παράκλητος: the one called to your side

παράκλητος (paráklētos) is a verbal adjective in -τος from παρακαλέω (parakaléō), παρά (beside) + καλέω (call): one called to the side. The corpus holds 81 attestations across six periods. They are set out below in chronological order, in the original Greek, transliterated and translated, each anchored to its work and reference. The distribution is given in the apparatus.

Classical: the law-court (c. 340–270 BCE)

Demosthenes, prosecuting Aeschines, opens by addressing the jury about those lobbying on the defendant's behalf:

αἱ δὲ τῶν παρακλήτων αὗται δεήσεις καὶ σπουδαὶ τῶν ἰδίων πλεονεξιῶν εἵνεκα γίγνονται

hai de tōn paraklētōn hautai deēseis kai spoudai tōn idiōn pleonexiōn heineka gignontai

"But these entreaties and exertions of the paráklētoi happen for the sake of private advantage."

(Demosthenes, On the Embassy, Eulogikon: fsm-cc, ref. Or19 1)

The word stands in the genitive plural, naming a class of persons: those brought to the side of a party in a suit. Lycurgus of Athens used the word, in a lexicographical fragment (s.v.):

s. v. παράκλητος · ὡς ἡμεῖς εἴρηκεν Λυκοῦργος.

s.v. paráklētos: hōs hēmeis eirēken Lykourgos.

"Entry: paráklētos. Lycurgus used it as we do."

(Lycurgus of Athens, Defense Speeches, Eulogikon: hfi-ab, ref. Frag 15 13)

Photius, in his Lexicon, records the same gloss and adds that Lycurgus used παράκλησις in place of δέησις (deēsis, entreaty) (Eulogikon: woy-an, ref. pi 385). Bion of Borysthenes, the Cynic, used the word in a retort. Asked by a persistent man to intercede for him, Bion replied:

τὸ ἱκανόν σοι ποιήσω, ἐὰν παρακλήτους πέμψῃς καὶ αὐτὸς μὴ ἔλθῃς

to hikanón soi poiēsō, eàn paraklētous pémpsēs kai autòs mē élthēs

"I will satisfy you, if you send paráklētoi and do not come yourself."

(Bion of Borysthenes, Philosophical Autobiography, Eulogikon: hks-aa, ref. 74 (n))

The same sentence appears in Diogenes Laertius (Eulogikon: rjo-ad, ref. Vit.4.50).

Hellenistic and Roman: Philo of Alexandria (1st c. CE)

In Against Flaccus, Philo gives the speech of the Alexandrian faction urging the prefect Flaccus to abandon the Jews to secure the favour of Gaius:

δεῖ δὴ παράκλητον ἡμᾶς εὑρεῖν δυνατώτατον, ὑφ' οὗ Γάιος ἐξευμενισθήσεται

dei dē paráklēton hēmas heurein dynatōtaton, hyph' hou Gáios exeumenisthēsetai

"We must find a most powerful paráklētos, by whom Gaius will be made favourable."

(Philo, Against Flaccus, Eulogikon: lgi-bf, ref. Flac 21)

Two sentences later in the same passage, the παράκλητος is named: the city of Alexandria itself, which will plead for Flaccus before the emperor (Flac 23). In On the Creation of the World, the word appears inside a description of how pleasure works upon the person. The senses bring their gifts to the ruling faculty:

δεξάμεναι τὰ δῶρα θεραπαινίδων τρόπον προσφέρουσιν οἷα δεσπότῃ τῷ λογισμῷ, παράκλητον ἐπαγόμεναι πειθὼ περὶ τοῦ μηδὲν ἀπώσασθαι τὸ παράπαν

dexámenai tà dōra therapainídōn trópon prosphérousin hoia despótē tō logismō, paráklēton epagómenai peithō perì tou mēdèn apōsasthai tò parápan

"Having received the gifts, they bring them like handmaids to λογισμός as to a master, bringing in persuasion (πειθώ) as paráklētos that he reject nothing at all."

(Philo, On the Creation of the World, Eulogikon: lgi-aw, ref. Opif 165)

Here the παράκλητος is πειθώ, persuasion, brought by the senses to plead before λογισμός. The party pleaded to is the ruling faculty of the person.

