Clement's Unrecognized References to the Marcionite Sect

[Secret Alias]

"He has left the paths of his own vineyard, and he has lost his way in the furrows of his own field. These are they who abandon the Church from the beginning. The one who falls into heresy passes through a waterless desert, leaving behind the truly existing God, a godless desert, seeking waterless water, approaching an uninhabitable and thirsty land, gathering fruitlessness with his hands. And to those lacking in understanding, I advise, saying, as Wisdom says, clearly about the heresies, 'You may happily touch hidden breads, and sweet stolen water, bread and water not on others' terms, but on those of bread and water not according to the Church's canon (τὸν κανόνα τῆς ἐκκλησίας) openly establishing the scripture's positions. For there are those who even give thanks over mere water. But leap away, do not linger in her place (μὴ χρονίσῃς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ αὐτῆς). She named the place the synagogue, not the Church synonymously (τόπον τὴν συναγωγήν, οὐχὶ δὲ ἐκκλησίαν ὁμωνύμως προσεῖπεν). Then she exclaims: 'For in this way you will cross over alien (ἀλλότριον) water, the baptism considered not one’s own and not genuine, heretical, and you will surpass a foreign (ἀλλότριον) river that carries away and drags into the sea, into which the one led astray from the true firmness is expelled, hidden again among the pagan and disorderly waves of life.'"

ἀπέλιπεν γὰρ ὁδοὺς τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τὰς δὲ τροχιὰς τοῦ ἰδίου γεωργίου πεπλάνηται. αὗται δέ εἰσιν αἱ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀπο1.19.95.7 λείπουσαι ἐκκλησίαν. αὐτίκα ὁ εἰς αἵρεσιν ὑποπεσὼν διέρχεται δι' ἐρημίας ἀνύδρου, τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν καταλιπών, ἔρημος θεοῦ, ὕδωρ ἄνυδρον ζητῶν, τὴν ἀοίκητον καὶ δίψιον ἐπερχόμενος γῆν, 1.19.96.1 συνάγων χερσὶν ἀκαρπίαν. καὶ τοῖς ἐνδεέσι φρενῶν παρακελεύομαι λέγουσα, φησὶν ἡ σοφία, τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὰς αἱρέσεις δηλονότι, ἄρτων κρυφίων ἡδέως ἅψασθε, καὶ ὕδατος κλοπῆς γλυκεροῦ, ἄρτον καὶ ὕδωρ οὐκ ἐπ' ἄλλων τινῶν, ἀλλ' ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄρτῳ καὶ ὕδατι κατὰ τὴν προσφορὰν μὴ κατὰ τὸν κανόνα τῆς ἐκκλησίας χρωμένων αἱρέσεων ἐμφανῶς ταττούσης τῆς γραφῆς. εἰσὶ γὰρ οἳ καὶ ὕδωρ ψιλὸν 1.19.96.2 εὐχαριστοῦσιν. ἀλλὰ ἀποπήδησον, μὴ χρονίσῃς ἐν τῷ τόπῳ αὐτῆς. 1.19.96.3 τόπον τὴν συναγωγήν, οὐχὶ δὲ ἐκκλησίαν ὁμωνύμως προσεῖπεν. εἶτα ἐπιφωνεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ διαβήσῃ ὕδωρ ἀλλότριον, τὸ βάπτισμα τὸ 1.19.96.4 αἱρετικὸν οὐκ οἰκεῖον καὶ γνήσιον ὕδωρ λογιζομένη, καὶ ὑπερβήσῃ ποταμὸν ἀλλότριον τὸν παραφέροντα καὶ κατασύροντα εἰς θάλασσαν, εἰς ἣν ἐκδίδοται ὁ παρεκτραπεὶς ἐκ τῆς κατ' ἀλήθειαν ἑδραιότητος, συνεκρυεὶς αὖθις εἰς τὰ ἐθνικὰ καὶ ἄτακτα τοῦ βίου κύματα.

"Yet there is only one who is good, whose confidence is revealed through the Son, and through Him alone can the heart become pure, having expelled every evil spirit from the heart. For many spirits that dwell within it prevent its purification, each performing its own works driven by diverse and disgraceful desires that are not fitting. And it seems to me that the heart suffers something similar to an inn; for that too is trodden down and dug into, and often filled with filth by people who persist in their licentiousness and take no care for the place, treating it as if it were someone else's (ἀλλοτρίου). In this way, the heart too, until it receives care, remains unclean, a dwelling place of many demons; but when the only good Father visits it, it is sanctified and shines with light, and thus blessed is the one who has such a heart, for he shall see God."

