The Coming Of Wisdom

Μικρὸν δέ, εἰ βούλει, ἄνωθεν ἄθρει τὴν θείαν εὐεργεσίαν. ὁ πρῶτος ὁτὲ ἐν παραδείσῳ ἔπαιζε λελυμένος, ἐπεὶ παιδίον ἦν τοῦ θεοῦ: ὅτε δὲ ὑποπίπτων ἡδονῇ ῾ὄφις ἀλληγορεῖται ἡδονὴ ἐπὶ γαστέρα ἕρπουσα, κακία γηΐνη εἰς ὕλας τρεφομένη παρήγετο ἐπιθυμίαις, ὁ παῖς ἀνδριζόμενος ἀπειθείᾳ καὶ παρακούσας τοῦ πατρὸς ᾐσχύνετο τὸν θεόν. οἷον ἴσχυσεν ἡδονή: ὁ δἰ ἁπλότητα λελυμένος ἄνθρωπος ἁμαρτίαις εὑρέθη δεδεμένος. τῶν δεσμῶν λῦσαι τοῦτον ὁ κύριος αὖθις ἠθέλησεν, καὶ σαρκὶ ἐνδεθείς ῾μυστήριον θεῖον τοῦτὀ τὸν ὄφιν ἐχειρώσατο καὶ τὸν τύραννον ἐδουλώσατο, τὸν θάνατον, καί, τὸ παραδοξότατον, ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἡδονῇ πεπλανημένον, τὸν τῇ φθορᾷ δεδεμένον, χερσὶν ἡπλωμέναις ἔδειξε λελυμένον. ὢ θαύματος μυστικοῦ: κέκλιται μὲν ὁ κύριος, ἀνέστη δὲ ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου πεσὼν μεῖζον ὑπακοῆς ἆθλον, οὐρανούς, ἀπολαμβάνει. διό μοι δοκεῖ, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς ἧκεν ὡς ἡμᾶς οὐρανόθεν ὁ λόγος, ἡμᾶς ἐπ̓ ἀνθρωπίνην ἰέναι μὴ χρῆναι διδασκαλίαν ἔτι, Ἀθήνας καὶ τὴν ἄλλην Ἑλλάδα, πρὸς δὲ καὶ Ἰωνίαν πολυπραγμονοῦντας. εἰ γὰρ ἡμῖν ὁ  διδάσκαλος ὁ πληρώσας τὰ πάντα δυνάμεσιν ἁγίαις, δημιουργίᾳ σωτηρίᾳ εὐεργεσίᾳ νομοθεσίᾳ προφητείᾳ διδασκαλίᾳ, πάντα νῦν ὁ διδάσκαλος κατηχεῖ καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἤδη Ἀθῆναι καὶ Ἑλλὰς γέγονεν τῷ λόγῳ. οὐ γὰρ δὴ μύθῳ μὲν ἐπιστεύετε ποιητικῷ τὸν Μίνω τὸν Κρῆτα τοῦ Διὸς ὀαριστὴν ἀναγράφοντι, ἡμᾶς δὲ ἀπιστήσετε μαθητὰς θεοῦ γεγονότας, τὴν ὄντως ἀληθῆ σοφίαν ἐπανῃρημένους, ἣν φιλοσοφίας ἄκροι μόνον ᾐνίξαντο, οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθηταὶ καὶ κατειλήφασι καὶ ἀνεκήρυξαν. καὶ δὴ καὶ πᾶς, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ὁ Χριστὸς οὐ μερίζεται: οὔτε βάρβαρός ἐστιν οὔτε Ἰουδαῖος οὔτε Ἕλλην, οὐκ ἄρρεν, οὐ θῆλυ: καινὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος θεοῦ πνεύματι ἁγίῳ μεταπεπλασμένος. Εἶθ̓ αἱ μὲν ἄλλαι συμβουλαί τε καὶ ὑποθῆκαι λυπραὶ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους εἰσίν, εἰ γαμητέον, εἰ πολιτευτέον, εἰ παιδοποιητέον: καθολικὴ δὲ ἄρα προτροπὴ μόνη καὶ πρὸς ὅλον δηλαδὴ τὸν βίον, ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ, ἐν πάσῃ περιστάσει πρὸς τὸ κυριώτατον τέλος, τὴν ζωήν, συντείνουσα ἡ θεοσέβεια: καθ̓ ὃ καὶ μόνον ἐπάναγκές ἐστι ζῆν, ἵνα ζήσωμεν ἀεί: φιλοσοφία δέ, ᾗ φασιν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι, πολυχρόνιός ἐστι συμβουλή, σοφίας ἀίδιον μνηστευομένη ἔρωτα: ἐντολὴ δὲ κυρίου τηλαυγής, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς. ἀπόλαβε τὸν Χριστόν, ἀπόλαβε τὸ βλέπειν, ἀπόλαβέ σου τὸ φῶς, ὄφῤ εὖ γινώσκοις ἠμὲν θεὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἄνδρα. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Λόγος Προτεπτικός Πρός Ἕλλεηνας, Κεφ ΙΑ' Source: Migne PG 8.228c-229c

Contemplate a little, if it is agreeable to you, the Divine beneficence. The first man when in Paradise played freely since he was the child of God, but when he succumbed to pleasure, the serpent allegorically signifying pleasure crawling on its belly, earthly wickedness nourishing fuel for the desires, he was as a youth grown old in disobedience, and disobeying the Father dishonoured God. Such was the power of pleasure. Man who had been free by simplicity was found bound by sins. From which bonds The Lord then wished to loose him, and clothing Himself with flesh, that Divine mystery, vanquished the serpent, and enslaved the tyrant death, and, most wonderful of all, man who had been deceived by pleasure and bound by corruption, had his hands unloosed and was set free. O mystic wonder! The Lord was laid low, man rose up, and he that fell from Paradise receives a greater reward for obedience, that is, the heavens. Thus it seems to me that since the Word Himself has come to us from heaven, we need not go any more in search of human teaching to Athens and the rest of Greece, and to Ionia. For if He is our teacher who filled everything with His holy power in creation, salvation, beneficence, legislation, prophecy, teaching, now we have the teacher of all things, and the whole world, with Athens and Greece, is established in the Word. For you, who believed the myth of the poets which claimed Cretan Minos as the companion of Zeus, will not refuse to believe that we who have become the disciples of God have received the only true wisdom, and that which the chiefs of philosophy only intimated obscurely, the disciples of Christ have both grasped and proclaimed. And so in all things, it is said, Christ is undivided: 'There is neither barbarian, nor Jew, nor Greek, neither male nor female, but a new man,' 1 transformed by God's Holy Spirit. Further, the other counsels and precepts are unimportant, and respect particular things, if one may marry, enter into public affairs, beget children, but the only command that is universal is piety, over the whole of one's span, in every time and in all circumstances, directing to the highest end, that is, life, which if we live in accordance with alone is needed that one may live for ever. Philosophy, however, as the ancients say, is 'a long exhortation for the wooing of the eternal love of wisdom;' but the commandment of the Lord is far-shining, enlightening the eyes. 2 Receive Christ, receive sight, receive your light, 'In order that you may know well both God and man.' 3 Clement of Alexandria, The Exhortation To The Heathen, Chapter 11 1 Galat 3.28, 6.15; Ephes 4.25 2 Ps 18.9 3 Hom Iliad 5.128