ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
Should writings be left behind not at all, or only for some? And if the former, what is the use of letters? But if the latter, should they be for the earnest, or for those who are not? It would surely be ridiculous that one who rejects the writing of the earnest should approve those who compose for such as are not earnest.
But then, is it to be permitted to Theopompus and Timaeus to compose myths and blasphemies, and further to Epicurus, who is the author of atheism, and also to Hipponax and Archilochus to write so shamefully — while the one who proclaims the truth is to be hindered from leaving benefit to those who come after? It is good, I think, also to leave behind good children for those who follow.
For this reason, says the Lord, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand — the Lord not thereby supplying them with ignorance (for it is not permissible to think so), but rather exposing prophetically the ignorance already present in them, and declaring beforehand that they would be unable to understand what was said.
Already it is clearly shown, out of his abundance, that the Savior himself, according to the capacity of the recipient — which capacity ought to be increased through practice — distributed his possessions to his servants.
when, having accepted those who increased his silver — those faithful in a little — and having promised to set them over many things, he commanded them to enter into the joy of their lord; but to the one who had hidden the silver entrusted to him instead of lending it out at interest, and who returned merely what he had received, idle, he said, 'Wicked and slothful servant, you ought to have put my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.'
If, then, both proclaim the word — the one by writing, the other by speech — how should both not be acceptable, having made faith active through love? But God is not responsible for the fault of one who does not choose what is best.
For it is the task of the one to lend out the word at interest, and of the other to test it and either choose it or not; and the judgment is decided within themselves.
It contributes, at any rate, the greatest benefits to the one who happens upon it by divine providence: a beginning of faith, an eagerness for right conduct, an impulse toward the truth, a searching movement, a trace of knowledge — in short, it gives occasions for salvation.
Most admirably, then, the apostle says in everything: 'commending ourselves as ministers of God... as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things;'
'I charge you,' he says, writing to Timothy, 'before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that you keep these things without prejudice, doing nothing by partiality.'
It is necessary, then, that both of these test themselves: the one, whether he is worthy to speak and to leave behind written records; the other, whether he is entitled to listen and to read.
For conscience is the best guide toward the accurate choice and avoidance of things, and its firm foundation is an upright life together with fitting learning; and to follow others who have already been tested and have set things right is best both for the understanding of the truth and for the performance of the commandments.
It is fitting, then, for the one who has undertaken the benefit of his neighbor to consider whether he has not rashly leapt into teaching out of rivalry with certain persons, whether the communication of the word is not done out of love of glory, whether he reaps only this reward — the salvation of his hearers — and whether he does not speak merely to please, thereby also avoiding the reproach of bribery, he who speaks through written records.
For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as you know, says the apostle, nor a pretext for greed — God is witness — nor seeking glory from men, neither from you nor from others.
In the same way, one must also watch those who partake of the divine words, lest they have come to this simply for the sake of idle curiosity, as though viewing the buildings of cities, or lest they approach for the sake of partaking of worldly goods, having learned that those consecrated to Christ are generous in sharing what is needful.
If, then, the harvest is indeed plentiful but the workers are few, it is truly fitting to beseech that we may have as great an abundance of workers as possible.
In whichever way the Lord's laborer sows the noble wheat and causes the ears to grow and reaps them, he will indeed prove to be a truly divine husbandman.
'Labor,' says the Lord, 'not for the food that perishes, but for that which endures to eternal life'; and nourishment is received both through food and through words.
And truly blessed are the peacemakers, who re-teach those who here in life are warred upon by error through ignorance, and lead them across into the peace that is in word and in a life lived according to God, and who feed those who hunger for righteousness by the distribution of bread.
For there are also souls that have their own kinds of nourishment: some grow by full knowledge and understanding, while others are fed on Greek philosophy, of which — just as with nuts — not the whole is edible.
He who plants and he who waters, being ministers of him who gives the growth, are one in their ministry, but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
The word must not be handed over freely to those who have been trained in all sorts of rhetorical arts and are puffed up with the power of arguments, to those whose souls have already been pre-occupied and have not been previously emptied.
He, then, who speaks to those present both tests them by time and judges by discernment, and distinguishes from among the rest the one capable of hearing, closely observing their words, their manners, their character, their way of life, their movements, their relations, their look, their utterance — the crossroads, the rock, the trodden path, the fruit-bearing earth, the land overgrown with weeds.
But he who speaks through written records consecrates himself to God, crying out these things in writing — not writing for the sake of gain, nor for the sake of vainglory, not being overcome by attachment, not being enslaved by fear, not being elated by pleasure.
but enjoying only the salvation of his readers, of which he does not even partake in the present, but awaits in hope the recompense that will assuredly be given by him who has promised to render to the laborers their wages according to merit.
For it is not the case that the one who boasts of a good deed has received his reward through renown, while the one who does what is fitting for the sake of a recompense — whether, as a benefactor, eager to receive it, or, as an evildoer, trying to evade the requital — is not entangled in worldly custom;
But whoever has had the eye of the soul dulled toward its own proper light by bad nourishment and bad teaching, let him proceed toward the truth that makes the unwritten things known through what is written.
