Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 45.2

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

Summary: He freed her from passion and turned her passions into the substance of the lower world, which was thus created.

Greek text · Stählin 3:121

αὐτὴν μὲν ἀπαθῆ κατεσκεύασεν, τὰ πάθη δὲ διακρίνας ἐφύλαξεν, καὶ οὐχ ὥσπερ τὰ τῆς ἔνδον διεφορήθη, ἀλλʼ εἰς οὐσίαν ἤγαγεν αὐτά τε καὶ τὰ τῆς δευτέρας διαθέσεως. οὕτως διὰ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπιφανείας ἡ Σοφία ἀπαθὴς γίνεται καὶ τὰ ἔξω κτίζεται.

English · Claude translation

he made her free from passion, but he separated the passions and kept them; and they were not scattered like those of the inner Wisdom, but he brought them and those of the second disposition into substance. So through the Savior's appearing Wisdom becomes free from passion, and the things outside are created.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:121 · 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

  • The Valentinians derive the material world from Wisdom's passions (compare Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.4.5).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 45.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/45/2/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 45.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/45/2/).

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