Prophetic Extracts 27.1

Clement of Alexandria · Prophetic Extracts · ca. 200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The earlier elders did not write, so as not to divert their care for teaching the tradition.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:144

Οὐκ ἔγραφον δὲ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι μήτε ἀπασχολεῖν βουλόμενοι τὴν διδασκαλικὴν τῆς παραδόσεως φροντίδα τῇ περὶ τὸ γράφειν ἄλλῃ φροντίδι, μηδὲ μὴν τὸν τοῦ προσκέπτεσθαι τὰ λεχθησόμενα καιρὸν καταναλίσκοντες εἰς γραφήν.

English · Claude translation

The elders did not write, neither wishing to distract their care for teaching the tradition with the other care of writing, nor spending on writing the time for reflecting on what was to be said.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:144 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, Excerpta ex Theodoto, Eclogae propheticae, Quis dives salvetur, Fragmente, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 3 (GCS 17, 1909), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Stählin, GCS 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Printed there under the wrong title “Excerpts of Theodotus”, and incomplete (it breaks off in ch. 63).
Topics: Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

This chapter is an important statement of Clement's view of written and oral tradition.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/1/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 27.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/27/1/).

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