute slaves to our most dishonourable members, the stomach and the private parts, gratifying our carcase for the sake of desire. For desire is nourished and invigorated if it is encouraged in indulgence, just as, on the other hand, it loses strength if it is kept in check.

~ 42. But how is it possible to become like the Lord and have knowledge of God if one is subject to physical pleasures? Every pleasure is the consequence of an appetite, and an appetite is a certain pain and anxiety, caused by need, which requires some object.!5 In my opinion those who choose this kind of life are simply "suffering pain to their shame," as the well-known verse puts it, 16 choosing evil which they bring upon themselves, !7 now and hereafter. If, then, all things were lawful and one need have no fear that because of one's wicked deeds one's hope of salvation would be lost, perhaps they might have some excuse for living this wicked and wretched life. But through the commandments a life of blessedness is shown to us. We must all keep to them without misinterpreting any of the words or neglecting any of our duties, however minute. We must follow where the word leads; and if we depart from it, we must fall into "endless evil."'18 And by following the divine scripture, the path by which believers travel, we are to be made like unto the Lord as far as possible. We must not live as if there were no difference between right and wrong, but, to the best of our power, must purify ourselves from indulgence and lust and take care for our soul which must continually be devoted to the Deity alone. For when it is pure and set free from all evil the mind is somehow capable of receiving the power of God and the divine image is set up in it. ""And everyone who has this hope in the Lord purifies himself,' says the Scripture, "'even as he is pure."

43. To attain the knowledge of God is impossible for those | who are still under the control of their passions. Therefore they |

14 Cf. Gal. 5:13.

15 A traditional dictionary definition; cf. Andronicus, de affect., p. 124, Kreuttner.

16 Hesiod, Works and Days, 211.

17 Homer, Odyssey, 18:73.

18 Homer, Odyssey, 12:118.

19 T John 3:3.

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{cannot attain the salvation they hope for as they have not ob- | tained any knowledge of God. He who fails to attain this end is clearly subject to the charge of being ignorant of God, and ignorance of God is shown by a man's manner of life. It is 'absolutely impossible at the same time to be a man of understanding and not to be ashamed to gratify the body. Nor can the view that pleasure is the supreme Good be reconciled with the view that only the beautiful is good, or that only the Lord is beautiful, and God alone is good and is alone to be loved. "You are circumcised in Christ with a circumcision not done with hands, which consists rather in the putting away of the carnal body, in the circumcision of Christ." "'If you then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above; have in mind higher things, not earthly things. For you are dead, and your life 1s hid with Christ in God"'—but not the fornication which they practise. "'Mortify therefore your earthly members, fornication, uncleanness, passion, lust; for on account of these wrath is coming." Let them also therefore "'put away anger, wrath, wickedness, blasphemy, filthy talk from their mouth, putting off the old man with its lusts, and putting on the new man which is renewed to possess full knowledge according to the image of him who created it.'' 20

| 44. It is the manner of life which shows up those who know the commandments; for as a man's word 1s, so Is his life. The tree is known by its fruit,?! not by its blossom and leaves. Knowledge, then, comes from the fruit and from behaviour, not from talk and from blossom. We say that knowledge is not mere talk, but a certain divine knowledge, that light which is kindled in | the soul as a result of obedience to the commandments, and which reveals all that is in a state of becoming, enables man to know himself and teaches him to become possessed of God.

What the eye is in the body, knowledge is in the mind.22 Let them not call bondage to pleasure freedom, as if bitterness were sweet. We have learnt to recognize as freedom that which the Lord alone confers on us when he liberates us from lusts and desires and the other passions. "'He who says, I know the Lord, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him," says John.?3

20 Col. 2:11; 3:1-3, 5-6, 8-10.

21 Matt. 7:16.

22 Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1:4. (1096b, 29) ''As sight is in the body, so mind is in the soul.'? Cf. Aristotle, Top., 1:18 (108a, 11); Celsus in Origen, contra Celsum, VII, 45.

23 I John 2:4.

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CHAPTER VI

45. To those, on the other hand, who under a pious cloak blaspheme by their continence both the creation and the holy

Creator, the almighty, only God, and teach that one must reject marriage and begetting of children, and should not bring others in their place to live in this wretched world, nor give any sustenance to death, our reply is as follows. We may first quote the word of the apostle John: '"'And now are many antichrists come, whence we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us."24 Next we may destroy their case on the ground that they pervert the sense of the books they quote, as follows. When Salome asked the Lord: '"'How long shall death hold sway?" he answered: "As long as you women bear children."25 Her words do not imply that this life is evil and the creation bad, and his reply only teaches the ordinary course of nature. For birth is invariably followed by death.?°

46. The task of the law is to deliver us from a dissolute life and all disorderly ways. Its purpose is to lead us from unrighteousness to righteousness, so that it would have us self-controlled in marriage, in begetting children, and in general behaviour. The Lord is not "come to destroy the law but to fulfil it."27 *"To fulfil" does not imply that it was defective, but that by his coming the prophecies of the law are accomplished, since before the law the demand for right conduct was proclaimed by the Logos to those also who lived good lives. The multitude who know nothing of continence live for the body, not for the spirit.

But the body without spirit is "earth and ashes."'28 Now the Lord judges adultery which is only committed in thought.29

What then? Is it not possible to remain continent even in the married state and not to seek to "'put asunder what God has joined together''?3° For such is the teaching of those who divide the yoke of marriage, by reason of whom the Christian name is blasphemed. If it is the view of these people who themselves owe their existence to sexual relations that such relations are

24 J John 2:18 f.

25 Cf. Strom., III, 63 f., 66, 92; Exc. Theod., 67. Clement quotes the Gospel according to the Egyptians, for which cf. M. R. James, Apocryphal New

Testament, p. to f.

26 For this commonplace cf. Strom., III, 64, below, and my note on Origen, contra Celsum, III, 43.

27 Matt. 5:17.

28 Gen, 18:27.

29 Matt. 5:28.

30 Matt. 19:6.

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impure, must not they be impure? But I hold that even the seed of the sanctified is holy.

47. In us it is not only the spirit which ought to be sanctified, but also our behaviour, manner of life, and our body. What does the apostle Paul mean when he says that the wife is sanctified by the husband and the husband by the wife?3! And what is the meaning of the Lord's words to those who asked concerning divorce whether it is lawful to put away one's wife as Moses commanded? "'Because of the hardness of your hearts," he says,

"Moses wrote this; but have you not read that God said to the first man, You two shall be one flesh? Therefore he who divorces his wife except for fornication makes her an adulteress.''32 But "after the resurrection," he says, "they neither marry nor are given in marriage.''33 Moreover, concerning the belly and its food it is written: ''Food is for the belly and the belly for food; but God shall destroy both the one and the other.''34 In this saying he attacks those who think they can live like wild pigs and goats, lest they should indulge their physical appetites without restraint.

48. If, as they say, they have already attained the state of resurrection,?5 and on this account reject marriage let them neither eat nor drink. For the apostle says that in the resurrection the belly and food shall be destroyed. Why then do they hunger and thirst and suffer the weaknesses of the flesh and all the other needs which will not affect the man who through Christ has attained to the hoped for resurrection? Furthermore those who worship idols abstain both from food and from sexual intercourse.?¢ "But the kingdom of God does not consist in eating and drinking,'37 he says. And indeed the Magi make a point of abstaining from wine and the meat of animals and from sexual intercourse while they are worshipping angels and daemons.38 But just as humility consists in meekness and not in treating one's body roughly, so also continence is a virtue of the soul which is not manifest to others, but is in secret.

49. There are some who say outright that marriage is fornication and teach that it was introduced by the devil.39 They

31 I Cor. 7:14.

32 Matt. 19:3-9.

33 Matt. 22:30.

34 I Cor. 6:13.

35 Cf. Introduction, p. 34.

36 Cf. Origen, in I Cor., VII, 5 (Fourn. Theol. St., LX (1908), 501-502): "If pagans sometimes abstain from sexual relations for the worship of idols, how much more should you do so who pray to the supreme God!"'

37 Rom. 14:17.

38 Cf. Porphyry, On Abstinence, IV, 16, copied without acknowledgment by Jerome, c. Fovin., Il, 14.

39 Clement is probably thinking of Tatian; cf. III, 81-82, 89, below.

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proudly say that they are imitating the Lord who neither married nor had any possession in this world, boasting that they understand the gospel better than anyone else. The Scripture says to them: "'God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.''4° Further, they do not know the reason why the Lord did not marry. In the first place he had his own bride, the Church; and in the next place he was no ordinary man that he should also be in need of some helpmeet?! after the flesh. Nor was it necessary for him to beget children since he abides eternally and was born the only Son of God. It is the Lord himself who says: "That which God has joined together, let no man put asunder."'42 And again: "As it was in the days of Noah, they were marrying, and giving in marriage, building and planting, and as it was in the days of Lot, so shall be the coming of the Son of man."'43 And to show that he is not referring to the heathen he adds: '"When the Son of man is come, shall he find faith on the earth?' 44 And again: '""Woe to those who are with child and are giving suck in those days,''45 a saying, I admit, to be understood allegorically. 'The reason why he did not determine '"'the times which the Father has appointed by his own power''4® was that the world might continue from generation to generation.

50. Concerning the words, "'Not all can receive this saying.

'There are some eunuchs who were born so, and some who were made eunuchs by men, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; let him receive it who can receive it,''47 they do not realize the context. After his word about divorce some asked him whether, if that is the position in relation to woman, it is better not to marry; and it was then that the Lord said: "Not all can receive this saying, but those to whom it is granted."" What the questioners wanted to know was whether, when a man's wife has been condemned for fornication, it is allowable for him to marry another.

It is said, however, that several athletes abstained from sexual intercourse, exercising continence to keep their bodies in training, as Astylos of Croton and Crison of Himera.** Even the cithara-player, Amoebeus, though newly married, kept away from his bride.49 And Aristotle of Cyrene was the only man to disdain the love of Lais when she fell for him.

40, James 4:6; I Peter 5:5.

41 Gen. 2:18.

42 Matt. 19:6.

43 Matt. 24.:37-~-39.

44 Luke 18:8.

45 Matt. 24:19.

46 Acts 1:7.

47 Matt. 19:11 f.

48 Plato, Laws, 840 A, and the scholiast thereon.

49 The same story in Aelian, Nat. Anim., 6:1; Var. Hist., 3:30.

64.

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51. As he had sworn to the courtesan that he would take her to his home country if she rendered him some assistance against his antagonists, when she had rendered it, he kept his oath in an amusing manner by painting the closest possible likeness of her and setting it up in Cyrene. The story 1s told by Istros in his book on The Peculiarity of Athletic Contests.5° 'Therefore there is nothing meritorious about abstinence from marriage unless it arises from love to God. At any rate the blessed Paul says of those who revile marriage: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, turning to spirits of error and doctrines inspired by daemons, forbidding to marry and commanding abstinence from food.''5! And again he says: "'Let no one disqualify you by demanding self-imposed ascetic practices and severe treatment of the body.''52 And the same writer has this also: "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be separated from her? Are you free from any wife? Do not seek to find one."? And again: "'Let every man have his own wife lest Satan tempt you.''53

52. How then? Did not the righteous in ancient times partake of what God made with thanksgiving? Some begat children and lived chastely in the married state. To Elijah the ravens brought bread and meat for food.54 And Samuel the prophet brought as food for Saul the remnant of the thigh, of which he had already eaten.55 But whereas they say that they are superior to them in behaviour and conduct, they cannot even be compared with them in their deeds. '""He who does not eat,"' then, "let him not despise him who eats; and he who eats let him not judge him who does not eat; for God has accepted him.''56 Moreover, the Lord says of himself: "'John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking and they say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and a sinner.''57

Or do they also scorn the apostles? Peter and Philip had children, and Philip gave his daughters in marriage.

53. Even Paul did not hesitate in one letter to address his consort.58 'The only reason why he did not take her about with him was that it would have been an inconvenience for his

50 Istros, frag. 48, Miller (F..G., I, 424). Aelian, Var. Hist., 10:2, tells a similar story of Eubotas.

51 I Tim. 4:1, 3.

52 Col. 2:18, 23.

53 I Cor. 7:27, 2, 5.

54 I Kings 17:6.

55 [ Sam. 9:24.

56 Rom. 14:3.

57 Matt. 11:18 f.

58 Clement so understands Phil. 4:3: "I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, help these women ...'' (R.V.).

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ministry. Accordingly he says in a letter: '""Have we not a right to take about with us a wife that is a sister like the other apostles?''59 But the latter, in accordance with their particular ministry, devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction, and took their wives with them not as women with whom they had marriage relations, but as sisters, that they might be their fellow-ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord's teaching penetrated also the women's quarters without any scandal being aroused. We also know the directions about women deacons which are given by the noble

Paul in his second letter to Timothy. Furthermore, the selfsame man cried aloud that "the kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink,"' not indeed in abstinence from wine and meat, ""but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.''®!

Which of them goes about like Elijah clad in a sheepskin and a leather girdle? Which of them goes about like Isaiah, naked except for a piece of sacking and without shoes? Or clothed merely in a linen loincloth like Jeremiah?

®2 Which of them will imitate John's gnostic way of life? 'The blessed prophets also lived in this manner and were thankful to the Creator.

54. Lhe "righteousness'' of Carpocrates, however, and those like him who pursue immoral "'communion"' is to be refuted by an argument along the following lines. Immediately after the words "Give to him that asks you," he continues: '"'And do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow.''®3 Thus it is this kind of communion which he is teaching, not the immoral kind.

How can there be one who asks and receives and borrows unless there is someone who possesses and gives and lends? What, then, is the position when the Lord says, "'I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me," after which he adds "inasmuch as you did it to one of these little ones, you did it to me'? 4 And does he not lay down the same principle in the Old Testament? "'He who gives to the poor lends to God," and "Do not avoid giving to the needy,''®5 he says.

55. And again: "Let not your almsgiving and faithfulness lapse."' And: "'Poverty brings a man low, but the hands of the energetic are made rich." And he adds: "Behold the man who has not given his money on usury is accepted."' And does he not 59 I Cor. 9:5.

60 T Tim. 5:9 f.

61 Rom. 14:17.

62 T Kings 19:13; II Kings 1:8; Isa. 20:2; Jer. 19:1.

63 Matt. 5:42; cf. Strom., III, 27, above.

64 Matt. 25:35 f., 40; cf. Quis dives, 13:30.

65 Prov. 19:173 3:27.

A.C.——5

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declare expressly, ""A man's wealth is judged to be his soul's ransom'? 66 Just as the world is composed of opposites, of heat and cold, dry and wet, so also is it made up of givers and receivers.

Again when he says, "If you would be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor,''®7 he convicts the man who boasts that he has kept all the commandments from his youth up. For he had not fulfilled '"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Only then was he taught by the Lord who wished to make him perfect, to give for love's sake.

56. Accordingly he has not forbidden us to be rich in the right way, but only a wrongful and insatiable grasping of money. For '""oroperty gained unlawfully is diminished." ""There are some who sow much and gain the more, and those who hoard become impoverished." Of them it is written: "He distributed, he gave to the poor, his righteousness endures for ever.''°8 For he who sows and gathers more is the man who by giving away his earthly and temporal goods has obtained a heavenly and eternal prize; the other is he who gives to no one, but vainly "'lays up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt'; of him it is written:

"In gathering money, he has gathered it into a condemned cell.' ©? Of his land the Lord says in the gospel that it produced plentifully; then wishing to store the fruits he built larger storehouses, saying to himself in the words dramatically put into his mouth "You have many good things laid up for many years to come, eat, drink, and be merry. You fool," says the Lord, "'this night your soul shall be required of you. Whose then shall be the things you have prepared?"' 7

CHAPTER VII

57. The human ideal of continence, I mean that which is set forth by Greek philosophers, teaches that one should fight desire and not be subservient to it so as to bring it to practical effect.

But our ideal is not to experience desire at all. Our aim is not that while a man feels desire he should get the better of it, but that he should be continent even respecting desire itself. This chastity cannot be attained in any other way except by God's grace. That was why he said "Ask and it shall be given you."'7!

This grace was received even by Moses, though clothed in his needy body, so that for forty days he felt neither thirst nor 66 Prov. 3:3; 10:4; Ps. 15:5; Prov. 13:8.

67 Matt. 19:19-21.

68 Prov. 13:11; 11:24; Ps. 111:9; cf. Clement, Paedag., III, 35:5.

69 Hag. 1:6.

70 Luke 12:16-20, 71 Matt. 7:7; cf. Strom., ITI, 4.

ON MARRIAGE

hunger.72 Just as it is better to be in good health than for a sick man to talk about health, so to be light is better than to discuss light, and true chastity is better than that taught by the philosophers. Where there is light there is no darkness. But where there is inward desire, even if it goes no further than desire and is quiescent so far as bodily action is concerned, union takes place in thought with the object of desire, although that object is not present.

58. Our general argument concerning marriage, food, and other matters, may proceed to show that we should do nothing from desire. Our will is to be directed only towards that which is necessary. For we are children not of desire but of will.73 A man who marries for the sake of begetting children must practise continence so that it is not desire he feels for his wife, whom he ought to love, and that he may beget children with a chaste and controlled will. For we have learnt not to "have thought for the flesh to fulfil its desires."" We are to "walk honourably as in the way"', that is in Christ and in the enlightened conduct of the Lord's way, "'not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and lasciviousness, not in strife and envy.''74

59. However, one ought to consider continence not merely in relation to one form of it, that is, sexual relations, but in relation | to all the other indulgences for which the soul craves when it is ill content with what is necessary and seeks for luxury. It is continence to despise money, softness, property, to hold in small

| esteem outward appearance, to control one's tongue, to master evil thoughts. In the past certain angels became incontinent and were seized by desire so that they fell from heaven to earth.75

And Valentine says in the letter to Agathopus:7¢ "'Jesus endured all things and was continent; it was his endeavour to earn a divine nature; he ate and drank in a manner peculiar to himself, and the food did not pass out of his body. Such was the power of his continence that food was not corrupted within him; for he himself was not subject to the process of corruption." As for ourselves, we set high value on continence which arises from love to the Lord and seeks that which 1s good for its own sake, sanctifying the temple of the Spirit. It is good if for the sake of the kingdom of heaven a man emasculates himself from all desire, and "'purifies his conscience from dead works to serve the living God."'77

72 Ex. 24:18.

73 Cf. John 1:13.

74 Rom. 13:13-14.

75 Gen. 6:2; cf. Clement, Paedag., III, 14:2; Strom., V, 10:2.

76 See Introduction, p. 32. Nothing is known of Agathopus.

77 Heb. 9:14.

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60. But those who from a hatred for the flesh ungratefully long to have nothing to do with the marriage union and the eating of reasonable food, are both blockheads and atheists, and exercise an irrational chastity like the other heathen. For example, the Brahmans neither eat animal flesh nor drink wine.

But some of them take food every way, as we do, while others do so only on every third day, as Alexander Polyhistor says in his

Indian History.78 They despise deaths and reckon life of no account. For they are persuaded that there is a regeneration.

The gods79 they worship are Heracles and Pan. And the Indians who are called Holy Men go naked throughout their entire life.

They seek for the truth, and predict the future, and reverence a certain pyramid beneath which, they think, lie the bones of a certain god.8° Neither the Gymnosophists nor. the so-called Holy

Men have wives. They think sexual relations are unnatural and contrary to law. For this cause they keep themselves chaste. The Holy Women are also virgins. They observe, it seems, the heavenly bodies and from what they indicate foretell future events.

CHAPTER VIII

61. Those who hold that for them there is no difference between right and wrong force a few passages of Scripture and think they favour their own immoral opinions. In particular they quote the saying: "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law but under grace,"' and others of this sort, which there is no reason to add, for I am not proposing to fit out a pirate ship. Let us then briefly put a stop to their argument.

The noble apostle himself refutes the charge against him implied in their false exegesis by the words with which he continues after 78 Alexander Polyhistor, frag. 95, Miller (F.H.G., III, 236) =frag.

18, Jacoby (Fr. gr. Hist., III A (1940), p. 99). On the abstinence of the Brahmans and Samanaeans, cf. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 1V, 17-18. For their scorn of death cf. Strom., IV, 17, 50.

79 Read theous de with Minzel and Stahlin's translation.

80 The pyramid is obviously the Buddhist stupa (for which cf. H. Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism (1896), pp. 91-96). Clement mentions the Buddhists in Strom., I, 71: ""Among the Indians there are also adherents of the precepts of Buddha, whom because of his exceeding holiness they have honoured as a god.'' But his account here seems somewhat confused, since in Buddhism nakedness is regarded with horror; nakedness suggests perhaps a Jainist community. For a recent discussion cf. E. Benz,

""Indische Einfliisse auf die frithchristliche Theologie,'? in Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Geistesund sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse (Mainz, 1951), No. 3.

ON MARRIAGE

the saying just quoted: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.''8! In this inspired and prophetic way he at once destroys the device of these licentious sophists.

62. They fail to understand, it seems, that "'we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that each man may be rewarded for what he has done with his body, whether it is good or bad," that is, in order that a man may receive his reward for what he has done by means of his body. So then, "if any man be in Christ he is a new creation,' no longer inclined to sin ;

"old things are passed: away,' we have washed off the old life; "behold new things have happened,''8? there is chastity instead of fornication, continence instead of incontinence; righteousness instead of unrighteousness. *"*What is there in common between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship between light and darkness? Or what harmony between Christ and Belial? What community is there between a believer and an unbeliever? What agreement between the temple of God and idols? Having then these promises let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.''83

CHAPTER IX

63. [hose who are opposed to God's creation, disparaging it under the fair name of continence, also quote the words to Salome which we mentioned earlier.'4 They are found, I believe, in the Gospel according to the Egyptians. They say that the Saviour himself said "'I came to destroy the works of the female,' meaning by "female" desire, and by "works"' birth and corruption.

What then would they say? Has this destruction in fact been accomplished? 'They could not say so, for the world continues exactly as before. Yet the Lord did not lie. For in truth he did destroy the works of desire, love of money, contentiousness, vanity, mad lust for women, paederasty, gluttony, licentiousness, and similar vices. Their birth is the soul's corruption, since then we are "dead in sins.''85 And this is the incontinence referred to as "female." Birth and the corruption chiefly involved in the creation must necessarily continue until the achievement of complete separation and the restoration of the elect, on whose account even the beings mingled with this world are restored to their proper condition.

81 Rom. 6:14—15.

82 II Cor. 5:10, 17.

83 II Cor. 6:14—163 7:1.

84 Cf. Strom., III, 45, above.

85 Eph. 2:5.

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64. It is probably therefore with reference to the consummation that Salome says: '"'Until when shall men die?"' The Scripture uses the word ''man'' in two senses, the outward man and the soul,8° and again of him who is being saved and him who is not; and sin is said to be the death of the soul. That is why the Lord gave a cautious answer—''As long as women bear children," that is, as long as the desires are active. ""Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death came to all men, in that all sinned, and death reigned from Adam to Moses,'''7 says the apostle. By natural necessity in the divine plan death follows birth, and the coming together of soul and body is followed by their dissolution.' If birth exists for the sake of learning and knowledge, dissolution leads to the final restoration. As woman is regarded as the cause of death because she brings to birth, so also for the same reason she may be called the originator of life.

65. In fact the woman who first began transgression was named "'Life''89 because she became responsible for the succession of those who were born and fell into sin, the mother of righteous and unrighteous alike, since each one of us makes himself either righteous or disobedient. On this account I for my part do not think the apostle was expressing disgust at life in the flesh when he said: "But with all boldness both now and ever

Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If, however, it is to be life in the flesh, that also means for me fruitful work. I do not know which I prefer. I am constrained on both sides: I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better; but to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes."'°° Here he showed clearly, I think, that the perfect reason for departing from the body is love for God, and that if one is to be in the flesh one should thankfully remain here for the sake of those who need salvation.

66. But why do they not go on to quote the words afier those spoken to Salome, these people who do anything rather than walk according to the truly evangelical rule? For when she says,

"IT would have done better had I never given birth to a child," suggesting that she might not have been right in giving birth to a child, the Lord replies to her saying: "'Eat of every plant, but eat not of that which has bitterness in it."' For by this saying also he indicates that whether we are continent or married is a matter

86 II Cor. 4:16.

87 Rom. 5:12, 14.

88 Cf. Plato, Phaedo, 67 D.

89 Gen. 3:20.

90 Phil. 1:20-24.

ON MARRIAGE

for our free choice and that there is no absolute prohibition which would impose continence upon us as a necessity. And he further makes it clear that marriage is co-operation with the work of creation.

67. Therefore a man ought not to think that marriage on rational principles is a sin, supposing that he does not look on the bringing up of children as being bitter (on the contrary to many childlessness is most grievous); but if a man regards the rearing of children as bitter because it distracts him from the things of God on account of the time it takes up, he may yet desire to marry because he does not take easily to a bachelor's life. What he wants to do is not harmful if it is done with selfcontrol; and each one of us is master of his own will in deciding whether to beget children. But I am aware that because of marriage there are some who have kept clear of it and against the principles of holy knowledge have lapsed into hatred of humanity so that the spirit of charity has departed from them. There are others who have become absorbed by marriage and fulfil their desires in the indulgence which the law permits,?! and, as the prophet says, "have become like beasts.''92

CHAPTER X

68. But who are the two or three gathered in the name of Christ in whose midst the Lord is?93 Does he not by the "three"? mean husband, wife, and child?94 For a wife is bound to her husband by God.%> If, however, a man wishes to be undistracted, and prefers to avoid begetting children because of the business it involves, "'let him remain unmarried," says the apostle, "'even as I am.''9® They explain that what the Lord meant was this. By the plurality he means the Creator, the God who is the cause of the world's existence; and by the one, the elect, he meant the Saviour who is Son of another God, the good God. But this is not correct. Through his Son, God is with those who are soberly married and have children. By the same mediation the same

God is also with the man who exercises continence on rational grounds.

According to another view the three may be passion, desire, 91 The Greek phrase occurs in an Epicurean fragment on papyrus (P. Oxy.,

215).

92 Ps, 48:13, 21.

93 Matt. 18:20.

94 Cf. Origen, Comm. in Matt., 14:2.

95 Prov. 19:14.

96 I Cor. 7:8.

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and thought;97 another interpretation makes them flesh, soul, and spirit.?8

6g. Perhaps the triad mentioned refers to the called, and in the second place to the chosen, and in the third place to the race appointed to receive the greatest honour.9® With them is the power of God watching over all things which is indivisibly divided among them. He, then, who uses the soul's natural powers as is right, desires those things which are appropriate, and hates what is harmful, as the commandments prescribe:

"Thou shalt bless him who blesses thee and curse him who curses thee."'! But when he has risen above these, passion and desire, and in very deed has begun to love the creation of the God and Creator of all things, then he will live a gnostic life, as he has become like the Saviour and has attained to a state of continence no longer maintained with difficulty. He has united knowledge, faith, and love. Thenceforth he is one in his judgment and truly spiritual, wholly incapable of thoughts arising from passion and desire, one who is to be made perfect after the image of the Lord by the artist himself, a perfect man, already worthy to be called a brother to the Lord? as well as his friend and son. Thus the "two" and the "three" come together into one and the same thing—a gnostic man.

70. The agreement of many, which is indicated by the number "three," with whom the Lord is present, might also be the one Church, the one man, and the one race. Or could it mean this? The Lord when he gave the law was with the one, that is the Jew. Later when he inspired the prophets and sent Jeremiah

~ to Babylon? and, moreover, called believers from the Gentiles by the teaching of the prophets, he brought the two peoples together. And was not the third the one which is made out of the two into a new man# in which he walks and dwells, in the Church itself?> And the law, the prophets, and also the gospel were brought together in Christ's name into a single knowledge.

