Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
So much, then, for this. Being thus disposed toward body and soul, and toward his neighbors—whether one be a household slave, or an enemy made so by law, or whoever he may be—the gnostic is found to be equal and alike toward all. He never scorns a brother sharing the same father and the same mother under the divine law; rather, he eases the burden of the suffering with comfort, encouragement, and aid toward life's necessities, giving to everyone in want, not equally to each, but rightly and according to merit—and even to one who pursues and hates him, should the need arise. He pays little heed to those who claim he gave from fear, unless perhaps it was for the purpose of aid that he acted. For those untouched by love of money and holding no grudge even against enemies—how much warmer, then, is their disposition toward their own household? From this a man of this sort goes on to learn precisely to whom, above everyone, and how much, and when, and in what manner he ought to give. And who, reasonably, could turn hostile toward a man who supplies no ground at all for hostility? None whatsoever. In the very way we hold, regarding deity, that god stands opposed to nobody and is nobody's foe (since he fashioned everything that exists, and there is nothing among the things that have come to be which he does not will), while still calling those who disobey and refuse to walk by his commands his foes—meaning those who place themselves at war with his covenant—so too we might discover the matter stands with the gnostic. For he himself could never in any way become anyone's enemy, but those who turn toward the opposite path would be reckoned his enemies—especially since the disposition that shares with others is called justice among us; but also the disposition that discriminates according to worth, toward more or less, in matters where this must come about by knowledge, turns out to be a form of the highest justice. There are, indeed, things that are also achieved rightly by some according to mere natural disposition—continence in pleasures, for instance. For just as among the nations some abstain from the pleasures at hand because they cannot 'obtain what one desires,' and from fear of men, while others abstain because of greater pleasures, so too in the faith some practice continence either through hope of the promise or through fear of God.
But such continence is a foundation of knowledge, and a certain advance toward what is better, and an impulse toward perfection. As scripture puts it, dread of the Lord stands at wisdom's threshold. But the perfect man, moved by love, endures every hardship and bears up under everything, aiming to please not man but god. And praise trails after him too, as a byproduct—not for his own gain, but so others might imitate and profit by praising him. 'Continent' carries yet another meaning—not merely one who has subdued the passions, but one who has taken firm hold of good things and securely won the great riches of knowledge, from which the fruits of virtuous deeds follow. In this the gnostic never shifts from his settled character, whatever circumstances arise; for possessing the good through understanding is stable and unshaken, being acquaintance with matters both divine and human. Understanding, then, never turns into ignorance, nor does goodness turn to wickedness; so he eats, drinks, and takes a wife, not as his chief aim but as necessity demands. Regarding marriage, I mean—provided reason sanctions it and it suits the occasion: once made perfect, he takes the apostles as his exemplars, and a man proves himself truly a man not through opting for a solitary existence, but that man 'conquers men' who has trained himself without pleasure and without pain in marriage and childbearing and the care of a household, remaining undivided in his love for God even amid the care of the household, and rising above every trial brought on through children and wife and servants and possessions. But to the man without a household it mostly falls to be untried; caring only for himself, he is inferior to the one who falls short in regard to his own salvation, yet excels in the management of life, preserving without art but a small image of true providence.
But we for our part must, so far as possible, train the soul in manifold ways.
so that it may become a good worker fit for the reception of knowledge. Notice how heated wax turns pliant and bronze gets polished bright, each thereby ready to take the stamp pressed upon it? In the same manner that dying means the parting of soul from body, understanding acts, so to speak, as a rational sort of dying, drawing the soul off from the passions and setting it apart, carrying it forward instead into a life of doing good, so it may then declare to god without hesitation: I am living as you desire. For whoever chooses to gratify men fails to gratify god, since most people select not what benefits but what delights; yet whoever gratifies god thereby, as a result, gratifies the serious-minded among men as well. How, then, could matters of food, drink, and erotic pleasure still hold appeal for such a man, when he regards with wariness even a delight bound up with reasoning, or a stirring of the intellect, or an activity yielding enjoyment? For no man can be slave to two masters at once, god and wealth. By this he means not cash on its own merely, but what money supplies toward assorted pleasures; for truly it is not possible for one who has known God greatly and truly to be a slave to the opposing pleasures.
