Clement of Alexandria: INSTRUCTOR (PAEDAGOGUS) Complete

Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson.

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Page 88

Excess, which in all things is an evil, is very highly reprehensible in the matter of food. Gluttony, called opsophagia, is nothing but excess in the use of relishes (opson); and laimargia is insanity with respect to the gullet; and gastrimargia is excess with respect to food--insanity in reference to the belly, as the name implies; for margos is a madman. The apostle, checking those that transgress in their conduct at entertainments, [1335] says: "For every one taketh beforehand in eating his own supper; and one is hungry, and another drunken. Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame those who have not?" [1336] And among those who have, they, who eat shamelessly and are insatiable, shame themselves. And both act badly; the one by paining those who have not, the other by exposing their own greed in the presence of those who have. Necessarily, therefore, against those who have cast off shame and unsparingly abuse meals, the insatiable to whom nothing is sufficient, the apostle, in continuation, again breaks forth in a voice of displeasure: "So that, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait for one another. And if any one is hungry, let him eat at home, that ye come not together to condemnation." [1337]

[1335] [Clement seems to think this abuse was connected with the agapae not--one might trust--with the Lord's supper.]

[1336] 1 Cor. xi. 21, 22.

[1337] 1 Cor. xi. 33, 34.

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