Accordingly, those who from hatred do not marry or from desire use the flesh as if it were not a matter of right and wrong,®¢ are not in the number of the saved with whom the Lord is present.

97 Cf. Clement, Paedag., III, 1:2; Strom., III, 93, below.

98 I Thess. 5:23, quoted with the same reference by Origen, Comm. in Matt., 14:3.

99 The angels.

1 Gen. 12:3; 27:29.

2 Heb. 2:11.

3 Probably just a mistake.

4 Eph. 2:15.

5 II Cor. 6:16.

6 Cf. Strom., II, 118; ITI, 25, 26.

ON MARRIAGE

CHAPTER XI

71. Lhe demonstration of these matters being concluded, let us now quote all the Scriptures which oppose these heretical sophists, and show the right rule of continence that is preserved on grounds of reason. 'The man of understanding will find out the particular Scripture which deals with each individual heresy, and at the right time will quote it to refute those who teach doctrines contrary to the commandments. Right from the beginning the law, as we have already said,' lays down the command, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,''' long before the Lord's closely similar utterance in the New Testament, where the same idea is expressed in his own mouth: "'You have heard that the law commanded, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say, Thou shalt not lust."'® That the law intended husbands to cohabit with their wives with self-control and only for the purpose of begetting children is evident from the prohibition which forbids the unmarried man from having immediate sexual relations with a captive woman.!° If the man has conceived a desire for her, he is directed to mourn for thirty days while she is to have her hair cut; if after this the desire has not passed off, then they may proceed to beget children, because the appointed period enables the overwhelming impulse to be tested and to become a rational act of will.

72. For this reason you could not point to any place in Scripture where one of the ancients approached a pregnant woman;!! later, after the child is born and weaned, you might find that marriage relations of husbands and wives were resumed. You will find that Moses' father kept this principle in mind. After Aaron's birth three years passed before Moses was born.!2 Again, the tribe of Levi observed this law of nature given by God, although they were fewer in number than any others which came into the promised land.13 For a tribe does not easily grow to great numbers if their men have intercourse only within the legal marriage relationship and then wait until the end not only of pregnancy but also of breast-feeding.

73. It was, therefore, reasonable when Moses in his attempt _ to bring the Jews to continence by degrees, directed that after sexual intercourse they must abstain for three days before they

7 Strom., III, 9.

8 Ex. 20:17:

9 Matt. 5:27 f.

10 Deut. 21:11-13; cf. Strom., II, 88-89.

11 Cf. Paedag., II, 92.

12 Ex. 7:7.

13 Num. 3:39.

74.

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OF ALEXANDRIA

heard the divine words. !4 '"We are God's temples; as the prophet said, I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," if our behaviour conforms to the commandments both as individuals and also as a society, as the Church. "Wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and be to you a Father, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." 15 He prophetically commands us to be separate not from those who are married, as they assert, but from the heathen who are still living in immorality, and also from the heretics we have mentioned, as unclean and godless persons.

74. Hence Paul speaks against people who are like those I have mentioned, saying: "You have then these promises, beloved; let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.''!¢ "For I am jealous for you with a divine jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ."!7 The Church cannot marry another, having obtained a bridegroom; but each of us individually has the right to marry the woman he wishes according to the law; I mean here first marriage.!8 "'I am afraid lest, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so also your thoughts may be corrupted from the simplicity which is toward

Christ,"'!9 said the apostle as a very careful and conscientious teacher.

75.. 90 also the admirable Peter says: "Beloved, I exhort you as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from carnal lusts, which war against the soul, and conduct yourselves well among the heathen; for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the activity of foolish men, as free and not using your freedom as a covering for evil, but as God's slaves.' 29

Likewise also Paul in the Epistle to the Romans writes: ""'We who are dead to sin, how shall we any longer live in it? Because our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed," down to the words, "'do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin."'2!

76. While on this point I think I must not omit mention of the fact that the apostle declares that the same God is the God of the law, the prophets, and the gospel. In the Epistle to the Romans he quotes the gospel saying ""Thou shalt not lust" as 14 Ex. 19:15.

15 II Cor. 6:16-18.

16 IY Cor. 7:1.

17 II Cor. 11:2.

18 Cf. Strom., III, 4; 82.

19 TT Cor. 11:3.

201 Peteria: 11 '4., 915 te 21 Rom. 6:2, 13.

ON MARRIAGE

if it were from the law, knowing that it is the one Father who is preached by the law and the prophets. For he says: '"'What shall we say? Is the law sin? God forbid. I had not known sin except through the law; and I had not known lust unless the law had said, Thou shalt not lust.''22 Even if the heretics who are opposed to the Creator suppose that in the next sentence Paul was speaking against him when he says, "'I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing,"' yet let them read what precedes and follows this. For before it he says, '"But sin which dwells in me,"' which explains why it was appropriate for him to say, "in my flesh dwells no good thing.''23

77. In what follows he continues, "But if I do that which I do not wish to do, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells in me," which being at war with the law of God and "'of my mind," he says, ""makes me captive by the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death.''24 And again (for he does not become in the least weary of being helpful) he does not hesitate to add, "For the law of the Spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death," since by his Son "God condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit."'25 In addition to this he makes the point still clearer by saying emphatically,

'"The body is dead because of sin,"' indicating that if it is not the temple,?¢ it is still the tomb of the soul.27 For when it is dedicated to God, he adds, "'the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, who shall also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit dwelling in you.''28

78. Again his remarks are directed against libertines when he continues as follows: ""The mind of the flesh is death because those who live according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh, and the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God," not in the sense in which some teach, but in the sense which we have already explained. Then by contrast to this he says to the Church: "But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man has not Christ's Spirit, he is none of his. But if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

So then, brethren, we are under an obligation, not to the flesh 22 Rom. 7:7.

23 Rom. 7:17-18.

24 Rom. 7:20, 23 f.

25 Rom. 8:2-4.

26 Cf. I Cor. 3:16; 6:19.

27 Cf. Plato, Crat., 400 BQ; cf. Strom., III, 16.

28 Rom. 8:10 f.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

to live after the flesh. If you live after the flesh you shall die. But if by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."'29 And against the "'nobility of birth" and the "freedom" 3° abominably taught by the heretics who make a boast of their licentiousness, he goes on to say: 'You have not received the spirit of bondage that you should again be in fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship by which we cry, Abba, Father.'31 That is, we have received the Spirit for this purpose, that we may know him to whom we pray, the true Father, the only Father of all that is, him who like a father educates us for salvation and destroys fear.

CHAPTER XII

79. If by agreement marriage relations are suspended for a time to give opportunity for prayer,32 this teaches continence. He adds the words "'by agreement"' lest anyone should dissolve his marriage, and the words "for a time" lest a married man, brought to continence by force, should then fall into sin; for if he spares his own wife he may fall into desire for another woman.

On this principle he said that the man who thinks he is not behaving properly if he brings up his daughter to be unmarried, does right to give her in marriage.33 Whether a man becomes a celibate or whether he joins himself in marriage with a woman for the sake of having children, his purpose ought to be to remain unyielding to what is inferior. If he can live a life of intense devotion, he will gain to himself great merit with God,34 since his continence is both pure and reasonable. But if he goes beyond the rule he has chosen to gain greater glory, there is a danger that he may lose hope.35 Both celibacy and marriage have their own different forms of service and ministry to the Lord; I have in mind the caring for one's wife and children.

For it seems that the particular characteristic of the married state is that it gives the man who desires a perfect marriage an opportunity to take responsibility for everything in the home which he shares with his wife. The apostle says that one should appoint bishops who by their oversight over their own house have learned to be in charge of the whole church.3° Let each

29 Rom. 8:5—7, 9-10, 12-14.

30 Cf. Strom., III, 30, above.

31 Rom. 8:15.

32 IT Cor. 7:5.

33 I Cor. 7:36.

34 Cf. Shepherd of Hermas, Simil., V, 3:3 'If you do a good deed outside God's command, you gain for yourself greater glory .. ."'

35 Cf. Basilides in Strom., III, 2, above.

36 [ Tim. 3:4 f.

| ; {

ON MARRIAGE

man therefore fufil his ministry by the work in which he was called,37 that he may be free?' in Christ and receive the proper reward of his ministry.

80. Again when speaking about the law he makes use of an illustration saying: '""The married woman is by law bound to her husband while he is alive''3® and the following words. And again: 'The wife is bound to her husband so long as he is alive, but if he dies, she is free to marry, only in the Lord. But she is happier in my judgment if she remains as she is.''4° Moreover in the former passage he says, ""You are dead to the law," not to marriage, "'that you may belong to another who was raised from the dead," as Bride and Church. The Church must be chaste, both from inward thoughts contrary to the truth and from outward tempters, that is the adherents of the sects who would persuade her to commit fornication against her one husband, Almighty God, lest as the serpent deceived Eve,4! who is called Life, 42 we too should be led to transgress the commandments by the lewd craftiness of the sects. 'The second passage teaches single marriage. One should not suppose, as some have expounded the text, that when Paul says the wife is bound to her husband he means that flesh is involved in corruption.' He is attacking the notion of the godless men who attribute the invention of marriage directly to the devil,44 a notion which dangerously blasphemes the Lawgiver.

81. I believe Tatian the Syrian made bold to teach these doctrines. At any rate he writes these words in his book On Perfection According to the Saviour:45 '""While agreement to be continent makes prayer possible,4#® intercourse of corruption destroys it. By the very disparaging way in which he allows it, he forbids it.47 For although he allowed them to come together again because of Satan and the temptation to incontinence, he indicated that the man who takes advantage of this permission will be serving two masters,#8 God if there is 'agreement,' but,

37 IT Cor. 7:24.

38 I Cor. 7:22.

39 Rom. 7:2.

40 I Cor. 7:39 f.

41 IJ Cor. 11:3.

42 Gen. 3:20.

43 Epiphanius (Panarion, 46:2 f.) attributes this view to Tatian.

44 Cf. Strom., III, 49:81.

45 The title is drawn from Luke 6:40. Rendel Harris, ""Tatian: Perfection according to the Saviour," in Bulletin F. Ryl. Libr., VIII, 1 (Jan. 1924), translates an Armenian fragment which he would identify as coming from this work, but his evidence is not cogent.

46 Cf. I Cor. 7:5.

47 Cf. Tertullian, ad Uxorem, I, 3: ""Some things are not to be sought after because they are not forbidden even though in a certain sense they are forbidden when other things are valued more highly."'

48 Matt. 6:24.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

if there is no such agreement, incontinence, fornication, and the devil."" This he says in expounding the apostle. But he falsifies the truth in that by means of what is true he tries to prove what is untrue. We too confess that incontinence and fornication are diabolical passions, but the agreement of a controlled marriage occupies a middle position. If the married couple agree to be continent, it helps them to pray; if they agree with reverence to have sexual relations it leads them to beget children. In fact the right time to procreate is said in Scripture to be knowledge'? since it says: "And Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a son, and they called him by the name of Seth. For God has raised up for me other seed instead of Abel.''5° You see who is the object of the blasphemy of those who abuse sober marriage and attribute birth to the devil? The Scripture here does not speak simply of a God, but of the God, indicating the Almighty by the addition of the definite article.

82. The point of the apostle's addition "And then come together again because of Satan"' is to stop the husband from ever turning aside after other women. A temporary agreement, although for the moment intercourse is not approved, does not mean that the natural instincts are completely removed. Because of them he again restores the marriage bond, not so that husband and wife may be incontinent and fornicate and do the devil's work, but to prevent them from falling into incontinence, fornication, and the devil. 'Tatian also separates the old man and the new,5! but not as we understand it. We agree with him that the law is the old man and the gospel the new, and say the same ourselves, but not in the sense in which he takes it since he would do away with the law as originating from another God. But it is the same man and Lord who makes the old new, by no longer allowing several marriages (for at that time God'? required it when men had to increase and multiply), and by teaching single marriage for the sake of begetting children and looking after domestic affairs, for which purpose woman was given as a ""helpmeet.''53 And if from sympathy the apostle allows a mana second marriage because he cannot control himself and burns with passion, 54 he also does not commit any sin according to the 49 Cf. Strom., III, 94, where Adam's fall consisted in having intercourse before the proper time.

50 Gen.4:25.

51 Cf. Rom. 7:2.

52 Perhaps by a change of text (L. Frichtel in Wiirzb. Jahrb., II (1947), p. 149) read ''for then the time required it .

53 Gen. 2:18.

54 Cf. I Cor. 7: 9, 36, 39 f.; Strom., III, 4.

ON MARRIAGE

Old Testament (for it was not forbidden by the Law), but he does not fulfil the heightened perfection of the gospel ethic. But he gains heavenly glory for himself if he remains as he is,55 and keeps undefiled the marriage yoke broken by death, and willingly accepts God's purpose for him, by which he has become free from distraction for the service of the Lord.5® But the providence of God as revealed by the Lord does not order now, as it did in ancient times, that after sexual intercourse a man should wash.57 For there is no need for the Lord to make believers do this after intercourse since by one Baptism he has washed them clean for every such occasion, as also he has comprehended in one Baptism the many washings of Moses.

83. In ancient times the law directed washing after the emission of the generative seed because it was foretelling our regeneration by speaking of fleshly birth, not because it held human birth to be a defilement. For that which after birth appears as a man is effected by the emission of the seed. It is not frequent intercourse of the parents which produces birth, but the reception of the seed in the womb. In the workshop of natures' the seed is transformed into an embryo. How then can marriage be a state only intended for ancient times and an invention of the law, and marriage on Chrisitian principles of a different nature, if we hold that the Old and the New '[estaments proclaim the same God? "For what God has joined together no man may ever put asunder''5? for any good reason; if the Father commanded this, so much the more also will the Son keep it. If the author of the law and the gospel is the same, he never contradicts himself. For there is life in the law in that it is spiritual and is to be gnostically understood. But "'we are dead to the law by the body of Christ, that we should belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead"' and was prophesied by the law: "'that we might bear fruit unto God.''®!

84. Therefore "the law is holy and the commandment holy, righteous, and good.''®2 We, then, are dead to the law, that is to sin of which the law makes us aware; the law indicates it, it does not give rise to it; by telling us what we ought to do and prohibiting what we ought not to do, the law shows up the sin which lies underneath "that sin may be manifest.''®} But if marriage according to the law is sin, I do not know how anyone

55 Cf. Strom., III, 79.

56 I Cor. 7:35.

57 Lev. 15:18.

58 Cf. Strom., IV, 150: Philo, de Aetern. Mundi, 66; de Sp. Leg., 3:109; Leg. ad

G., 56.

59 Matt. 19:6.

60 Rom. 7:14.

61 Rom. 7:4, 62 Rom. 7:12.

63 Rom. 7:13.

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OF ALEXANDRIA

can say he knows God when he asserts that the command of God is sin. If the law is holy, marriage is holy. This mystery the apostle refers to Christ and the Church.®4

Just as "that which 1s born of the flesh is flesh, so that which is born of the spirit is spirit''®5 not only in respect of its birth but also of what is acquired by learning. Thus "'the children also are holy,''®* they are well-pleasing to God, in that the Lord's words bring the soul as a bride to God. Fornication and marriage are therefore different things, as far apart as God is from the devil. "And you are dead to the law through the body of Christ so that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead."'®7 It is to be understood here that you become closely obedient, since it is also according to the truth of the law that we obey the same

Lord whose commands are given to us from a distance.®8 85. And no doubt of such people it is reasonable when, "the Spirit says expressly that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error and the teaching inspired by daemons, through hypocritical sophists who are seared in conscience and forbid marriage, and demand abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by believers who know the truth. Everything created by God 1s good, and none is to be rejected but accepted with thanksgiving.

For it is sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer.''® It necessarily follows, then, that it is wrong to forbid marriage and indeed eating meat or drinking wine. For it is written: "It is good to eat no meat and to drink no wine''"® if it causes offence to do so, and that it is "good to remain as I am."'7! But both he who eats with thanksgiving and he who does not eat, who also offers thanksgiving?? and has a continent enjoyment, should live in accordance with reason.

86. In general all the epistles of the apostle teach self-control and continence and contain numerous instructions about marriage, begetting children, and domestic life. But they nowhere rule out self-controlled marriage. Rather they preserve the harmony of the law and the gospel and approve both the man who with thanks to God enters upon marriage with sobriety and the man who in accordance with the Lord's will lives as a celibate, even as each individual is called, making his choice without blemish and in perfection. "And the land of Jacob was praised above allother lands," says the prophet, glorifying the vessel of his

64 Eph. 5:32.

65 John 3:6.

66 I Cor. 7:14.

67 Rom. 7:4.

68 Cf. Isa. 46:11.

69 I Tim. 4:1-5.

70 Rom, 14:21.

71 I Cor. 7:8.

721 Tim. 4:4; Rom, 14:6.

ON MARRIAGE

spirit.73 But a certain man74 who disparages birth, speaking of it as corrupt and destined for abolition, and does violence to the Scripture, saying that the Lord was referring to procreation in the words that on earth one ought not to "lay up treasure where moth and rust corrupt."'75 And he is not ashamed to add to this the quotation from the prophet: "You all shall wax old like a garment and moth shall eat you.''76 But we do not contradict the Scripture. Our bodies are corruptible and by nature subject to continual change.77 Perhaps the prophet was foretelling destruction to those whom he was addressing because they were sinners. But the Saviour did not refer to begetting children, but was exhorting those who wished only to possess large wealth and not to help the needy, to share their goods with others.

87. That is why he says: 'Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which abides unto eternal life.'"'78 Similarly they quote the saying: ""The children of the age to come neither marry nor are given in marriage.''79 But if anyone thinks carefully about this question concerning the resurrection of the dead and those who asked it, he will find that the Lord is not rejecting marriage, but ridding their minds of the expectation that in the resurrection there will be carnal desire. The phrase "the children of this age" is not meant to make a contrast with the children of some other age, but is equivalent to saying "'those who are born in this age,'' who are children because of birth; they beget and are begotten since without birth no one will come into this life. But this birth, which must expect a corresponding corruption,

*®° no longer awaits him who has once departed from this life. "Your father in heaven is one,"' but he is also father of all men by creation. 'Therefore call no man your father on earth,"'8! which is as if he said: Do not reckon him who begat you by fleshly generation to be the cause of your being, but as the one who co-operated in causing your birth, or rather as a subordinate helper to that end.

88. He thus wishes us to turn ourselves again and become as children'? who have come to know the true Father and are reborn through water by a generation different from birth in the created world. Yes, he says, "'the unmarried cares for the things

73 The source of the quotation is unknown; the entire sentence Is cited by Clement from the Epistle of Barnabas (11:9).

74 Schwartz (in his edition of Tatian, p. 49) thinks this is not Tatian.

75 Matt. 6:19.

76Isa. 50:9.

77 Cf. Harv. Theol. Rev., XLI (1948), p. 87.

78 John 6:27.

79 Luke 20:35.

80 A philosophical commonplace; cf. Strom., III, 45, 64, above.

81 Matt. 23:9.

82 Matt. 18:3.

A.c.—6

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

of the Lord, but he who is married how he can please his wife.'' 83

What then? Is it not lawful also for those who wish to please their wives according to the will of God to give thanks to God?

Is it not allowable for both the married man and his wife to care for things of the Lord together? But just as "the unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit,"

84 so also the married woman cares in the Lord for the things of her husband and the things of the Lord, the one as a wife, the other as a virgin. But to put to shame and to discourage those inclined to contract a second marriage the apostle appropriately uses strong language and says at once: '"'Every other sin is external to the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.''85

89. But if anyone dares to call marriage fornication, he again falls into blasphemy against the law and the Lord. For as covetousness is called fornication because it is opposed to contentment with what one possesses, and as idolatry is an abandonment of the one God to embrace many gods, so fornication 1s apostasy from single marriage to several. For, as we have remarked, the apostle uses the words fornication and adultery in three senses.8° On this matter the prophet says: ""You were sold to your sins."' And again: 'You were defiled in a foreign land.''87

Here he regards as defilement an association which is bound up with a strange body and not with that which in marriage is bestowed for the purpose of procreation. That is why the apostle also says: "I wish then that the younger women marry, bear children, look after their houses, and give the adversary no occasion for abuse; for some have already turned aside after Satan.''88 go. And indeed he entirely approves of the man who is husband of one wife, whether he be presbyter, deacon, or layman, if he conducts his marriage unblameably.®? "'For he shall be saved by child-bearing.''°° Again when the Saviour calls the Jews "a wicked and adulterous generation'! he teaches that they did not know the law as the law intended; by following the tradition of the elders and the commandments of men,°? they were committing adultery against the law, as they did not accept '"'the husband and lord of their virginity.''°3 But perhaps he also knew that they were enslaved by alien desires, on account of 83 I Cor. 7:32 f.

84 I Cor. 7:34.

85 I Cor. 6:18.

86 Cf. Strom., VII, 75, below.

87 Isa. 50:1; Baruch 3:10.

88 I Tim. 5:14 f.

89 I Tim. 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6.

90 ] Tim, 2:15.

91 Matt. 12:39.

92 Matt. 15:2, 9.

93 Jer. 3:4.

ON MARRIAGE

which they were in continual bondage to their sins and were sold to foreigners, since among the Jews at least no public harlots existed and adultery was forbidden. But he who said, "I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come''®' to the divine supper was an example to convict those who for pleasure's sake were abandoning the divine command; for if this saying is taken otherwise, neither the righteous before the coming of Christ nor those who have married since his coming, even if they be apostles, will be saved. And if they again bring forward the point that the prophet also said, "'I have become old among all my enemies,''95 by "enemies" they ought to understand sins. It is not marriage that is a sin but fornication, since otherwise they must say that birth and the creation of birth are sinful.

CHAPTER XIIT

gi. Such are the arguments of Julius Cassianus,°® the originator of docetism. At any rate in his book Concerning Continence and Celibacy he says these words: "'And let no one say that because we have these parts, that the female body is shaped this way and the male that way, the one to receive, the other to give seed, sexual intercourse is allowed by God. For if this arrangement had been made by God, to whom we seek to attain, he would not have pronounced eunuchs blessed; nor would the prophet have said that they are 'not an unfruitful tree,'®7 using the tree as an illustration of the man who chooses to emasculate himself of any such notion."

92. And striving still further to support his godless opinion he adds: "'Could not one rightly find fault with the Saviour if he was responsible for our formation and then delivered us from error and from this use of the generative organs?"' In this respect his teaching is the same as Tatian's. But he departed from the school of Valentine. On this account he says: '""When Salome asked when she would know the answer to her questions, the Lord said, When you trample on the robe of shame, and when the two shall be one, and the male with the female, and there is neither male nor female.''8

93. In the first place we have not got the saying in the four Gospels that have been handed down to us, but in the Gospel according to the Egyptians. Secondly Cassian seems to me not to know that it refers to wrath in speaking of the male impulse

94 Luke 14:20.

95. Ps. 627.

96 See Introduction, p. 23s 97 Isa. 56:3.

98 Cf. II Clement, XII, 2; Strom., III, 45, above.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

and to desire in speaking of the female. When these operate, there follow repentance and shame. But when a man gives in neither to wrath nor to desire, both of which increase in consequence of evil habit and unbringing so as to cloud and obscure rational thought,» but puts off from him the darkness they cause with penitence and shame, uniting spirit and soul in obedience to the Word, then, as Paul also says, "there is among you neither male nor female."! For the soul leaves this physical form in which male and female are distinguished, and being neither the one nor the other changes to unity.? But this worthy fellow thinks in Platonic fashion that the soul is of divine origin and, having become female by desire, has come down here from above to birth and corruption.3

CHAPTER XIV

94. He then does violence to Paul, making him hold that birth originated from deceit because he says: "I am afraid lest, as the serpent deceived Eve, your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity which is towards Christ.''4 But the Lord, as all agree, came to that which wasastray,5 but it had not strayed from above into earthly birth (for birth is created and the creation of the Almighty who would never bring the soul down from what is good to what is bad). The Saviour came to men who were astray in their thoughts, to us whose minds were corrupted as a result of our disobeying the commandments because we were lovers of pleasure, and perhaps also because the first man of our race did not bide his time, desired the favour of marriage before the proper hour, and fell into sin by not waiting for the time of God's will; "for every one who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her.''7

95. It was the same Lord who at that time also condemned the desire which preceded marriage. When, therefore, the apostle says, ''Put on the new man which is created after God,''8 he speaks to us who were formed as we are by the will of the Almighty. In speaking of the old man and the new he is not referring to birth and rebirth respectively, but to manner of life, the one being disobedient, the other obedient. The "coats of 99 Cf. Plato, Rep., 492 A, 495 A.

1 Gal. 3:28.

2 Cf. Strom., III, 69, above.

3 Cf. Strom., III, 13; IV, 83; Plato, Phaedo, 81 C; Phaedr., 248 C.

411 Cor. 11:3.

5 Matt. 18:11.

6 Cf. Strom., III, 81.

7 Matt. 5:28.

8 Eph. 4:24.

ON MARRIAGE

skins'' in Cassian's view are bodies.? That both he and those who teach the same as he does are wrong here we will show later when we undertake an explanation of the birth of man after the necessary preliminary discussion. He further says:

'The subjects of earthly kings both beget and are born, "but our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour."

10° That this remark also is right we recognize, since we ought to behave as strangers and pilgrims, if married as though we were not married, if possessing wealth as though we did not possess it, if procreating children as giving birth to mortals, as those who are ready to abandon their property, as men who would even live without a wife if need be, as people who are not passionately attached to the created world, but use it with all gratitude and with a sense of exaltation beyond it.

CHAPTER XV

96. And again when the apostle says, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman; but because of the risk of immorality let each man have his own wife," he explains it, as it were, by the further words "'lest Satan tempt you."'!! In the phrase "'because of incontinence''!2 he speaks not to those who chastely use marriage for procreation alone, but to those who were desiring to go beyond procreation, lest the adversary should raise a stormy blast and arouse desire for alien pleasures. But perhaps because

Satan is zealously hostile to those who live rightly and contends against them, and wishes to bring them over to his own side, he aims to give them occasions for falling by making it difficult for them to be continent.

97. Accordingly the apostle rightly says, "It is better to marry than to burn,''!3 that the husband may give to the wife her due and the wife to the husband, and that they should not deprive one another of help given by divine providence for the purpose of generation. "But whosoever shall not hate father or mother or wife or children," they quote, "cannot be my disciple.''!4 This is not a command to hate one's family. For he says: 'Honour

9 Gen. 3:21, Among the gnostics this interpretation of the coats of skins is common; it was also attributed to Origen, who certainly regarded it as a possible interpretation but does not definitely declare himself. Cf. my note on Origen, contra Celsum, IV, 40. Philo understood them in this sense

(Leg. Alleg., III, 69; de Post. Caini, 137) and also Porphyry (de Abst., I, 31. probably following Numenius).

10 Phil. 3:20.

11 I Cor. 7:1 fi, 5.

12 I Cor. 7:5.

13 I Cor. 7:9.

14 Luke 14:26,

CLEMENT

OF ALEXANDRIA

thy father and thy mother that it may be well with thee." 15 But what he means is this: Do not let yourself be led astray by irrational impulses and have nothing to do with the city customs.

For a household consists of a family, and cities of households, as Paul also says of those who are absorbed in marriage that they aim to "please the world.'"'16 Again the Lord says, "Let not the married person seek a divorce, nor the unmarried person marriage,'17 that is, he who has confessed his intention of being celibate, let him remain unmarried.

98. To both the same Lord gives the corresponding promises by the prophet Isaiah in the following words: "Let not the eunuch say, I am dry wood. To eunuchs the Lord says this, If you keep my sabbaths and do all that I command you, I will give you a place better than sons and daughters."!8 For a eunuch is not justified merely because he is a eunuch, and certainly not because he observes the sabbath, if he does not keep the commandments. And for the married he goes on to say, "My elect shall not labour in vain nor bear children to be accursed; for they are a seed blessed by the Lord.''!9 For him who begets children and brings them up and educates them in the Lord, just as for him who begets children by means of the true teaching, a reward is laid up, as also for the elect seed. But others hold that procreation is a curse and do not understand that the Scripture speaks against them. Those who are in truth the Lord's elect neither teach doctrines nor beget children to be accursed, as the sects do.

99. A eunuch, then, does not mean a man who has been castrated, nor even an unmarried man, but a man who is unproductive of truth. Formerly he was "'dry wood," but if he obeys the word and observes the sabbaths by abstaining from sins and keeps the commandments, he will be in higher honour that those who are educated in word alone and fail to do what is right. 'Little children," says our teacher, "'a little while longer

I am with you."'2° That is why Paul also instructs the Galatians in these words: ''My little children, with whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.''2! And again he writes to the Corinthians: "'For though you may have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ

I have begotten you through the gospel."'22 On this account a 15 Ex, 20:12.

16 [ Cor. 7:33.

17 Cf. I Cor. 7:27, 32-36. The quotation may be taken from the Gospel according to the Egyptians.

18 Isa. 56:3-5.

19 Isa. 65:23.

20 John 13:33.

21 Gal. 4:19.

22 I Cor. 4:15.

ON MARRIAGE

eunuch "shall not enter into God's assembly,"'?3 that is, the man who is unproductive and unfruitful both in conduct and in word; but blessed are those who have made themselves eunuchs, free from all sin, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven by their abstinence from the world.?4

CHAPTER XVI

100. When Jeremiah says, '"'Cursed be the day in which I was born, and let it not be longed for,"' he is not saying simply that birth is accursed, but is in despair at the sins and disobedience of the people. In fact he goes on, "'Why was I born to see labour and pain and my days accomplished in shame?''?5 All those who preach the truth are persecuted and in danger because of the disobedience of their hearers. ""'Why did not my mother's womb become my tomb, that I might not see the distress of Jacob and the toil of the nation of Israel?''? says Esdras the prophet.2° ""No one is pure from defilement,"' says Job, "not even if his life last but one day.''27 Let them tell us how the newly born child could commit fornication, or how that which has done nothing has fallen under the curse of Adam. 'The only consistent answer for them, it seems, is to say that birth is an evil, not only for the body, but also for the soul for the sake of which the body itself exists. And when David says: "'In sin I was born and in unrighteousness my mother conceived me,''?® he

Says In prophetic manner that Eve is his mother. For 'Eve became the mother of the living.''2° But if he was conceived in sin, yet he was not himself in sin, nor is he himself sin.

101. But on the question whether everyone who turns from sin to faith turns from sinful habits to life as though born of a mother, I may call as witness one of the twelve prophets who said: "'Am I to give my firstborn for my impiety, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?'' 3° This is not an attack on him who said: "'Increase and multiply."'3! Rather he calls the first impulses resulting from birth, by which we do not know God, "'impiety." If on this basis anyone maintains that birth is evil, let him also on the same ground hold that it is good, since in it we

23 Deut. 23:1.

24 An allusion to a saying ascribed to Jesus, not in the canonical gospels; cf.

Oxyrhyncus Logia (P. Oxy., i); Clement, Ecl. Proph., 14:1.

25 Jer. 20:14.

26 II Esdras 5:35.

27 Job. 14:4 f.

28 Ps. 51(50):5.

29 Gen. 3:20.

30 Micah 6:7.

31 Gen. 1:28.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

recognize the truth. "Be sober as is right, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God,''32 that is, those who sin. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers.''33 But "'the rulers of darkness" have power to tempt us.

That is why concessions are made.34 Therefore also Paul says:

"T buffet my body and bring it into subjection." "For everyone who wishes to take part in a contest is continent in all things"

(the words "'he is continent in all things" really mean that, though he does not abstain from everything, yet he is selfcontrolled on such things as he thinks fit). ""They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible,''35 if we conquer in the struggle, though there is no crown for us if we do not put up any fight at all. There are also some now who rank the widow higher than the virgin in the matter of continence, on the ground that she scorns pleasure of which she has had experience.3¢

CHAPTER XVII

102. If birth is something evil, let the blasphemers say that the Lord who shared in birth was born in evil, and that the virgin gave birth to him in evil. Woe to these wicked fellows! They blaspheme against the will of God and the mystery of creation in speaking evil of birth. This is the ground upon which Docetism is held by Cassian and by Marcion also, and on which even

Valentine indeed teaches that Christ's body was "psychic."'37

They say: Man became like the beasts when he came to practise sexual intercourse. But it is when a man in his passion really wants to go to bed with a strange woman that in truth such a man has become a wild beast. "'Wild horses were they become, each man whinnied after his neighbour's wife.''38 And if the serpent took the use of intercourse from the irrational animals and persuaded Adam to agree to have sexual union with Eve, as though the couple first created did not have such union by nature, as some think, this again is blasphemy against the creation. For it makes human nature weaker than that of the brute beasts if in this matter those who were first created by God copied them.

32 I Cor. 15:34.

33 Eph. 6:12.

34 Cf. I Cor. 7:6.

35 J Cor. 9:27, 25.

36 Cf. Strom., VII, 72, 76. Tertullian, ad Uxorem, I, 8. The opposite view is taken by Augustine, de sancta Virginitate, 46.

37 Cf. Introduction, p. 32.

38 Jer. 5:8.

ON MARRIAGE

103. But if nature led them, like the irrational animals, to procreation, yet they were impelled to do it more quickly than was proper because they were still young and had been led away by deceit. Thus God's judgment against them was just, because they did not wait for his will. But birth is holy. By it were made the world, the existences, the natures, the angels, powers, souls, the commandments, the law, the gospel, the knowledge of God. And "'all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls; but the word of the Lord abides''39 which anoints the soul and unites it with the spirit. Without the body how could the divine plan for us in the Church achieve its end? Surely the Lord himself, the head of the Church, 4° came in the flesh, though without form and beauty,+! to teach us to look upon the formless and incorporeal nature of the divine Cause. "For a tree of life" says the prophet, "'grows by a good desire,''4? teaching that desires which are in the living Lord are good and pure.

104. Furthermore they wish to maintain that the intercourse of man and wife in marriage, which is called knowledge,

43 is a sin; this sin 1s referred to as eating of the tree of good and evil, and the phrase "'he knew''¢4 signifies transgression of the commandment. But if this is so, even knowledge of the truth is eating of the tree of life.45 It is possible for a sober-minded marriage to partake of that tree. We have already observed that marriage may be used rightly or wrongly;4° and this is the tree of knowledge, if we do not transgress in marriage. What then? Does not the Saviour who heals the soul also heal the body of its passions?

But if the flesh were hostile to the soul, he would not have raised an obstacle to the soul by strengthening with good health the hostile flesh. ""This I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor corruption incorruption.''47

For sin being corruption cannot have fellowship with incorrup- - tion which is righteousness. "'Are you so foolish?" he says; "'having begun in the Spirit are you now to be made perfect by the flesh.''

CHAPTER XVIII

105. Some, then, as we have shown,*? have tried to go beyond what is right and the concord that marks salvation which 1s holy

39 Isa. 40:6-8.

40. Eph, 1:225'5:23.

41 Isa, 53:2.

42 Prov. 13:12.

43 Cf. Strom., III, 81.

44 Gen. 2:9.

45 Gen. 2:9; 3:22.

46 Strom., III, 96.

47 I Cor. 15:50.

48 Gal, 3:3.

49 Strom., III, 40.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

and established. They have blasphemously accepted the ideal of continence for reasons entirely godless. Celibacy may lawfully be chosen according to the sound rule with godly reasons, provided that the person gives thanks for the grace God has granted,*® and does not hate the creation or reckon married people to be of no account. For the world is created: celibacy is also created. Let both give thanks for their appointed state, if they know to what state they are appointed. But others have kicked over the traces and waxed wanton, having become indeed "'wild horses who whinny after their neighbour's wives."'5!

They have abandoned themselves to lust without restraint and persuade their neighbours to live licentiously; as wretches they follow the Scripture: "'Cast your lot in with us; let us all have a common purse and let our moneybag be one.''52

106. On account of them the same prophet gives us advice saying: "'Go not in the way with them, withdraw thy foot from their steps. For not unjustly are nets spread out to catch birds; for they are guilty of bloodshed and treasure up evil for themselves''53—that is, they seek for immorality and teach their neighbours to do the same. According to the prophet they are

"fighters struck with their own tails''54 (ourat), to which the Greeks give the name kerko1. 'Those to whom the prophecy refers might well be lustful, incontinent, men who fight with their tails, children of darkness55 and wrath, bloodstained suicides and murderers of their neighbours. "'Purify out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump,''>® cries the apostle to us. And again in anger at such people he directs that we should "'have no fellowship with any one called a brother if he is a fornicator or covetous man or idolater or reviler or drunkard or robber; with such a man one ought not even to eat.''57 "For I through the law am dead to the law," he says, "that I may live unto God. I am. crucified with Christ; it is no longer I that live,' meaning that I used to live according to my lusts, 'but Christ lives in me,' and I am pure and blessed by obeying the commandments; so that whereas at one time I lived in the flesh carnally,

"the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God."58

107. "Go into no way of the heathen and enter no city of the Samaritans,"'5? says the Lord, to keep us away from society

50 Cf. I Cor. 7:7.

51 Jer. 5:8.

52 Prov. 1:14.

53 Prov. 1:15-18.

54 The origin of the quotation is unknown.

55 Eph. 2:3.

56 I Cor. 5:7.

57 I Cor. 5:11.

58 Gal. 2:19-20.

59 Matt. 10:5.

ON MARRIAGE

OI contrary to his will. "'For the end of the lawless man is evil. And these are the ways of all those who do lawless deeds." © 'Woe to that man," the Lord says, "'it were well for him if he had never been born, than that he should cause one of my little ones to stumble. It were better for him that a millstone were hung about him and he cast into the sea than that he should pervert one of my elect.''®! "For the name of God is blasphemed because of them.''%? 'Therefore the apostle nobly says, "'I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with fornicators," as far as the words "'but the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."" And to show that he does not regard marriage as fornication he goes on: '"'Do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her?''®3 Or who will assert that before she is married a virgin is a harlot? '"'And do not deprive one another," he says, "'except by agreement for a time," indicating by the word "'deprive"' the obligation of marriage, procreation, which he has set forth in the preceding passage where he says: "'Let the husband give the wife her due and likewise also the wife to the husband.''®4

108. In fulfilling this obligation she is a helpmeet in the house and in Christian faith. And the apostle expresses the same point even more clearly as follows: ""To the married I direct, yet not I but the Lord, that the wife be not separated from her husband

(and if she is separated, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband) and that the husband should not leave his wife. But to the rest I say, not the Lord: If any brother

.," down to the words "'but now are they holy.'"'®5 What have they to say to these words, these people who disparage the law and speak as if marriage were only conceded by the law and is not also in accord with the New Testament? What reply to these directions have those who recoil from intercourse and birth? For he also lays down that the bishop who is to rule the Church must be a man who governs his own household well. A household pleasing to the Lord consists of a marriage with one wife.

°° 109. "To the pure," he says, "all things are pure: but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but their mind and conscience are polluted."'®? With reference to illicit indulgence he

60 Prov. 1:18 f.

61 The gospel sayings (Matt. 26: 24; 18:6f.; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2) are quoted from I Clement, 46:8.

62 Rom. 2:24.

63 T Cor. 5:9; 6:13, 16. Cf. Strom., III, 49.

64 Ti Cora rin ae 65 I Cor. 7:10-12, 14.

66 Cf. I Tim. 3:2—4; Titus 1:6; Strom., III, 79, go.

67 'Titus 1:15.

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says: ""Make no mistake: neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate men nor homosexuals nor covetous men nor robbers nor drunkards nor revilers nor thieves shall inherit the kingdom of God. And we," who used to indulge in such practices, "have washed ourselves.'' ©' But they have a purification, with a view to committing this immorality; their baptism means passing from self-control to fornication. They maintain that one should gratify the lusts and passions, teaching that one must turn from sobriety to be incontinent. They set their hope on their private parts.© Thus they shut themselves out of God's kingdom and deprive themselves of enrolment as disciples,7° and under the name of knowledge, falsely so called, they have taken the road to outer darkness.7! "'For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is holy, whatever is righteous, whatever is pure, whatever is attractive, whatever is well spoken of, whatever is virtuous, and whatever is praiseworthy, think on these things. And whatever you have learnt and received and heard and seen in me, this do. And the God of peace shall be with you."

110. And Peter in his epistle says the same: "So that your faith and hope may be in God, because you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth,''73 ''as obedient children, not behaving after the fashion of the lusts in which in your ignorance you formerly indulged; but as he who has called you is holy, so also must you be holy in all your conduct; as it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy.''74

But our polemic, though necessary against those who masquerade under the false name of knowledge, has carried us beyond the limit and made our discussion lengthy. Accordingly this is the end of our third miscellany of gnostic notes in accordance with the true philosophy.

68 T Cor. 6:9—11.

69 Phil. 3:19.

70 Cf. Rev. 20:12, 153 21:27.

71 Cf. Matt. 8:12.

72 Phil. 4:8 f.

73,1 Retera@ say f.

74] Peter 1:14-16 (Lev. 11:44; 19:2; 20:7).

On Spiritual Perfection Miscellanies, Book VII} Cid ae Ba MS a Ip

CHAPTER [|

1. It is now time for us to prove to the Greeks that the gnostic alone is truly devout, so that the philosophers, learning what sort of person the true Christian is, may condemn their own folly for their careless and indiscriminate persecution of the name of Christian, while they irrationally abuse as atheists those who have the knowledge of the true God. And in addressing philosophers I think one should employ ratiocination as more convincing, since they are better trained to understand it from their previous course of instruction, even if they have not yet shown themselves worthy to participate in the power to believe.

Of the sayings of the prophets? we will make no mention at present, intending hereafter to avail ourselves of the Scriptures on the fitting occasions. For the present we will only give a summary indication of what is declared by them, in the form of a sketch of the Christian religion, in order that we may not break the thread of the discourse by constant references to the Scriptures, especially when addressing those who do not yet understand their phraseology. When we have shown their general purport, the exhibition of the testimonies shall be superadded afterwards on their believing. And if our words seem to some of the uninstructed to be different from the Lord's Scriptures, let them know that it is from the Scriptures that they draw their life and breath, and that it is their object, taking these as their starting-point, to set forth, not their phraseology, but their meaning only. For further elaboration being unseasonable would with good reason seem superfluous, while on the other hand it would be a very careless and unsatisfactory way of 1 The translation of Book VII is that of J. B. Mayor, revised.

2 T.e., the Scriptures as a whole (so often in Clement).

04.

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treating the subject if we were to omit all consideration of that which is of pressing importance. And blessed indeed are they who search out the testimonies of the Lord: with their whole heart they will seek him.3 Now they which testify of the Lord are the law and the prophets.'

2. It is our business then to prove that the gnostic alone is holy and pious, worshipping the true God as befits him; and the worship which befits God includes both loving God and being loved by him. To the gnostic every kind of pre-eminence seems honourable in proportion to its worth. In the world of sense rulers and parents and elders generally are to be honoured; in matters of teaching, the most ancient philosophy and the earliest prophecy; in the spiritual world, that which is elder in origin, the Son, the beginning and first-fruit of all existing things, himself timeless and without beginning; from whom the gnostic believes that he receives the knowledge of the ultimate cause, the Father of the universe, the earliest and most beneficent of all existences, no longer reported by word of mouth, but worshipped and adored, as is his due, with silent worship and holy awe; who was manifested indeed by the Lord so far as it was possible for the learners to understand, but apprehended by those whom the Lord has elected for knowledge, those, says the apostle, who have their senses exercised.5

3. The gnostic therefore pays service to God by his constant self-discipline and by cherishing that which is divine in himself in the way of unremitting charity. For as regards the service of men, part may be classed as meliorative treatment and part as ministrative service. 'Thus the medicinal art is meliorative of the body and philosophy of the soul; but that which parents receive from children and rulers from subjects is ministrative aid.

Similarly in the Church the meliorative service is imaged in the presbyters, the ministrative in the deacons. As both these services are performed by the ministering angels for God in their administration of earthly things, so they are also performed by the gnostic himself, while on the one hand he serves God, and on the other hand sets forth his meliorative philosophy to men, in whatsoever way he may be appointed to instruct them with a view to their improvement. For he alone is truly devout who ministers to God rightly and unblameably in respect to human affairs. For, as the best treatment of plants is that whereby the fruits grow and are gathered in by the science and art of hus- — 3 Ps. 119 (118):2, I Peter 1:10.

4 John 5:39, Rom. 3:21 (cf. Acts 10:43).

§ Heb. 5:14. a

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

bandry, supplying to men the benefit derived from the fruits; so the best ingathering which the devoutness of the gnostic can accomplish by means of his art is the appropriation of the fruits of all who have come to believe through him, as one after another becomes possessed of knowledge and is thus brought into the way of salvation. And if by godliness we understand the habit of mind which preserves the fitting attitude towards God, é then the godly alone is dear to God. And such would be he who knows what is fitting both in theory and in life, as to how one should live who will one day become god, aye and is even now being made like to God.'

4. Thus he is before all things a lover of God. For as he wha honours his father is a lover of his father, so he who honours

God is a lover of God. Hence too the gnostic faculty seems to me to reveal itself in three achievements: (1) in the knowledge of the facts of the Christian religion, (2) in the accomplishment of whatever the Word enjoins, (3) in the capacity to impart to others after a godly manner the hidden things of truth. How then can he who is convinced that God is almighty, and who has learnt the divine mysteries from his only-begotten Son—how can such an one be an atheist? An atheist is one who does not believe in the existence of God, while we call by the name of superstitious him who fears the demons and who deifies everything down to stocks and stones, having brought into slavery the spirit and the inner man which lives in accordance with reason.

CHAPTER II

5. The first proof that one knows God, after one has put confidence in the Saviour's teaching, is that one in no way does wrong, in the conviction that this befits the knowledge of God.

Thus the most excellent thing on earth is the most devout of men, and the most excellent in heaven is the angel, who is nearer in place to the deity and already more purely participant of the eternal and blessed life. But most perfect and most holy of all, most sovereign, most lordly, most royal, and most beneficent, is the nature of the Son, which approaches most closely to the One

Almighty Being. The Son is the highest pre-eminence, which sets in order all things according to the Father's will,' and steers the universe aright, performing all things with unwearying energy, beholding the Father's secret thoughts through his

6 A Stoic definition.

7 Plato, Theaet., 176 A, B.

8 Matt. 7:21; 12:50; John 6:40.

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working. For the Son of God never moves from his watchtower,® being never divided, never dissevered, never passing from place to place, but existing everywhere at all times and free from all limitations. He is all reason, all eye, all light from the Father, seeing all things, hearing all things,!° knowing all things, with power searching the powers. To him is subjected the whole army of angels and of gods—to him, the Word of the Father, who has received the holy administration by reason of him who subjected it to him;!1 through whom also all men belong to him, but some by way of knowledge,!2 while others have not yet attained to this; some as friends,!3 some as faithful servants,

others as servants merely.

6. This is the Teacher who educates the gnostic by means of mysteries, and the believer by means of good hopes, and him who is hard of heart with corrective discipline acting on the senses. He is the source of Providence both for the individual and the community and for the universe at large. And that there is a Son of God, and that this Son is the Saviour and Lord that we assert him to be, is directly declared by the divine prophecies. Thus the Lord of all, whether Greek or barbarian, uses persuasion to those who are willing; for it is not his way to compel one who is able of himself to obtain salvation by the exercise of free choice and by fulfilling all that is required on his part!5 so as to lay hold on the hope.!® This is he who bestows on the Greeks also their philosophy through the inferior angels. For by an ancient and divine ordinance angels are assigned to the different nations; but to be the Lord's portion!7 is the glory of the believers. Here we have the following alternatives: either the Lord cares not for all men—which might arise from incapacity

(but this it is forbidden to say, for incapacity is a mark of weakness), or from want of will on the part of one possessed with power (but such an affection is incompatible with goodness; in any case he who for our sake took upon him our flesh with its capacity for suffering is not rendered indifferent to others' sorrow by self-indulgence)—or he has regard for us all, which also beseems him who was made the Lord of all. For he is the Saviour not of one here and another there, but, to the extent of each man's fitness, he distributed his own bounty both to Greeks and 9 Plato, Polit. 272 E.

10 Xenophanes ap. Sext. Emp., adv. Math., TX, 144.

11 Rom. 8:20.

12 Cf. Rom. 10:2.

13 John 15:14, 15.

14 'Heb. 3:5.

15 Plato, Rep., 620 E.

16 Heb. 6:18.

17 Deut. 32:8, 9.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

to barbarians, and to the faithful and elect,18 who were foreordained out of them and were called!% in their own season.

7. Neither again could envy be the impelling principle with him, who has called all alike, though he has assigned special honours to those who have shown special faith; nor could the Lord of all be hindered by opposition from without, especially when he is carrying out the will of the good and almighty

Father.2° No, as the Lord himself is absolutely inaccessible to envy, being eternally free from passion, so neither is man's state such as to be envied by the Lord. It is another who envies, who is also acquainted with passion.2! Nor yet can it be said that the Lord from ignorance did not will to save mankind, because he knew not how to take care of each. For ignorance touches not the Son of God, who was the Father's counsellor?2 before the foundation of the world,?3 the Wisdom in which the Almighty

God rejoiced.24 For the Son is the power of God,?5 as being the original Word of the Father, prior to all created things: and he might justly be styled the Wisdom of God?5 and the Teacher of those who were made by him. Neither indeed could he ever abandon his care for mankind through the distraction of any pleasure, seeing that, after he had taken upon him our flesh, which is by nature subject to passion, he trained it to a habit of impassibility. And how could he be Saviour and Lord, if he were not Saviour and Lord of all—Saviour of those who have believed, because they have determined to know, Lord of those who have been disobedient, until they have been enabled to confess their sins, and have received the grace which comes through him, in the way adapted and corresponding to their state? But all the activity of the Lord 1s referred to the Almighty, the Son being, so to speak, a certain activity of the Father.

8. The Saviour then could never be a hater of men, seeing that it was owing to his abounding love for man that he scorned not the weakness of human flesh, but having clothed himself with it, has come into the world for the common salvation of men. For faith is common to all who choose it. No, nor could he ever neglect man, his peculiar work, seeing that into man alone of all animals has an idea of God been instilled at his creation.

Neither could there be any better government of men, or one more consonant to the divine nature, than that which has been

18 Rev. 17:14.

19 Rev. 17:14.

20 Matt. 7:21; 12:50; John 6:40.

21 J.e., the devil (cf. Wisdom of Solomon 2:24).

_ 22 Job 15:8; Isa. 40:13; Rom.11:34.

23 Eph, 1:4.

24 Prov. 8:22-30.

25 I Cor. 1:24.

A.C.—7

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ordained. At any rate it always belongs to him who is naturally superior to direct the inferior, and to him who is able to manage anything well, that he should have received the government of it as his due. But the true Ruler and Director is the Word of God and his Providence, superintending all things and neglecting the charge of none of her household. And such would be they who have chosen to attach themselves to the Word, viz., those who are being perfected through faith. Thus, by the will of the Almight Father,2° the Son, who is the imperceptible power of primaeval motion,?7 is made the cause of all good things. For he was not seen in his true nature by those who could not apprehend it owing to the infirmity of the flesh, but having taken upon him a body which could be seen and handled, he came into the world to reveal what was possible to man in the way of obedience to God's commandments. g. Being then the power of the Father, he easily prevails over whomsoever he will, not leaving even the smallest atom of his government uncared for: else the universe of his creation would have been no longer good. And I think the greatest power is shown where there is an inspection of all the parts, proceeding with minute accuracy even to the smallest, while all gaze on28 the supreme Administrator of the universe, as he pilots all in safety according to the Father's will,29 rank being subordinated to rank under different leaders, till in the end the great High

Priest3° is reached. For on one original principle, which works in accordance with the Father's will,29 depend the first and second and third gradations;3! and then at the extreme end of the visible world there is the blessed ordinance of angels; and so, even down to ourselves, ranks below ranks are appointed, all saving and being saved by the initiation and through the instrumentality of One. As then the remotest particle of iron is drawn by the influence of the magnet extending through a long series of iron rings,32 so also through the attraction of the Holy Spirit the virtuous are adapted to the highest mansion,33 and the others in their order even to the last mansion: but they that are wicked from weakness, having fallen into an evil habit owing to unrighteous greed, neither keep hold themselves nor are held by another, but collapse and fall to the ground, being entangled in 26 Matt. 7:21; 12:50; John 6:40.

27 Plato, Leg., X, 897 A.

28 Heb. 12:2.

29 See above, p. 95.

30 Heb. 4:14.

31 Plato, Epist., II, 312 E. For the idea, cf. A. O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being (1934).

; 32 [bid., Ion, 533 D, E, 535 E, 536 A.

33 John 14:2.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

their passions. For this is the law from the beginning, that he who would have virtue must choose it.

10. Wherefore also both the commandments according to the law and the commandments previous to the law, given to those who were not yet under law34—for law is not enacted for a just man35—ordained that he who chose should obtain eternal life and a blessed reward, and on the other hand permitted him who delighted in wickedness to consort with what he chose. Again they ordained that the soul that at any time improved as regards the knowledge of virtue and increase in righteousness, should obtain an improved position in the universe, pressing onwards36 at every step to a passionless state, until it comes to a perfect man,37 a pre-eminence at once of knowledge and of inheritance.

These saving revolutions are each severally portioned off, according to the order of change, by variety of time and place and honour and knowledge and inheritance and service, up to the transcendent orbit which is next to the Lord, occupied in eternal contemplation. And that which is lovely has power to draw to38 the contemplation of itself every one who through love of knowledge has applied himself wholly to contemplation.

11. [Therefore the commandments given by the Lord, both the former and the latter, all flow from one source, for neither did he negligently suffer those who lived before the law to be altogether without law,3° nor on the other hand did he permit those who were ignorant of the barbarian (i.e., Jewish) philosophy to run wild. For, by giving to the Jews commandments and to the Greeks philosophy, he confined unbelief*° until the period of his own presence on earth, in which every one who believed not is without excuse.*! For he leads men by both ways of advance, whether Greek or barbarian, to the perfection which is through faith. But if any of the Greeks dispenses with the preliminary guidance of the Greek philosophy and hastens straight to the true teaching, he, even though he be unlearned, at once

— distances all competition, having chosen the short-cut to perfection, viz., that of salvation through faith.