There is, then, only one who from the beginning was free of desire—the Lord, the lover of mankind, who for our sake became man. But as many as strive to become like the pattern given by him force themselves, through discipline, to become free of desire. For the one who has desired and yet mastered himself [becomes, as it were, like] the widow who through self-control becomes a virgin again. This is the recompense of understanding owed to the Savior and Teacher, the very thing he requested—keeping clear of wrongdoing and practicing good deeds, through which deliverance is won. Just as those trained in crafts earn their bread by the skills they mastered, so the gnostic, through what he understands, earns life and is delivered. For whoever refused to sever the soul's passion has effectively destroyed himself; yet ignorance, it appears, leaves the soul famished, while understanding feeds it. These are the gnostic souls the gospel compared to the consecrated virgins waiting for the Lord—virgins in that they kept apart from wrongdoing, waiting on him out of love, tending their own lamp for contemplating reality—prudent souls declaring: we yearn for you, Lord; grant now at last that we receive: we have lived by what you commanded, breaking none of your instructions; so we request the promises, seeking in prayer what does us good rather than what merely delights, since it befits us to ask you for the finest things; and we will receive everything as beneficial, even if the exercises that come our way seem harsh—those which your providence brings us for the further training of our steadfastness.'
The gnostic, then, out of excess of holiness, is ready rather to fail in asking than to obtain without asking. For his entire existence amounts to prayer and communion with god, and provided he is free of sin, he is sure to gain whatever he desires. For god tells the upright man: request it, and I shall grant it to you; form it in your thought, and I shall bring it about. If, then, what is asked benefits him, he obtains it right away; but he will never request anything unhelpful, and so will not obtain it. Thus matters unfold as he desires. And should someone point out that certain sinners also succeed in getting what they ask, this occurs infrequently, owing to god's righteous kindness, and is granted to those capable of benefiting others besides. Hence the favor is bestowed not for the sake of the petitioner, but because providence, foreseeing the one destined to be rescued through him, renders the gift just after all. Yet to those deserving of the truly good things, such things come even unrequested. Whenever, then, a person is upright not through compulsion, fear, or expectation, but from deliberate choice, this path bears the name of the kingly way, traveled by the kingly people; the other detours are treacherous and steep. If indeed one were to remove fear and honor, I do not know whether the noble among the outspoken philosophers would still endure their afflictions.
Desires and the other sins are called 'thorns and thistles.' The gnostic, then, labors in the vineyard of the Lord, planting, pruning, watering, being truly a divine husbandman of those who have been planted for faith. Now those who have not done evil think themselves entitled to the reward of idleness, but the one who has done good out of pure choice demands his wage as a good workman; indeed he will receive double—both for what he did not do and in return for what good he did. This gnostic is tempted by no one, unless God permits even this for the benefit of those with him. For they are strengthened toward faith when they are encouraged by his manly endurance; indeed, it was for this reason too that the blessed apostles were led into trial and testimony of perfection, so as to build up and strengthen the congregations. The gnostic, then, having ever in his ears the voice that says, 'The one whom I strike, do you have mercy on,' asks even for those who hate him to repent; for it is not fitting even for children to watch the punishment inflicted on wrongdoers in the arena. For there is no way the gnostic could ever be trained or delighted by such spectacles, having by deliberate choice trained himself to be noble and good, and having in this way become unyielding to pleasures; never falling into sins, he is not instructed by examples of others' evils; far indeed is he from being pleased by earthly pleasures and spectacles, he who has looked down even upon the promises of the world, though they are divine. 'Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of God, but the one who does the will of God.' This would be the gnostic workman, who masters 'the desires of the world' while still in the flesh itself, but concerning the things he has come to know—the things to come, still unseen—he is precisely persuaded to regard them as more present than the things at hand.
