Quis dives salvetur

 the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven is not completely cut off from them, if 3.2 they obey the commandments then whenever they learn that they ha

 he will receive a hundredfold. now in this time to have fields and goods and houses and brothers with persecutions, for what purpose? and in the comin

 running through his humanity up to this point, but in vain does the one who has kept all the lawful commandments from his youth ask from another, kn

 of possessions, but to banish from the soul the notions about possessions, the affection for them, the excessive desire, the anxiety and sickness conc

 advising both to give and not to give, to feed and not to feed, to receive and to shut out, to share and not to share, which is of all things most irr

 being called blessed by the Lord and called poor in spirit, a ready heir of the kingdom of heaven, not a rich man unable to live

 Again, in the same way, there is a genuine poor man and another, a bastard and falsely named poor man. The one is poor in spirit, which is his own th

 to those holding on violently, or rather steadfastly, he conceded and yielded for God rejoices 21.4 in being conquered in such things. Therefore, hav

 24.1 Can you be master of your wealth? Tell me, and Christ does not drive you away from your property, the Lord is not envious. But do you see yoursel

 has been settled among men and an abundant race, being strong in possessions 26.4 and prevailing in wealth? For if on account of an involuntary birth

 he assigns the second place to his neighbor. And who else could this be but the Savior himself? Or who has had more mercy on us than he, we who were a

 to do a righteous and saving work, to give rest to one of those who have an eternal tabernacle with the Father. 31.7 See, first, that He has not comma

 34.2 But you, who have tasted of truth and been deemed worthy of the great redemption, be not deceived, but contrary to other men, enlist for yourself

 we will shut out from one another, things which after a little while the fire will possess? Divinely and with inspiration John says, He who does not

 for one who has acted well throughout his life, but at the end has run aground on wickedness, all his former labors are useless, having become without

 going out by night for clothes-stealing, they lead him along, and then they thought it right to accomplish something 42.6 even greater. And he little

 let him blame, 42.19 but his own soul for willingly perishing. But to the one who looks for salvation and longs for it and asks with shamelessness and

Quis dives salvetur

CLEMENT'S DISCOURSE: WHO IS THE RICH MAN THAT IS SAVED

1.1 Those who bear gifts of encomiastic speeches to the rich not only

seem to me to be justly judged flatterers and servile, as they pretend for a great price to bestow what is not theirs to give, 1.2 but also impious and insidious. Impious, because omitting to praise and glorify the only perfect and good God, from whom are all things and through whom are all things and to whom are all things, they attach the··········· prize to men wallowing in a···········life ······· 1.3 the chief thing being subject to the judgment of God. And insidious, because while their very abundance is in itself sufficient to puff up the souls of its possessors and to corrupt them and to turn them aside from the way by which it is possible to attain salvation, these men further drive the minds of the rich to madness by lifting them up with the pleasures of immoderate praises and preparing them to be disdainful of all things whatsoever, except the wealth for which they are admired, channeling, as the saying goes, fire upon fire, pumping up pride with pride and adding to wealth, which is by nature heavy, a heavier burden, from which it were rather needful to take away and to cut back, as from a dangerous and deadly disease. For to him that is exalted and magnified there is fixed a corresponding change and fall to a humble state, 1.4 as the divine Word teaches. But to me it seems far more philanthropic than to flatter ············ the rich ·········· to their harm, to assist ·········· in their salvation ·············· in every possible way, on the one hand by asking from God, who surely and gladly bestows such things on His own children, and on the other hand by word, through the grace of the Savior, healing their souls, enlightening them and leading them to the possession of the truth, he who attains which and is resplendent in good works, alone will win the prize of eternal life. 1.5 But prayer also requires a soul that is strong and earnest, measured even to the last day of life, and a manner of life requires a good and steadfast disposition, extending to all the Savior’s commandments.

2.1 The cause for salvation seeming

more difficult for the rich than for the poor among men is likely to be not a simple one, 2.2 but complex. For some, having heard the Lord's saying straightway and readily, that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man into the kingdom of heaven, despairing of themselves as if they were not to live, yielding everything to the world and clinging to the life here as the only one left to them, have departed further from the way there, no longer inquiring either what rich men the Master and Teacher speaks of, or 2.3 how what is impossible for men becomes possible. But others have understood this rightly and properly, but having made light of the works that lead to salvation, they did not make the necessary 2.4 preparation to obtain what they hoped for. And I say both these things concerning those rich who have perceived both the power of the Savior and His glorious salvation; but for those uninitiated in the truth, I have little concern.

3.1 It is necessary, therefore, for those who truthfully and with brotherly love ··············· and neither

behaving insolently towards the rich who are called, nor again fawning on them for their own love of gain, first to remove from them by word their empty despair and to make clear with the necessary explanation of the Lord's oracles that

Quis dives salvetur

ΚΛΗΜΕΝΤΟΣ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΙΣ Ο ΣΩΙΖΟΜΕΝΟΣ ΠΛΟΥΣΙΟΣ