Scripture kindles together the spark of the soul and strains its own proper eye toward contemplation — perhaps also implanting something, as a farmer does when grafting, but chiefly stirring up what already lies within.
Now this treatise is by no means a piece of writing artfully composed for display; rather, these memoranda are being stored up for me as a treasure against old age, a remedy for forgetfulness, a mere image and shadow-sketch of those vivid, living discourses, and of those blessed and truly notable men whom I was accounted worthy to hear.
He was in truth a Sicilian bee, culling the flowers of the prophetic and apostolic meadow, and he engendered in the souls of his hearers a pure, unadulterated treasure of knowledge.
But these men, preserving the true tradition of the blessed teaching directly from the holy apostles Peter and James, John and Paul — son receiving it from father, though few are like their fathers — came, by God's help, even to us, to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds.
And I know well that they will rejoice — not, I mean, delighted with this manner of expression, but solely with the preservation effected through this record.
For what benefit is wisdom that does not make wise the one capable of understanding? Moreover, the Savior always saves and always works, even as he beholds the Father working.
For there is one Teacher of both the speaker and the hearer, who wells up both mind and word alike; wherefore the Lord has not forbidden us to keep sabbath from what is good, but has permitted the sharing of the divine mysteries, and of that holy light, with those able to receive it.
Thus he did not reveal to many what was not meant for many, but to a few, to whom he knew it was fitting — those capable of receiving these things and being shaped by them.
And should someone say it is written, 'there is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest, nor covered that shall not be revealed,' let him hear from us as well that by this very saying Scripture has foretold that the hidden thing will be made manifest to the one who perceives it in a hidden manner; and to whoever is capable of receiving what is handed down in a veiled way, the veiled thing will be disclosed as it truly is; and what is hidden to the many shall become manifest to the few.
Otherwise, why do not all know the truth? Why was righteousness not loved, if righteousness belongs to all? But indeed, the mysteries are handed down mystically, so that what is uttered may exist in the mouth of the one speaking and of the one to whom it is spoken — or rather, not in audible speech at all, but in the very act of being understood.
And God has given to the church some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.
Now the writing of these memoranda of mine, I well know, is a feeble thing when set beside that graced spirit which we were accounted worthy to obey; yet it may be an image, recalling to the one struck by the thyrsus the archetype he once beheld.
It does not profess to interpret the ineffable things adequately — far from it — but only to remind us, whether for those times when we might forget, or so that we might not forget at all.
Hence, to lighten the weakness of my memory, and to provide for myself a saving reminder in the form of a systematic exposition of the chief points, I have necessarily made use of this outline.
...has escaped me, as have all those things that were being extinguished, withering away within the mind; for such a ministry is not easy for those who have not been tested.
But in rekindling these things by means of memoranda, I willingly pass over some, choosing with discernment, fearing to write what I was also careful not to say — not out of any envy whatsoever, for that would not be right, but fearing rather for those who might come upon these writings, lest they somehow stumble in yet another way, and lest we be found, as those who speak in proverbs say, 'reaching out a sword to a child.'
For it is impossible that what has been written should not eventually fall abroad, even though it has, at least on my part, remained unpublished; but circulating as it does, and possessed of only the one, unchanging, written voice, it gives no answer to the one who questions it beyond what has already been written; for it necessarily requires a helper — either the one who composed it, or someone else who has walked in the very same track.
There are also things which my writing will merely hint at; some it will set forth plainly, while others it will only mention; and it will attempt both to speak while concealing, and to disclose while veiling, and to show while remaining silent.
It will set forth the doctrines taught by the notable heresies, and will argue against them all that needs to be laid down beforehand for the knowledge attained through epoptic contemplation — which will proceed for us according to the glorious and venerable rule of the tradition, advancing from the origin of the world — setting forth in advance whatever must necessarily be treated first concerning the contemplation of nature, and clearing away beforehand whatever stands in the way of the sequence of the argument, so that the ears may be ready to receive the gnostic tradition, the ground having first been cleared of thorns and of all grass, as a farmer does, in preparation for the planting of a vineyard.
For there is a contest, and a preliminary contest, and mysteries before the mysteries; nor will our memoranda hesitate to make full use, for the finest ends, of philosophy and the rest of preliminary education.
For it is reasonable, according to the apostle, not only to become as a Jew for the sake of the Hebrews and those under the law, but also to become as a Greek for the sake of the Greeks, that we might gain them all.
And in the letter to the Colossians he writes, 'admonishing every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.'
Indeed, the abundance of pleasant, useful learning is like a seasoning interwoven with the food of an athlete — not one given to luxury, but one who, through zeal, gains a good appetite.
