Passages similar to: Stromata (Miscellanies) — Chapter XVIII: The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics.
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Christian Mysticism
Stromata (Miscellanies)
Chapter XVIII: The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics. (5)
And those that neither part the hoof nor chew the cud are entirely unclean. "But ye Megareans," says Theognis," are neither third nor fourth, Nor twelfth, neither in reckoning nor in number," "but as chaff which the wind drives away from the face of the earth," and as a drop from a vessel."
For if a thought of lust enters into a virgin man, he has already become contaminated. And their gluttony cannot mix with moderation. For if the chaff...
(7) [...] to mix with the [...]. For if a thought of lust enters into a virgin man, he has already become contaminated. And their gluttony cannot mix with moderation. For if the chaff is mixed with the wheat, it is not the chaff that is contaminated, but the wheat. For since they are mixed with each other, no one will buy her wheat, because it is contaminated. But they will coax him, "Give us this chaff!", seeing the wheat mixed with it, until they get it and throw it with all other chaff, and that chaff mixes with all other materials. But a pure seed is kept in storehouses that are secure. All these things,then, we have spoken.
And on all 7 Bracketed words a dittograph. 1 No trace of such halakic rules exists in the Books of Enoch or the fragments of the Noah apocalypse that ...
(21) And eat its meat on that day and on the second day, and let not the sun on the second day go down upon it till it is eaten, and let nothing be left over for the third day; for it is not acceptable [for it is not approved] and let it no longer be eaten, and all who eat thereof will bring sin upon themselves; for thus I have found it written in the books of mv forefathers, and in the words of Enoch, and in the words of Noah. n. And on all 7 Bracketed words a dittograph. 1 No trace of such halakic rules exists in the Books of Enoch or the fragments of the Noah apocalypse that nre ex- tant. The statement in the text seems to be drigihal to the author of Jubilees. thy oblations thou shalt strew salt, and let not the salt of the covenant be lacking in all thy oblations before the Lord.
As for the genera (khadûînak), the first genus is that which has the foot cloven in two, and is suitable for grazing; of which a camel larger than a...
(8) As for the genera (khadûînak), the first genus is that which has the foot cloven in two, and is suitable for grazing; of which a camel larger than a horse is small and new-born.
XXXVII. Pharisees Querulous—tradition of the Elders: Unwashen Hands—washing of Pots Not the Whole of Godliness—blind Leaders of the Blind (12)
Are ye also yet so without understanding? Do not ye yet perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into a man, entereth in at the mouth,...
(12) Are ye also yet so without understanding? Do not ye yet perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into a man, entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught, purging all meats? It entereth not into his heart; it cannot defile him.
L. "when Ye Pray, Say" (luke 11, 2)—parables and Precepts—"blessed Is the Womb That Bare Thee"—"a Greater Than Solomon Is Here"—jesus Dines with Pharisee: Chides Pharisees and Lawyers (21)
Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he...
(21) Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
Timaeus: And the fourth kind, which lives in the water, came from the most utterly thoughtless and stupid of men, whom those that remolded them...
(92) Timaeus: And the fourth kind, which lives in the water, came from the most utterly thoughtless and stupid of men, whom those that remolded them deemed no longer worthy even of pure respiration, seeing that they were unclean of soul through utter wickedness; wherefore in place of air, for refined and pure respiring, they thrust them into water, there to respire its turbid depths. Thence have come into being the tribe of fishes and of shellfish and all creatures of the waters, which have for their portion the extremest of all abodes in requital for the extremity of their witlessness. Thus, both then and now, living creatures keep passing
For those who worship the Gods do not abstain from animals, lest the Gods should be defiled by the vapours arising from them. For what exhalation from...
(1) Nor is that which so greatly disturbs you, and for which you so strenuously contend, attended with any difficulty, I mean abstinence from animals, if it is rightly understood. For those who worship the Gods do not abstain from animals, lest the Gods should be defiled by the vapours arising from them. For what exhalation from bodies can approach those who, before any thing material can come into contact with their power, intangibly amputate matter? Nor is it the power of the Gods only that abolishes all bodies, and causes them to vanish, without any approximation to them; but a celestial body, also, is unmingled with all the material elements; nor does it receive into itself any thing extraneous, nor impart any portion of itself to things of a foreign nature.
Timaeus: On this account also their race was made four-footed and many-footed, since God set more supports under the more foolish ones, so that they...