12. Accordingly he made all things to be helpful for virtue, in so far as might be without hindering the freedom of man's choice, and showed them to be so, in order that he who is indeed the One Alone Almighty might, even to those who can only see

34 I Cor. 9:21.

35] Tim. 1:9

36 Phil. 3:14.

37 Eph. 4:13.

38 Plato, Rep., 525; Symp., 204 C.

39 IT Cor. 9:21.

40 Rom. 11:32; Gal. 3:19-24.

41 Rom, 1:20.

42 Eph. 2:8.

CGLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

darkly, be in some way revealed as a good God, a Saviour from age to age through the instrumentality of his Son, and in all ways absolutely guiltless of evil.43 For by the Lord of the universe all things are ordered both generally and particularly with a view to the safety of the whole. It is the work then of saving righteousness always to promote the improvement of each according to the possibilities of the case. For the lesser things also are managed with a view to the safety and continuance of the superior in accordance with their own characters. For instance, whatever is possessed of virtue changes to better habitations, the cause of the change being that independent choice of knowledge with which the soul was gifted to begin with; but those who are more hardened' are constrained to repent by necessary chastisements, inflicted either through the agency of the attendant angels or through various preliminary judgments or through the great and final judgment, by the goodness of the great Judge whose eye is ever upon us.

CHAPTER III

13. As to the rest I keep silent,45 giving glory to God: only I say — that those gnostic souls are so carried away by the magnificence of the vision that they cannot confine themselves within the lines of the constitution by which each holy degree is assigned and in accordance with which the blessed abodes of the gods have been marked out and allotted; but being counted as holy among the holy,*¢ and translated absolutely and entirely to another sphere, they keep on always moving to higher and yet higher regions, until they no longer greet47 the divine vision in or by means of mirrors,*#8 but for loving hearts feast for ever on the uncloying, never-ending sight, radiant in its transparent clearness, while throughout the endless ages they taste a never-wearying delight, and thus continue, all alike honoured with an identity of preeminence. This is the apprehensive vision of the pure in heart.49

This, therefore, is the life-work of the perfected gnostic, viz., to hold communion with God through the great High Priest, 5° being made like the Lord, as far as may be, by means of all his service towards God, a service which extends to the salvation of men by his solicitous goodness towards us and also by public

43 Plato, Rep., 617 E; Tim.,42 D.

44 Eph. 4:19, 45 Cf. Euripides, Iphigeneia in Tauris, 37.

46 Isa. 57:15.

47 Heb. 11:13.

48 I Cor. 13:12.

49 Matt. 5:8.

50 Heb. 4:14. e ee e - PS a thal Pe —

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

Io!r worship and by teaching and active kindness. Aye, and in being thus assimilated to God,*! the gnostic is making and fashioning himself and also forming those who hear him, while, so far as may be, he assimilates to that which is by nature free from passion that which has been subdued by training to a passionless state: and this he effects by undisturbed intercourse and communion with the Lord.52 Of this gnostic assimilation the canons, as it appears to me, are gentleness, kindness and a noble devoutness.

14. These virtues I affirm to be an acceptable sacrifice with God, 53 as the Scripture declares that the unboastful heart joined with a right understanding is a perfect offering to God, ¢ since every man who is won over for holiness is enlightened into an indissoluble unity. For both the Gospel and the apostle command us to bring ourselves into capitivity55 and put ourselves to death, 5° slaying the old man which is being corrupted according to its lusts57 and raising up the new man58 from the death of our old perversion, laying aside our passions and becoming free from sin. This it was which was signified also by the law when it commanded that the sinner should be put to death,

5° viz., the change from death to life, that is, the 'apathy'? which comes from faith. But the expounders of the law, not understanding this, took the law to be jealous, and have thus given a handle to those who without ground endeavour to discredit it.

It is for this reason that we fitly refrain from making any sacrifice to God, who has provided all things for all, being himself in need of nothing; but we glorify him who was consecrated for us, by consecrating ourselves also to ever higher degrees of freedom from want and from passion. For God takes pleasure only in our salvation. Fitly therefore do we abstain from offering sacrifice to him who cannot be swayed by pleasures, bearing in mind also that the smoke of the sacrifice reaches those whom it does reach, i.e., the demons, in some low region far beneath the densest clouds. i 15. The Divine Nature then is neither wanting in anything nor is it fond of pleasure or gain or money, being of itself full and affording all things to every creature which is in need. Nor again is the Divine Nature propitiated by sacrifices or offerings or by glory and honour, nor is it allured by such things: it shows itself to the virtuous alone, who would never betray justice either on 51 Plato, Rep., X, 613 B.

52 I Cor. 7:35.

53 Phil, 4:18.

54 Ps, 51(50):16, 17.

55 II Cor. 10:5.

56 Matt. 16:25.

57 Eph. 4:22.

58 Eph. 4:24.

59 Deut. 13:8, 9; Ezek. 18:4.

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account of threatened terrors or from a promise of greater gifts.

Those however who have not observed the freedom of man's spirit and its unfettered action in respect to choice of life, chafe at what is done by unchastened injustice, and disbelieve in the existence of God. Like to them in opinion are they who, from their incontinence in pleasure, being involved both in cross accidents and pains out of the common course, and losing heart at their calamities, say that there is no God, or that, if he exists, he is not the overseer of all. Another class consists of those who are persuaded that the gods of common belief are to be propitiated with sacrifices and gifts, being accomplices, so to speak, in men's own wickednesses, and who are even unwilling to believe that he alone is the true God who is unchangeably the same in his just beneficence.© 16. Weare justified therefore in ascribing piety to the gnostic, whose care is first for himself and then for his neighbours with a view to our attaining the highest standard of excellence. For so the son tries to please a good father by showing himself virtuous and like his father, and likewise the subject to please a good ruler; since belief and obedience are in our own power. But the cause of evils one might find in the weakness of matter, and the random impulses of ignorance and the irrational forces to which we fall victims from our incapacity to learn; whereas the gnostic gets the better of these wild elements by his learning, and benefits all who are willing, to the best of his power, in imitation of the divine purpose for men. Should he ever be placed in authority, he will rule, ike Moses, with a view to the salvation of his subjects, and will quell what is savage and faithless by showing honour to the best, and by punishing the bad, punishment that is rightly classed under the head of education. For above all things, the soul of the just man is an image divine, made like to God himself, °! seeing that in it is enshrined and consecrated, by means of obedience to his commands, the Ruler of all mortals and immortals, the King and Parent of all that is noble, who is indeed Law and Ordinance and Eternal Word, the one Saviour both for each individually and for all in common. He is in truth the Only-begotten,°? the express image of the glory® of the universal King and almighty Father, stamping on the mind of the gnostic the perfect vision after his own image; so that the divine image is now beheld in a third embodiment, assimilated as far as possible to the Second Cause, to him, namely, who is

60 Cf. Plato, Laws, 885 B, 907 A, 908 BC.

61 Nauck, Fragm. Trag. 688.

62 John 1:18.

63 Heb. 1:3.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

the Life indeed,*°4 owing to whom we live the true life, copying the example of him who is made to us knowledge,®> while we converse with the things which are stable and altogether unchangeable.

17. Being ruler therefore of himself and of all that belongs to him the gnostic makes a genuine approach to truth, having a firm hold of divine science. For the name science would fitly be given to the knowledge and firm hold®® of intellectual objects.

Its function in regard to divine things is to investigate what is the First Cause and what that through which all things were made and without which nothing has been made,*' what are the things that hold the universe together partly as pervading it and partly as encompassing it, some in combination and some apart, and what is the position of each of these, and the capacity and the service contributed by each: and again in things concerning man, to investigate what he himself is, and what is in accordance with, or is opposed to his nature; how it becomes him to act and be acted on, and what are his virtues and vices, and about things good and evil and the intermediates, and all that has to do with manhood and prudence and temperance, and the supreme all-perfect virtue, justice. Prudence and justice he employs for the acquisition of wisdom, and manhood not only in enduring misfortunes, but also in controlling pleasure and desire and pain and anger, and generally in withstanding all that sways the soul either by force or guile. For we must not endure vices and things that are evil, but must cast them off, and reserve endurance for things that cause fear. At any rate even suffering is found to be useful alike in medicine and in education and in punishment, and by means of it characters are improved for the benefit of mankind.

18. Forms of manhood are fortitude, high-spirit, magnanimity, generosity, magnificence. It is owing to this that the gnostic takes no notice either of blame or of ill-repute from the world, nor is he in subjection to good opinions or flatteries of others. In the endurance of labours he shows himself amongst other men as a man indeed, being always occupied in some good work at the same time that he is manfully surmounting difficulties of every kind. Again he is temperate owing to his abiding good sense®* combined with tranquillity of soul; his readiness to take to himself the promises as his own being in proportion to his

64] Tim. 6:19.

65 I Cor. 1:30; Col. 2:2, 3.

66 Sext. Emp., Adv. Math., VII, 151.

67 John 1:3.

68 Cf. Plato, Crat., 411 E; Aristotle, Etk. V., VI, 5 (1140 b, 11).

104.

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shrinking from base things as alien. He is a citizen of the world, and not of this world only, but of a higher order, doing all things in order and degree, and never misbehaving in any respect. Rich he is in the highest degree because he covets nothing, having few wants and enjoying a super-abundance of every good, owing to his knowledge of the absolute Good. The first effect of his justice is that he loves to be with those of kindred spirit, and to commune with them, both on earth and in heaven.

19. For this reason also he is ready to impart to others of all that he possesses: and being a lover of men he has a profound hatred of the wicked through his abhorrence of every kind of evil doing, having learnt that one should be faithful both to oneself and to one's neighbours, as well as obedient to the commandments. For he who is willingly led on by the commandments may be called God's servant;* but he who is already pure in heart,7° not because of the commandments, but for the sake of knowledge by itself—that man is a friend of God. For neither are we born virtuous, nor is virtue a natural after-growth, as are some parts of the body (for then it would have been no longer voluntary or praiseworthy); nor yet is it acquired and perfected, as speech is, from the intercourse of those who live with us (for it is rather vice which originates in this way). Nor again is knowledge derived from any art connected with the supplies of life or the service of the body, nor yet from the ordinary course of instruction: for we might be well satisfied if this could but prepare and sharpen the soul. The laws of the state, it is true, might perhaps be able to restrain evil practices. 20. Again, mere persuasive arguments are too superficial in their nature to establish the truth on scientific grounds, but Greek philosophy does, as it were, provide for the soul the preliminary cleansing and training required for the reception of the faith, on which foundation the truth builds up the edifice of knowledge.

Here it is we find the true wrestler, who in the amphitheatre of this fair universe is crowned for the true victory over all his passions. For the president is God Almighty, and the umpire is the only-begotten Son of God, and the spectators are angels and gods, and our great contest of all arms is not waged against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers?! of passionate affections working in the flesh. When he has come safe out of these mighty conflicts, and overthrown the tempter in the combats to which he has challenged us, the Christian soldier

69 Cf. John 15:15.

70 Matt. 5:8.

71 Eph, 6:12.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

wins immortality. For the decision of God is unerring in regard to his most righteous award. The spectators then have been summoned to view the contest; the wrestlers are contending in the arena, and now the prize is won by him amongst them, who has been obedient to the orders of the trainer. For the conditions laid down by God are equal for all, and no blame can attach to him; but he who js able will choose,?? and he who wills prevails.

It is on this account also that we have received the gift of reason, in order that we may know what we do. And the maxim "'Know thyself''73 means in this case, to know for what purpose we are made. Now we are made to be obedient to the commandments, if our choice be such as to will salvation. This, I think, is the real Adrasteia, owing to which we cannot escape from God.74

21. Man's work then is submission to God, who has made known a manifold salvation by means of commandments, and man's acknowledgment thereof is God's good-pleasure. For the benefactor is the first to begin the kindness, and he who accepts it heartily, keeping due reckoning, and observes the commandments—such an one is faithful; but he who goes on to return the kindness to the best of his power by means of love, rises to the dignity of friend. And the one most appropriate return from man is to do those things which are pleasing to God. Accordingly the Master and Saviour accepts as a favour and honour to himself all that is done for the help and improvement of men, as being his own creation and in a certain respect an effect akin to its Cause; just as he accepts the wrongs done to those who have believed upon him, regarding such wrongs as instances of ingratitude and dishonour to himself.75 For what other dishonour could affect God? Wherefore it is impossible for so great a gift to make a return in full, corresponding to the benefit received from God, as measured by the worth of salvation. But, as they who injure the cattle put a slight on the owners, and those who injure the soldiers put a slight on their captain, so it shows disrespect for the Lord, when injury is done to those who are devoted to him. For as the sun not only lights up the heaven and the whole world, shining on land and sea alike, but also darts his rays through windows and every little cranny into the innermost chambers, so the Word being shed abroad in all directions observes even the minutest details of our actions.

72 Plato, Rep., 617 E.

73 Chilon, ap. Stob. Anth., III, 79.

74 A Stoic etymological explanation of Adrasteia (=inescapable necessity).

78 Cf. Matt. 25:34 ff.

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CHAPTER IV

22. But the Greeks assume their gods to be human in passions as they are human in shape; and, as each nation paints their shape after its own likeness (according to the saying of Xenophanes, the Ethiopians black with turned up nose, the Thracians with red hair and blue eyes),7° so each represents them as like itself in soul. For instance, the barbarians make them brutal and savage, the Greeks milder, but subject to passion. Hence the conceptions which the wicked form about God must naturally be bad, and those of the good must be excellent. And on this account he who is a gnostic and truly royal in soul77 is both devout and free from superstition, persuaded that the only God is alone meet to be honoured and reverenced, alone glorious and beneficent, abounding in well-doing, the author of all good and of nothing that is evil.78 As for the superstitions of the Greeks I think sufficient evidence has been adduced in my discourse entitled Protrepticus, where the necessary investigation is given at great length.

23. What need 1s there then "'the tale once clearly told to tell _again''?79 But as we are on this topic it will be enough just to give a small sample for proof, with a view to show that those are atheists who liken the Divinity to the worst of men. For either they make the gods injured by men, which would show them to be inferior to man as being capable of receiving injury from him; or, if this is not so, how is it that they are embittered at what is no injury, like an old shrew losing her temper, as they say

Artemis was wroth with the Aetolians on account of Oeneus?

Being a goddess, how did she fail to reflect that it was not from contempt for her, but either from forgetfulness, 8° or because he had previously sacrificed, that he neglected her worship? Again,

Augé, in pleading against Athena, because she was wroth with her for having given birth to a child in her temple, well says:

Spoils of dead mortals thou delight'st to see And corpses strewn: these thou dost not abhor:

But this new birth thou deem'st a sacrilege.®!

And yet no fault is found with other animals when they bring forth in the temples.

®2 76 Frag. 16 Diels.

77 Plato, Phileb., 30 D.

78 Plato, Rep., 379 B.

79 Homer, Odyssey, XII, 453.

80 Homer, Jliad, LX, 533.

81 Euripides, Frag. 268, Nauck.

82 An opinion of the Stoic Chrysippus (Plutarch, Mor., 1045 A).

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24. In their dealings therefore with beings who are so quick to wrath men naturally become superstitious, and think that whatever happens is a sign and cause of evil. "If a mouse digs through an altar of clay or gnaws through a sack for want of something better, or if a cock that is being fattened begins to crow in the evening, they take it as a portent of something."' 83

Menander ridicules a fellow of this stamp in his play entitled The Superstitious Man.84 ** Heaven send me good luck! In putting on my right shoe I broke the thong. Of course you did, you noodle, because it was worn out, and you were too miserly to buy a new pair." That was a pleasant saying of Antiphon's, §5 when one made an omen of a sow's devouring her young: seeing that the sow was a mere skeleton from her owner's niggardliness,

"Well for you," said he, "'that the omen did not take the form of her devouring your own children in her hunger."' And, ''What wonder is it," says Bion, "if the mouse, finding nothing to eat, gnawed through the sack? The wonder would have been if, as Arcesilaus®* jestingly retorted, the sack had eaten the mouse.''87

25. Excellent too was the reply of Diogenes to him who marvelled because he found the snake coiled round the pestle.

*"Marvel not,"' said he, "'for it would have been far more surprising if you had seen the snake erect and the pestle coiled up round it.''88 For the irrational animals too have to run and eat and fight and breed and die; and these things being according to nature for them can never be unnatural for us. ""Moreover many birds beneath the sunlight range,''89 from which omens may be derived. Follies of this sort are caricatured by the comic poet Philemon. "When I behold," says he, "'a slave on the watch to see who sneezes, or who speaks, or who comes out of his house, I offer him at once to the first bidder. It is to himself that each of us walks and speaks and sneezes, and not to all the city. Things happen as 'tis their nature to.'' And then we find them praying for health when sober, but bringing on diseases by cramming and drinking themselves drunk at the festivals. Many too have a superstitious fear of the mottoes that are written up.

26. It was a witty remark of Diogenes, when he found the house of a man of bad character bearing the inscription, "Here

83 Kock, Com. Ait. Frag., VII, 471.

84 [bid., 33.

85 Antiphon, Test., 8, Diels.

86 Founder of the Middle Academy.

87 Bion of Borysthenes, frag. 45, Mullach.

88 Diogenes, frag. 282, Mullach.

89 Homer, Odyssey, II, 181.

909 Kock, Com. Ait. Fr., II, p. 510. For sneezing as an omen, see A. S. Pease's Commentary on Cicero, de Divinatione, II, 40:8.

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dwells the victorious Heracles: let no wickedness enter'': "'How then," said he, "'is the master of the house to enter?''9! And the same people worship every stock and every shining stone, as the phrase is, and are in awe of red wool and grains of salt and torches and squills and brimstone, being bewitched by the sorcerers according to certain impure purifications. But the true

God regards nothing as holy but the character of the just man, nothing as polluted but what is unjust and wicked. At any rate you may see the eggs, which have been removed from the body of those who have undergone purification, hatched by warmth, and this could not have happened, if they had contracted the ills of the person purified.92 And so the comic poet Diphilus?3 pleasantly satirizes the sorcerers in these words: "'He purifies the daughters of Proetus with their father, the son of Abas, and an old crone besides to make up five—so many mortals with a single torch, a single squill, and brimstone and asphaltus of the boisterous surge, gathered from the deep pools of the soft-flowing ocean.°4 But, O blessed Air, send Anticyra?5 from heaven that I may change this bug to a stingless drone."

27. Menander?® too says well, "If you were suffering from any real evil, Pheidias, you ought to have sought a real remedy for it. But as that is not so, I have devised a remedy as imaginary as the evil: simply imagine that it does you some good. Let the women rub you down and fumigate thoroughly: then sprinkle yourself with water from three springs, throwing in salt and beans."' Every one is pure whose conscience is free from guilt.

So in the tragedy' we read:

"Orestes, say, what canker saps thy life?

Conscience, which tells me of a dark deed wrought."

For indeed purity is no other than the abstaining from sin.

Well therefore says Epicharmus, "'If your mind is pure your whole body is pure too."'98 Certainly it is our rule to begin by cleansing our souls from bad and wicked opinions by means of right reason, and then, after that, to turn to the mention of the more excellent principles; for so too, in the case of those who are about to be initiated, it is thought right to apply certain puri91 Diogenes, frag. 118, Mullach. Cf. Diog. Laertius 6:39, 50.

92 For use of eggs for purification, cf. Juvenal 6:518, etc.

93 Kock, Com. Ait. Fr., II, 577.

94 Homer, Iliad, VII, 422.

95 T.e., hellebore, which came from Anticyra.

96 Kock, Com. Att. Fr., III, 152 seg.

97 Euripides, Orest., 395.

98 Frag. 269, Kaibel,

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

fications before the communication of the mysteries, on the ground that the godless opinion must be got rid of before they are ready to have the truth communicated to them.99

CHAPTER V

28. Surely it cannot be denied that we are following right and truth when we refuse to circumscribe in a given place him who is incomprehensible, and to confine in temples made with hands! that which contains all things. And what work of builders and masons and of mechanic art could be called holy? Were not they more in the right who held that the air and the circumambient ether, or rather the whole world and the universe itself, were worthy of the divine dignity? It would indeed be ridiculous, as the philosophers themselves say, that man being but a toy of God? should make God, and that God should come into being through the play? of human art. For that which is produced resembles, and is indeed the same as, that from which it is produced: thus, what is made of ivory is ivory, and what is made of gold is golden; and in like manner statues and temples executed by the hands of mechanics, being composed of lifeless matter, must themselves also be lifeless and material and profane; and even though you should carry your art to perfection, they still retain something of the mechanical. This being so, we cannot regard works of art as sacred and divine.

Again, among the heathen enshrinement is supposed to be essential to deity.3 But what is it which could be localized in a shrine, if there is nothing unlocalized to start with (on the assumption that all things are in space)? And further, that which is enshrined has received enshrinement from something else, being itself previously unenshrined. If then God has received enshrinement from men, he was previously unenshrined and therefore non-existent. For by the hypothesis it is only the nonexistent which was unenshrined, seeing that it is always the nonexistent which undergoes the process of localization by enshrinement. And that which exists could not be localized by that which is non-existent, nor yet by anything else that exists:

99 Cf. Celsus in Origen, contra Celsum, III, 59.

1 Acts 17:24. In this and the following paragraphs Clement seems to be following a sceptical argument, probably of Academic origin: if enshrinement is essential to the pagan god, that is evidence that the god does not exist.

2 Plato, Laws, 803 C, 889 C-E.

3 Dedication ceremonies included elaborate magical rites to force the god to inhabit his shrine. Cf.

Numenius, quoted by Origen, contra Celsum,V, 38.

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for it is itself also in existence and therefore already localized in common with all other existing things. 29. It remains therefore that it must be enshrined by itself. But how is a thing to beget itself? Or how is the self-existent to localize itself in a shrine?

Was it formerly unlocalized and did it afterwards localize itself?

No, in that case it could not even have existed, since it is the non-existent which is unlocalized. And how could that which is supposed to have been localized make itself subsequently what it already was? Or that to which all existing things belong, the self-existent Deity, be itself in need of anything?

Again, if the Deity is in human shape, he will need the same things as man needs, food and covering and a house and all things belonging to them. For beings of like form and like passions will require the same kind of life. And if the word "holy" is taken in two senses, as applied to God himself and also to the building raised in his honour, surely we should be right in giving to the Church, which was instituted to the honour of God in accordance with sanctified wisdom, the name of a holy temple of God, that precious temple built by no mechanic art, no, nor embellished by any common vagabond, but made into a shrine by the will of God himself. I use the name Church now not of the place, but of the congregation of saints. 'This is the shrine which is best fitted for the reception of the greatness of the dignity of God. For to him who is all-worthy, or rather in comparison with whom all else is worthless, there is consecrated that creature which is of great worth owing to its pre-eminent holiness. And such would be the gnostic, who is of great worth and precious in the sight of God, he in whom God is enshrined, i.e., in whom the knowledge of God is consecrated. Here too we should find the likeness, the divine and sanctified image—here in the righteous soul, after it has been itself blessed, as having been already purified and now performing blessed deeds. Here we find both that which is enshrined and that which is in process of enshrinement, the former in the case of those who are already gnostics, the latter in those who are capable of becoming so, though they may not yet be worthy to receive the knowledge of God. For all that is destined to believe is already faithful in the eye of God and consecrated to honour, an image of virtue dedicated to God.

CHAPTER VI

30. As then God is not circumscribed in place, nor made like to the form of any creature, so neither is he of like passions, nor

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

ODS lacks he anything after the manner of created things, so as from hunger to desire sacrifices for food. Things that are capable of suffering are all mortal; and it is useless to offer meat to that which is in no need of sustenance. The famous comic poet

Pherecrates in his Deserters+ wittily represents the gods themselves as finding fault with men for their offerings. "'When you sacrifice to the gods, first of all you set apart what is customary for the priests first among you, and then—shame to say—do you not pick the thigh-bones clean to the groin and leave the hipjoint absolutely bare, assigning to us gods nothing but the dogs' portion, a back-bone polished as with a file, which you then cover with thick layers of sacrificial meal to save appearances?"

And another comic poet, Eubulus, writes as follows about the sacrifices: ""To the gods themselves you offer nothing but the tail and the thigh, as though they were enamoured of these.''5

And, where he brings on Dionysus in his Semele,® he represents him as distinguishing: "'First of all, when any sacrifice to me, they sacrifice blood and bladder—don't mention heart or caul

—the gall and thigh-bones are no food for me." 31. And Menander? has written of "'the scrag end of the rump, the gall and dry bones, which," says he, "they set before the gods, while they consume the rest themselves."? Why, the smoke of burnt sacrifices is intolerable even to the beasts. If, however, this smoke is really the meed of the gods of Greece, no time should be lost in deifying the cooks also (since they are deemed worthy of the same happiness) and in worshipping the stove itself, when it becomes an altar closely connected with the precious smoke.

Hesiod' somewhere says that: "'Zeus, being outwitted in some division of the flesh of the sacrifice by Prometheus, chose the white bones of the ox craftily concealed in the glistening lard: and from that time the tribes of men on earth burn to the immortals white bones on fragrant altars.' Still they altogether deny that God's partaking of nourishment could be explained by the craving which grows out of want. Accordingly they must suppose him nourished without appetite like plants or hibernating bears. At all events they say that these are not impeded in their growth, whether it be that they are nourished from the density of the air, or even from the exhalation arising from their own body. And yet, if they hold that the Deity is nourished without needing it, what is the use of nourishment to one who 4 Cf. Kock, Com. Ait. Frag., I, 151.

5 Kock, Com. Att. Frag., II, 210.

6 Ibid., 197.

7 Ibid., III, 39.

8 Theog., 556.

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needs it not? But if the Deity, being by nature exempt from all need, rejoices to be honoured, we have good reason for honouring God by prayer, and for sending up most rightly this sacrifice, the best and holiest of sacrifices when joined with righteousness,° venerating!° him through whom we receive our knowledge, and through him glorifying him (i.e., the Father) whom we have learnt to know. At any rate our altar here on earth is the congregation of those who are devoted to the prayers, having, as it were, One common voice and one mind.

As to the kinds of nutrition received through the sense of smell, though they may be less unworthy of the deity than those received through the mouth, still they witness to respiration.

32. What then is the worshippers' idea as to the breathing of God? Is it by means of transpiration as in the demons? or by inspiration only, as in fishes through the dilatation of their gills? or by circumspiration, as in insects, through the pressure of the membranes on the waist? No, they would not liken God to any of these, if they were in their senses. But as for creatures that live by respiration, they draw in the air by rhythmic beats corresponding to the counter-dilatation of the lungs against the chest. Then if they assign viscera and arteries and veins and sinews and members to God, they will exhibit him as in no respect differing from man. The word "conspiration"' is that which is properly used of the Church. For the Church's sacrifice is indeed speech rising, like incense, from holy souls, while every thought of the heart is laid open to God along with the sacrifice.

They are fond of talking about the purity of the most ancient altar at Delos, that altar which, we are told, was the only one approached by Pythagoras, because it was unpolluted by slaughter and death: will they then refuse credence to us when we say that the truly hallowed altar is the righteous soul, and the incense which ascends from it, the prayer of holiness? Sacrifices, I believe, are an invention of mankind to excuse the eating of flesh, though, even apart from such idolatry, it was always possible for one who wished it to partake of flesh. The Mosaic sacrifices symbolize Christian piety; for instance the dove and the pigeon offered for sins show that the purging away of the irrational part of the soul is acceptable to God. But if any of the righteous refuses to weigh down his soul by the eating of flesh, he does this on some reasonable ground, not as Pythagoras and his school from some dream as to the transmigration of souls.!1

9 Ps, 4:5.

10 Plato, Leg., 799 A.

41 Similarly Origen, contra Celsum, VIII, 30. a —

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

II3 Xenocrates in a special treatise on animal food and Polemon?2 in his book on Life according to Nature, seem to lay it down clearly that a flesh diet is inexpedient, as it has already passed through a process of digestion and been thus assimilated to the souls of irrational creatures.