And just as those who wish to address the populace often do so through a herald, so that what is said may be more clearly heard, so also here — since our discourse, spoken before the actual tradition is imparted, is addressed to many — we must therefore set forth their customary opinions and the sayings that resound to them at every point, through which the hearers will more readily be turned.
And, to put it briefly (for among many small pearls there is the one surpassing pearl, and in a great catch of fish there is the choice fish), in time and with labor, given a good helper at hand, the truth will shine forth.
For I do not think that any piece of writing should be deemed so fortunate that no one will speak against it; rather, that must be considered reasonable against which no one will reasonably speak.
It does not immediately follow that, if someone does not act primarily out of principle, he is acting merely according to circumstance; rather, he will act while administering something in divine wisdom and accommodating himself to the occasion.
With the wholesome water of the sayings current among the Greeks, we irrigate beforehand the earthy part of their souls, so that they may receive the spiritual seed that is sown, and be able easily to bring it to full growth.
The Stromateis will contain the truth intermingled with the doctrines of philosophy — or rather, veiled and concealed by them — just as the edible kernel of a nut is hidden by its shell.
Nor has it escaped me that some ignorant and fainthearted persons keep repeating that we ought to occupy ourselves with the most essential matters that hold the faith together, and pass over what is external and superfluous, since it vainly wears us out and detains us with things that contribute nothing toward the true end.
And there are still others who suppose that philosophy has even crept into human life for evil, to the ruin of mankind, invented by some malicious discoverer.
But I shall show, throughout the whole of the Stromateis, that evil possesses an evil nature and could never in any way become the cultivator of anything good, hinting withal that philosophy too is, in some sense, a work of divine providence.
Next, it is not possible to pass condemnatory judgment upon the Greeks merely by employing a bare statement of the doctrines they have set forth, without also entering along with them into a detailed disclosure of those doctrines, carried through to the point of a fair verdict.
For very trustworthy indeed is the proof that comes with experience, since the knowledge of things condemned is found to be the most perfect demonstration.
Many things, even those not contributing to the end in view, nonetheless adorn the craftsman; and besides, wide learning tends to commend the one who sets forth the most authoritative of the doctrines, for the persuasion of the hearers, engendering wonder in the catechumens, and establishes them in the truth.
Trustworthy is such a leading of the soul, through which those who love learning receive the truth in veiled form, so that they may not seem themselves to be maintaining that philosophy corrupts life, as though it were a creator of false matters and base deeds (as some have slandered it), it being a clear image of truth, a divine gift given to the Greeks; nor that we be dragged away from the faith, as though bewitched by some deceptive art, but rather, so to speak, by employing a fuller array, in some way procure a kind of demonstrative training in support of faith.
Yes indeed, also the connection of the doctrines through comparison betroths one to the truth, through which knowledge has followed—philosophy having come in not as the leading cause, but for the sake of the fruit that comes from knowledge.
For I pass over in silence the fact that the Stromateis, taking bodily form through their wide learning, wish skillfully to hide the seeds of knowledge.
Just as the lover of the hunt, having sought, searched, tracked, and coursed with the hounds, takes the beast, so too the truth appears sweet when it has been sought and procured through toil.
Why then did it seem good to arrange the Memoirs in this way? Because there is great danger in divulging the truly ineffable word of philosophy in its reality to those who unsparingly wish to contradict everything without justice, and who cast away all names and words in no orderly fashion whatsoever, both deceiving themselves and bewitching those who cling to them.
Puffed up, then, by this art, the ill-starred sophists, prattling on with their own jugglery, laboring their whole life over the distinction of names and a certain composition and interweaving of phrases, are shown to be more talkative than turtledoves.
Scratching and tickling, in no manly way as it seems to me, the ears of those who long to be scratched—simply a river of words, but a mere trickle of sense.
For, I think, it is only on the believer—wholly set apart from the other beasts spoken of by Scripture—that the head of all things reposes: the good and gentle Word, who catches the wise in their craftiness.
For the Lord alone knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain—Scripture calling 'wise,' I suppose, the sophists who are excessive about words and arts.
For Hesiod, having said that the lyre-player Linus was skilled in every kind of wisdom, does not hesitate to call the sailor too 'wise'—even while writing of one not at all skilled in seamanship.
Daniel the prophet says that the mystery which the king asks about is not within the power of the wise, the magicians, the enchanters, or the Chaldean soothsayers to declare to the king; but there is a God in heaven who reveals it.
That Scripture calls by the same name 'wisdom' every worldly science or art—and there are many devised by composite human reasoning—and that skillful and wise invention is from God, will become clear once we set forth this passage:
'Behold, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with a divine spirit of wisdom and understanding and knowledge in every work, to devise and to be a master builder,'
'to work gold and silver and bronze, and blue and purple and scarlet thread, and stone-cutting work and carpentry in wood, to work in all manner of works.'
Those who are wise in mind do have a certain characteristic proper to their own nature, but they receive a twofold spirit of understanding from the most sovereign wisdom, ... having presented themselves as fit for it.