The 'forger's tremor' argument was the 'respectable proof' as it were which secretly brought in the room a scurrilous claim that Morton Smith was nothing short of a diabolical agent of Satan. Now all we are left with is foundation-less theories about Morton Smith's personal life, sexual orientation and 'hatred' for the Church, academic tradition and the like. For many that is enough to convict the document of being a forgery. Moreover, given the complete lack of imagination on the part of those who argue for authenticity (God seems to have given all the creative flights of fancy to those of the hoax hypothesis) we have stepped forward with much more compelling argument - Jerome preserved the original Alexandrian interpretation from Secret Mark witnessed in the Letter to Theodore.
I don't want to continue repeating this breakthrough over and over again in each post that I write. Indeed I will end up loosing the faithful readership who come here everyday to provide them with what this 'Secret Mark conference in Toronto' will not - i.e. a decision as to the authenticity of the document. New readers are free to go back into the archives and see all the work we have already accomplished.
The bottom line is that Jerome says that the entire Christian message is summed up by a 'naked disciple with naked Christ' which follows from the commandment that Jesus gives to the rich youth in Mark 10:17 - 31. I have demonstrated at least ten occasions where Jerome betrays knowledge of the formula of the Letter to Theodore. Now we are continuing to show that the same 'naked with naked' formula is actually also present in the accepted writings of Clement - you just need the Letter to Theodore and knowledge of Jerome's preservation of the same Alexandrian formula to lay bare the original testimony.
Let's start with a reference to the nakedness of the ideal disciple after Clement's citation of the Alexandrian version of Mark 10:21 in Quis Dives Salvetur - a work which explains the proper understanding of Mark 10:17 - 31. We should pay close attention to the 'naked' reference at the end of the cited section:
But Christ is the fulfilment “of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth;” and not as a slave making slaves, but sons, and brethren, and fellow-heirs, who perform the Father’s will. “If thou wilt be perfect." Consequently he was not yet perfect. For nothing is more perfect than what is perfect. And divinely the expression “if thou wilt” showed the self-determination of the soul holding converse with Him. For choice depended on the man as being free; but the gift on God as the Lord. And He gives to those who are willing and are exceedingly earnest, and ask, that so their salvation may become their own. For God compels not (for compulsion is repugnant to God), but supplies to those who seek, and bestows on those who ask, and opens to those who knock. If thou wilt, then, if thou really willest, and art not deceiving thyself, acquire what thou lackest. One thing is lacking thee,—the one thing which abides, the good, that which is now above the law, which the law gives not, which the law contains not, which is the prerogative of those who live. He forsooth who had fulfilled all the demands of the law from his youth, and had gloried in what was magnificent, was not able to complete the sale (πραθῆναι) with this one thing which was specially required by the Saviour, so as to receive the eternal life which he desired. But he departed displeased, vexed at the commandment of the life, on account of which he supplicated. For he did not truly wish life, as he averred, but aimed at the mere reputation of the good choice. And he was capable of busying himself about many things; but the one thing, the work of life, he was powerless, and disinclined, and unable to accomplish. Such also was what the Lord said to Martha, who was occupied with many things, and distracted and troubled with serving; while she blamed her sister, because, leaving serving, she set herself at His feet, devoting her time to learning: “Thou art troubled about many things, but Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” So also He bade him leave his busy life, and cleave to One and adhere to the grace of Him who offered everlasting life.The original Greek for the last sentence here is:
What then was it which persuaded him to flight, and made him depart from the Master, from the entreaty, the hope, the life, previously pursued with ardour?—“Sell thy possessions.” And what is this? He does not, as some conceive off-hand, bid him throw away the substance he possessed, and abandon his property; but bids him banish from his soul his notions about wealth, his excitement and morbid feeling about it, the anxieties, which are the thorns of existence, which choke the seed of life. For it is no great thing or desirable to be destitute of wealth, if without a special object,—not except on account of life. For thus those who have nothing at all, but are destitute, and beggars for their daily bread, the poor dispersed on the streets, who know not God and God’s righteousness, simply on account of their extreme want and destitution of subsistence, and lack even of the smallest things, were most blessed and most dear to God, and sole possessors of everlasting life.
