Excerpts from Theodotus 20.1

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

Summary: The Psalms' “before the morning star I begot you” refers to the Word, begotten before all creation.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:113

Τὸ γὰρ »πρὸ ἑωσφόρου ἐγέννησά σε« οὕτως ἐξακούομεν ἐπὶ τοῦ πρωτοκτίστου θεοῦ λόγου καὶ »πρὸ ἡλίου« καὶ σελήνης καὶ πρὸ πάσης κτίσεως »τὸ ὄνομά σου«.

English · Claude translation

For we understand “Before the morning star I begot you” in this way, of the first-created God the Word, and “Before the sun” and moon and before all creation “your name.”

About this passage

Source

Stählin 3:113 · 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

Ps 110:3 (109:3 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Ps 72:17 (71:17 LXX) · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Christology

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations are Ps 110:3 (109:3 LXX) and Ps 72:17 (71:17 LXX). “First-created” is Clement's word here for the Word as first-begotten.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/20/1/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 20.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/20/1/).

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