(92) Timaeus: On this account also their race was made four-footed and many-footed, since God set more supports under the more foolish ones, so that they might be dragged down still more to the earth. And inasmuch as there was no longer any need of feet for the most foolish of these same creatures, which stretched with their whole body along the earth, the gods generated these footless and wriggling upon the earth.
Chapter 18: Of the Creation of Heaven and Earth; and of the first Day. (46)
I do not speak so, as if the beasts in their birth or geniture were to inherit the kingdom of heaven: No; for they are like the corrupted earth, evil...
(46) I do not speak so, as if the beasts in their birth or geniture were to inherit the kingdom of heaven: No; for they are like the corrupted earth, evil and good; but if they be sown again into their mother the earth, then they are earth.
The fifth genus is that of the water, of which the Kar fish is the largest, and the Nemadu the least. 13, These five genera are apportioned out into...
(12) The fifth genus is that of the water, of which the Kar fish is the largest, and the Nemadu the least. 13, These five genera are apportioned out into two hundred and eighty-two species (sardak). 14. First are five species of goat, the ass-goat, the milch-goat, the mountain-goat, the fawn, and the common goat. 15. Second, five species of sheep, that with a tail, that which has no tail, the dog-sheep, the wether, and the Kûrisk sheep, a sheep whose horn is great; it possesses a grandeur like unto a horse, and they use it mostly for a steed (bâra), as it is said that Mânûskîhar kept a Kûrisk as a steed. 16. Third, two species of camel, the mountain one and that suitable for grazing; for one is fit to keep in the mountain, and one in the plain; they are one-humped and two-humped. 17. Fourth, fifteen species of ox, the white, mud-coloured, red, yellow, black, and dappled, the elk, the buffalo, the camel-leopard ox, the fish-chewing ox, the Fars ox, the Kagau, and other species of ox. 18. Fifth, eight species of horse, the Arab, the Persian, the mule, the ass, the wild ass (gôr), the hippopotamus (asp-i âvî), and other species of horse. 19. Sixth, ten species of dog, the shepherd's dog, the village-dog which is the house-protector, the blood-hound, the slender hound, the water-beaver which they call the water-dog, the fox, the ichneumon (râsu), the hedgehog which they call 'thorny-back,' the porcupine, and the civet-cat; of which, two species are those accustomed to burrows, one the fox and one the ichneumon; and those accustomed to jungle are such as the porcupine which has spines on its back, and the hedgehog which is similar. 20. Seventh, five species of the black hare; two are wild species, one dwelling in a burrow and one dwelling in the jungle. 21. Eighth, eight species of weasel; one the marten, one the black marten, the squirrel, the Bez ermine, the white ermine, and other species of weasel. 22. Ninth, eight species of musk animals; one is that which is recognised by its musk, one the musk animal with a bag in which is their pleasant scent, the Bis-musk which eats the Bis-herb, the black musk which is the enemy of the serpent that is numerous in rivers, and other species of musk animals. 23. Tenth, one hundred and ten species of birds; flying creatures (vey = vâî) such as the griffon bird, the Karsipt, the eagle, the Kahrkâs which they call the vulture, the crow, the Ardâ, the crane, and the tenth is the bat. 24. There are two of them which have milk in the teat and suckle their young, the griffon bird and the bat which flies in the night; as they say that the bat is created of three races (sardak), the race (âyina) of the dog, the bird, and the musk animal; for it flies like a bird, has many teeth like a dog, and is dwelling in holes like a musk-rat. 25. These hundred and ten species of birds are distributed into eight groups (khadûînak), mostly as scattered about as when a man scatters seed, and drops the seed in his fingers to the ground, large, middling, and small. 26. Eleventh, fish were created of ten species; first, the fish Ariz, the Arzuvâ, the Arzukâ, the Marzukâ, and other Avesta names. 27. Afterwards, within each species, species within species are created, so the total is two hundred and eighty-two species. 28. Of the dog they say that out of the star station, that is, away from the direction of the constellation Haptôk-rîng, was given to him further by a stage (yôgist) than to men, on account of his protection of sheep, and as associating with sheep and men; for this the dog is purposely adapted, as three more kinds of advantage are given to him than to man, he has his own boots, his own clothing, and may wander about without self-exertion. 29. The twelfth is the sharp-toothed beast of which the leader of the flock is in such great fear, for that flock of sheep is very badly maintained which has no dog. 30. Aûharmazd said when the bird Vâresha was created by him, which is a bird of prey, thus: 'Thou art created by me, O bird Vâresha! so that my vexation may be greater than my satisfaction with thee, for thou doest the will of the evil spirit more than that of me; like the wicked man who did not become satiated with wealth, thou also dost not become satiated with the slaughter of birds; but if thou be not created by me, O bird Vâresha! thou wouldst be created by him, the evil spirit, as a kite with the body of a Varpa, by which no creature would be left alive.' 31. Many animals are created in all these species for this reason, that when one shall be perishing through the evil spirit, one shall remain.