33. On this ground especially the Jews abstain from swine's flesh, considering that this animal is unclean because it roots up and destroys the fruits more than any other. But if it is argued that the animals have been given to men, we too agree in this, only we say that they are not given entirely, nor indeed all, for the purpose of eating, but only those that do no work. Wherefore the comic poet Plato in his play The Feasts13 well says:

"Hereafter *twere well to kill no beast but swine, for they are excellent eating, and we get nothing out of them but bristles and mire and squealing."' Hence it was well said by Aesop that "'the reason why pigs make such an outcry when they are being dragged away is because they are conscious that they are good for nothing but to be sacrificed.''!4 And so Cleanthes says that in them the soul takes the place of salt to prevent the flesh from putrefying.!5 Some then eat it because it is useless, and others because it injures the fruits; while others again abstain from eating it because of its immoderate salacity. For the same reason the law never requires the sacrifice of a goat except with a view to banishing evils, since pleasure is the fountainhead of vice.

Further, they tell us that the eating of goats' flesh conduces to epilepsy. And they say that the largest amount of nutriment is supplied from pork, for which reason it is of use to those who practise bodily training, but, owing to the sluggishness produced by eating flesh, it is of no use to those who try to encourage the growth of the soul. A gnostic might therefore abstain from flesh, both for the sake of discipline and to weaken the sexual appetite.

For, as Androcydes says, "wine and fleshly gorging make the body strong, but the soul more sluggish."'!¢ Such a diet does not tend to precision of thought. Wherefore also the Egyptians in their purifications forbid their priests to eat flesh, and they themselves live on fowl as the lightest diet and abstain from fish for various fanciful reasons and especially from the idea that such food makes the flesh flabby. 34. Besides this, the life of beasts and 12 Polemon succeeded Xenocrates as head of the Platonic Academy.

13 Kock, Com. Ait. Fr., I, 607.

14 Cf. Aelian, Var. Hist., 10:5.

15 Cleanthes, frag. 516, Arnim.

16 Cf. Plutarch, Mor., 472 B, 995 E; Pliny, W.H., 14:58; 17:240. Androcydes was a Pythagorean.

A.c.—8

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birds is supported by breathing the same air as our souls, their soul being akin to the air; but we are told that fishes do not even breathe our air, but that air which was infused into water, as into the other elements, on its first creation, which is also a proof of the fact that air pervades all matter.

"It is not then expensive sacrifices that we should offer to God, but such sacrifices as are dear to him,''!7 viz., that composite incense of which the Law speaks,!8 an incense compounded of many tongues and voices in the way of prayer, or rather which is being wrought into the unity of the faith!9 out of divers nations and dispositions by the divine bounty shown in the Covenants, and which is brought together in our songs of praise by purity of heart and righteous and upright living grounded in holy actions and righteous prayer. For (to add the charm of poetry) ""what man is there so unwise and beyond measure credulous as to expect that, at the burning of bare bones and gall, which even hungry dogs would refuse, the gods would all rejoice, and accept this as their due meed'';2° aye, and would show their gratitude to the celebrants, though they might be pirates or robbers or tyrants? The Christian teaching is that the fire sanctifies, not flesh or sacrifice, but sinful souls, understanding by fire not the all-devouring flame of common life, but the discerning flame?! which pierces through2? the soul that walks through fire.23

CHAPTER VII

35. Further, we are bidden to worship and honour the Son and Word, being persuaded that he is both Saviour and Ruler, and to honour the Father through him, doing this not on special days, as some others do, but continuously all our life through, and in all possible ways; (though it is true the chosen race,

?4 being justified by obedience to the precept, say, ""Seven times a day did I praise thee'').25 Wherefore it is neither in a definite place or special shrine, nor yet on certain feasts and days set apart, that the gnostic honours God, returning thanks to him for knowledge bestowed and the gift of the heavenly citizenship;?°

17 Theophrastus, ap. Porph. Adbst., II, 19.

18 Ex. 30:25.

19 Eph. 4:13.

20 Kock, Com. Ait. Fr., III, 606.

21 Clement's use of this Stoic distinction (cf. Cleanthes in Cicero, de Nat.

Deor., 11, 15:41) is important for the origins of the doctrine of purgatory.

22 Heb. 4:12.

23 Isa. 43:2.

24] Peter 2:9.

25 Ps, 119 (118):164.

26 Phil. 3:20. Cf. p. 324 f.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

II5 but he will do this all his life in every place, whether he be alone by himself or have with him some who share his belief. And if the presence of some good man always moulds for the better one who converses with him, owing to the respect and reverence which he inspires, with much more reason must he, who 1s always in the uninterrupted presence of God by means of his knowledge and his life and his thankful spirit, be raised above himself on every occasion, both in regard to his actions and his words and his temper. Such is he who believes that God is everywhere present, and does not suppose him to be shut up in certain definite places, so as to be tempted to incontinence by the imagination, forsooth, that he could ever be apart from God whether by day or night. Accordingly all our life is a festival: being persuaded that God is everywhere present on all sides, we praise him as we till the ground, we sing hymns as we sail the sea, we feel his inspiration in all that we do. And the gnostic enjoys a still closer intimacy with God, being at once serious and cheerful in everything, serious owing to his thoughts being turned towards heaven, and cheerful, as he reckons up the blessings with which God has enriched our human life.

36. But the pre-eminence of knowledge is plainly set forth by the prophet in the words ""Teach me goodness and instruction and knowledge,''27 where he presents in an ascending scale the guiding principle of perfection. Here then we truly have the royal man, the holy priest of God—a combination which is still retained even at the present time among the most enlightened of the barbarians, who employ the priestly caste for government.28 Such a one is far from surrendering himself to the mobgovernment which tyrannizes over the theatres; and as for the things which are there said and done and seen with a view to the allurements of pleasure, he repudiates them even in a dream.

He repudiates therefore both these spectacular pleasures and the other refinements of luxury, such as costly perfumes flattering the sense of smell, or combinations of meats and the attractions of various wines enticing the palate, or fragrant wreaths of a variety of flowers which enfeeble the soul through the sense.

Enjoying all things soberly, he refers his enjoyment in every case to God as its author, whether it be of food or drink or ointment, and offers to the Giver first-fruits of the whole, using the speech which he has bestowed, to thank him both for the gift and for the use of it. But he seldom appears at convivial entertainments

27 Ps,119 (118):66 (LXX).

28 The Egyptians (Plato, Poltt., 290 D, E).

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unless the banquet invites his attendance by promise of friendly intercourse with those of like mind. For he is persuaded that God knows all things, and hears not only the voice but the thought, since even in our own case the hearing, though set in action by means of the passages of the body, causes apprehension, not by the power of the body, but by a certain mental impression and by the intelligence which distinguishes between significant sounds.

37. There is consequently no need for God to be in human shape in order that he may hear, nor does he need senses, as the Stoics held,29 especially hearing and sight, dependent on the sensitiveness of the air (as though he would otherwise be incapable of apprehension): but indeed the instantaneous perception of the angels, and the power of conscience touching the soul— these recognize all things with the quickness of thought by means of some indescribable faculty apart from sensible hearing.

Even if one should say that it was impossible for the voice, rolling in this lower air, to reach God, still the thoughts of the saints cleave, not the air alone,?° but the whole universe as well.

And the divine power instantly penetrates the whole soul, like light. Again do not our resolves also find their way to God, uttering a voice of their own? And are not some things also wafted heaven-ward by the conscience? Moreover can we conceive that he who has known his elect according to his eternal purpose,3! and known before its birth3?2 that which was to be, as already existing, must wait for the sound of a voice? Is it not true that the light of power shines forth in all directions even to the very bottom of the soul, since the candle of power, as the Scripture says, searches the secret chambers?33 God is all ear and all eye,34 if one may make use of these expressions.

38. Where then there is an unworthy conception of God, passing into base and unseemly thoughts and significations, it is impossible to preserve any sort of devoutness either in hymns or discourses or even in writings or doctrines. For which reason what most men call reverence is indistinguishable from irreverence, owing to their ignorance of the truth. Now the objects of the appetites and desires and of impulses generally are also the objects of our prayers. Wherefore no one desires drink in the abstract but to drink, nor an inheritance, but to inherit; and in 29 Clement makes a slip. He means the Epicureans.

30 Cf. Ecclesiasticus 32(35):21.

31 Rom. 8:28, 29; 9:11.

32 Susanna, 42.

33 Prov. 20:27.

34 See above, VII, 5. i

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like manner no one desires knowledge, but to know; no, nor a right constitution, but to live under such a constitution. We pray therefore for the same things that we request, and we request the same things that we desire; and praying and longing are on the same footing as regards the possession of good things and the benefits attached to their acquisition. Accordingly the gnostic makes his prayer and request for the things that are really good, i.e., those pertaining to the soul, and he prays, and joins his own efforts as well, that he may no longer have his good things attached to him like ornaments, but may be himself good.

39. Hence too prayer is most fitting for those who have a right knowledge of the Divinity and that excellence of character which is agreeable to him, 1.e., for those who know what are the things which are truly good, and what should be asked for, and when, and how, in each case. But it is the height of folly to ask of those who are not gods as if they were gods, or to ask what is inexpedient (i.e., what is evil for oneself), under the impression that it is good. Since then the good God is one,35 we and the angels are right in praying that we may receive from him alone either the bestowal or continuance of good things. But we do not ask alike, for it is not the same thing to ask that the gift may be continued, and to strive to obtain it in the first instance.36

Prayer for the avoidance of evil is also a kind of prayer. But we must never employ a prayer of this kind for the injury of other men, except where the gnostic might adapt his request so as to contrive for those who were hardened their return to righteousness. Prayer, then, to speak somewhat boldly, is converse with God. Even if we address him in a whisper, without opening our lips, or uttering a sound, still we cry to him in our heart. For God never ceases to listen to the inward converse of the heart.

40. For this reason also we raise the head and lift the hands towards heaven,37 and stand on tiptoe as we join in the closing outburst of prayer, following the eager flight of the spirit into the intelligible world: and while we thus endeavour to detach the body from the earth by lifting it upwards along with the uttered words, we spurn the fetters of the flesh and constrain the soul, winged38 with desire of better things, to ascend into the holy place.39 For we are well assured that of his own will the 35 Matt. 19:17.

36 Clement seems to mean that the angels only pray for the continued enjoyment of what is already theirs.

37 Cf. Origen, de Orat., XXXI, below, p. 322 ff.

38 Plato, Phaedr, 246.

39 Heb. 9:25.

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gnostic leaves this world behind him, just as the Jews did Egypt, showing in the plainest way that he was destined to be as near as possible to God. And if there are any who assign fixed hours to prayer,*° such as the third and the sixth and the ninth, yet the gnostic at all events prays all his life through, striving to be united with God in prayer, and, in a word, to have done with everything that is useless for that higher life, as one who has already attained here below the perfection of one who in love is full-grown. However, the triple distribution of the hours and their observance by corresponding prayers is also familiar to those who are acquainted with the blessed triad of the holy mansions.

41. At this point I am reminded of the opinions which are being secretly propagated by certain heterodox persons, belonging to the heresy of Prodicus, against the use of prayer.4? In order that they may not pride themselves on this their godless wisdom as though it were something novel, let these men learn that they are only following in the steps of the so-called Cyrenaic school.43 'The refutation however of the impious knowledge of these falsely called gnostics*4 I reserve to its proper season, in order that the censure, which must be somewhat protracted, may not steal into my notes at this point and so interrupt the subject we have in hand; which is a demonstration that only he who is a gnostic according to the rule of the Church is really pious and devout, and that he alone has his petitions, whether spoken or unspoken,'5 granted according to the will of God. For as God is able to do every thing that he wills, so the gnostic receives every thing that he may ask.46 For God knows generally those that are worthy to receive good things and those that are not; whence he gives to each what belongs to him. For this reason if request were made by unworthy persons he would often refuse to give it, but would give unasked provided they were worthy. Yet the petition is not superfluous, even though good things be granted without petition made. For instance, both thanksgiving and prayer for the conversion of his neighbours are the duty of the gnostic. Thus the Lord also prayed, returning

40 Cf. Tertullian, Orat., 25; Jeiun., 10.

41 Cf. above, VII, 9, and Strom., VI, 114: The three grades of believers (the thirty-, sixty-, and hundred-fold of the parable of the sower) have different mansions according to their merits.

42 Cf. Origen, de Orat., V, 1, below, p. 247.

43 Cf. Diogenes Laertius, 2:97.

44 I Tim. 6:20.

45 See below, VII, 73.

46 Matt. 21:22.

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thanks for the accomplishment of his ministry47 and praying that as many as possible might share in knowledge,' in order that God, who alone is good, alone is Saviour, may be glorified through his Son,49 in those who are being saved through the salvation which is according to knowledge, °° and that the knowledge of him may grow from age to age. Howbeit the mere faith that one will receive is itself also a kind of prayer stored up in a gnostic spirit.

42. But if prayer is thus an occasion for converse with God, 5! no occasion for our approach to God must be neglected. Certainly the holiness of the gnostic, being bound up with the Divine Providence through a voluntary acknowledgment on his part, shows the beneficence of God in perfection. For the holiness of the gnostic is, as it were, a return back on itself of Providence and a responsive feeling of loyalty on the part of the friend of God. For neither is the goodness of God involuntary like the warmth of fire (but his imparting of good things is voluntary, even though he should wait to be asked); nor on the other hand will the man who is being saved be saved without his will, for he is no lifeless machine, but will most assuredly hasten to salvation with eager alacrity. It is on this account that the commandments were given to man as to a being who would be spontaneously impelled to whichever he might choose, whether of things eligible or ineligible. God therefore does not do good of necessity, but of his own free will he befriends those who turn to him of their own accord.>5? For the providence that comes to us from God is not ministrative,53 as though it proceeded from inferiors to superiors; but it is from pity of our weakness that the nearer dispensations of Providence are set in motion, like the care of shepherds for their sheep and that of a king towards his subjects; while we ourselves also are submissive to our superiors, who govern us in an orderly manner according to the commission with which they were entrusted by God. They therefore are ministers and worshippers of the Divinity who offer the freest and most royal worship, viz., that which is rendered by devoutness both of purpose and of knowledge.

43. Every place then and every time at which we entertain the thought of God is truly hallowed;54 but when he who is at once right-minded and thankful makes his request in prayer, he

47 John 17:4.

45 Jobnet 7:19, 23.

49 Matt. 19:17; John 17:1.

50 John 17:3.

51 See above, VII, 39.

52 Cf. Origen, de Orat., X XIX, 15.

53 See above, VII, 3.

54 Cf. Origen, de Orat., XXXI, 4.

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in a way contributes to the granting of his petition, receiving with joy the desired object through the instrumentality of his prayers. For when the Giver of all good meets with readiness on our part, all good things follow at once on the mere conception in the mind. Certainly prayer is a test of the attitude of the character towards what is fitting. And if voice and speech are given to us with a view to understanding, how can God help hearing the soul and the mind by itself, seeing that soul already apprehends soul, and mind apprehends mind? Wherefore God has no need to learn various tongues, as human interpreters have, but understands at once the minds of all men; and what the voice signifies to us, that our thought utters to God, since even before the creation he knew that it would come into our mind. It is permitted to man therefore to speed his prayer even without a voice, if he only concentrates all his spiritual energy upon the inner voice of the mind by his undistracted turning to God.

And since the east symbolizes the day of birth, and it is from thence that the light spreads, after it has first "'shone forth out of darkness,"'55 aye, and from thence that the day of the knowledge of the truth dawned like the sun upon those who were lying In ignorance, *® therefore our prayers are directed towards the rise of dawn.57 It was for this reason that the most ancient temples looked toward the west in order that they who stood facing the images might be taught to turn eastwards. "'Let my prayer ascend up as incense before thee, the lifting up my hands be an evening sacrifice''58 is the language of the Psalms.

44. In the case of the wicked then prayer is most hurtful not only to others, but even to themselves. At any rate, if in answer to prayer they were to receive what they call pieces of good fortune, they are injured by receiving them, because they know not how to use them. For they pray to obtain what they have not got, and they ask for apparent, not real good. The gnostic, on the other hand, will ask for a continuance of the things he possesses and fitness for what is about to happen, and indifference as to what shall be denied; but as for the things that are really good, 1.e., those pertaining to the soul, his prayer is that they may both be granted to him and may continue. Thus he does not even desire anything which he has not, being contented with his present lot. For he is not lacking in the good things that are proper to him, being already sufficient to himself through 55 II Cor. 4:6.

56 Matt. 4:16.

57 Origen, de Orat., XXXII, below, p. 327. Cf. F. J. Délger, Sol Salutis2 (1925), p. 146.

58 Ps. 141:2,

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the Divine grace and knowledge. But, having his resources in himself and being independent of others, and having learnt to know the omnipotent Will, so that he no sooner prays than he receives, he is brought close to the Almighty Power and, by his earnest striving after spirituality, is united to the Spirit through the love that knows no bounds. This is the man of lofty mind, who by the way of science has acquired the most precious and best of all possessions, being on the one hand quick to apply the faculty of contemplation, while on the other hand he retains permanently in his soul the power over the objects of contemplation, i.e., the keen clearness of science. This power he strives to the utmost to acquire by gaining the mastery over all that wars against the reason®? and persisting in uninterrupted contemplation, while he exercises himself in the discipline which teaches the curbing of pleasures and the right direction of action.

Besides this, from his wide experience, gathered both from study and from life, he has acquired freedom of speech, not the power of a mere random fluency, but the power of straightforward utterance, keeping back nothing that may be spoken in fitting time before a right audience, either from favour or fear of influential persons.

45. At any rate he who has received a clear conception of the things concerning God from the mystical chorus of the truth itself, makes use of the word of exhortation, exhibiting the greatness of virtue according to its worth, both in itself and in its effects, being united as intimately as possible with things intellectual and spiritual in the way of knowledge along with an inspired exaltation of prayer. Hence he is always meek and gentle, affable, easy of access, forbearing, considerate, conscientious. In him we have a severity of virtue, such as is not only proof against corruption, but proof against temptation also. He presents a soul altogether unyielding and impregnable whether to the assaults of pleasure or of pain. If reason calls him to it, he is an unswerving judge, in no respect indulging his passions, but keeping inflexibly to the path in which it is the nature of justice to walk, being fully persuaded that all things are admirably ordered, and that, for the souls which have made choice of virtue, progress is always in the direction of what is better, until they arrive at the Absolute Goodness, being brought close to the great High Priest, in the vestibule,®! so to speak, of the Father. This is the faithful gnostic who is fully persuaded

59 Rom. 7:23.

60 Heb. 4:14; cf. Strom., VII, 9 and 13, above.

61 Plato, Phileb., 64 C.

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that all things in the world are ordered for the best. Certainly he is well pleased with all that happens.

46. Heis right therefore in not seeking anything further when he is once supplied with the necessaries, being persuaded that God, who knows all things, supplies whatever is expedient to the good, even without their asking. For as the artificer, I suppose, has each request granted to him in the way of his art, gua artificer, and the heathen gua heathen, so the gnostic has his in the way of knowledge qua gnostic. And he that turns to God from among the heathen will ask for faith, but he that aspires to knowledge will ask for the perfection of love.*2 And when he has now reached the summit, the gnostic prays that the power of contemplation may grow and abide with him, just as the common man prays for a continuance of health. Aye, and he will pray too that he may never fall away from virtue, co-operating to the best of his power that he may end his life without a fall.

For he knows that even of the angels some, having slipped back to the ground from carelessness, have never yet succeeded in extricating themselves completely out of their tendency to duplicity into the former singleness of heart. But, to him who has been trained here below to the highest point of knowledge, and the supreme elevation of a perfect man, all incidents of time and space are favourable; for he is fixed to one unchanging course of life both by choice and practice, owing to his uniform stability of purpose. But in those who have still some corners®3 of depressing languor that weighs them down, the soaring impulse of faith also flags. In him, then, who has rendered his virtue indefectible by discipline based upon knowledge, habit is changed into nature; and in such a one his knowledge becomes an inseparable possession, like weight in a stone, not involuntarily, but of his own free will, by the power of reason and knowledge and forethought.

47. And since that which has not been lost may be raised to a state of indefectibility by carefulness and consideration, the gnostic will hold fast to carefulness with a view to avoid sin, and to consideration with a view to the indefectibility of virtue. Now knowledge seems to be the parent of consideration, because it teaches us to discern the things which can help to the permanence of virtue. But it will be granted that the knowledge of God is the most important of all things. Wherefore in this way also 62 Cf. John 14. 17.

63 Since in the Platonic or Stoic view the perfect shape was the sphere, any angular corner was imperfect.

64 Plato, Phaedr., 247.

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the indefectibility of virtue is assured. And he who knows God is holy and pious. We have proved therefore that the gnostic alone is pious. He rejoices in his present blessings and delights himself in those that are promised, as though they were already present—for he has not lost sight of them as if they were still absent—because he already knows of what nature they are.

Being therefore convinced by his knowledge that each of the things that shall be, really is, he virtually possesses each. And this is enough for man; for sufficient and insufficient are measured by that which is normal in each case. At any rate, if the gnostic is possessed of wisdom, and wisdom is divine, he who partakes of what has no defect must himself be without defect.

For the communication of wisdom is not the resultant of energy on the part of the giver and inertia on the part of the recipient, nor is any abstraction or deficiency caused by it; at any rate the energy is shown to be undiminished by the very fact of the communication. Thus then our gnostic has all good in potentiality, though not yet in full tale; since he would otherwise have been incapable of change in reference to the inspired progresses and orderings which are still due to him by God's decree.

48. God also assists him, honouring him with a closer oversight. For is it not the case that all things have been created for the sake of good men and for their use and benefit or, rather we should say, salvation? He would not therefore deprive of the rewards of virtue those for whom all things exist. For it is plain that he valued highly their good disposition and their holy choice, seeing that he breathes into those that have taken on themselves a good profession, strength for the completion of their salvation, in some cases by simple exhortation, but also by actual help in the case of those who have proved themselves worthy of their own efforts. For to the gnostic every kind of good comes as an accessory, > seeing that his chief end is in each case knowledge and action in accordance with knowledge. And as the physician provides health for those who co-operate with him for health, so also God provides eternal salvation for those who co-operate with him for knowledge and right action; and the moment that we do any one of the things in our power, which are enjoined by the commandments, the promise also receives its fulfilment. I like that story which is told among the Greeks of a famous athlete of former days, who had trained himself for feats of manhood by a long course of discipline. Having gone up to the Olympian games he turned to the image of Pisaean Zeus

65 A Stoic phrase (Cicero, de Finibus, III, 32).'

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and uttered these words: ''If I, O Zeus, have now done all that was fitting on my part in preparation for the contest, do thou make haste to bestow the victory I deserve."' For just so does the gnostic, when he has thoroughly and conscientiously performed his part with a view to learning and discipline and with a view to doing good and pleasing God, find the whole world contributing to perfect his salvation. The things then that are required of us are those which are in our own power, viz., choice and desire and acquisition and use and distribution of the things which concern us, according as they are present or absent.

49. Wherefore also he who holds intercourse with God must have his soul undefiled and absolutely pure, having raised himself to a state of perfect goodness if possible, but at any rate both making progress towards knowledge and longing for it, and being entirely withdrawn from the works of wickedness. Moreover it is fitting that he should offer all his prayers in a good spirit and in concert with good men, for it is a dangerous thing to countenance the errors of others. The gnostic will therefore share the prayers of ordinary believers in those cases in which it is right for him to share their activity also. But all his life is a holy festival. For instance, his sacrifices consist of prayers and praises and the reading of the Scriptures before dining, and psalms and hymns during dinner and before going to bed, aye and of prayers again during the night. By these things he unites himself with the heavenly choir, being enlisted in it for evermindful contemplation, in consequence of his uninterrupted thought of heaven while on earth. Again, is he not acquainted with that other sacrifice which consists in the free gift both of instruction and of money among those who are in need? Certainly he is. On the other hand he is not wordy in his uttered prayers, °° since he has been also taught by the Lord what to ask for. Accordingly he will pray in every place, not however publicly or for all to see; but in every sort of way his prayer ascends, whether he is walking or in company or at rest or reading or engaged in good works; and though it be only a thought®7 in the secret chamber®? of the heart, while he calls on the Father® in groanings which cannot be uttered," yet the Father is nigh at hand,71 even before he has done speaking.72 Of the three ends of action, the honourable, the expedient and the pleasant, he

66 Matt. 6:7.

67 See the quotation in para. 73 below, and Strom., VI, 78.

68 Matt. 6:6.

69 I Peter 1:17.

70 Rom 8:26.

71 Ps. 145:18.

72 Isa. 65:24; Dan. 9:21.

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T25 makes the two former his rule, and leaves it to those who follow the common life to be guided in any action by the third motive of pleasure.

CHAPTER VIII

50. He whose life is characterized by piety of this kind has little temptation to lying and swearing. For an oath is a definitive compact in which God is called to witness. And how could one who has once for all proved himself faithful, make himself unfaithful so as to stand in need of an oath, instead of allowing his life to carry with it the security and definiteness of an oath?73

Both in his life and in his intercourse with others he shows the faithfulness of his promise by unfailing steadfastness both of life and speech. And, if injustice consists in the determination of the doer and speaker, and not in the suffering of the aggrieved person, he will refrain both from lying and forswearing himself, not with an idea that he is doing injury to God (since he knows that God is naturally incapable of receiving injury); but also for his neighbour's sake he will refuse to lie or break any agreement, seeing that he has learnt to love him,74 even though he may not be a personal friend; and still more for his own sake he will refrain both from lying and from perjury, seeing that he wouid never, if he could help it, be found guilty of wronging himself.

Nay, he will not even swear at all, preferring simply to use the particle "'yes" in case of affirmation, and ''no''?5 in case of denial. For to swear is to use an oath or its equivalent with intent to inspire confidence. 51. It is enough for him therefore to add the words "I speak the truth"' either to his assent or denial, in order to give confidence to those who are too obtuse to see that his answer may be depended on. For, as regards those who are without, I think his life should be worthy of trust, so that they should not even ask for an oath; but as regards his own family and those who have a right understanding'® there should be confidence in his fairness, i.e., in his unforced desire to do right. In any case the gnostic is true to his oath, but slow to swear, since he rarely comes forward to take an oath, and that only as we have stated. Still to be true to one's oath is a part of the harmony of truth; so that the observance of an oath follows the rule for the performance of ordinary duties. Where then is there any further need for the oath to one who lives according

73 Cf. Isocrates, 1:22.

74 Matt. 19:19.

75 Matt. 5:37.

76 Prov. 8:9.

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to the highest standard of truth? He who does not even swear will be far indeed from perjuring himself, and he who observes every clause of his contracts would never swear at all, seeing that it is actions that decide whether contracts are broken or fulfilled; just as the question of falsehood and perjury is decided by speaking and swearing contrary to right. But he that lives justly, without violating any duty, is proved by his actions, wherein the judgment of the truth is sifted, to be true to his oath. The evidence of the tongue is therefore superfluous in his case. Being then persuaded that God is always present everywhere, and being ashamed not to tell the truth, and knowing that, not to speak of perjury, even a lie is unworthy of himself, he is satisfied with the witness of God and of his own conscience only. So, while on the one hand he neither lies nor does anything contrary to his agreements, on the other hand he neither takes an oath when it is demanded of him, nor denies what he has done, being resolute to be clear of lying, even though he should die under torture.

