Attention should be paid to the following correspondences:
PISTIS, GNOSIS, COSMOLOGY, AND THEOLOGY PISTIS, GNOSIS, C The view according to which God is above space and time has 4. We have seen im th its origin in the first hypothesis of Plato's Parmenides and occurs virtue, for Clement, is th also in Apuleius and in Gnosticism: who, by means of trai ' sacl control, and then to d Plato Apuleius Gnosticism This is, however, not t Parm. 138a: odSapo6 Apol. 64. 7: neque loco Hippol. Ref. vi. 29. 5: his own nature, has no dy ein. neque tempore neque vice Tarp 8 oy aie nor addpwv, since both Cf. Symp. 211 a: od8¢ Wa comprehensus FETE ts OY Nee the control of the 7d6y. nae (about the Valenern a tinians).
Apocryphon of John Strom. ii. 81, 1 (ii. 155.
25. 2-3 (p. 91) : Time droninre wdbe more, i does not suit him.
Strom. iv. 151. 2 (ii. 31
Treatise on the three dyes natures: There is no place in which he A similar conception occu dwells,orfrom which maintain that the highes he comes, or to which he returns.3
8 (i. 2. 20): Kp 3. Since, as we have seen (p. 207 above), the Logos as second rae pif ( Li a mie ° i r 7) apern. hypostasis is for Clement identical with the povds, it necessarily follows that God, being the origin of the Logos, is above the povds itself. Clement completely agrees on this point with Philo. In the ; Corpus Hermeticum also it is possible to find the same doctrine.
5. God's transcendenc Attention should be paid to the following correspondences: thought and cannot be :
This idea occurs very fr Clement Philo Corpus Hermeticum ™ Paed. i. 71. 1: &v 8€ De Vita cont. 2: 70 ov, v. 2: ebéar mpdrw 7O Strom. ii. 6.
6 Beds Kat eréxewa 6 Kal dyabod xpetrrév Kupiw xal marpt Kat cogia yroobjcecbar To tod évos Kal tmép eon, Kal évds cidtdry Kal oby él dd'
1 (ii. 317. adriy povdda,* kpwéarepov kal povdad' ob 6 els.5 éorw emornpovexds.
Sos — dpyeyoveirepov.
Strom. v. 65. 2 (ii. 369. 2
Cf. De Praem. et Poen. kai méoav évvoiay .
Strom. v. 71. 5 (ii. 374.
Strom. v. 81. 4 (ii. 380.
Cf. Festugiére, op. cit. 85.
? Cf. Festugiére, op. cit. 105. i Seuros.
2 Cf. H. C. Puech-G. Quispel, art. cit. 82.
F i + That Clement places God above the povds can also be inferred from the passage Strom. v. 82. 4. (ii. 381. 8 of Strom. v. 71. 1-3 describing the via negativa: the end of this process car' ddaipeow
* P is the povds, which is connected with Christ, the Logos. In order to reach God, it ix The idea that God is d necessary to go even beyond the povds.
( Clement to interpret the ; 5 On the conception of the number one in the Corpus Hermeticum see especially as hinting at the darkne Festugiére, op. cit., chapter III, pp. 18 ff.
God. Here also Clement '
PISTIS, GNOSIS, COSMOLOGY, AND THEOLOGY PISTIS, GNOSIS, C Clement, Strom. ii. 6.
Philo, De Post. C. 14 (ii.3.19-20): having in mind the scri 28-116. 2): kal eis rev yoddov... fn yoov els tov yddov Srov Hy drawn attention, took in clacMOetv PudLerar, tourdorw eis 6 Beds eicededoerat, Tovréore «is 'one' of the first hypothes ras dSvrous Kal deiSets repli Tod tds ddvrous Kal detdeis mepl rod in the Neopythagorean évros evvolas. évros évvolas. said about Clement: wha Cf. De Gig. 54 (ii. 52. 18) : Kal eis 21-2), 6 pev obv Beds... yrddov, Tov derdH yBpov, elaeADciv. pared with the expression That for Philo God cannot be known by the human mind is
Parmenides 142 a and in shown also by the following evidence: unknowability of God o _ oe are expounded by Apulei De Post. GC. 169 (ii. 37. 23-4) : abros Sé pdvos dxardAnrros. worth noticing:
De Somn. i. 67 (iii. 219. 15) : kat Kaa mdcas iSas dxaradijrrou Geod.
Quod D. sitimm. 62 (ii. 70. 16-17) 163 dpa. ovde 7@¥rt Plato De Mut. Nom. 15 (iii. 159. 13): Kal dmepwonrov kat axaradnrov.
Tim. 28a: rov pev De H. A. Wolfson has maintained that Philo was the first philoody moni Kalmarépa nat sopher who clearly formulated the doctrine of the absolute untobde Tob mavrds ecile knowability ofGod and that he found the sources of this doctrine pety Te Epyov.
64. only in some passages of the Old Testament.' It is certainly true Parm. 142 a: ovde Ts that these Scriptural passages had a relevant influence on Philo, area) ovde atobrbut Wolfson goes too far when he denies the presence of this conHS. ovde Sofa... . obde a z :
* . ywooKerat, cf. Symp. ception in any Greek philosopher prior to the Jewish author, ae E. R. Dodds and A. J. Festugiére have drawn attention to the . doctrine of the unknowability of the 'one' of the first hypothesis
The doctrine of the un of Plato's Parmenides and of the idea of beauty as it appears in the fundamental feature of t Symposium 32 E. R. Dodds especially has pointed out thefundamen- ; _ ; ; tal importance which the passage of Parmenides 142 a had for the Exe. ex Theod. 7.
1: dyvw growth of the Neoplatonic conception of the highest divinity.
Exc. ex Theod. 29: 4 Av Moreover, the 'one' of the first hypothesis of the Parmenides was Trohaete 'ate Hf : the object of a particular interpretation in the Neopythagorean sich testomeon i. 1 schools of the first two centuries A.D., which identified it with Id., Adv. Haer. i. 2.1 (ab the first principle.t It is therefore very likely that Philo, though vss dkarddnmrov dardp ! Philo ii, 119-21. Wolfson has drawn attention especially to Exod. 6:3, Kat
Treatise on the three nat 76 dvopd pou xipios odk édi}\waa airois, and Exod. 33:23, 73 88 mpdowndy pov otk him. If he is incompre TE pedak Proclus. The Elements of Theology, 311-13 (Dodds criticizes here
'Apocryphon of John ae the view expounded by E. Norden in his book Agnostos Theos, according to which nobody comprehends the Neoplatonic idea that the supreme principle is unknown can only be explained
Tbid., 24. 19-20 (p. 8g) by assuming oriental influences) 3 A, J. Festugiére, Contemplation et vie contemplative § Phe iB ech AE rg TP selon Platon, 227 n. 3, and Révélation d'Hermés Trismégiste iv. 85.
Re VISW AOL: Albinus (Did.
3 Op. cit. g11. Dodds has drawn attention also to Epist. vii. 341 c-d, pyrov yap according to which the highest ovSapnas éorw. The passage of Tim. 28 c, 76 pév ody wowriy xal matépa Todde TOO is not the same conception as t mayros edpety re Epyov, should also be taken into account. man) who clearly maintain that 4 See p. 206 above and footnote 1 on the same page.
See H. C. Puech-G. Quispe '