CONTRA FATUM

“ The Bible was associated, and largely identified, with the tradition as early as Clement of Alexandria, at the turn of the century. He claims the authority of scriptural texts with the new phrase ‘as the Scripture has traditioned’ ( strom . I.21, 142.2; ib. 7.18, 109.2), and speaks of the ‘spiritual knowledge traditioned through the Scriptures’, by which Christ makes a man truly great–minded ( strom . 7.16, 105.1)...The genuine 'G nostic ' —that is to say, the devout and intelligent Christian, the man of real enlightenment—will grow old in the Scriptures, preserves the apostolic and ecclesiastic orthodoxy in his doctrines, and lives according to the Gospel; for his life ‘is nothing else than the deeds and words conforming to the Lord’s tradition’ ( ib. 104.1 & 2). In his maintenance of such an attitude, basing a deep reverence for the Bible on the unique character of the tradition which it contained, Clement is not singular. He merely gives expression in words ...

Likewise in the Canticle we read: 'I have drunk my wine with my milk.’ There too the breasts of the bride are likened to clusters of grapes. Good is the cluster pressed in the winepress of the cross, that the wine of his Passion, full of gall and vinegar, may be sweetened for us to drink like milk, and that his wounds may be transformed into breasts. For one who contemplates, his wounds are breasts; for one on his daily rounds, they are wine; for one who meditates, they are sweet fruit; for one who imitates him, they are somewhat bitter. In his breasts, by foretasting, we savor some knowledge of things to come; in his clusters, by a kind of inebriation, we drug the uprisings of the flesh. In his breasts, we are engrafted upon him unto life; in his clusters, we are buried with Christ unto death. For us his wounds are breasts, as long as through the merit of the Lord's Passion and his gift of grace, we live in hope of everlasting blessings; for us his wounds are clusters, as long...