Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 83.1

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

Summary: One should come to baptism with joy, but also fear, since unclean spirits may go down with the candidate and receive the seal with him.

Greek text · Stählin 3:132

Ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα χαίροντας ἔρχεσθαι προσῆκεν, ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ πολλάκις συγκαταβαίνει τισὶ καὶ ἀκάθαρτα πνεύματα, ἃ παρακολουθοῦντα καὶ τυχόντα μετὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς σφραγῖδος ἀνίατα τοῦ λοιποῦ γίνεται, [ἃ] τῇ χαρᾷ συμπλέκεται φόβος, ἵνα τις μόνος καθαρὸς αὐτὸς κατέλθῃ.

English · Claude translation

It is fitting to come to baptism rejoicing; but since unclean spirits often go down with some people, which, following along and obtaining the seal together with the person, become incurable from then on, fear is mingled with joy, so that one may go down alone and pure.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:132 · 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
Baptism

Notes

Translation notes

  • The digital text repeats a phrase (“with the person of the seal incurable”), which is corrected; the bracketed word in the Greek is the editor's deletion.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (words repeated in the digital text): μετὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς σφραγῖδος ἀνίατα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς σφραγῖδος ἀνίατα τοῦ λοιποῦ → μετὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς σφραγῖδος ἀνίατα τοῦ λοιποῦ.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 83.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/83/1/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 83.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/83/1/).

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