Wednesday, November 4, 2009

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

23. Irenaeus scolds the Marcosians for their gnosis saying "such ravings, we may now well say, go beyond Iu, Iu, Pheu, Pheu, and every kind of tragic exclamation or utterance of misery. For who would not detest one who is the wretched centriver of such audacious falsehoods, when he perceives the truth turned by Marcus into a mere image ... For thou alone hast formed that which is called by thee the truth into an image. But who will tolerate thy nonsensical Silence, who names Him that cannot be named, and expounds the nature of Him that is unspeakable, and searches out Him that is unsearchable, and declares that He whom thou maintainest to be destitute of body and form, opened His mouth and sent forth the Word, as if He were included among organized beings; and that His Word, while like to His Author." [AH i.15.4,5]

Clement writes that "such David describes the Church: 'The queen stood on thy right hand, enveloped in a golden robe, variegated;' and with Hellenic and superabundant accomplishments, 'clothed variegated with gold-fringed garments.' And the Truth says by the Lord, "For who had known Thy counsel, hadst Thou not given wisdom, and sent Thy Holy Spirit from the Highest; and so the ways of those on earth were corrected, and men learned Thy decrees, and were saved by wisdom?" For the Gnostic knows things ancient by the Scripture, and conjectures things future: he understands the involutions of words and the solutions of enigmas. He knows beforehand signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and periods, as we have said already. Seest thou the fountain of instructions that takes its rise from wisdom? But to those who object, What use is there in knowing the causes of the manner of the sun's motion, for example, and the rest of the heavenly bodies, or in having studied the theorems of geometry or logic, and each of the other branches of study? -- for these are of no service in the discharge of duties, and the Hellenic philosophy is human wisdom, for it is incapable of teachings the truth -- the following remarks are to be made. First, that they stumble in reference to the highest of things -- namely, the mind's free choice. "For they," it is said, "who keep holy holy things, shall be made holy; and those who have been taught will find an answer." For the Gnostic alone will do holily, in accordance with reason all that has to be done, as he hath learned through the Lord's teaching, received through men." [Stromata vi.11]

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