1.1 Οἱ μὲν τοὺς ἐγκωμιαστικοὺς λόγους τοῖς πλουσίοις δωροφο ροῦντες οὐ

μόνον κόλακες καὶ ἀνελεύθεροι δικαίως ἂν ἔμοιγε κρίνεσθαι δοκοῖεν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῷ προσποιούμενοι χαρίσασθαι τὰ ἀχάριστα, 1.2 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἐπίβουλοι· ἀσεβεῖς μὲν, ὅτι παρέντες αἰνεῖν καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν μόνον τέλειον καὶ ἀγαθὸν θεόν, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα καὶ εἰς ὃν τὰ πάντα, περιάπτουσι το··········· τὸ γέρας ἀνθρώποις ἐνασ···········βίῳ κυλινδουμένοις ······· 1.3 τὸ κεφάλαιον ὑποκείμενον τῇ κρίσει τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐπίβουλοι δέ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς περιουσίας καθ' αὑτὴν ἱκανῆς οὔσης χαυνῶσαι τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν κεκτημένων καὶ διαφθεῖραι καὶ ἀποστῆσαι τῆς ὁδοῦ, δι' ἧς ἐπιτυχεῖν ἔστι σωτηρίας, οἳ δὲ προσεκπλήσσουσι τὰς γνώμας τῶν πλουσίων ταῖς ἡδοναῖς τῶν ἀμέτρων ἐπαίνων ἐπαίροντες καὶ καθάπαξ τῶν ὅλων πραγμάτων πλὴν τοῦ πλούτου, δι' ὃν θαυμάζονται, παρα σκευάζοντες ὑπερφρονεῖν, τὸ δὴ τοῦ λόγου πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ μετοχετεύοντες, τύφῳ τῦφον ἐπαντλοῦντες καὶ ὄγκον πλούτῳ προσανατιθέντες βαρεῖ φύσει φορτίον βαρύτερον, οὗ μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν ἀφαιρεῖν καὶ περικόπτειν, ὡς σφαλεροῦ νοσήματος καὶ θανατηφόρου· τῷ γὰρ ὑψουμένῳ καὶ μεγαλυνομένῳ παραπέπηγεν ἀντίστροφος ἡ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν μετα 1.4 βολὴ καὶ πτῶσις, ὡς ὁ θεῖος διδάσκει λόγος. ἐμοὶ δὲ φαίνεται μακρῷ φιλανθρωπότερον εἶναι τοῦ θεραπεύειν ············ τοὺς πλου τοῦντας ·········· ἐπὶ κακῷ τὸ συναίρεσθαι ·········· τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς ·············· ἅπαντα τὸν δυνατὸν τρό πον, τοῦτο μὲν ἐξαιτουμένους παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ βεβαίως καὶ ἡδέως τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ τέκνοις τὰ τοιαῦτα προϊεμένου, τοῦτο δὲ λόγῳ διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ σωτῆρος ἰωμένους τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, φωτίζοντας καὶ προσάγοντας ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας κτῆσιν, ἧς ὁ τυχὼν καὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ἐλλαμπρυνόμενος μόνος τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς 1.5 ἀναιρήσεται. δεῖται δὲ καὶ ἡ εὐχὴ ψυχῆς εὐρώστου καὶ λιπαροῦς ἄχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἡμέρας τοῦ βίου συμμεμετρημένης καὶ ἡ πολιτεία δια θέσεως χρηστῆς καὶ μονίμου καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐπεκτεινομένης.

2.1 Κινδυνεύει δὲ οὐχ ἁπλοῦν τι εἶναι τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ τὴν σωτηρίαν

χαλεπωτέραν τοῖς πλουτοῦσι δοκεῖν ἢ τοῖς ἀχρημάτοις τῶν ἀνθρώ 2.2 πων, ἀλλὰ ποικίλον. οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτόθεν καὶ προχείρως ἀκούσαντες τῆς τοῦ κυρίου φωνῆς, ὅτι ῥᾷον κάμηλος διὰ τρήματος ῥαφίδος διεκ δύσεται ἢ πλούσιος εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἀπογνόντες ἑαυτοὺς ὡς οὐ βιωσόμενοι, τῷ κόσμῳ πάντα χαριζόμενοι καὶ τῆς ἐνταῦθα ζωῆς ὡς μόνης ἑαυτοῖς ὑπολειπομένης ἐκκρεμασθέντες ἀπέστησαν πλέον τῆς ἐκεῖ ὁδοῦ, μηκέτι πολυπραγμονήσαντες μήτε τίνας τοὺς πλουσίους ὁ δεσπότης καὶ διδάσκαλος προσαγορεύει μήτε 2.3 ὅπως τὸ ἀδύνατον ἐν ἀνθρώποις δυνατὸν γίνεται. ἄλλοι δὲ τοῦτο μὲν συνῆκαν ὀρθῶς καὶ προσηκόντως, τῶν δὲ ἔργων τῶν εἰς τὴν σωτηρίαν ἀναφερόντων ὀλιγωρήσαντες οὐ παρεσκευάσαντο τὴν δέου 2.4 σαν παρασκευὴν εἰς τὸ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων τυχεῖν. λέγω δὲ ταῦτα ἑκάτερα περὶ τῶν πλουσίων τῶν καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ τῆς ἐπιφανοῦς σωτηρίας ᾐσθημένων, τῶν δὲ ἀμυήτων τῆς ἀλη θείας ὀλίγον μοι μέλει.

3.1 Χρὴ τοίνυν τοὺς φιλαλήθως καὶ φιλαδέλφως ··············· καὶ μήτε

καταθρασυνομένους αὐθάδως τῶν πλουσίων κλητῶν μήτε αὖ πάλιν ὑποπίπτοντας αὐτοῖς διὰ οἰκείαν φιλοκέρδειαν, πρῶτον μὲν αὐτῶν ἐξαιρεῖν τῷ λόγῳ τὴν κενὴν ἀπόγνωσιν καὶ δηλοῦν μετὰ τῆς δεούσης ἐξηγήσεως τῶν λογίων τοῦ κυρίου διότι