CHAPTER IX

52. But the dignity of the gnostic is carried to an even further pitch by him who has undertaken the direction of the teaching of others, assuming the management in word and deed of that which is the greatest blessing on earth, by virtue of which he becomes a mediator to bring about a close union and fellowship with God. And as they that worship earthly things pray to the images as though they heard them, confirming their covenants before them; so the true majesty of the word is received from the trustworthy teacher in the presence of men, the living images of God, and the benefit done to them is referred to the Lord himself, after whose likeness the true man creates and moulds the character of the man under instruction, renewing him to salvation. For, as the Greeks call iron by the name of Ares and wine by that of Dionysus (according to the figure which carries back the effect to the cause), so the gnostic who regards good done to his neighbours as his own salvation, might well be called a living image of the Lord, not according to the particular outward form, but in so far as he symbolizes his power and resembles him in preaching the gospel.

53. Whatever then he has in his mind, that he has also on his tongue, when addressing those who are worthy to hear it from their agreement with him, since both his word and his life are in harmony with his thought. For he not only thinks what is true,

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but he also speaks the truth, except it be medicinally, on occasion; just as a physician, with a view to the safety of his patients, will practise deception or use deceptive language to the sick, according to the sophists.77 For instance, the great apostle circumcised Timothy,78 though he proclaimed aloud and in writing that circumcision made with hands profiteth not.79 But fearing that, if he were all at once to withdraw from the law to the circumcision of the heart which is by faith, 8° he might drive the Hebrew disciples who were still restive to break off from the congregation, accommodating himself to the Jews, he became a Jew that he might gain all.81 He then who stoops to accommodation merely for the salvation of his neighbours, i.e., for the salvation of those for whose sake he practises accommodation, not dissembling under stress of the danger which threatens the righteous from those who are jealous of them—such a one can by no means be said to act under compulsion; though, solely for the good of his neighbours, he will do some things, which would not be done by him in the first instance, were it not for them. He offers himself in behalf of the Church, in behalf of the disciples whom he has himself begotten ®? in the faith, for a pattern to those that are capable of succeeding to the exalted office of a teacher filled with love to God and love to man, for confirmation of the truth of his words, for the manifestation of his love to the Lord. He is not enslaved in fear, he is patient in toil, true in word, shrinking from falsehood even in the outward utterance, and herein always attaining strict accuracy, since a lie in his eyes is no idle word, but is active for wickedness, as being the expression of a kind of treachery. 54. So then it is the gnostic alone that witnesses to the truth83 in every way both by word and deed: for he is altogether right in all things, in word and act and even in thought itself.

Such then is a brief account of Christian devoutness. If now the Christian does these things fittingly and in accordance with right reason, he is acting piously and justly. And if this is so, the gnostic alone would be really pious and just and devout. The Christian therefore is no atheist—for this is what we proposed to prove to the philosophers—so that nothing bad or mean, Le.,

77 Cf. Plato, Rep., 382 C; 389 B; 459 C, D; Origen, contra Celsum, IV, 18-19.

78 Acts 16:3.

79 Rom. 2:25; Eph. 2:11. Porphyry, in his attack on Christianity, accuses Paul of inconsistency in circumcising Timothy (frag. 27, Harnack).

80 Rom. 2:29; 3:30.

81 I Cor. 9:19 f.

82 I Cor. 4:15.

83 John 5:31; 18:37.

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nothing unjust, will ever be done by him in any wise. It follows from this that neither is he impious; rather it is he alone that is truly pious, fitly and piously worshipping after the rule of a true devotion him who is in very deed the All-ruling God and Almighty King.

CHAPTER X

55For the knowledge of insight (gnosis) 1s, so to speak, a kind of perfection of man as man, harmonious and consistent with itself and with the divine word, being completed, both as to the disposition and the manner of life and of speech, by the science of divine things. For it is by insight that faith is made perfect,

seeing that, the man of faith only becomes perfect in this way.

Now faith is a certain inward good: without making search for God, it both confesses his existence, and glorifies him as existent.

Hence a man must start with this faith, and having waxed strong in it by the grace of God, must thus attain to insight concerning him, so far as is possible. We distinguish however between insight and the wisdom which is implanted by teaching.

For in so far as anything deserves to be called insight, so far it is certainly wisdom also; but in so far as a thing is wisdom, it is not certainly insight. For the meaning of the term wisdom is shown only in the use of the spoken word: while the foundation of insight, on the other hand, lies in having no doubt about God, but trusting him implicitly; and Christ is both the foundation and the superstructure—Christ, through whom are both the beginning and the end. Now the extremes, i.e., the beginning and the end, I mean faith and love, are not matters of teaching; but knowledge (gnosis), being handed down by tradition according to the grace of God, is entrusted as a deposit to those who show themselves worthy of the teaching; and from this teaching the worth of love shines forth in ever-increasing light. For it is said, to him that hath, shall be added,8> knowledge added to faith and love to knowledge, and to love, the heavenly inheritance.

56. This takes place whenever any one hangs upon the Lord by means of faith and knowledge and love, and ascends up with him to the presence of the God and guardian of our faith and love; who is the ultimate source from which knowledge is imparted to those who are fitted and approved for it, because they need further preparation and training both for the hearing of the words spoken, and with a view to soberness of life and to their

84 James 2:22.

85 Luke 19:26.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

careful advance to a point beyond the righteousness of the law. *6 This knowledge leads us on to that perfect end which knows no end, teaching us here the nature of the life we shall hereafter live with gods according to the will of God, when we have been delivered from all chastisement and punishment, which we have to endure as salutary chastening®' in consequence of our sins.

After this deliverance rank and honours are assigned to those who are perfected, who have done now with purification and all other ritual, though it be holy among the holy; until at last, when they have been made pure in heart' by their closeness to the Lord, the final restoration attends on their everlasting contemplation of God. And the name of gods is given to those that shall hereafter be enthroned with the other gods, who first had their station assigned to them beneath the Saviour.88* Knowledge therefore is swift to purify, and suitable for the welcome change to the higher state. 57. Hence, too, it easily transplants a man to that divine and holy state which is akin to the soul, and by a light of its own carries him through the mystic stages, till it restores him to the crowning abode of rest, having taught the pure in heart to look upon God®9 face to face® with understanding and absolute certainty. For herein lies the perfection of the gnostic soul, that having transcended all purifications and modes of ritual, it should be with the Lord 9! where he is, in immediate subordination to him.

Faith then is a compendious knowledge of the essentials, but knowledge is a sure and firm demonstration of the things received through faith, being itself built up by the Lord's teaching on the foundation of the faith, and carrying us on to unshaken conviction and scientific certainty. As I mentioned before, there seems to me to be a first kind of saving change from heathenism to faith, a second from faith to knowledge; and this latter, as it passes on into love, begins at once to establish a mutual friendship between that which knows and that which is known. And perhaps he who has arrived at this stage has already attained equality with the angels.92 At any rate, after he has reached the final ascent in the flesh, he still continues to advance, as is fit, and presses on through the holy Hebdomad into the Father's house, to that which is indeed the Lord's abode,°3 being destined there to be, as it were, a light standing and abiding for ever, absolutely secure from all vicissitude.

86 Matt. 5:20; Rom. 10:5.

87 Heb. 12:7.

88 Matt. 5:8.

88* J.e. the angels. Cf. Origen, contra Celsum, III, 37.

89 Matt. 5:8.

90 I Cor. 13:12, 91 | Thess, 4:17.

92 Luke 20:36.

93 John 14:2.

A.C.—9

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58. The first mode of the Lord's working gives evidence of the above-mentioned reward following on devoutness. Out of many testimonies I will adduce one, thus summarily stated by the prophet David: 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Saviour. This is the generation of them that seek the Lord, that seek the face of the God of Jacob."°4 The prophet is here briefly describing the enostic, and in passing, as it seems, he shows that the Saviour is

God, calling him the face of the God of Jacob, i.e., one who preached and taught concerning the Father. Wherefore also the apostle used the phrase "impress of the Father's glory''?> in reference to the Son, who taught the truth concerning God and gave this mark, that one alone is God and Father, viz., the Almighty, whom no one knew but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall have revealed him.97 That God is one is also declared by the phrase seeking the face of the God of Jacob, whom alone, being God the Father, our Saviour and God characterizes as good.°8 But the generation of them that seek him is the chosen race? which seeks with a view to knowledge.

59. For this reason also the apostle says: "I shall profit you nothing unless I speak unto you either in the way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophesying or of teaching.''! And yet some things are done rightly, though not on rational grounds, even by those who are not gnostics, as in the case of courage.

For some men, being by nature full of spirit and having fostered this quality without the use of reason, act for the most part by irrational impulse and do the same sort of things as brave men, so as at times to exhibit the same height of virtue, as for instance to endure tortures calmly; but this is neither from the same cause nor even with the same purpose as the gnostic, even though they should give up their whole body;? for, as the apostle says, they have not the love which proceeds from knowledge.

All the action then of a man of understanding is of the nature of well-doing and all the action of him who is without understanding is ill-doing, even though he should be maintaining a principle, since his courage does not proceed from reason, nor does he direct his action for any useful purpose, such as has its

94 Ps. 24:3-6.

95 Heb. 1:3.

96 Eph. 4:6.

97 Matt. 11:27.

98 Matt.19:17.

99 I Peter 2:9.

1 I Cor. 14:6.

2I Cor. 13:3.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

I3I end in virtue.3 The same thing may be said of the other virtues and therefore by analogy in the case of piety. Accordingly we shall find the gnostic to be such not in holiness only; but, in regard to the rest of his conduct also, his professions are in accordance with his enlightened piety. For it is the life of the gnostic which it is our purpose now to describe, and not to give a systematic view of his beliefs which we shall afterwards set forth at the fitting season, preserving the sequence of thought.

CHAPTER XI

60. The gnostic then has a true and noble conception of the universe, as might be expected from one who has comprehended the divine teaching. Starting with that admiration4 for the creation which he brings with him as an evidence of his capacity to receive knowledge, he becomes an eager disciple of the Lord, and the moment he hears of God and Providence, his admiration prompts him to believe. Proceeding from this point he does his best to learn in every way, employing every means to obtain the knowledge of those things which he longs for (and longing joined with seeking arises as faith increases), that is, to be made worthy of such high and glorious contemplation. Thus the gnostic will taste of the will of God. For he lends, not his ears, but his soul, to the facts indicated by the spoken words. Since then what he receives through the words are realities and the facts themselves, he naturally brings his soul to his duties, understanding the commands Do not commit adultery, Do not kill,5 in a special sense, as they are addressed to the gnostic and not as they are apprehended by the rest of the world.

61. Training himself in scientific contemplation, he goes on to contend on the strength of these higher and more universal truths, being fully assured that "he who" (according to the prophet) "'teaches man knowledge is the Lord,''* the Lord using man's mouth as his organ. Wherefore also he has taken human flesh. With good reason therefore he never prefers what 1s pleasant to what is expedient, not even though he should be taken at a disadvantage and vehemently urged by the harlot arts of some fair wanton; for neither could Joseph be seduced from his firm purpose by his master's wife, but when she kept hold of his garment, he left it in her hands, being thus denuded

3 This is Stoic teaching (Arnim, S.V.F., IIT, 511).

4 Plato, Theaet., 155 D.

5 Ex. 20:13, 15; Matt. 5:21, 27.

6 Ps. 94:10, II.

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of sin, but clothing himself in modesty. For, though the eyes of his master, I mean the Egyptian, did not see Joseph, yet the eyes of the Almighty were watching him. For we men hear the voice and see the bodily form, but the Lord searcheth the spirit,' from which both speech and sight proceed. In like manner, whether disease or accident befall the gnostic, aye, or even death the most terrible of all things, he continues unchanged in soul, knowing that all such things are a necessary result of creation, but that, even so, they are made by the power of God a medicine of salvation,' benefiting by discipline those who are disposed to rebel against amendment, being distributed according to desert by a.truly merciful Providence.

62. The gnostic then uses God's creatures, when, and so far as, it is reasonable, in a spirit of thankfulness to the Creator, and so gains the mastery over his enjoyment of them. He never bears a grudge, is never angry with anyone, even though he should deserve hatred for his conduct; for he worships the Creator and loves his fellow man, pitying him and praying for him on account of his ignorance. Moreover, though he shares in the affections of the body, naturally sensitive as it is, in which he is imprisoned, yet he is not primarily affected by passion. At any rate, in the accidents which befall him against his will, he raises himself from his troubles to his native element, and is not carried away by things which have nothing to do with true self, but accommodates himself to the necessities of the case, so far as it does not interfere with the welfare of the soul. For he does not wish to be faithful only in reputation or indeed in outward seeming, but in knowledge and in truth, that is to say, in consistent action and effectual speech. Wherefore he not only praises what is noble, but himself strives to be noble, passing from the condition of a good and faithful servant? to that of a friend!° by means of love, owing to the perfection of the virtuous habit which he acquired in its purity by true instruction and long training.

63. As one then who would force his way to the pinnacle of knowledge, orderly in character, sober in bearing, he possesses all the advantages which mark the true gnostic, fixing his eyes on noble images, on the many patriarchs who have fought their fight before him, on a still greater multitude of prophets, on angels beyond our power to number, on the Lord who is over all, who taught him, and made it possible for him to attain that 7I Sam. 16:7; Jer. 17:10, etc.

8 Euripides, Phoen., 893.

9 Matt. 25:23.

10 John 15:15.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

crowning life. For this reason he loves none of the fair things that the world holds out to him, fearing lest they should tie him to the ground; but he loves the things which are hoped for, or rather are already known, but whose possession is hoped for.

Thus he endures his labours and tortures and afflictions, not, like the brave men whom the philosophers talk of, from hope that the present evils will cease, and that he will again have a share of pleasures; no, knowledge has begotten in him a persuasion, surer than any hope, of the reaping of rewards to come.

Wherefore he despises not only the persecutions, but also all the pleasures of this world. So we are told that the blessed Peter, when he beheld his wife on her way to execution,!! rejoiced on account of her call and her homeward journey, and addressed her by name with words of exhortation and good cheer, bidding her '"'remember the Lord."

64. Such was the marriage of those blessed ones and such their perfect control over their feelings even in the dearest relations of life. So too the apostle says, "'Let him that marrieth be as though he married not,''!2 requiring that marriage should not be enslaved to passion nor distracted from the love to the Lord;!3 to which love the wife, when departing from this life to the Lord, was exhorted to cling by him who showed himself a husband indeed. Was not the faith in the hope after death clearly manifested by those who, even in the very height of persecution, could return thanks to God? The reason, I suppose, was the steadfastness of their faith, which was accompanied by acts of corresponding faithfulness. So in every difficulty the soul of the gnostic proves its strength, being in first-rate condition and vigour, like the body of the athlete. For it is well-advised in the affairs of men, measuring what has to be done by the rule of justice, having received its principles from God in the first instance, and having attained to moderation in the pleasures and pains of the body, in accordance with the divine likeness; thus he rises up against his fears with good courage, putting his trust in God. Accordingly the gnostic soul is just an earthly image of the divine Power, adorned with perfect virtue, built up by the combined action of nature, discipline, and reason. The soul thus beautified becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit,!4 when it has acquired a temper of mind corresponding to the gospel in every relation of life.

65. Such a one rises up against every fear and all that is 11 That Peter's wife was martyred is a story told only by Clement.

12 I Cor. 7:29.

13 I Cor. 7:35.

14 I Cor. 6:19.

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terrible, not death alone, but poverty and disease and disgrace and whatever is akin to these, being invincible by pleasure and master of the irrational appetites. For he knows well what ought and what ought not to be done, having a thorough understanding of what is really formidable and what is not. Hence he undertakes with intelligence what reason dictates as right and fitting for him to do, distinguishing intelligently things that are really encouraging, i.e., good things,!5 from those which only seem to be so, and that which is formidable from that which appears formidable, such as death and disease and poverty, which pertain rather to seeming than to truth. This is the truly good man who stands outside the passions, having risen above the whole life of passion by the habit or disposition of the virtuous soul. For him, all depends upon himself for the attainment of the end. For the so-called dangers of fortune are not formidable to the good man, because they are not really evil; but real dangers are foreign to the gnostic Christian, since, as evil, they are directly opposed to what is good; and it is "impossible that opposites can happen simultaneously to the same thing in the same respect and at the same time."'!° Thus, playing irreproachably whatever part in life God may have assigned to him to act, he perceives both what he ought to do and what he ought to endure.

66. Does cowardice then arise in any other way except through ignorance of what is, and what is not, to be feared?

1!7

If not, the gnostic alone is of good courage, because he perceives what is good both in the present and in the future, and combines with this, as I said, the knowledge of the things which are not really to be feared. For, being convinced that vice alone is hostile and destructive to those who are on the road to knowledge, he wars against it, as such, being fortified with the armour of the Lord. (For it does not follow that, if an action has its rise in folly and the operation, or rather co-operation, of the devil, it is to be at once identified with folly or the devil; (because no operation is prudence; for prudence is a habit, and no operation is a habit): so neither is the action that originates in ignorance to be forthwith styled ignorance: it is a bad action caused by ignorance, not ignorance pure. For not even passions or sins are vices, thought they proceed from vice.) No one, therefore, who is irrationally brave is a gnostic. Else we might be told that children are brave when they face dangers from ignorance of 15 Plato, Laches, 198 C.

16 Plato, Rep., IV, 436 B.

17 Cf. Plato, Prot., 360 C.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

the grounds of fear—for instance they will even play with fire— and we may be told that wild beasts are virtuous when they rush upon the spears, being irrationally brave. On the same principle they will perhaps tell us that jugglers are brave when they have learnt the trick of tumbling among the swords, practising a base art for a miserable pittance. But he who is truly brave, though the peril arising from popular fury is plain before his eyes, awaits with confidence whatever comes. Herein is he distinguished from other so-called martyrs, in that they provide occasions for themselves by exposing themselves to dangers for whatever reason (for we must avoid harsh language); but the others, taking precautions in accordance with the dictates of reason, and then cheerfully offering themselves, when God really calls them, both make their calling sure,!8 from the consciousness that they have not been guilty of any rash act, and give opportunity for testing their manhood by their truly rational courage.

| 67. It is therefore neither through "'enduring lesser terrors _ from fear of greater''!9 (as other people do), nor again through apprehension of fault-finding from people of their own station and way of thinking, that they abide by the confession of their calling: no, they willingly obey the divine call owing to their love to God, not for the sake of the prizes of the contests, since they prefer no other aim to the doing of that which is wellpleasing to God. For those that endure from love of glory, or from fear of some severer punishment, or with a view to any joys or pleasures after death, these are mere children in faith, blessed indeed, but not having attained to manhood, like the gnostic, in their love to God—for the Church too has its crowns both for men and for boys, just as the gymnasium has—but love is to be chosen for its own sake, not for any other reason. It may be said therefore that the gnostic's perfection of courage grows with the growth of knowledge out of the discipline of life, because he has always studied how to control his passions. Love then, by her anointing and training, makes her own champion fearless and intrepid and full of trust in the Lord, just as righteousness wins for him the power of life-long truthfulness. For in the phrase "Your yea shall be yea and your nay nay,''2° there was given an abstract of righteousness. And the same may be said of self-control also. For a man is not made really selfcontrolled through ambition, as in the case of the athlete, for the sake of crowns and glory; nor again through covetousness,

18 TI Peter 1:10.

19 Plato, Phaedo, 68 D.

20 James 5:12.

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as some feign, pursuing a good end by means of a fatal passion; no, nor yet through the desire of bodily health, nor from boorish insensibility enabling him to abstain from pleasures for which he has no taste.2! Certainly those who live a life of toil, when they get a taste of pleasure, presently break down the rigour of their self-restraint in regard to pleasure. Such too are those who are kept in check only by law and by fear; for when they get a chance they evade the law, deserting the side of honour. But temperance that is chosen for her own sake, being perfected according to knowledge and taking up her abode in the heart, gives a man authority and makes him independent; so that the gnostic is temperate and passionless, proof against pleasures and pains, as, they say, the adamant is against fire.

68. The cause of these things is love, love surpassing all knowledge in holiness and sovereignty. For by it the gnostic, owing to his worship of the best and highest, the stamp of which is unity, is made friend?2 and son?3 at once, a perfect man indeed, grown to the full measure of stature.24 Aye, and concord also is defined to be agreement about the same thing, and by "the same thing' we mean unity; and friendship is brought about by similarity, because fellowship lies in unity. The gnostic therefore, being naturally disposed to love God who 1s truly one, is himself a truly perfect man and a friend of God, being ranked and reckoned as a son. These are names expressive of nobility and knowledge and perfection, in accordance with that vision of God which is the crowning height attainable by the gnostic soul, when it has been perfectly purified, being now deemed worthy to behold for ever the Almighty, face to face.?5 For having been made entirely spiritual it departs to its kindred sphere and there, in the spiritual Church, abides in the rest of God.

CHAPTER XII

69. So much then for these things. But the gnostic, being such as we have described him in body and soul, is found to be fair alike towards all his neighbours, whatever their legal position, whether servant or foeman or whatever it be. For he does not neglect him who, according to the divine law, stands to him in the relation of brother by the same parents; certainly, when he is in distress, he relieves him by consolations and encouragements and by making provision for the needs of daily life. While

21 Cf. Aristotle, Eth. Nic., II, 2:2 (1004 A, 24).

22 John 15:15.

23 John 1:12.

24 Eph. 4:13.

25 I Cor. 13:12.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

he gives to all who are in need, he does not do it to the same extent, but in accordance with justice and proportionately; moreover he gives even to one who persecutes and hates him, if he stands in need of it, caring little for those who insinuate that fear was his motive, provided that he was doing it not from fear, but only from a wish to help. For if a man is liberal and forgiving in dealing with enemies, how much more will he be loving to his friends? Such an one will proceed from this point to an exact understanding as regards the person, the amount, the time and the manner in which liberality would be best dispensed. And who could reasonably be the enemy of a man who affords no possible excuse for enmity? Perhaps as, in speaking of God, we say that God is opposed to none and the enemy of none (for he is Creator of all things and there is no existing thing that he does not love, but we call those his enemies who are disobedient and do not walk according to his laws, as for instance those who hate his covenant); so we might find the same disposition in the case of the gnostic. For he himself could never be in any way hostile to any one, but they who take the contrary course might be thought hostile to him. Besides, even if our habit of freely sharing with others is called justice, still the habit which makes proportionate distinction of less or more in cases where distribution should be scientific, is a form of highest justice. 'There are indeed cases in which right is done, as in abstaining from pleasures, from vulgar motives. For, as among the heathen some practise abstinence from present pleasures, both through inability to obtain what they desire,2° and through fear of man, while there are others who abstain for the sake of greater pleasures;27 so also in the faith some are continent either on account of the promise or through fear of God.

70. Still even such continence as this serves as a foundation of knowledge and an introduction to what is better and a movement towards perfection. For the fear of the Lord is said to be the beginning of wisdom.28 But he that is perfect beareth all things and endureth all things?? for love's sake, not as pleasing man, but God.3° Yet praise too attends him by way of natural consequence, not for his own benefit, but for the imitation and use of those who bestow the praise. The word meaning continent is used in another sense also, not of him who only conquers his

26 A quotation from Theognis (Aristotle, Eih. Nic., I, 9, 1099 A, 25 f.; Eth.

Eud., I, 1, 1214 A, 6).

, 27 The Epicurean view. Cf. Origen, conira Celsum, VII, 63.

28 Prov. 9:10.

_ 29 T Cor. 13:7.

30 I Thess, 2:4.

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passions, but of him also who has become possessed of good and has a firm hold of the treasures of understanding, from which spring the fruits of virtuous activity. Thus the gnostic never departs from his own set habit in any emergency. For the scientific possession of good is fixed and unchangeable, being the science of things divine and human.3! Knowledge therefore never becomes ignorance, nor does good change to evil. Hence with him eating and drinking and marrying are not the main objects of life, though they are its necessary conditions. I speak of marriage sanctioned by reason and in accordance with right: for being made perfect he has the apostles as his patterns.32 And true manhood is shown not in the choice of a celibate life; on the contrary the prize in the contest of men is won by him who has trained himself by the discharge of the duties of husband and father and by the supervision of a household, regardless of pleasure and pain—by him, I say, who in the midst of his solicitude for his family shows himself inseparable from the love of God and rises superior to every temptation which assails him through children and wife and servants and possessions. On the other hand he who has no family is in most respects untried. In any case, as he takes thought only for himself, he is inferior to one who falls short of him as regards his own salvation, but who has the advantage in the conduct of life, in as much as he actually preserves a faint image of the true Providence.

71. In any case it is our duty to provide the most varied training for the soul so as to make it impressible for the reception of knowledge. Do you not see how wax is softened and copper refined that it may receive the stamp impressed upon it?

Further, as death is a separation of soul from body, so knowledge is, as it were, a rational death, leading off the soul from its passions and separating it from them, and leading it on to the life of virtuous activity, in order that it may then say with boldness to God, "I live as thou wouldst have me."' For he who makes it his aim to please men,33 cannot please God,

34 since the mass of men choose not the things that are expedient, but the things that are pleasant; but if one pleases God, he becomes incidentally well pleasing to good men. How then could such an one any longer take delight in eating and drinking and sexual pleasure, when he is suspicious even of discourse that is productive of pleasure, and of any mental excitement and exercise of will that causes delight? For ''no man can serve two masters, God and 31 Stoic definition of wisdom.

32 Cf. III, 52-53.

33 Gal. 1:10.

34 Rom. 8:8.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

mammon.''35 This he says, not meaning money simply, but the provision that money supplies for the various kinds of pleasure.

For indeed it is impossible for him who has a high and true knowledge of God to be a slave to the pleasures that are contrary to him.

72. There is then one alone who is free from desire to begin with, viz., the Lord, who is the lover of men, who for our sakes became man; but all that are eager to be assimilated to the stamp given by him, strive to become free from desire by training. For he who has felt desire and has gained the mastery over himself, like the widow also, becomes virgin again through chastity. 'This is the reward of knowledge>¢ to the Saviour and Teacher, which he himself asked for his own, viz., abstinence from all evil and activity in well-doing, by which means salvation is procured. As, then, they that have learnt the arts get their livelihood by the training they underwent, so the gnostic gets spiritual life by his knowledge and is saved. For he who refuses to eradicate the passion of his soul causes his own death.

But ignorance, as it seems, is the starvation of the soul and knowledge its sustenance. And the gnostic souls are those which the gospel likened to the sanctified virgins who wait for their Lord. 37

For they are virgins as having abstained from evil and awaiting their Lord through love, and they are wise souls, since they kindle their own light to see the real facts, saying, ""We long to receive thee, O Lord, at last: we have lived according to thy commandments, we have transgressed none of thy precepts: wherefore also we claim thy promises; and we pray for what is expedient for us, feeling that it is unfitting for us to ask of thee the highest rewards: even though they may seem to be evil, we will receive as expedient all the trials that meet us, whatever they may be, which thy ordering employs for our training in steadfastness."

73. The gnostic indeed has risen to such a pitch of holiness that he is ready rather to pray and fail than to succeed without prayer. For all his life is prayer and communion with God, and if he is free from sins he will assuredly receive what he desires.

For God says to the righteous: ''Ask and I will give to thee; think and I will do it.''38 If, then, what he asks is expedient, he will receive it at once; but things inexpedient he will never ask

35 Luke 16:13.

36 John 4:36; I Cor. 9:18; cf. Isa. 53:11; John 17:3, 15, 17.

37 Matt. 25:1 ff.

38 The same quotation occurs in Strom., VI, 78; 101; cf. VII, 49.

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OF ALEXANDRIA

for, and therefore will never receive: so he will always have what he desires. And if we should be told that sinners sometimes succeed in their prayers, on the one hand this occurs but rarely, because God's goodness is always just, and on the other hand it is to those who are able to benefit others that this favour is shown. Hence the gift is not bestowed for the sake of the petitioner, but the divine ordering has a foresight of the person who will be saved by his means, and thus reasserts the character of justice in the benefit imparted. But to such as are worthy, the things that are truly good are granted even without the asking.

