Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Forty Sixth Proof that Clement of the Alexandrian See of St. Mark Was a Prominent Leader of the Tradition Irenaeus Identifies as 'Marcosian'

46. Irenaeus says that the Marcosians had a special place for 'silence' [sige] in their system. The references to this concept abound in his Against the Heresies. He even preserves a prayer connected with the 'redemption' baptism which references a 'silent throne' as we read "O thou, who sittest beside God, and the mystical, eternal silence, thou through whom the angels, who continually behold the face of the Father, having thee as their guide and introducer"[AH i.13.5]

Clement of Alexandria's Church of St. Mark has a similar reference in the Newly Baptized. As the initiates rose out of the baptismal waters they apparently set their eyes on a throne and were told to "cultivate silence in word [ἡσυχίαν μὲν λόγοις ἐπιτήδευε], silence in deed [ἡσυχίαν δὲ ἔργοις], likewise in speech and gait; and avoid impetuous eagerness. For then the mind [νοῦς] will remain steady, and will not be agitated by your eagerness and so become weak and of narrow discernment and see darkly; nor will it be worsted by gluttony, worsted by boiling rage, worsted by the other passions, lying a ready prey to them. For the mind [νοῦν], seated on high [ἐπικρατεῖν ὑψηλὸν] on a silent throne [ἡσύχου θρόνου] looking intently towards God, must control the passions [παθῶν]. By no means be swept away by temper in bursts of anger, nor be sluggish in speaking, nor all nervousness in movement; so that your silence [ἡσυχίαν] may be adorned by good proportion and your bearing may appear something divine and sacred."

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