CLEMENT of ALEXANDRIA
(c. 150-215)

 Stromata (TLG 555.4): tr. W.L. Alexander, ser. The Ante Nicene Fathers  v. 2, (Grand Rapids, 1986) pp. 340-341. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, ed. Stählin, Früchtel,& Treu, Clemens Alexandrinus, vols. 2, (3rd edn.) & 3, (2nd edn.), ser.  Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller 52(15), 17 (Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, v.2:1960; v.3:1970): pp. 2:3-518; 3:3-102.


St. Clement of Alexandria,
Byzantine fresco.

  ^{[1.28.176.1.]}

[1] the historical and 

[2]  that which is properly called the legislative, 

which two pertain to ethical exposition; 

[3] third, the hierurgical [“priestly”], which concern the contemplation of nature;

τὸ τρίτον δὲ εἰς τὸ ἱερουργικόν, ὅ ^[176.2] ἐστιν ἥδη τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας·

[4] ^[ld] fourth, and superior to all, [is] the theological class, or “epoptics,” which Plato says concerns the truly great mysteries, while Aristotle calls this class metaphysics.

καὶ τέταρτον ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸ θεολογικὸν εἶδος, ἡ ἐποπτεία, ἥν φησιν ὁ Πλάτων τῶν μεγάλων ὄντως εἶναι μυστηρίων,Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ τὸ εἶδος τοῦτο μετὰ τὰ φυσικὰ ^{[176.3 ]} καλεῖ.

   ^[p.340]  Dialectics, according to Plato, is, as he says in The Statesman, a science devoted to the discovery of things.  And it is to be acquired by the wise man, not for the sake of saying or doing ought of what we find among men (as the dialecticians, who occupy themselves in sophistry do) but to be able to say and do, as far as possible, what is pleasing to God.

καὶ ἥ γε κατὰ Πλάτωνα διαλεκτική, ὥς φησιν ἐν τῷ Πολιτικῷ, τῆς τῶν ὄντων δηλώσεως εὑρετική τίς ἐστιν ἐπιστήμη, κτητὴ δὲ αὕτη τῷ σώφρονι οὐχ ἕνεκα τοῦ λέγειν τε καὶ πράττειν τι τῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ὥσπερ οἱ νῦν διαλεκτικοὶ περὶ τὰ σοφιστικὰ ἀσχολούμενοι ποιοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ <τοῦ> τῷ θεῷ κεχαρισμένα μὲν λέγειν ^[177.1] δύνασθαι, κεχαρισμένα δὲ πράττειν, τὸ πᾶν εἰς δύναμιν.

       But the true dialectic, being philosophy mixed with truth, by examining things and testing forces and powers, gradually ascends in relation to the most excellent essence of all, and essays to go beyond to the God of the universe, professing not the knowledge of mortal affairs, but the science of things divine and heavenly, in accordance with which follows a suitable course of practice with respect to words and deeds, even in human affairs.

Rightly, therefore, the Scripture, in its desire to make us such dialecticians, exhorts us: “Be skillful money-changers”^[1] rejecting some things, but retaining what is good.

       For this true dialectic is the science which analyses the objects of thought, and shows abstractly and by itself the individual substratum of existences, or the power of dividing things into genera, which descends to their most special properties, and presents each individual object to be contemplated simply as it is.

       Wherefore it alone conducts to the true wisdom, which is the knowledge of entities as entities, which grasps what is perfect, and is freed from all passion; not without the Saviour, who withdraws, by the divine word, the gloom of ignorance arising ^[p.341] from evil training, which had overspread the eye of the soul, and besows the best of gifts: “That we might well know or God or man.”

       It is He who truly shows how we are to know ourselves.  It is he who reveals the Father of the universe to whom He wills, and as far as human nature can comprehend.

“For no man knows the Son but the Father, nor the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him.” (Mt 11:27)

       Rightly then the Apostle says that it was by revelation that he knew the mystery: “As I wrote afore in few words, according as ye are able to understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” (Eph 3:3,4)  “According as ye are able”, he said,  since he knew that some had received milk only, and had not yet received meat, nor even milk simply.

     ^[ld] We are to understand in a fourfold way the meaning of the law: . . . or as displaying a symbol; or as ratifying a commandment for right conduct; or as declaring a prophecy.

We are to take the purpose of the law in a certain fourfold sense: 

[1] as indicating a type; 

[2] or as revealing a sign; 

[3] or as confirming a commandment for proper living; 

[4] or foretelling, like a prophecy.