Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragment 248 from the section Kern heads Diathekai, the Orphic Testament tradition. The witness is Clement of Alexandria, with Eusebius preserving the same passage. Clement quotes Orphic verses after citing Isaiah's question about who measured heaven and held the earth, then treats the verses as a witness to the Pantokrator.

Translation

Kern Fr. 248 — Ruler of Aether, Hades, Sea, and Earth

Clement says that when Orpheus speaks, he paraphrases the prophetic question: "Who measured heaven with a span, and the whole earth in his hand?"

Ruler of aether
and Hades,
of sea
and of earth,

you who with thunder
shake the mighty house
of Olympus,

you before whom
spirits shudder,
and the company
of gods is afraid,

you whom the Moirai obey,
though they are
unrelenting:

imperishable
Mother-Father,
by whose spirit
all things are shaken,

you who move
the winds,
and cover all things
with clouds,

splitting
the broad aether
with storm-fire.

Your order
among the stars
runs with unchanging
commands.

Beside your fiery throne
stand the much-laboring
angels,
whose care it is
how all things
come to completion
for mortals.

Your spring shines
with new purple flowers.

Your winter comes
with cold clouds.

Bromios once apportioned
your Bacchic
fruit-seasons.

Then Clement adds that Orpheus explicitly names God as Pantokrator:

Imperishable,
immortal,
spoken of only
by immortals.

Come,
greatest of all gods,
with mighty Necessity:

dread,
unconquered,
great,
imperishable,
you whom aether crowns.

Clement says that by "Mother-Father" Orpheus signified not only generation from non-being, but also gave openings to those who introduce emanations and perhaps suppose a consort of God. Clement then says that Orpheus paraphrases the prophetic writings: the saying through Hosea, "I establish thunder and create spirit," and the saying through Moses, "See, see that I am, and there is no other god besides me; I kill and I will make alive; I strike and I will heal, and there is none who will deliver out of my hands."

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), fr. 248, in the section headed "Diathekai." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.14.125.1, and Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 13.13, as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 248 — Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.14.125.1:

καὶ τὰ διὰ Ἡσαΐου· "Τίς ἐμέτρησεν τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί;" πάλιν ὅταν εἴπῃ Ὀρφεύς·

αἰθέρος ἠδ' Ἀΐδου, πόντου γαίης τε τύραννε,
ὃς βρονταῖς σείεις βριαρὸν δόμον Οὐλύμποιο·
δαίμονες ὃν φρίσσουσιν, θεῶν δὲ δέδοικεν ὅμιλος·
ᾧ Μοῖραι πείθονται, ἀμείλικτοί περ ἐοῦσαι·
ἄφθιτε, μητροπάτωρ, οὗ θυμῷ πάντα δονεῖται·
ὃς κινεῖς ἀνέμους, νεφέλῃσι δὲ πάντα καλύπτεις,
πρηστῆρσι σχίζων πλατὺν αἰθέρα· σὴ μὲν ἐν ἄστροις
τάξις, ἀναλλάκτοισιν ἐφημοσύναισι τρέχουσα·
σῷ δὲ θρόνῳ πυρόεντι παρεστᾶσιν πολύμοχθοι
ἄγγελοι, οἷσι μέμηλε βροτοῖς ὡς πάντα τελεῖται·
σὸν μὲν ἔαρ λάμπει νέον ἄνθεσι πορφυρέοισιν·
σὸς χειμὼν ψυχραῖσιν ἐπερχόμενος νεφέλαισιν·
σὰς ποτε βακχευτὰς Βρόμιος διένειμεν ὀπώρας.

εἶτα ἐπιφέρει, ῥητῶς παντοκράτορα ὀνομάζων τὸν θεόν·

ἄφθιτον, ἀθάνατον, ῥητὸν μόνον ἀθανάτοισιν.
ἐλθέ, μέγιστε θεῶν πάντων, κρατερῇ σὺν ἀνάγκῃ,
φρικτός, ἀήττητος, μέγας, ἄφθιτος, ὃν στέφει αἰθήρ.

διὰ μὲν τοῦ "μητροπάτωρ" οὐ μόνον τὴν ἐκ μὴ ὄντων γένεσιν ἐμήνυσεν, δέδωκεν δὲ ἀφορμὰς τοῖς τὰς προβολὰς εἰσάγουσι τάχα καὶ σύζυγον νοῆσαι τοῦ θεοῦ· παραφράζει δὲ ἐκείνας τὰς προφητικὰς γραφάς, τήν τε διὰ Ὡσηὲ "ἐγὼ στερεῶν βροντὴν καὶ κτίζων πνεῦμα," οὗ αἱ χεῖρες τὴν στρατιὰν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐθεμελίωσαν, καὶ τὴν διὰ Μωυσέως· "ἴδετε, ἴδετε, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς ἕτερος πλὴν ἐμοῦ· ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω· πατάξω κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι· καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἐξελεῖται ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου."