Excerpts from Theodotus 14.1

Clement of Alexandria · Excerpts from Theodotus · ca. 200 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: Demons are called bodiless only by comparison with the spiritual bodies of the saved; they have a shape and can feel punishment.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:111

Τὰ δαιμόνια »ἀσώματα« εἴρηται, οὐχ ὡς σῶμα μὴ ἔχοντα (ἔχει γὰρ καὶ σχῆμα· διὸ καὶ συναίσθησιν κολάσεως ἔχει), ἀλλʼ ὡς πρὸς σύγκρισιν τῶν σῳζομένων σωμάτων πνευματικῶν σκιὰ ὄντα ἀσώματα εἴρηται.

English · Claude translation

Demons are called “bodiless,” not as having no body (for they have a figure too, which is why they are conscious of punishment), but because, compared with the spiritual bodies of those being saved, they are a shadow and so are called bodiless.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:111 · 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.
Topics: Eschatology

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 14.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/14/1/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 14.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/14/1/).

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