Nor was the renunciation of wealth and the bestowment of it on the poor or needy a new thing; for many did so before the Saviour’s advent,—some because of the leisure (thereby obtained) for learning, and on account of a dead wisdom; and others for empty fame and vainglory, as the Anaxagorases, the Democriti, and the Crateses.
Why then command as new, as divine, as alone life-giving, what did not save those of former days? And what peculiar thing is it that the new creature (ἡ καινὴ κτισις) the Son of God intimates and teaches? It is not the outward act which others have done, but something else indicated by it, greater, more godlike, more perfect, the stripping off (γυμνῶσαι) of the passions from the soul itself and from the disposition, and the cutting up by the roots and casting out of what is alien (ἀλλότρια) to the mind. [Quis Dives Salvetur 10 - 12]
τὸ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν διάθεσιν γυμνῶσαι τῶν ὑπόντων παθῶν καὶ πρόρριζα τὰ ἀλλότρια τῆς γνώμης ἐκτεμεῖν καὶ ἐκβαλεῖν.which it might be noted is render in the French translation as:
Dépouillez-vous de vos vices, arrachez-les de votre âme, détruisez-les, rejetez-les loin de vous; tel est son commandement et sa doctrine, bien dignes des fidèles et de lui-même!
Strip off your flaws, tear them from your soul, destroy them, throw them away from you, such is his command and his doctrine, though worthy of the faithful and of itself!
I would like to take some time to demonstrate that the Greek clearly alludes to a castration ritual in Alexandria. But for the moment let's be content to notice that what is being said explicitly here with respect to the ritual nudity of the ideal disciple is exactly what is obscurely hinted at in the next reference to Mark 10:21 in Clement's writings:
“Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, follow Me” —that is, follow what is said by the Lord. Some say that by what “thou hast” He designated the things in the soul, of a nature not akin to it, though how these are bestowed on the poor they are not able to say.
«Vendez ce que vous possédez et donnez-le aux pauvres ; puis venez et suivez moi»
c'est-à-dire suivez les préceptes du Seigneur. Il en est qui veulent que ce mot ce que vous possédez (ta hyparchonta) désigne tout ce qui est étranger à l'âme.
« Πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς, καὶ δεῦρο ἀκολούθει μοι,»
τουτέστιν τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου λεγομένοις ἕπου. Ὑπάρχοντα δέ φασί τινες αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι τὰ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἀλλότρια, καὶ πῶς τοῖς πτωχοῖς ταῦτα διανέμεται, οὐκ ἔχουσιν εἰπεῖν
There can be no doubt now that Jerome got his notion of ritual nudity from an Alexandrian tradition related to Secret Mark - undoubtedly through the agency of Origen or one of his disciples. We cited the most explicit reference to ritual nudity which closely approximates Jerome's own references to the tradition in yesterday's post:
Wherefore also the Lord says, “Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, follow me.” Follow God, naked of arrogance (γυμνὸς ἀλαζονείας), naked of fading display (γυμνὸς ἐπικήρου πομπῆς), possessed of that which is thine, which is good, what alone cannot be taken away—faith towards God, confession towards Him who suffered, beneficence towards men, which is the most precious of possessions.
Διὰ τοῦτο καί «Πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα», λέγει κύριος, «καὶ πτωχοῖς δός, καὶ δεῦρο ἀκολούθει μοι·» ἕπου τῷ θεῷ γυμνὸς ἀλαζονείας, γυμνὸς ἐπικήρου πομπῆς, τὸ σόν, τὸ ἀγαθὸν τὸ ἀναφαίρετον μόνον, τὴν εἰς τὸν θεὸν πίστιν, τὴν εἰς τὸν παθόντα ὁμολογίαν, τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίαν κεκτημένος, κτῆμα τιμαλφέστατον. [Paed. 2.3]
The 'hoax hypothesis' has effectively been overturned, don't you think?
