The Stromata — Book VI

Clement of Alexandria

  1. 1. Plan.
  2. 2. The Subject of Plagiarisms Resumed. The Greeks Plagiarized from One Another
  3. 3. Plagiarism by the Greeks of the Miracles Related in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews
  4. 4. The Greeks Drew Many of Their Philosophical Tenets from the Egyptian and Indian Gymnosophists
  5. 5. The Greeks Had Some Knowledge of the True God
  6. 6. The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades.
  7. 7. What True Philosophy Is, and Whence So Called
  8. 8. Philosophy is Knowledge Given by God
  9. 9. The Gnostic Free of All Perturbations of the Soul
  10. 10. The Gnostic Avails Himself of the Help of All Human Knowledge
  11. 11. The Mystical Meanings in the Proportions of Numbers, Geometrical Ratios, and Music
  12. 12. Human Nature Possesses an Adaptation for Perfection; The Gnostic Alone Attains It
  13. 13. Degrees of Glory in Heaven Corresponding with the Dignities of the Church Below
  14. 14. Degrees of Glory in Heaven
  15. 15. Different Degrees of Knowledge
  16. 16. Gnostic Exposition of the Decalogue
  17. 17. Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God
  18. 18. The Use of Philosophy to the Gnostic

The sixth and also the seventh Miscellany of gnostic notes, in accordance with the true philosophy, having delineated as well as possible the ethical argument conveyed in them, and having exhibited what the Gnostic is in his life, proceed to show the philosophers that he is by no means impious, as they suppose, but that he alone is truly pious, by a compendious exhibition of the Gnostic's form of religion, as far as it is possible, without danger, to commit it to writing in a book of reference. For the Lord enjoined to labour for the meat which endures to eternity. [[John 6.27]] And the prophet says, Blessed is he that sows into all waters, whose ox and ass tread, [[Isaiah 32.20]] [that is,] the people, from the Law and from the Gentiles, gathered into one faith.

Now the weak eats herbs, according to the noble apostle. [[Romans 14.2]] The Instructor, divided by us into three books, has already exhibited the training and nurture up from the state of childhood, that is, the course of life which from elementary instruction grows by faith; and in the case of those enrolled in the number of men, prepares beforehand the soul, endued with virtue, for the reception of gnostic knowledge. The Greeks, then, clearly learning, from what shall be said by us in these pages, that in profanely persecuting the God-loving man, they themselves act impiously; then, as the notes advance, in accordance with the style of the Miscellanies, we must solve the difficulties raised both by Greeks and Barbarians with respect to the coming of the Lord.

In a meadow the flowers blooming variously, and in a park the plantations of fruit trees, are not separated according to their species from those of other kinds. If some, culling varieties, have composed learned collections, Meadows, and Helicons, and Honeycombs, and Robes; then, with the things which come to recollection by haphazard, and are expurgated neither in order nor expression, but purposely scattered, the form of the Miscellanies is promiscuously variegated like a meadow. And such being the case, my notes shall serve as kindling sparks; and in the case of him, who is fit for knowledge, if he chance to fall in with them, research made with exertion will turn out to his benefit and advantage. For it is right that labour should precede not only food but also, much more knowledge, in the case of those that are advancing to the eternal and blessed salvation by the strait and narrow way, which is truly the Lord's.

Our knowledge, and our spiritual garden, is the Saviour Himself; into whom we are planted, being transferred and transplanted, from our old life, into the good land. And transplanting contributes to fruitfulness. The Lord, then, into whom we have been transplanted, is the Light and the true Knowledge.

Now knowledge is otherwise spoken of in a twofold sense: that, commonly so called, which appears in all men (similarly also comprehension and apprehension), universally, in the knowledge of individual objects; in w