Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 52.2

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

Summary: We should make peace with this adversary on the way, not feeding it with sin but putting it to death, so that it dissolves rather than enduring in the fire.

Greek text · Stählin 3:124

ὁ σωτήρ, καὶ »ἀπηλλάχθαι αὐτοῦ« παραινεῖ »κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, μὴ τῇ φυλακῇ περιπέσωμεν καὶ τῇ κολάσει«· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ »εὐνοεῖν« αὐτῷ, μὴ τρέφοντας καὶ ῥωννύντας τῇ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐξουσίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐντεῦθεν νεκροῦντας ἤδη καὶ ἐξίτηλον ἀποφαίνοντας ἀποχῇ τῆς πονηρίας, ἵνα ἐν τῇ διαλύσει ταύτῃ διαφορηθὲν καὶ διαπνεῦσαν λάθῃ, ἀλλὰ μὴ καθʼ αὑτό τινος ὑποστάσεως λαβόμενον, τὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχῃ παράμονον ἐν τῇ διὰ πυρὸς διεξόδῳ.

English · Claude translation

The Savior also advises us “to be rid of it on the way, lest we fall into prison” and punishment; and likewise to be “well-disposed” to it, not nourishing it and strengthening it by the license of sins, but putting it to death already from now on and making it fade by abstinence from wickedness, so that in this dissolution it may be dispersed and evaporate unnoticed, and not, taking on some substance of its own, have lasting strength in its passage through fire.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:124 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Luke 12:58 and Matt 5:25.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 52.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/52/2/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 52.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/52/2/).

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