Excerpts from Theodotus 70.2

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

Summary: the stars themselves only signify their activity, as birds' flight signifies without causing.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:129

τὰ δὲ ἄστρα αὐτὰ μὲν οὐδὲν ποιεῖ, δείκνυσι δὲ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τῶν κυρίων δυνάμεων, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ τῶν ὀρνίθων πτῆσις σημαίνει τι, οὐχὶ ποιεῖ.

English · Claude translation

but the stars themselves do nothing; they show the activity of the ruling powers, just as the flight of birds signifies something, but does not do it.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:129 · 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

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 70.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/70/2/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 70.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/70/2/).

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