Miscellanies 3.2.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Stählin 2:197

Οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Καρποκράτους καὶ Ἐπιφάνους ἀναγόμενοι κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς γυναῖκας ἀξιοῦσιν, ἐξ ὧν ἡ μεγίστη κατὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐρρύη βλασφημία. Ἐπιφάνης οὗτος, οὗ καὶ τὰ συγγράμματα κομίζεται, υἱὸς ἦν Καρποκράτους καὶ μητρὸς Ἀλεξανδρείας τοὔνομα, τὰ μὲν πρὸς πατρὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς, ἀπὸ δὲ μητρὸς Κεφαλληνεύς, ἔζησε δὲ τὰ πάντα ἔτη ἑπτακαίδεκα, καὶ θεὸς ἐν Σάμῃ τῆς Κεφαλληνίας τετίμηται, ἔνθα αὐτῷ ἱερὸν ῥυτῶν λίθων, βωμοί, τεμένη, μουσεῖον ᾠκοδόμηταί τε καὶ καθιέρωται, καὶ συνιόντες εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν οἱ Κεφαλλῆνες κατὰ νουμηνίαν γενέθλιον ἀποθέωσιν θύουσιν Ἐπιφάνει, σπένδουσί τε καὶ εὐωχοῦνται καὶ ὕμνοι ᾄδονται. ἐπαιδεύθη μὲν οὖν παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ τήν τε ἐγκύκλιον παιδείαν καὶ τὰ Πλάτωνος, καθηγήσατο δὲ τῆς μοναδικῆς γνώσεως, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ ἡ τῶν Καρποκρατιανῶν αἵρεσις.

English · Claude translation

Those who derive from Carpocrates and Epiphanes think that wives should be held in common; from them the greatest blasphemy against the Name has flowed. This Epiphanes, whose writings are still in circulation, was the son of Carpocrates and of a mother named Alexandria; on his father's side he was an Alexandrian, on his mother's side from Cephallenia. He lived seventeen years in all, and he is honored as a god at Same in Cephallenia, where a temple of rough stones, altars, precincts, and a museum have been built and consecrated to him; and the Cephallenians, gathering at the temple at each new moon, sacrifice to Epiphanes on his birthday as a god, pour libations, feast, and sing hymns. He was educated by his father in general learning and in Plato, and he founded the knowledge of the Monad, from which the heresy of the Carpocratians also comes.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:197 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 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 (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Topics

Heresy, Marriage

Notes

Translation notes

This is the main ancient source on Epiphanes. The cult at Same may rest on a confusion with a local god Epiphanes (the moon).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray comma in the digital text): ἐξ, ὧν ἡ μεγίστη → ἐξ ὧν ἡ μεγίστη.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/5/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/3/2/5/).