The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Religion
The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
Then he adds: “Worship this God not as the Greeks,”--signifying
plainly, that the excellent among the Greeks worshipped the same God
as we, but that they had not learned by perfect knowledge that which
was delivered by the Son. “Do not then worship,” he did not say, the
God whom the Greeks worship, but “as the Greeks,”--changing the manner
of the worship of God, not announcing another God. What, then, the
expression “not as the Greeks” means, Peter himself shall explain, as
he adds: “Since they are carried away by ignorance, and know not God”
(as we do, according to the perfect knowledge); “but giving shape to
the things[962] of which He gave them the power for use--stocks and
stones, brass and iron, gold and silver--matter;--and setting up the
things which are slaves for use and possession, worship them.[963] And
what God hath given to them for food--the fowls of the air, and the
fish of the sea, and the creeping things of the earth, and the wild
beasts with the four-footed cattle of the field, weasels and mice,
cats and dogs and apes, and their own proper food--they sacrifice as
sacrifices to mortals; and offering dead things to the dead, as to
gods, are unthankful to God, denying His existence by these things.”
And that it is said, that we and the Greeks know the same God, though
not in the same way, he will infer thus: “Neither worship as the Jews;
for they, thinking that they only know God, do not know Him, adoring
as they do angels and archangels, the month and the moon. And if the
moon be not visible, they do not hold the Sabbath, which is called
the first; nor do they hold the new moon, nor the feast of unleavened
bread, nor the feast, nor the great day.”[964] Then he gives the
finishing stroke to the question: “So that do ye also, learning holily
and righteously what we deliver to you; keep them, worshipping God
in a new way, by Christ.” For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord
says: “Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your
fathers in Mount Horeb.”[965] He made a new covenant with us; for what
belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship Him in a
new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he
showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile
way, by the Jews Judaically, and in a new and spiritual way by us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account