εἷς δέ ἐστιν ἀγαθός, οὗ παρρησία ἡ διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ φανέρωσις, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ μόνου δύναιτο ἂν ἡ καρδία καθαρὰ γενέσθαι, παντὸς πονηροῦ πνεύματος ἐξωθουμένου τῆς καρδίας. 2.20.114.4 πολλὰ γὰρ ἐνοικοῦντα αὐτῇ πνεύματα οὐκ ἐᾷ καθαρεύειν, ἕκαστον δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ ἴδια ἐκτελεῖ ἔργα πολλαχῶς ἐνυβριζόντων ἐπιθυμίαις 2.20.114.5 οὐ προσηκούσαις. καί μοι δοκεῖ ὅμοιόν τι πάσχειν τῷ πανδοχείῳ ἡ καρδία· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο κατατιτρᾶταί τε καὶ ὀρύττεται καὶ πολλάκις κόπρου πίμπλαται ἀνθρώπων ἀσελγῶς ἐμμενόντων καὶ μηδεμίαν πρόνοιαν ποιουμένων τοῦ χωρίου, καθάπερ ἀλλοτρίου καθεστῶτος. 2.20.114.6 τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον καὶ ἡ καρδία, μέχρι μὴ προνοίας τυγχάνει, ἀκάθαρτος οὖσα, πολλῶν οὖσα δαιμόνων οἰκητήριον· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἐπισκέψηται αὐτὴν ὁ μόνος ἀγαθὸς πατήρ, ἡγίασται καὶ φωτὶ διαλάμπει, καὶ οὕτω μακαρίζεται ὁ ἔχων τὴν τοιαύτην καρδίαν, ὅτι ὄψεται τὸν θεόν.

"How then is licentiousness and obscene speech free? 'For everyone who sins is a slave,' says the Apostle. But how can one live according to God by giving himself up to every desire, when the Lord has said, 'I tell you, do not covet'? And yet, someone willingly chooses to sin, establishing as doctrine to commit adultery, to indulge in excess, and to defile the marriages of others, where even those sinning unwillingly we pity. Even if they have arrived in a foreign world, not being faithful in what is foreign, they will not have the truth. And yet, a foreigner insults the citizens and wrongs them, not living blamelessly among the citizens using only what is necessary. How then about those hated by the nations for not doing what is prescribed by the laws, that is, the unjust, the unrestrained, the greedy, and the adulterers doing the same, claim to know God alone? They ought, even in foreign circumstances, to live well, so as to truly demonstrate the royal [quality]. But now, living lawlessly, they are hated both by human lawmakers and by the divine law.

πῶς δὲ ἐλεύθερον ἡ ἀκρασία καὶ ἡ αἰσχρολογία; πᾶς γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ἁμαρ3.4.31.1 τάνων δοῦλός ἐστιν, ** ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγει. ἀλλὰ πῶς κατὰ θεὸν
πολιτεύεται ὁ πάσῃ ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἔκδοτον ἑαυτὸν παρασχὼν τοῦ κυρίου 3.4.31.2 φήσαντος ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω, μὴ ἐπιθυμήσῃς; ἑκὼν δέ τις ἁμαρτάνειν βούλεται καὶ δόγμα τίθησι τὸ μοιχεύειν καὶ καθηδυπαθεῖν καὶ λυμαίνεσθαι τοὺς ἄλλων γάμους, ὅπου γε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἄκοντας ἁμαρ3.4.31.3 τάνοντας ἐλεοῦμεν; κἂν εἰς ξένον τὸν κόσμον ἀφιγμένοι ὦσι, πιστοὶ 3.4.31.4 ἐν τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ μὴ γενόμενοι, τὸ ἀληθὲς οὐχ ἕξουσιν. ὑβρίζει δέ τις ξένος πολίτας καὶ τούτους ἀδικεῖ, οὐχὶ δὲ ὡς παρεπίδημος τοῖς 3.4.31.5 ἀναγκαίοις χρώμενος ἀπρόσκοπος τοῖς πολίταις διαβιοῖ; πῶς δὲ καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν μεμισημένοις διὰ τὸ μὴ πράσσειν τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν νόμων διηγορευμένα, τουτέστι τοῖς ἀδίκοις καὶ ἀκρατέσι καὶ πλεονέκταις καὶ μοιχοῖς τὰ αὐτὰ πράσσοντες θεὸν ἐγνωκέναι μόνοι λέγου3.4.31.6 σιν; ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις παρόντας καλῶς βιοῦν, 3.4.32.1 ἵνα δὴ τῷ ὄντι τὸ βασιλικὸν ἐνδείξωνται. ἤδη δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις νομοθέταις καὶ τῷ θείῳ νόμῳ ἀπεχθάνονται παρανόμως βιοῦν ἐπανῃρημένοι.