Excerpts from Theodotus 41.4

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

Summary: They read “coming into the world” as the enlightened person ordering himself by casting off the passions.

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Greek text · Stählin 3:119–120

ὅτε γὰρ ἐφωτίσθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τότε εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἦλθεν, τουτέστιν ἑαυτὸν ἐκόσμησεν, χωρίσας αὑτοῦ τὰ ἐπισκοτοῦντα καὶ συναναμεμιγμένα αὐτῷ πάθη. καὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ Δημιουργὸς Ἐννοίᾳ προσχὼν ἐπὶ τέλει τῆς δημιουργίας αὐτὸν προήγαγεν.

English · Claude translation

For when the man was enlightened, then he came into the world, that is, he set himself in order, separating from himself the passions that darkened him and were mingled with him. And the Demiurge, paying attention to Thought, brought forth Adam at the end of the creation.

About this passage

Source: Stählin 3:119–120 · 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

The Greek plays on κόσμος (“world”) and ἐκόσμησεν (“set in order”).

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 41.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/41/4/).

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Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 41.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/41/4/).

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