Roman: the Valentinian aeon (2nd–3rd c. CE)

In the Excerpts from Theodotus, a Valentinian Gnostic text preserved by Clement of Alexandria, παράκλητος names a divine entity within the Pleroma, the fullness of aeons:

Τὸν Παράκλητον οἱ ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου τὸν Ἰησοῦν λέγουσιν… Ἰησοῦς προβάλλεται παράκλητος τῷ παρελθόντι αἰῶνι

Tòn Paráklēton hoi apò Oualentínou tòn Iēsoun légousin… Iēsous probálletai paráklētos tō parelthónti aiōni

"The followers of Valentinus call Jesus the Paráklētos… Jesus is put forth as paráklētos for the aeon that had passed away."

(Clement of Alexandria, Excerpts from Theodotus, Eulogikon: qya-ae, ref. 1.23)

In Hippolytus' account of the Valentinian system, Παράκλητος is one of the names assigned to the twelve aeons produced by Logos and Zoe, listed alongside Πίστις (faith), Ἐλπίς (hope), and Ἀγάπη (love):

οἷς ταῦτα τὰ ὀνόματα χαρίζονται· Παράκλητος καὶ Πίστις, Πατρικὸς καὶ Ἐλπίς, Μητρικὸς καὶ Ἀγάπη

hois tauta tà onómata charízontai: Paráklētos kai Pístis, Patrikòs kai Elpís, Mētrikòs kai Agápē

"to whom they assign these names: Paráklētos and Pístis, Patrikos and Elpís, Mētrikos and Agápē."

(Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, Eulogikon: qsg-at, ref. 6.30.5)

Late-antique: the Holy Spirit (3rd–5th c. CE)

Sixty-three of the 81 attestations fall in this period. The word is now the term for the Holy Spirit and, in one Johannine passage, for Christ. Origen quotes the first letter of John:

ὁ παράκλητος ἐν τῇ Ἰωάννου λεγόμενος ἐπιστολῇ· »Ἐὰν γάρ τις ἁμάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον«

ho paráklētos en tē Iōánnou legoménē epistolē: "Eàn gár tis hamártē, paráklēton échomen pròs tòn patéra Iēsoun Christòn díkaion"

"The paráklētos spoken of in John's letter: 'If anyone sins, we have a paráklētos with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.'"

(Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Eulogikon: uhs-aw, ref. 1.240)

The παράκλητος in this verse stands πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, with the Father, on behalf of the one who has sinned. Eusebius, quoting the Gospel of John, separates this παράκλητος from another:

ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν… οὐκοῦν ἕτερος ἦν παρ' αὐτὸν ὁ παράκλητος

egō erōtēsō tòn patéra kai állon paráklēton dōsei hymin… oukoun héteros ēn par' autòn ho paráklētos

"'I will ask the Father and he will give you another paráklētos'… so the paráklētos was another beside him."

(Eusebius, On Ecclesiastical Theology, Eulogikon: tva-at, ref. 3.5.6)

Socrates Scholasticus, recording a creed, places the word in the Trinitarian formula:

Ὁ δὲ Παράκλητος, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον δι' Υἱοῦ ἀποσταλέν, ἦλθε κατὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν

Ho dè Paráklētos, tò Pneuma tò Hágion di' Hyiou apostalén, ēlthe katà tēn epangelían

"The Paráklētos, the Holy Pneuma sent through the Son, came according to the promise."

(Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, Eulogikon: tga-aa, ref. HE 2 30)

Nonnus of Panopolis renders the Johannine παράκλητος in Homeric hexameter, in his verse paraphrase of the Gospel of John:

παράκλητος δ' ὅταν ἔλθῃ, ὑμέας ἰθυντῆρι λόγῳ ξύμπαντα διδάξει

paráklētos d' hótan élthē, hyméas ithyntēri lógō xýmpanta didáxei

"And when the paráklētos comes, he will teach you all things with a guiding word."

(Nonnus, Paraphrase of the Gospel of John, Eulogikon: tns-aa, ref. book 14)

The morphology

παρά (beside) + καλέω (call) + -τος (verbal adjective): one called to the side. The morphology is constant in every attestation above.