Excerpts from Theodotus 17.3

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

Summary: Clement objects that spiritual beings are joined by juxtaposition, not mixture; God's power sanctifies the soul by pervading it.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:112

τὰ δὲ κρείττω καὶ διαφορώτερα σώματα ῥᾳδίαν ἴσχει τὴν κρᾶσιν· πνεῦμα γοῦν πνεύματι μίγνυται. ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ κατὰ παράθεσιν τοῦτο γενέσθαι, ἀλλʼ οὐ κατὰ κρᾶσιν. μή τι οὖν ἡ θεία δύναμις διήκουσα τὴν ψυχὴν ἁγιάζει αὐτὴν κατὰ τὴν τελευταίαν προκοπήν.

English · Claude translation

Superior and more excellent bodies have an easy mixture; at any rate spirit is mixed with spirit. But it seems to me that this happens by juxtaposition, not by mixture. Is it, then, that the divine power pervading the soul sanctifies it at the final advancement?

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:112 · 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
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

Notes

Translation notes

“Juxtaposition” and “mixture” are terms of Stoic physics.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 17.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/17/3/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 17.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/17/3/).

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