Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 2.1

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

Summary: which unites what seemed divided. The Valentinians say the Word placed a male spiritual seed in the elect soul while Adam slept.

Greek text · Stählin 3:105–106

δόξαντα καταδιῃρῆσθαι γένη ἑνοποιοῦσαν εἰς πίστιν. οἱ δʼ ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου πλασθέντος φασὶ τοῦ ψυχικοῦ σώματος τῇ ἐκλεκτῇ ψυχῇ οὔσῃ ἐν ὕπνῳ ἐντεθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου σπέρμα ἀρρενικόν. ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀπόρροια τοῦ ἀγγελικοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ὑστέρημα ᾖ.

English · Claude translation

seemed to be divided. But the followers of Valentinus say that when the psychic body was formed, a male seed was placed by the Word in the elect soul while it was asleep, which is an emanation of the angelic element, so that there might be no deficiency.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:105–106 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Psychic” (ψυχικός) is the Valentinian middle class of beings, between the “material” and the “spiritual”; it is kept as a technical term.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/2/1/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/2/1/).

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