This man is a fit workman, rejoicing in what he has come to know, but restrained in regard to what still entangles him through the necessity of life, not yet counted worthy of the sharing that would carry into practice what he has come to know. In this way he makes use of this present life, as of something not his own, only so far as necessity requires. He himself knows the riddles of fasting on these days—I mean the fourth day and the day of preparation. For the one is named after Hermes, the other after Aphrodite. At once, then, according to his way of life he fasts from both love of money and love of pleasure together, from which all the vices spring; for we have already shown repeatedly, following the apostle, that unchastity divides into three chief branches: fondness for pleasure, fondness for money, and idol-worship.
He fasts, then, in keeping with the law from base actions, and in keeping with the gospel's completeness from wicked thoughts. To this man trials also come, not for purification, but, as we said, for the benefit of his neighbors, if, having had experience of toils and pains, he shows contempt for them and dismisses them. The same argument holds also concerning pleasure. For it is a very great thing, when one has had experience of a thing, then to abstain from it; for what great thing is it if someone practices continence with regard to what he does not know? This man, having fulfilled the commandment according to the gospel, makes that day the Lord's day, whenever he casts away an evil thought and takes up a gnostic one, glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. But also, whenever he grasps the apprehension of a scientific theorem, he thinks he sees the Lord, guiding his sight toward the invisible things, even if he seems to see what he does not wish to see, chastening his faculty of sight, whenever he becomes aware of himself taking pleasure at the impact of sight—since he wishes to see and hear only what is fitting for him. At once, when contemplating the souls of the brethren, he sees also the beauty of the flesh by means of the soul itself, which is accustomed to look only upon the beautiful apart from fleshly pleasure.
They are truly brothers, according to the chosen creation, and according to likeness of character, and according to the substance of their works, doing and thinking and speaking the same holy and good deeds, which the Lord wished them, being chosen, to have in mind. For faith consists in choosing the same things, knowledge in having learned and understood the same things, hope in longing for the same things. And even if, according to the necessity of life, he spends a little portion of the hour on food, he thinks himself cheated, being distracted by the matter. In this way he never sees even in a dream anything unfitting for one chosen; for truly every such man is 'a stranger and a sojourner' in his whole life, one who, while dwelling within a city, has looked down on what others in that city hold in high regard, occupying the city as if it were empty wilderness, so that his surroundings impose nothing on him, but his own deliberate choice proves him upright. This gnostic, to put it concisely, fills up in his own person the absence of the apostles, living rightly, knowing accurately, benefiting those who are fit for it, 'removing mountains' from his neighbors and casting off the irregularities of their souls—though each of us is himself both vineyard and workman. And the man who does the best things wishes to escape the notice of men, persuading both the Lord and himself at once that he lives according to the commandments, preferring those things by which he has come to believe he truly is (for 'where a man's mind is,' it says, 'there also is his treasure'); he holds himself in lesser account so as never to overlook a brother who has fallen into affliction, for the sake of perfection in love, especially if he knows that he will bear the brother's want more easily than the brother would.
He regards, then, that man's pain as his own pain; and even if, by giving out of his own want for the sake of well-doing, he suffers something hard because of it, he is not vexed at this, but increases his beneficence all the more. For he has unmixed faith concerning these matters, commending the gospel through works and contemplation. And indeed he reaps 'not the praise of men, but of God,' by fulfilling what the Lord taught. This man, being drawn on by his own hope, does not taste of the good things in the world, looking down on all things here; pitying those who after death are trained through punishment, confessing involuntarily, he has a good conscience toward his departure and is always ready, as being 'a sojourner and a stranger' to the things here, mindful only of his own inheritances, and regarding everything here as foreign—not merely holding the Lord's commandments in esteem, but, one might say, sharing through understanding itself in the divine purpose, truly a kinsman of the Lord and of the commandments, chosen as righteous. And he is a leader and a king, as the gnostic is, looking down upon all the gold on the earth and under the earth, and upon a kingdom stretching from one end of ocean to the other, so as to hold fast only to the service of the Lord. Therefore, both eating and drinking and marrying, if reason approves it, and even seeing dreams, he does and thinks holy things; in this way he is always pure for prayer. And he prays even with angels, as being already 'equal to angels,' nor is he ever outside the holy guard, even if he prays alone, having the choir of the saints gathered with him.
