Excerpts from Theodotus 21.3

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

Summary: They teach that the female seed, made male, is united with the angels and enters the Pleroma; so the church becomes angels.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:113

τὰ οὖν ἀρρενικὰ μετὰ τοῦ λόγου συνεστάλη, τὰ θηλυκὰ δὲ ἀπανδρωθέντα ἑνοῦται τοῖς ἀγγέλοις καὶ εἰς πλήρωμα χωρεῖ. διὰ τοῦτο ἡ γυνὴ εἰς ἄνδρα μετατίθεσθαι λέγεται καὶ ἡ ἐνταῦθα ἐκκλησία εἰς ἀγγέλους.

English · Claude translation

The male elements, then, were drawn together with the Word, but the female, made male, are united to the angels and pass into the Pleroma. That is why the woman is said to be changed into a man, and the church here into angels.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:113 · 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

Compare the Gospel of Thomas 114, where a woman is “made male” to enter the kingdom.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/21/3/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 21.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/21/3/).

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