How the Multiplicity of the Ideal-forms Came Into Being: and Upon the Good (9)
Admitted, then- it will be said- for the nobler forms of life; but how can the divine contain the mean, the unreasoning? The mean is the unreasoning,...
(9) Admitted, then- it will be said- for the nobler forms of life; but how can the divine contain the mean, the unreasoning? The mean is the unreasoning, since value depends upon reason and the worth of the intellective implies worthlessness where intellection is lacking. Yet how can there be question of the unreasoning or unintellective when all particulars exist in the divine and come forth from it?
In taking up the refutation of these objections, we must insist upon the consideration that neither man nor animals here can be thought of as identical with the counterparts in the higher realm; those ideal forms must be taken in a larger way. And again the reasoning thing is not of that realm: here the reasoning, There the pre-reasoning.
Why then does man alone reason here, the others remaining reasonless?
Degrees of reasoning here correspond to degrees of Intellection in that other sphere, as between man and the other living beings There; and those others do in some measure act by understanding.
But why are they not at man's level of reason: why also the difference from man to man?
We must reflect that, since the many forms of lives are movements- and so with the Intellections- they cannot be identical: there must be different lives, distinct intellections, degrees of lightsomeness and clarity: there must be firsts, seconds, thirds, determined by nearness to the Firsts. This is how some of the Intellections are gods, others of a secondary order having what is here known as reason, while others again belong to the so-called unreasoning: but what we know here as unreasoning was There a Reason-Principle; the unintelligent was an Intellect; the Thinker of Horse was Intellect and the Thought, Horse, was an Intellect.
But if this were a matter of mere thinking we might well admit that the intellectual concept, remaining concept, should take in the unintellectual, but where concept is identical with thing how can the one be an Intellection and the other without intelligence? Would not this be Intellect making itself unintelligent?
No: the thing is not unintelligent; it is Intelligence in a particular mode, corresponding to a particular aspect of Life; and just as life in whatever form it may appear remains always life, so Intellect is not annulled by appearing in a certain mode. Intellectual-Principle adapted to some particular living being does not cease to be the Intellectual-Principle of all, including man: take it where you will, every manifestation is the whole, though in some special mode; the particular is produced but the possibility is of all. In the particular we see the Intellectual-Principle in realization; the realized is its latest phase; in one case the last aspect is "horse"; at "horse" ended the progressive outgoing towards the lesser forms of life, as in another case it will end at something lower still. The unfolding of the powers of this Principle is always attended by some abandonment in regard to the highest; the outgoing is by loss, and by this loss the powers become one thing or another according to the deficiency of the life-form produced by the failing principle; it is then that they find the means of adding various requisites; the safeguards of the life becoming inadequate there appear nail, talon, fang, horn. Thus the Intellectual-Principle by its very descent is directed towards the perfect sufficiency of the natural constitution, finding there within itself the remedy of the failure.
This, therefore, it is not fit to suspect of the Gods [ viz. that they can be defiled by vapours]; but it is much more requisite to think that things...
(3) This, therefore, it is not fit to suspect of the Gods [ viz. that they can be defiled by vapours]; but it is much more requisite to think that things of this kind are foreign to us and to our nature. For things which are divided, and also material and kindred natures, are able to have a certain communion with each other in acting and suffering; but things which are essentially different, and such as are entirely transcendent, and which employ other natures and powers, these cannot act on or receive any thing from each other. The defilement, therefore, produced by material natures, falls on things which are detained by a material body; and from these it is necessary those should be purified who are capable of being defiled by matter. But how can those beings be defiled by material essences who neither have a divisible nature nor possess the power of receiving in themselves the passions of matter? How, likewise, can divinity, who has nothing in common with us, in consequence of antecedently existing superior to human imbecility, be polluted by my passions, or by those of any other man?