Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 22.5

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

Summary: The Valentinian rite of laying on hands ends with the words “for angelic redemption,” so that the baptized share the redemption of their angels.

Greek text · Stählin 3:114

διὸ καὶ ἐν τῇ χειροθεσίᾳ λέγουσιν ἐπὶ τέλους »εἰς λύτρωσιν ἀγγελικήν«, τουτέστιν ἣν καὶ ἄγγελοι ἔχουσιν. ἵνʼ ᾖ ὁ βεβαπτισμένος ὁ τὴν λύτρωσιν κομισάμενος τῷ αὐτῷ ὀνόματι. ᾧ καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος αὐτοῦ προβεβάπτισται.

English · Claude translation

That is why at the laying on of hands they say at the end, “for angelic redemption,” that is, the redemption the angels too have, so that the one who has received redemption may be baptized in the same name in which his angel was baptized before 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, Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • This is valuable evidence for a Valentinian baptismal rite (“redemption,” ἀπολύτρωσις).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 22.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/22/5/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 22.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/22/5/).

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