When, then, a man is righteous, not from compulsion or fear or hope, but of choice, this is called the King's high-way?9 traversed by the King's seed; but the others are all by-ways, slippery and precipitous. At any rate, if the motives of fear and honour were removed, I know not whether our brave outspoken philosophers would still be able to hold out against their troubles.

74. Now lusts and other sins have been called briars and thorns.4° The gnostic therefore toils in the Lord's vineyard,?4! planting,+2 pruning, watering, being indeed a divine husbandman for those who have been planted in the faith. They, then, who have not done evil expect to receive a reward for doing nothing, but he who has done good from choice alone claims the reward as a good labourer. Doubtless he will receive also a double reward, partly for what he has not done and partly in return for his good actions. Such a gnostic is tempted by none, except it be through divine permission, and that for the benefit of his associates. At any rate they are encouraged to believe, being cheered by his manly endurance. Doubtless it was for this cause also that the blessed apostles were brought to give proof and witness of perfection with a view to establishing and confirming the churches. Since the gnostic, then, has ringing in his ears the voice which says, "Do thou show pity to him whom

I shall smite,"'43 he prays for the repentance even of those that hate him. For the punishment of criminals, which is carried out in the amphitheatre, is a spectacle unsuited even for children.

As for the gnostic it is impossible that he should be instructed or delighted with such shows, since he has trained himself of set purpose to be noble and good, and has thus become insensible

— to pleasure. As he never falls under the power of sins, he is not corrected by examples of other men's evils. Much less can he be

39 Num. 20:17.

40 Jer. 4:3; Matt. 13:7; Heb. 6:8.

41 Isa, 5:7; Matt. 21:33.

42 T Cor. 3:6.

43 Cf. perhaps Job 19:21; Ps. 69:27.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

I41 satisfied with the pleasures and spectacles of earth, who thinks little even of the promises, divine though they be, of worldly blessings. "'Not everyone" therefore '"'that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God, but he that doeth the will of God.''44 And such would be the gnostic labourer, who has the mastery over his worldly desires45 even while he is still in the flesh, and is so fully persuaded with regard to the unseen future which he knows, that he holds it to be more immediately present than the things which are actually before him.

75. This is the capable labourer, who rejoices in his knowledge, but humbles himself for his entanglements in the necessities of life, being not yet held worthy of the active participation in those things which he knows. Thus he uses this life as something foreign to him, merely as an unavoidable necessity. He understands too the hidden meanings of the fasting of these days, I mean of Wednesday and Friday:4¢ for the one is dedicated to Hermes, the other to Aphrodite. At any rate he makes his life a fast both from love of money and love of pleasure, which are the springs of all the vices; for I have often ere now pointed out'? that, according to the apostle, the generic varieties of fornication are three, viz., love of pleasure, love of money and idolatry.

76. Accordingly he fasts both from evil deeds according to the law and from wicked thoughts according to the perfection of the gospel. He is also subjected to trials, not for his own purification, but, as we said,4% for the benefit of his neighbours, if, after experience of labours and troubles, he is seen to despise and disregard them. The same is to be said about pleasure: the great thing is to abstain from pleasure after having had experience of it.

For what credit is it to practise self-control, where pleasure is unknown? The gnostic carries out the evangelical command and makes that the Lord's day on which he puts away an evil thought and assumes one suited for the gnostic, doing honour to the Lord's resurrection in himself. Moreover when he gets hold of a scientific principle, he believes that he sees the Lord, while he directs his eyes to the unseen; and if he fancies that he sees what he is unwilling to see, he chides the faculty of vision whenever he is conscious of a feeling of pleasure at the visual impression; since he desires to see and hear nothing but what beseems him. For instance, while contemplating the souls of his brethren, he sees also the beauty of the flesh with the 44 Matt. 7:21.'

45 Tit. 2:12.

46 Cf. Didache, 8:1.

47 Strom., III, 89:1; VI, 147:1; Eph. 5:5.

48 Cf. above, para. 74.

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soul itself, which has been trained to look on beauty alone apart from fleshly pleasure.

77. And brethren indeed they are according to the elect creation and the similarity of disposition and the character of their actions, where thought and word and deed manifest that same holiness and beauty which the Lord willed them, as elect, to have in mind. For faith is shown in the choice of the same things, and knowledge in having learnt the same and keeping them in mind, and hope in desiring the same. And if, owing to the necessities of life, some slight portion of his care is occupied about food, he thinks he is defrauded by such distraction. Thus he never sees even a dream which is unsuited to an elect soul.

For verily a stranger and pilgrim'? all his life through is every one who, dwelling in a city, despises the things that others admire in it, and lives in it as though it were in a desert, that he may not be constrained by locality, but that his own free will may show him to be just. To sum up, such a gnostic fills the vacant place of the apostles by his upright life, his exact judgment, his assistance of the deserving, by removing mountains°° from the hearts of his neighbours and casting down the inequalities of their souls; though indeed each one of us is his own vineyard and his own labourer. He however, even in-his best actions, desires to escape the eyes of men, as long as he persuades the Lord and himself that he lives according to the commandments, preferring those things on which he believes that his life depends. ''For where a man's heart is," says one, "there is his treasure also."'>! Through the perfection of his love he impoverishes himself that he may never overlook a brother in affliction, especially if he knows that he could himself bear want better than his brother.

78. At any rate he esteems the other's grief as his own pain: and if he suffers any inconvenience through his kindness in making provision out of his own deficiency, he is not vexed at this, but only increases his bounty still further. For he has a faith unmixed with doubt, faith concerning the realities, while he commends the gospel both in his actions and in his thoughts. And verily the praise he reaps is not from men but from God, 5? as he fulfils the Lord's instructions. Being attracted by the eternal hope, he tastes not the fair things of this world, but disdains all that belongs to this life. He pities those who undergo discipline after death and are brought to repentance against their will by 49 Heb. 11:13.

50 I Cor. 13:2.

51 Matt. 6:21.

52 Rom. 2:29; John 5:41-44.

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means of punishment, while he is himself of good conscience as regards his departure and is ever ready for it as being a pilgrim and a stranger53 to this present world, remembering only his own inheritance and regarding all things here as alien. And, as he not only admires the commandments of the Lord, but is made, so to speak, a partner of the Divine Will by actual knowledge, he is a true intimate of the Lord and of his commandments, elect as righteous, fitted as gnostic for rule and sovereignty, despising all the gold that is upon the earth and under the earth, and the sovereignty which extends from one end of the ocean to the other, so as to hold fast to the one service of God. Wherefore also both in eating and drinking and in marrying, if reason so dictates, and even in his dreams, his actions and his thoughts are holy, so that he is always purified for prayer. He prays also with angels, as being already equal to angels,54 and never passes out of the holy keeping; even if he prays alone he has the chorus of saints banded with him. Such a man is aware of a twofold energy, the one that of him who believes, the other the deserved pre-eminence of him who knows, since righteousness also is twofold, the one caused by love, the other by fear.

79. Certainly we are told that the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever.5>5 For they who turn to faith and righteousness from fear endure for ever. For instance fear brings about abstinence from evil, while love prompts us to do good, building us up to a willing mind, in order that one may hear from the Lord the words, "'No longer do I call you servants, but friends,' 56 and may thenceforward join with confidence in the prayers.

And the form of his prayer is thanksgiving for what is past and what is present and what is future, as being already present through his faith: and this is preceded by the acquisition of knowledge. Moreover he prays that he may so live his appointed time in the flesh as a gnostic and as one free from the flesh, and that he may obtain the best things and escape the worse: aye, and he prays for us, that we may be comforted about our sins and may be converted to knowledge. No sooner does he hear the the Master's call to depart, than he follows it; nay, owing to his good conscience even leads the way so to speak, hastening to offer his sacrifice of thanksgiving, and being joined with Christ there, to make himself worthy from his purity to receive by inward union the power of God which is supplied through Christ.

For he does not desire to be warm through borrowed warmth or 53 Heb. 11:13.

54 Luke 20:36.

55 Ps. 19:9.

56 John 15:15.

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luminous through borrowed fire, but to be altogether light himself. Such an one knows accurately the word that is spoken, Unless ye hate your father and mother, aye, and your own life also, and unless ye bear the sign.57 For he both hates the lusts of the flesh with their potent spell of pleasure, and disdains all that belongs to handicraft and the support of the flesh; nay he rises up against the corporeal soul, putting a bit in the mouth of the irrational spirit when it breaks loose, because the flesh lusteth against the spirit.58 But to bear the sign'? is to carry about death® whilst still alive, having renounced all,®! since higher love is due to him who created the soul for knowledge than to him who begot the body.

80. When he has once formed the habit of doing good, the gnostic loses no time in benefiting others also, praying that he may be reckoned as sharing in the sins of his brethren®? with a view to the repentance and conversion of his kinsfolk, and eager to impart his own good things to those whom he holds dearest.

And his friends for their part feel the same for him. Thus he helps the growth of the seeds deposited with him according to the husbandry enjoined by the Lord, and continues without sin and acquires self-control and lives in the spirit with those who are like him in the choirs of the saints, even though he be still detained on earth. Throughout the day and night he is filled with joy uttering and doing the precepts of the Lord, not only at dawn on rising, and at midday, but also when walking and lying down, dressing and undressing; and he teaches his son,

®3 if his child be of that sex, never losing hold of the commandment and the hope, giving thanks always to God, like the creatures which give glory to God in Isaiah's allegory.*4 Patient under every trial he says: "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.

°5 For such also was Job, he who despising the loss of his outward prosperity, surrendered everything else along with his bodily soundness, owing to his love to the Lord. For it says he was upright and holy and eschewed all evil.°® But the word

"holy" implies that his whole management of life was just in things pertaining to God; and his knowledge of these things made him a gnostic. For neither, if good things come, should a man be engrossed by them, seeing they are merely human, nor again should he quarrel with them, if evil, but should be superior to both, treading the one under his feet, and passing

57 Luke 14:26, 27.

58 Gal. 5:17.

59 Luke 14:27.

60 II Cor. 4:10.

61 Luke 14:33.

62 Cf. Ex. 32:32; Rom. 9:3

63 Deut. 6:7; 11:19.

64 Isa. 6:3.

65 Job r:2r, 66 Job i:1. e

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

on the other to those who are in need. But let the gnostic be guarded in accommodating himself to others, lest accommodation should imperceptibly change into inclination.

CHAPTER XIII

81. He never remembers those who have sinned against him, but forgives them; wherefore also he has a right to pray: ''Forgive us, for we forgive.''®7 For this too is one of the things which God desires, that we should covet nothing and hate none,

°8 for all mankind are the work of one Will. And perhaps our Saviour, in desiring that the gnostic should be perfect as the Father in heaven, °°? that is, as himself—our Saviour, who says, "'Come ye children and I will teach you the fear of the Lord''7°9—desires that the gnostic should no longer need the help given through the angels,7! but being made worthy should receive it from himself, and have his protection from himself by means of his obedience. The prayer of such an one is the claiming of a promise from the Lord. And in the case of his brethren who are in need the gnostic will not ask a superfluity of wealth for himself to distribute, but will pray that there may be to them a supply of what they need. For so he not only gives his prayer to the needy, but he provides that which comes through prayer in a secret and unostentatious manner. Poverty indeed and disease and such-like trials are often used for admonition, with a view to produce both amendment of the past and care for the future.

In virtue of the prerogative of knowledge, such an one becomes an instrument of the Divine Goodness by asking for relief for the sufferers, and himself does the kind action, not from vainglory, but simply because he is a gnostic.

82. We are told in the Traditions that the apostle Matthias72 was wont to say on occasion: "If the neighbour of an elect person sins, it is the fault of the elect; for if he had conducted himself as reason dictates, his neighbour's reverence for such a life would have prevented him from sinning.'? What shall we say then about the gnostic himself? ""Know ye not,"' says the apostle,

"that ye are the temple of God?''73 The gnostic therefore is already holy and divine, carrying God within him and being carried by God. Certainly the Scripture represents sin as something

67 Matt. 6:12.

68 Cf. Basilides in Strom., IV, 86:1.

69 Matt. 5:48.

70 Ps, 34:11.

71 Ps. gt:11.

72 Of. Strom., III, 26, above; VII, 108, below.

73 I Cor. 3:16.

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alien, where it sells to the strangers those that fall away.74 And by the words "Look not with desire on another man's wife,''75 it tells us in plain terms that sin is alien and contrary to the nature of the temple of God. Now the temple is either large like the Church or small like the individual who keeps safe the seed of Abraham.7¢ He then who has God enthroned within him will not desire anything else. At any rate, leaving behind all hindrances and scorning all the distractions of matter, he cleaves the heaven by his wisdom, and having passed through the spiritual entities and every rule and authority,77 he lays hold of the throne on high, speeding to that alone, which alone he knows. So blending the serpent with the dove'8 he lives perfectly and with a good conscience, faith being mixed with hope as regards the expectation of that which is to come. For he feels that he has been made worthy to obtain the gift which he received, and that he has been translated from servitude to sonship'? in accordance with his understanding, being on the one hand not without a knowledge of God (or rather being known by him),8° and on the other hand showing in the end the effects thereof in a manner worthy of the grace received. For works follow knowledge, as the shadow the body.

83. Being then fully assured that it will be better for him after his decease, he has good reason for not being troubled at anything that happens, nor is he suspicious of any of those things which come to pass for good according to the divine order; and since his conscience is void of offence, he does not shrink from appearing before the unseen powers after his death, having been purged, so to speak, from every stain of the soul.

Hence he never prefers the pleasant or the expedient to the divine order, but trains himself by means of the commandments that he may be both well-pleasing to the Lord in all things and praiseworthy as regards the world, since all things rest upon the one Almighty God. It was to his own, we read, the Son of God came and his own received him not.8! Wherefore also in his use of the things of the world he is not only full of thankfulness and of admiration for the creation, but he also receives praise himself for using it as he ought, since it is through intelligent action, in obedience to the commands, that the gnostic arrives at the goal of contemplation. From this point he advances, ever gathering from science new food for contemplation, and having em74 Cf. Judg. 2:11-14, etc.

75 Cf. Matt. 5:28; Prov. 6:24, 25.

76 John 8:33 f.; Gal. 3:29, etc.; I John 3:9.

77 Eph. 1:21; 6;12.

78 Matt. 10:16.

79 Rom. 8:15.

80 Gal. 4:9.

81 John 1:11. :

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

braced with enthusiasm the great idea of knowledge, till at last he receives the holy reward of his translation'? hence. For he has heard the psalm which says, "'Walk about Sion and encompass it, declare in the towers thereof '';83 the meaning of which is, I suppose, that those who receive the word in a lofty spirit will be lofty as towers, and will stand securely both in faith and in knowledge.

CHAPTER XIV

84. Let thus much be said in the briefest possible terms about the gnostic to the Greeks as seed for further thought. 'Though the simple believer may succeed in one or other of the points mentioned, yet it must be remembered that he cannot do so in all, nor with perfect science like the gnostic. And further, of our gnostic's apathy, if I may use the term, according to which the perfecting of the believer advances through love, till it arrives at the perfect man, at the measure of the stature,8* being made like to God and having become truly equal to the angels§5— of this apathy many other evidences from Scripture occur to me which I might adduce, but I think it better to defer so ambitious an attempt owing to the length of the discussion, leaving the task to those who are willing to take pains in elaborating the doctrines by extracts from Scripture. One Scripture however I will briefly refer to, so as not to leave the topic altogether unnoticed.

The divine apostle says, in his earlier epistle to the Corinthians, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world, etc.?''8© As the paragraph is very long, I will set forth the meaning of the apostle's utterance by making use of such of the apostolic expressions as are most to the point, giving in the most concise language a rapid paraphrase of the passage where he describes the perfection of the gnostic. For he not only defines the gnostic's position as consisting in submitting to wrong rather than in inflicting wrong on another, but he also teaches him to forget injuries, not even allowing him to pray against him who has done the wrong; for he knows that the Lord also gave a plain command that we should pray for our enemies.87 The assertion then that the injured party goes to law before the unjust,88 shows nothing else than a desire to retaliate and a willingness to commit a second

82 Heb. 11:5.

83 Ps, 48:12.

84 Eph. 4:13.

85 Luke 20:36.

86 T Cor. 6:1, 2.

87 Matt. 5:44.

88 IT Cor. 6:6.

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wrong, that is, to be himself equally in fault. But the statement that some wish to go to law before the saints indicates those who ask in prayer that their oppressors may be requited for their extortion; it shows too that though the latter are better than the former, still they are not yet free from passion, unless they entirely forget their wrongs and pray even for their enemies, according to the teaching of the Lord.

85. It is well then that they should also come to a better mind by repentance to faith. For if the truth seems to have enemies in those who provoke her to jealousy,

®? still she is in no wise hostile to any herself. For as ''God causes his sun to shine upon the just and the unjust," aye, and sent the Lord himself to just and unjust, so he who strives to be made like to God through the absence of all malice "forgives seventy times seven times''! (i.e., as one might say, throughout his whole life and the entire cosmical revolution signified by the reckoning of sevens) and shows kindness to every one, even though some continue to ill-treat the gnostic all the time of their life here in the flesh. For it is not only the judgment of those who have wronged him that the apostle requires the virtuous man to leave to others; he even desires that the just man should ask from those judges the forgiveness of their sins for those who have offended against him; and with good reason, seeing that they who attempt injustice damage only what is external and concerned with the body, even though it should go to the extent of death; but none of such things properly belongs to the gnostic. And how could one judge the apostate angels®2 if he is himself an apostate from the gospel rule that we are to forget injuries? ""Why do ye not rather take wrong?" he continues, "'why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong" (namely, by praying against those who offend in ignorance) and, so far as in you lies, "ye defraud" of the goodness and kindness of God those against whom ye pray, '"'and that your brethren''93 (referring hereby, not only to those who are brethren by faith, but to those also who are strangers among you). 86. For we know not yet whether even he who is at present hostile may not hereafter believe. From which we clearly gather, if not that all are brethren, yet that to us they should seem such. And further, that all men are the work of one God, invested with one likeness upon one nature (though in some the likeness may be more confused than in others) —the recognition of this is reserved for the 89 Deut. 32:21; I Cor. 10:22.

9 Matt. 5:45.

91 Matt. 18:22.

92 I Cor. 6:3.

93 I Cor. 6:7, 8.

ON SPIRITUAL

PERFECTION

man of understanding, who through the creation adores the Divine energy, through which again he adores the Divine Will.

"Or know ye not that wrong-doers shall not inherit the kingdom of God?''94 He then is a wrong-doer who retaliates either by deed or word or by the wish in the heart, which is excluded by the Gospel after the schooling of the law.95 "'And such were some of you''—such, manifestly, as those still are whom you refuse to pardon—*but ye washed yourselves,''®* not simply like the rest, but with knowledge you cast off the passions of the soul, so as to become assimilated to the goodness of the Divine

Providence, to the best of your power, both by long-suffering and by forgiveness, causing the gentleness of your word and deeds to shine like the sun upon just and unjust®' alike. The gnostic will attain this result either by his own greatness of mind, or by imitation of one who is better than himself; and there is a third cause denoted by the word: "Forgive and it shall be forgiven you,''®' where the command seems to compel to salvation through its exceeding goodness. But ye were sanctified.°

For he who has attained such a habit as this, must necessarily be holy, never falling into any passion in any way, but being, as it were, already freed from the flesh and having reached a holiness above this world.

87. Wherefore, he says, "'ye were justified by the name of the Lord'';99 ye were, so to speak, made by him to be just, as he is just, and ye were intimately joined with the Holy Spirit, so far as it is possible for man. For does he not say, "'All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any,' ! so as to do or think or speak anything contrary to the gospel? "'And meats are for the belly and the belly for meats, but the Lord shall destroy them,''? that is, all who so reason and live as if they were born for eating, instead of eating to live as a subordinate aim, but devoting themselves to knowledge as their principal aim. And perhaps he means that these are, as it were, the fleshy parts of the Holy Body, the Lord's Church being figuratively described as a body,} viz., that spiritual and holy choir, of whom those who are only called by the Name and do not live accordingly constitute the flesh. But this spiritual body, i.e., the holy Church, is not for fornication nor must it be connected in any possible sort or way with the apostasy from the gospel to the life of the heathen.

94 I Cor. 6:9.

95 Gal. 3:24.

96 I Cor. 6:11.

97 Matt. 5:45.

98 Matt. 6:14; Polyc., Phil., 2; Clem. Rom., Ep. ad Cor., I, 13.

99 I Cor, 6:11.

1 I Cor. 6:12.

21 Cor. 6:13.

3 Eph. 1:23.

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88. For he who behaves like a heathen in the Church, whether in act or word or even merely in thought, commits fornication against the Church and against his own body.* He that is joined to this harlot5 (viz., the activity which is contrary to the covenant), for one flesh® and for a heathenish life and another hope, becomes another body which is not holy; but he that is joined to the Lord after a different kind of union, in spirit, is a spiritual body. He is wholly a son, a holy man, passionless, gnostic, perfect, being formed by the Lord's teaching, in order that he may be brought close to him in deed and word and in his very spirit, and may receive that mansion' which is due to one who has thus approved his manhood.

This may serve as a sample for those that have ears. For we must not divulge the mystery, but only indicate it so far as to recall it to those who have been partakers in knowledge, who will also understand what is the meaning of the Lord's saying,

"Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect,''' perfectly forgiving sins and forgetting injuries, and being habitually free from passion. For as we speak of a perfect physician and a perfect philosopher, so, I suppose, we may speak of a perfect gnostic; but none of these perfections, to whatever height it may attain, is regarded as coming into comparison with God. For we do not agree with the impious opinion of the Stoics as to the identity of human and divine virtue.? Perhaps, then, we ought to be as perfect as the Father wishes us to be: for it is impracticable and impossible that any one should be as perfect as God is; but our

Father wishes that we should arrive at an unimpeachable perfection by living according to the obedience of the gospel. If then, since the saying is incomplete, we supply what is wanting for the completion of the passage, the explanation of which has been left to those who are capable of understanding, we shall both recognize the will of God and shall live a life of piety and aspiration, in a manner worthy of the commandment.

CHAPTER XV

89. The next thing is to reply to the charges brought against us by Greeks and Jews. And since the different schools in other departments of learning take their part in some of the difficulties raised, similarly to the above mentioned, it may be well to begin by clearing away obstacles and then to proceed to the next

41 Cor. 6:18.

5 I Cor. 6:16, 6 I Cor. 6:16, 7 John 14:2.

8 Matt, 5:48.

® Cf. Origen, contra Celsum, IV, 29; V1, 48.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

Miscellany fully prepared for the solution of the difficulties. The first charge they allege is this very point, that the diversity of sects shows belief to be wrong, for the voice of truth is drowned amid the din of conflicting assertions. 'To whom we reply that, both among you Jews and among the most approved of the Greek philosophers, there have been multitudes of sects, yet of course you do not say that one should hesitate to be a philosopher or a follower of the Jews on account of the internal discord of your sects.!° In the next place it was prophesied by the Lord that the seed of heresy would be sown upon the truth like tares upon wheat!! (and what was prophesied cannot but come to pass), the cause of this being that the beautiful is always shadowed by its caricature. !2 go. What then? If some one is guilty of breaking his engagements!24 and neglecting his agreement with us, shall we let go the truth ourselves on account of him who has been false to his agreement? No, the good man must be true to his word and not belie any promise, however much others may break their engagements. And just so, we ought in no way to transgress the rule of the Church. Above all the confession which deals with the essential articles of the faith is observed by us, but disregarded by the heretics. Those, then, are to be believed who hold firmly to the truth. Using this defence broadly we are now entitled to reply to them, that physicians also, though holding different opinions in accordance with their particular schools, are still equally engaged in the practice of healing. Does then any one who is suffering in body and needs medical treatment refuse to call in a physician owing to the diversity of medical schools? So neither should he who is diseased in soul and full of idols plead the heresies as his excuse in regard to the recovery of health and conversion to God. Aye, and we are told that heresies are for the sake of those who are approved;!3 and by '"'approved"' is meant either those who are coming to the faith, if they show unusual discrimination in approaching the teaching of the Lord (like the approved money-changers!4 who distinguish the spurious from the legal coin by the false stamp), or 10 Cf. Origen, contra Celsum, III, 12.

11 Matt. 13:25.

12 Clement seems to be quoting some tag.

128 Cf, Strom. VII, 51 and note on Origen, Dial. c. Heracl. 130 (below, P440).

13 J Cor. 11:19.

14 Clement quotes a saying of Jesus not recorded in the Gospels but frequently cited by early Christian writers (cf. Resch, Agrapha,

116-127).

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those who are in the faith itself, and have already approved themselves therein, both by their life and their knowledge. gi. It is for this réason therefore that we need more attention and consideration to determine how we should live with strictness, and what is true piety. For it is evident that the trouble and difficulty of ascertaining the truth have given rise to questionings, from whence spring vain and self-willed heresies, when man have not learnt or really received knowledge, but have merely got a conceit of it. We must therefore spend more thought in searching for the very truth, which alone has for its subject the very God. And sweet are the discovery and the remembrance which attend on toil. The effect of the heresies should therefore be to make one buckle to the toil of discovery and not to abandon it altogether. So too, if we have set before us on the one hand ripe natural fruit, and on the other fruit of wax made to resemble it as closely as possible, we ought not to abstain from both on account of their similarity, but to distinguish the real from the apparent both intuitively and by strict process of reasoning. And just as, if there were only one royal road, but many by-roads, some leading to a precipice, some to a rushing torrent, or deep sea, a man would not hesitate to travel because of this diversity, but would make use of the king's safe highway; so we must not give up our search because there are different views as to the truth, but must hunt all the more earnestly for the most exact knowledge concerning it. For even among the herbs of the garden weeds spring up, but the husbandmen do not therefore desist from gardening. Since then nature supplies us with many helps for testing the things we are told, we ought also to discover the harmony of the truth. Hence we are rightly condemned if we withhold our assent to the things which we ought to believe, because we fail to distinguish what is incongruous and unseemly and unnatural and false from what is true and consistent and seemly and natural; and these helps we should make full use of in order to gain a knowledge of the real truth.

92. 'This is therefore an idle excuse on the part of the Greeks: for those who desire it will be able also to discover the truth, while those who put forward irrational grounds have no excuse for their judgment.!5 For what is their view of demonstration?

Do they deny that there is such a thing or do they admit it? I suppose all would admit it except those who deny the evidence of the senses. But if there is such a thing as demonstration they

15 Rom. 2:1.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

must descend to investigation and be taught demonstratively from the Scriptures themselves how the heretical schools went astray, and how it is only in the true and the ancient Church that there is the most exact knowledge and the really best school of thought. But of those who turn aside from the truth some try to deceive themselves only; others to deceive their neighbours as well, They, then, who are termed "wise in their own conceit," those, I mean, who think they have discovered the truth without any true demonstration; these men deceive themselves, thinking to have attained rest: and of such persons there is no small number, men that avoid inquiry for fear of being refuted and also flee from instruction because it condemns themselves. But those who try to impose on their followers are utterly unscrupulous, who, being well aware that they are absolutely without knowledge, nevertheless darken the truth with plausible sophisms.