This man knows faith to be twofold: the one is the activity of the believer, the other is the excellence, according to worth, of the one believed in — since righteousness too is twofold.
The one is through love, the other through fear. For indeed, as scripture puts it, 'reverence toward the Lord, kept undefiled, abides into the age of ages.' For those who turn from fear to faith and righteousness endure forever. At once fear produces abstinence from evils, while love, building further toward what is voluntary, urges one on to do good, so that one may hear from the Lord, 'No longer do I call you servants, but friends,' and may already approach his prayers with confidence. The very form of that prayer is thanksgiving for things past, for things present, and for things to come, as though the last were already present through faith; and the having received knowledge takes the lead in this. And indeed he prays to live out the life appointed for him in the flesh in such a way as befits one who is a gnostic — as though fleshless — obtaining the best things and fleeing the worse. He prays also for a lightening of the sins we have committed, and for a turning to full knowledge; following so swiftly the one who calls, at the time of his departure, exactly as that one calls, going forward, so to speak, because of his good conscience, hastening there too to give thanks, having come to be with Christ. Having shown himself worthy through purity, he possesses, by commixture, the power of God supplied through Christ. For he is not warm by mere participation in warmth, nor luminous by participation in fire, but wishes to be wholly light. This man knows exactly the saying: 'Unless you hate father and mother, and further your own soul too, and unless you bear the sign.' For he has hated the fleshly attachments that carry much of the charm of pleasure, and he looks down on all things proper to the fashioning and nourishing of the flesh; but he also rises up against the bodily soul, casting a bit into the mouth of the irrational spirit when it grows restive, because 'the flesh lusts against the spirit.' And 'to bear the sign' is 'to carry death about,' having, while still living, 'renounced all things,' since the love of the one who sowed the flesh is not equal to that of the one who created the soul for knowledge.
This man, having come into a settled habit of doing good, does good more quickly than he can speak of it — praying to take upon himself a share of the brethren's sins, for their confession and the turning of his kinsmen, and being eager to share his own goods with those dearest to him, while they in turn are such friends to him. Increasing, then, the seeds deposited within him according to the cultivation the Lord has commanded, he remains sinless and becomes self-controlled, and passes his life in spirit together with his equals in the choirs of the saints, even while still held fast upon earth. This man, throughout the whole day and night, speaking and doing the commandments of the Lord, rejoices exceedingly — not only when rising in the morning and at midday, but also while walking and while sleeping, while dressing and while undressing; and he teaches his son, if his offspring is a son, being inseparable from the commandment and from hope, always giving thanks to God, like the creatures of praise allegorized through Isaiah, enduring patiently every trial: 'The Lord,' he says, 'gave, the Lord took away.' For such was Job also, who, even before the loss of his outward goods along with the health of his body, had already laid all things aside through his love toward the Lord. 'For he was,' it says, 'righteous, holy, abstaining from all wickedness.' And the word 'holy' signifies the things that are just toward God according to the whole economy — things which the gnostic, knowing them, already possessed. For one must neither, if things are good, cling fast to them, since they are merely human, nor again, if they are evil, be at enmity with them, but stand above both, treading the one underfoot and passing the other on to those in need. And the gnostic is secure in his dealings with others, taking care that this way of dealing with others does not unnoticed become a fixed disposition.
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