Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 23.3

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

Summary: In the Valentinian reading, Paul preached Christ in two ways: as born and suffering, for the lower beings, and as spiritual, born of the Spirit and a virgin, for the higher.

Greek text · Stählin 3:114

αὐτίκα μετὰ τὸ πάθος τοῦ κυρίου καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπεστάλη κηρύσσειν· διὸ καὶ καθʼ ἑκάτερον ἐκήρυξε τὸν σωτῆρα, γεννητὸν καὶ παθητὸν διὰ τοὺς ἀριστερούς, ὅτι τοῦτον γνῶναι δυνηθέντες κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον δεδίασιν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ πνευματικὸν ἐξ ἁγίου πνεύματος καὶ παρθένου, ὡς οἱ δεξιοὶ ἄγγελοι γινώσκουσιν.

English · Claude translation

Immediately after the Lord's passion he too was sent to preach. That is why he preached the Savior in both ways: as begotten and able to suffer, for the sake of those on the left, because, being able to know him in this character, they are afraid of him; and according to the spiritual, as from the Holy Spirit and a virgin, as the angels on the right know him.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:114 · 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
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Those on the left” and “those on the right” are Valentinian terms for the lower (psychic) and higher (angelic) powers.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 23.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/23/3/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 23.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/23/3/).

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