But in my opinion, the nature of such sophismsis entirely distinct from that of true arguments. Further, we know that it is necessary to give the terminology of the heresies in order that the truth may be clearly distinguished from them. For the sophists steal certain fragments of the truth for the injury of mankind and bury them in the human systems they have themselves devised, and then glory in presiding over what is rather a school than a Church.

CHAPTER XVI

93. But they who are willing to work for the noblest prizes will not relinquish their search for truth, until they obtain the proof from the Scriptures themselves. Now there are certain criteria common to all men, such as the senses; while the other technical criteria acquired by thought and reasoning, to distinguish between true and false arguments, are confined to those who have made truth their aim and practice. But the chief thing is to get rid of self-conceit, taking a position midway between exact science and rash opinionativeness, and to recognize that he who hopes for the eternal rest knows also that the entrance to it 1s toilsome and strait.16 But let not him who has once received the gospel and, as it says, embraced salvation with joy!" in the hour when he became acquainted with it—let not him, I say, "turn back like Lot's wife,''18 nor recur to his former life which was devoted to the things of sense, nor yet to the heresies, for they in a sort imitate the heathen, not knowing the true God. For "he

16 Matt. 7:14.

17 Matt. 13:20.

18 Luke 17:31, 32.

154.

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OF ALEXANDRIA

that loveth father or mother more than me,''!9 1.e., than the true Father and teacher of the truth, who regenerates and recreates and nourishes the elect soul—''he," saith he, "'is not worthy of me," worthy, that is, to be a son of God and at once a disciple and friend and kin to God. For "no man who looks backward and puts his hand to the plough is fit for the kingdom of God."

2° But, just as most people even now believe, as it seems, that Mary ceased to be a virgin through the birth of her child, though this was not really the case—for some say that she was found by the midwife to be a virgin after her delivery?!—(g4) so we find it to be with the Lord's Scriptures, which bring forth the truth and yet remain virgins, hiding within them the mysteries of the truth. "She has brought forth and has not brought forth,"'22 says the Scripture, speaking as of one who had conceived of herself and not from another. Wherefore the Scriptures are pregnant to the gnostics, but the heretics, not having examined them, dismiss them as barren. And though all men have the same faculty of judgment, some find their grounds for belief in following the dictates of reason, while others surrender themselves to pleasures and wrest the Scripture to suit their desires. But, methinks, the lover of truth needs energy of soul; for they who set themselves to the greatest tasks must meet the greatest disasters, unless they have received the canon of the truth from the truth itself. And such persons, having fallen away from the right path, generally go wrong in particulars also, as might be expected, because they have no criterion of truth and falsehood accurately trained to make the right choice.

Otherwise they would have believed the divine Scriptures, 95. Asif, then, one were to become a beast instead of a man, like those who were changed by Circe's drugs,?3 so is it with him who has spurned the tradition of the Church and has suddenly taken up with the fancies of human sects; he has lost the character of a man of God, and of enduring trust in the Lord.

But he who has returned from this deceit, after hearing the 19 Matt. 10:37.

20 Luke 9:62.

21 For the story of the midwife, cf. Protevangelium of James, 19-20 (M. R.

James, Apocr. N.T., 46); for perpetual virginity of Mary, Origen, in Matt., X, 17.

22 Cf. Tertullian, De Carne Christi, 23, "legimus apud Ezechielem de vacca illa quae peperit et non peperit."' (Probably from the apocryphal Ezekiel; a eae F.T.S., XV (1914) 240; Karl Holl, Gesammelte Aufsatze,

, 96.

23 Homer, Odyssey, X, 235 f.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

Scriptures, and has turned his life to the truth, such an one becomes in the end as it were a god instead of a man. For in the Lord we have the first principle of instruction, guiding us to knowledge from first to last "in divers ways and divers portions''24 through the prophets and the gospel and the blessed apostles. And, if any one were to suppose that the first principle stood in need of something else, it could no longer be really maintained as a first principle. He then who of himself believes the Lord's Scripture and his actual voice is worthy of belief, being one who would be naturally moved by the Lord to act for the benefit of men. Certainly we use it as a criterion for the discovery of the real facts. But whatever comes into judgment is not to be believed before it is judged, so that what is in need of judgment cannot be a first principle. With good reason therefore having apprehended our first principle by faith without proof, we get our proofs about the first principle ex abundant from the principle itself, and are thus trained by the voice of the Lord for the knowledge of the truth. For we pay no attention to the mere assertions of men, which may be met by equally valid assertions on the other side. If, however, it is not enough just simply to state one's opinion, but we are bound to prove what is said, then we do not wait for the witness of men, but we prove the point in question by the voice of the Lord, which is more to be relied on than any demonstration, or rather which is the only real demonstration. From this science it comes that, while they who have but tasted of the Scriptures are believers, the gnostics, who have made further progress, are accurate judges of the truth; since even in the ordinary concerns of life craftsmen have an advantage over laymen, and give shape to finer models far surpassing common ideas.

96. So too we, obtaining from the Scriptures themselves a perfect demonstration concerning the Scriptures, derive from faith a conviction which has the force of demonstration. And though it be true that the heretics also have the audacity to make use of the prophetic Scriptures, yet in the first place they do not use them all, and in the second place they do not use them in their entirety, nor as the general frame and tissue of the prophecy suggest; but picking out ambiguous phrases, they turn them to their own opinions, plucking a few scattered utterances, without considering what is intended by them, but perverting the bare letter as it stands. For in almost all the passages they employ, you will find how they attend to the words

24 Heb. 1:1.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

alone, while they change the meaning, neither understanding them as they are spoken, nor even using in their natural sense such extracts as they adduce.

But the truth is discovered not by altering the meanings of words (for by so doing they will subvert all true teaching), but by considering what is perfectly fitting and appropriate to the Lord and the Almighty God, and by confirming each thing that is proved according to the Scriptures from similar passages of the Scriptures themselves. Hence they are neither ready to turn to the truth, being ashamed to derogate from their own importance, nor have they any way of setting forth their own opinions but by doing violence to the Scriptures. Having hastily published to the world their false doctrines, which are palpably at variance with almost all the Scriptures, and being always confuted by our opposing arguments, they still even now persist in their refusal to accept some of the prophetic writings; while on the other hand they accuse us of inability to understand what is peculiar to them, as though we were quite of another nature; and at other times they are driven to deny even their own doctrines, being ashamed to confess openly what in private they

_ boast of teaching.

| 97. For so we shall find it to be in all the heresies, when we examine the iniquities of their doctrines. When they are refuted by plain proof on our part that they are opposed to the Scriptures, you may see the upholders of the doctrine in question taking one or other of two courses: they either make light of the consistency of their own doctrines, or they make light of prophecy itself, in other words, of that which constitutes their own hope; preferring on each occasion that which commends itself to their own reason, rather than that which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets and is attested and confirmed by the gospel as well as by the apostles. Perceiving, then, that it was not merely a single doctrine which was at stake, but the keeping up of their heresies, and having no desire to discover the truth— for after reading the books we commonly use in public, they despised them as worthless—and aiming simply to exceed the common rule of the faith, they abandoned the truth. For being ignorant of the mysteries of the knowledge of the Church, and incapable of apprehending the grandeur of the truth, they were too sluggish to penetrate to the bottom of the matter, and so laid aside the Scriptures after a superficial reading.

98. Being elated therefore by a conceit of wisdom they are constantly quarrelling, showing that they care more to be

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

thought philosophers than to be?5 so in reality. For instance, though they lay no foundation of necessary principles, but are moved simply by the opinions of men, yet afterwards they labour to make the conclusion follow necessarily on their premises, and, for fear of being confuted, keep sparring with those who pursue the true philosophy. And their vanity impels them to endure everything, and stir every stone, as the phrase is, even going to the length of impiety through disbelieving the Scriptures, rather than surrender their heresy and the much-talked-of precedence in their assemblies, for the sake of which they so eagerly affect the first couch26 in the drinking-bout of their mis-named

Agapé.27 But the knowledge of truth, which is found among us Christians, supplies, from what is already believed, faith for what is not yet believed—faith which is, so to speak, the substance of demonstration. On the other hand, it seems that heresy of every kind has absolutely no ear for what is expedient, but listens only to what is pleasurable; otherwise a heretic might have been healed, if he had only been willing to obey the truth.

Now conceit, like every other ailment, requires a three-fold treatment: there must be a knowledge of the cause, and of the way in which this may be removed, and thirdly there must be discipline of the soul and the training which enables us to follow

_what is judged to be right.

99. For, as a clouded eye, so too the soul that is confused by unnatural opinions is unable to discern accurately the light of truth, but sees amiss even what lies before it. Certainly we are told that eels also lose their sight and are easily caught in turbid water.28 And just as naughty children lock out their tutor, so the heretics shut out the prophecies from their church, holding them in suspicion because they convict and admonish them. I grant they patch up many lying inventions to give a sort of decent excuse for their neglect of the Scriptures; and herein they show their want of piety, quarrelling as they do with the divine commands, that is, with the Holy Spirit. And as we call almonds empty, not only when they have nothing in them, but when what is in them is worthless, so we say that the heretics are empty of the divine purposes and of the traditions of Christ,

25 Aesch., Sept. c. Th., 577; cf. Plato, Rep., 361 B. For the quarrelsome behaviour of the heretical sects, cf. Celsus in Origen, contra Celsum, III, 10;

V, 63.

26 Matt. 23:6.

27 On the riotous love-feasts of the sects, cf. Strom., III, 10; Paedag., II, 4:3-4.

28 Aristotle, Hist. Anim., VIII, 2 (592 A, 6 f.).

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

because they are the authors of dogmas which are in truth as bitter as the wild almond, except in so far as the clearness of the truth made it impossible for them to set aside or conceal it.

100. As, then, in war the soldier must not leave the post assigned to him by the general, so neither must we leave the post to which we are appointed by the Word, whom we have received as our captain both of knowledge and of life. But the greater part of men have not inquired whether they ought to follow any guide, and, if so, when and how he should be followed. For as is the word, such too should the life29 of the believer be, so as to be able to follow God, as he holds his unswerving path? in all things from the beginning. But when a man breaks his word and so sins against God, if his weakness was due to a sudden impression, he must take care to have reasonable impressions in readiness; but if he is mastered by a habit that has gained dominion over him, and has so become what the Scripture calls gross,3! he must put an absolute stop to the habit and train his soul to resist it. And if there are some who seem to be attracted by contradictory opinions, they must gradually get rid of them, and resort to those who can introduce harmony3? of opinions, those who can charm the timid and inexperienced with the spell of the divine Scriptures, making the truth plain by means of the agreement of the Testaments. But, as it seems, we incline rather to the common opinion, though it may involve contradiction, than to the truth with its sternness and severity.

Again of the three different mental conditions, ignorance, conceit, knowledge, ignorance is the characteristic of the heathen, knowledge of the true Church, conceit of the heretics.

101, Certainly one does not find scientific men making more positive and definite assertions about the objects of their knowledge, than these men about their opinions, so far as depends on unproved assertion. At any rate they despise and laugh at one another; and it sometimes happens that the same interpretation is held in the highest honour by one set and regarded as insane by another. And further we have learnt that there is a difference between voluptuousness, which must be assigned to the heathen, and strife which we must adjudge to the heresies, and on the other hand between joy which one must appropriate to the Church, and gladness which must be imputed to the true gnostic. And just as Ischomachus will make those who attend

29 Stoic maxim, | 30 Plato, Legg., 716 A.

St ExX.cl:7, 32 Matt. 5:9.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

to his instructions husbandmen, and Lampis sea-captains, and Charidemus commanders, and Simon horsemen, and Perdix hucksters, and Crobylus cooks, and Archelaus dancers, and Homer poets, and Pyrrho wranglers, and Demosthenes orators, and Chrysippus logicians, and Aristotle men of science, and Plato philosophers, 33 so he who obeys the Lord and follows the prophecy given through him, is fully perfected after the likeness of his teacher, and thus becomes a god while still moving about in the flesh.

It is from such a height, then, that they fall who do not follow God wherever he may lead them, and he leads them by way of the inspired writings.34 Certainly, though the number of human actions is infinite, it may be said that there are only two causes of all failure, both of which are in our own power, viz., ignorance and weakness on the part of those who are neither willing to learn nor to gain the mastery over their desires. 'he former makes men judge wrongly, the latter prevents them from following out right judgments; for neither could any one act rightly if he were deceived in his judgment, even though he were perfectly able to carry out his determinations; nor on the other hand would he show himself blameless if he were a weakling in act, whatever might be his capacity to discern what was right.

102. Corresponding to these there are also two kinds of discipline provided, suitable for either class of failings; for the one, knowledge and the plain proof derived from the witness of the Scriptures; for the other, training according to reason controlled by faith and fear: and both of these grow up into perfect love.

For the end of the gnostic on earth is in my opinion twofold, in some cases scientific contemplation, in others action.

Would that even these heretics would take a lesson from these suggestions and be reformed and turn to the Almighty God!

But if, like deaf adders, they refuse to listen to the charm,35 new in form, but most ancient in substance, may they at any rate undergo the divine discipline, submitting to the corrections of their heavenly Father before the Judgment, until they become ashamed and repent, instead of rushing headlong into utter condemnation through their stubborn disobedience! For there are also partial forms of discipline, which are called chastisements, into which most of us, who have trespassed from among the Lord's people, slip and fall. But as children are chastened

33 Similar list of teachers in Aelian, Var. hist., TV, 16 (perhaps from the same

~ source as that followed by Clement).

34 Cf. II Tim. 3:16.

35 Ps. 58:4, 5.

CLEMENT

OF ALEXANDRIA

by their teacher or their father, so are we by Providence. For God does not take vengeance (for vengeance is a retaliation of evil), but he chastens with a view to the good, both public and private, of those who are chastened. These things I have set forth, desiring to turn aside from their proclivity to heresy those who are eager to learn; but as for others, 1 have used these arguments out of a longing desire to make them cease from the prevailing ignorance or stupidity or ill condition or whatever it is to be called, and endeavouring to persuade and bring over to the truth those who are not yet altogether incurable.

103. For there are some who absolutely refuse to give ear to those who urge them to seek the truth: aye, and they aim at smartness, pouring out blasphemous words against the truth, while they credit themselves with the possession of the highest knowledge, though they have not learnt or sought or laboured or discovered the harmony of truth—men who excite our pity rather than our hate for such perverseness. But if any one is still curable, able to endure the plain-speaking of the truth, when it burns and cuts away their false opinions, like the cautery or the knife, let him lend an attentive ear. And this will be so unless, in their slothfulness, they thrust away the truth, or through ambition press after novelties. For those are slothful who, having it in their power to provide the fitting proofs for the Divine

Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves, nevertheless select what is exclusively favourable to their own pleasures; and those are ambitious who, of set purpose, explain away by other spurious arguments the beliefs which attach to the inspired words, beliefs handed down by the blessed apostles and teachers, and thus oppose divine tradition with human doctrines in order to establish their heresy. For indeed what place was left among the great men of old—I mean, according to the judgment of the Church—for Marcion, say, or Prodicus3® or the like, who walked not along the straight road? For they could not have surpassed in wisdom the men that went before, so as to discover something beyond what had been truly spoken by them; but might have been well content if they had been able to understand what had been already handed down.

104. We find, then, that the gnostic alone, having grown old in the study of the actual Scriptures, guards the orthodox doctrine of the apostles and the Church and lives a life of perfect rectitude in accordance with the gospel, being aided by the Lord to discover the proofs he is in search of both from the law and the 36 Cf. above III, 30; VII, 41.

ON SPIRITUAL

PERFECTION

prophets. For the life of the gnostic, as it seems to me, is nothing else than deeds and words agreeable to the tradition of the Lord.

"But knowledge belongeth not to all.''37 "For I would not have you ignorant," says the apostle, "'that all were under the cloud and partook of spiritual meat and drink,''38 evidently arguing that not all who hear the word have been capable of understanding the greatness of knowledge, both in deed and word.

Wherefore also he added, "But he was not well pleased with all."'39 Who is meant by "'he''? It is he who said, "Why call ye me 'Lord,' and do not the will of my Father?''4° the teaching, that is, of the Saviour, which is our spiritual food! and a drink that knows no thirst,42 the water of gnostical life.43 "Aye," say they, 'we are told that 'Knowledge puffeth up.'''44 To whom we reply, perhaps seeming knowledge is said to puff up, if it is supposed that the interpretation of the word is self-conceit. But if, as is rather the case, the apostle's language means to have lofty and true thoughts, then the objection vanishes. Let us however confirm what has been said by following the Scriptures.

105. '""'Wisdom," says Solomon, "'inspirited her own children.''45 Assuredly the Lord did not infuse conceit by means of the particular courses of instruction; but faith in truth and confidence in the knowledge handed down through the Scriptures, make a man disdain the seductions to sin; and it is this disdain that is signified by the term "'inspirited'': it teaches the sublimity of the wisdom implanted in children by learning. At any rate the apostle says, ''And I will know not the speech of them that are 'inspirited,' but the power,''4® whether ye have a lofty, that is, a true understanding of the Scriptures'? (for nothing is higher than truth); for herein lies the power of the "'inspirited"' children of wisdom; meaning something of this sort, "I shall know whether ye take a just pride in knowledge." For, as David says, "In Judah is God known,''48 1.e., to those who are Israelites according to knowledge. For Judah is by interpretation

""Confession."' With reason therefore has it been said by the apostle, '"This, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other command, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.''49 For we must never adulterate the truth, nor steal the rule of the Church, as those who follow the 37 I Cor. 8:7.

38 I Cor. 10:1-4.

39 I Cor. 10:5.

40 Luke 6:46; Matt. 7:21.

41 I Cor. 10:3.

42 John 4:14.

43 Rev. 22:17.

44 T Cor. 8:1.

45 Ecclesiasticus 4:11.

46 I Cor. 4:19.

47 Luke 24:45.

48 Ps, 76:1.

49 Rom. 13:9.

A.C.—II

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

heresies, gratifying our own desires and ambitions with a view to the deception of our neighbours, whom we ought to love above every thing and teach to cling to the truth itself. At any rate it has been expressly said, ""Tell among the heathen his doings,"

>° in order that those who have been thus forewarned may not be judged, but may be converted. But as many as flatter with their tongues5! have their punishments prescribed.

CHAPTER XVII

106. They, then, who engage in impious words and introduce them to others, and make no good use, but an utterly wrong use, of the divine words, such men "'neither enter themselves into the kingdom of God, nor permit''52 those whom they have deceived to attain to the truth. Nay, they have not even got the key53 of the door themselves, but only a false or, as it is commonly called, a skeleton key, which does not enable them to throw open the main door,>4 and enter, as we do, through the tradition of the Lord; but they cut a side door and break secretly through the wall of the Church; and so overstepping the bounds of truth, they initiate the soul of the impious into their mysteries.

For it needs no long discourse to prove that the merely human assemblies which they have instituted were later in time than the Catholic Church. For the teaching of our Lord, during his life upon earth, begins under Augustus and Tiberius, and is completed in the middle of the reign of the latter, and the preaching of his apostles, at least up to the end of Paul's ministry, is completed under Nero; while the heresiarchs began quite late, about the time of the emperor Hadrian, and lasted to the age of Antoninus the elder, as was the case with Basilides, in spite of his claiming to have been taught by Glaucias, whom they themselves boast to have been the interpreter of Peter. So too they report that Valentinus heard Theodas, who was a disciple of Paul. 107. For Marcion, who lived about the same time, associated with them as an elder with his juniors. After him

Simon was for a short time a hearer of Peter.54

Such being the case, it is evident that these later heresies and those which are still more recent are spurious innovations on the oldest and truest Church. From what has been said I think it

50 Ps. g:1t.

51 Ps, 5:9.

52 Matt. 23:14.

53 Matt. 16:19; Luke 11:52.

54 John ro: ff.

5# Cf. Acts 8. "After him" is probably corrupt. Read perhaps ''Only Simon ..

."? (Wilamowitz). Nothing is known of Theodas or Glaucias.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

has been made plain that unity is a characteristic of the true, the really ancient Church, into which those that are righteous according to the divine purpose are enrolled. For God being one and the Lord being one, that also which is supremely honoured is the object of praise, because it stands alone, being a copy of the one First Principle: at any rate the one Church, which they strive to break up into many sects, is bound up with the principle of Unity. We say, then, that the ancient and Catholic Church stands alone in essence and idea and principle and pre-eminence, gathering together, by the will of one God through the one Lord, into the unity of the one faith, built upon the fitting covenants (or rather the one covenant given at different times) all those who are already enlisted in it, whom God foreordained, having known before the foundation of the worlds> that they would be righteous. And, further, the preeminence of the Church, like the principle of its constitution, is in accordance with the Monad, surpassing all other things and having nothing like or equal to itself.

108. Of this we shall speak on a future occasion. But of the heresies some are called after the name of the founder, as that which is called after Valentinus, and Marcion, and Basilides, though the last sect professes to cite the opinion of Matthias.5¢ I say ''professes,"' for, as the teaching, so also the tradition of all the apostles has been one and the same. Other heresies are called from the place where they arose, as the Peratici; others from their nationality, as the Phrygian heresy; others from their practice, like the Encratites; others from peculiar opinions, as the Docetae and Haematitae; others from the personages they admire, as the Cainites and those who are styled Ophites; others from their unblushing immoralities, as the so-called

Entychitae among the Simonians.

CHAPTER XVIII

109. Before closing my discourse I should like, for the benefit of the more speculative members of the Church, to throw a little light from the sacrificial law, concerning clean and unclean beasts, in reference to the ordinary Jews and the heresies which are mystically distinguished, as unclean, from the Church of God. We are taught by the Scriptures that the victims which divide the hoof and chew the cud are clean57 and acceptable to God, implying that the righteous make their approach to the 55 Eph. 1:4-5.

56 Cf. note on Strom., VII, 82, above.

57 Lev. 11:3 f.

164.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

Father and the Son through their faith—for in this consists the stability of those that divide the hoof—and that they study and ruminate the oracles of God' by night and day*? in the mental receptacle of knowledge, which being also a kind of gnostic discipline, is figuratively described in the law as the chewing of the cud by a clean animal. But those who are wanting in both or even in one of these qualifications are rejected. For instance, those which chew the cud without dividing the hoof signify the Jews generally, who have the oracles of God*8 in their mouth, but have not the firm footing of faith stayed upon truth, which carries them to the Father through the Son. Whence this class of creatures is liable to slip, as is natural where the foot is not parted and they are not stayed upon the doubleness of faith.

For we read: '"'No one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son may reveal him.''® On the other hand, those too are unclean which divide the hoof without chewing the cud.

For this phrase denotes the heretics who take their stand on the name of the Father and of the Son, but have no power to bring out the exact perspicuity of the oracles by subtle distinctions and by smoothing away of difficulties, while their prosecution of the works of righteousness, if they prosecute them at all, is rough and careless rather than exact.

110. It is to some such persons that the Lord says: ""Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?''*! But those who do not divide the hoof nor chew the cud are utterly unclean. As Theognis says, ""You Megarians are neither in the third class, nor even the twelfth, nor in any number or account whatever; but are like the chaff which the wind scattereth from the face of the earth,®? and as a drop of a bucket.''3, 64

Having completed this introduction, and given a summary outline of ethical philosophy, wherein we have scattered the sparks of the doctrines of the true knowledge dispersedly here and there, as we promised, so that it should not be easy for the uninitiated who came across them to discover the holy traditions; let us pass on to our general argument.

111. Now it seems that what are known as Miscellanies are not to be compared to ornamental parks with rows of ordered

58 eee Num. 24:16.

59 Ps. 1:2.

60 Luke 10:22.

61 Luke 6:46, 62 Ps. 1:

63 Isa. 40:15.

64 'The quotation is wrongly ascribed to Theognis. The Megarians asked the oracle who were the most important people in Greece, and were told they were not in the reckoning at all. Cf. H. Chadwick on Origen, contra

Celsum, IV, 31.

ON SPIRITUAL PERFECTION

plantations to please the eye, but rather to some thickly wooded hill, overgrown with cypresses and planes and bay-tree and ivy, and at the same time planted with apple-trees and olives and figs, the cultivation of fruit-bearing and of woodland trees being intentionally mingled together, since the Scripture desires to withdraw from observation on account of those who venture secretly to steal its fruits. It is by transplanting the suckers and trees from these preserves that the gardener will furnish a beautiful park and pleasure-ground. Our Miscellanies therefore make no pretence of order or of choice diction, seeing that in this kind of composition the Greeks purposely object to over-sweetness of style, and sow their doctrines secretly and not in a plain, unmistakable manner, seeking to exercise the diligence and ingenuity of the readers, if there should be such. For we must provide a large variety of baits owing to the varieties of fish.

And now, having concluded our seventh Miscellany, we will make a new start in our discussion of what is to follow.

®5 65 Clement wrote no more of the Stromateis, for what reason we do not know.

The so-called VIIIth book is not a continuation, and consists of notes, perhaps a rough draft for lectures. It does not bear signs of having been intended for publication.

ABBREVIATIONS

The following abbreviations have been used, in addition to others which it is unnecessary to explain.

A.N.F.—Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson, Edinburgh, 1864, and Buffalo, 1885.

Anonymous—Notes on the De Oratione of Origen by an anonymous English scholar, included in the edition of W. Reading.

Bigg—C. Bigg, The Christian Platonists of Alexandria, Oxford, 1913.

C.B.—(Corpus Berolinense): Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Fahrhunderte, Berlin, 1897.

C.V.—(Corpus Vindobonense):

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vienna, 1866.

D.A.C.L.—Dictionnaire d' Archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie, ed.

F. Cabrol and H. Leclerq, Paris, 1907.

D.C.B.—Dhictionary of Christian Biography, ed. W. Smith and H.

Wace, London, 1877. de Faye—E. de Faye, Origéne, Sa Vie, Son Céuvre, Sa Pensée, 3 vols., Paris, 1923-1928.

Diels—Doxographt Graect, collegit H. Diels, Berlin, 1879.

H.D.B.—J. Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, Edinburgh, 1898.

H.E.—RHistoria Ecclesiastica.

I.C.C.—International Critical Commentary, Edinburgh.

JG. TS.—Fournal of Theological Studies, London, 1899.

Koetschau—P. Koetschau, Introduction to, and Text of, the De Oratione of Origen in C.B. ii, pages Ixxv—xc, and ill, pages

297-403, Berlin, 1899.

Lawlor and Oulton—Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History and The Martyrs of Palestine, H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton, 2 vols.,

London, 1927-1928.

ORIGEN Moulton—Milligan—J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, illustrated from the Papyri and other non-literary Sources, London, 1914.

N.P.N.F.—WNicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. H. Wace and P.

Schaff, Oxford and New York, 1890.

P.G.—J.-P. Migne, Patrologia, Series Graeca, Paris, 1857.

P.L.—J.-P. Migne, Patrologia, Series Latina, Paris, 1844.

Rahlfs—Septuaginta, ed. A. Rahlfs, third edition, Stuttgart, 1949.

Reading—Gulielmus Reading, Origenis de Oratione Liber, London, 1728.

T—Codex in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, containing the Greek text of the De Oratione of Origen, complete apart from a few lacunae.

T.WWN.T —Theologisches Worterbuch zum neuen Testament, ed. G, Kittel, Stuttgart, 1933. von Arnim—Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, collegit Ioannes ab

Arnim, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1903-1924.

References to the following editions are to be assumed:

Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses: W. W. Harvey, Cambridge, 1857.

Origen:

In foh. A. E. Brooke, Cambridge, 1896.

Philocalia. J. A. Robinson, Cambridge, 1893.

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