Sophia Scriptura

Prophetic Extracts 63.1

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

Summary: The psalm is read as: unless persecuted like the Lord, one cannot be proved blameless; no one becomes a martyr without persecution.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Stählin 3:155

»Ἐὰν μή μου κατακυριεύσωσι, τότε ἄμωμος ἔσομαι.« ἐπʼ ἴσης τῷ· ἐὰν μή μου κατακυριεύσωσιν οἱ διώκοντές με ὥσπερ τὸν κύριον, οὐκ ἔσομαι ἄμωμος· οὐ γὰρ μάρτυς γίνεταί τις, ἐὰν μὴ διωχθῇ, οὐδὲ δίκαιος φαίνεται, ἐὰν μὴ ἀδικηθεὶς μὴ ἀνταδικήσῃ, οὐδὲ μὴν ἀνεξίκακος, | * * * *

English · Claude translation

“If they do not have dominion over me, then I will be blameless.” This is equivalent to: if those who persecute me, as they did the Lord, do not have dominion over me, I will not be blameless; for no one becomes a martyr unless he is persecuted, nor is anyone shown righteous unless, when wronged, he does not wrong in return, nor forbearing …

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:155 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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).
Scripture
  • Ps 19:13 (18:14 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • Clement reads the verse against its plain sense. The Greek breaks off (asterisks). The quotation is Ps 19:13 (18:14 LXX).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 63.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/63/1/).

The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Ecl. 63.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-eclogae/63/1/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage