Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 56.2

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

Summary: Hence the material people are many, the psychic fewer, and the spiritual rare.

Greek text · Stählin 3:125

εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐκ ψυχικοῦ ἔσπειρεν καὶ ἐκ πνευματικοῦ καθάπερ ἐξ ὑλικοῦ, πάντες ἂν ἴσοι καὶ δίκαιοι ἐγεγόνεισαν καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἂν ἡ διδαχὴ ἦν. διὰ τοῦτο πολλοὶ μὲν οἱ ὑλικοί, οὐ πολλοὶ δὲ οἱ ψυχικοί· σπάνιοι δὲ οἱ πνευματικοί.

English · Claude translation

If he had begotten from the psychic and the spiritual, as from the material, all would have become equal and righteous, and the teaching would be in all. That is why the material are many, the psychic not many, and the spiritual rare.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:125 · 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
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • In the digital text chapter 56 begins with section 2.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 56.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/56/2/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 56.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/56/2/).

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