Sophia Scriptura

Excerpts from Theodotus 47.3

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

Summary: The Demiurge produces the psychic Christ, archangels, and angels; “the Spirit borne above the waters” is read as the pure substance above the material.

Greek text · Stählin 3:121–122

οὗτος ὡς εἰκὼν πατρὸς πατὴρ γίνεται καὶ προβάλλει πρῶτον τὸν ψυχικὸν Χριστὸν υἱοῦ εἰκόνα, ἔπειτα τοὺς ἀρχαγγέλους αἰώνων εἰκόνας, εἶτα ἀγγέλους ἀρχαγγέλων ἐκ τῆς ψυχικῆς καὶ φωτεινῆς οὐσίας, ἣν φησιν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος »καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων«, κατὰ τὴν συμπλοκὴν τῶν δύο οὐσιῶν τῶν αὐτῷ πεποιημένων τὸ εἰλικρινὲς »ἐπιφέρεσθαι« εἰπών. τὸ δὲ ἐμβριθὲς καὶ ὑλικὸν ὑποφέρεσθαι, τὸ θολερὸν καὶ παχυμερές.

English · Claude translation

He, as image of the Father, becomes a father and first puts forth the psychic Christ, image of the Son; then the archangels, images of the Aeons; then angels of the archangels, from the psychic and luminous substance, of which the prophetic word says, “And the Spirit of God was borne above the waters,” saying that, in the interweaving of the two substances made by him, the pure is “borne above,” while the heavy and material, the muddy and coarse, is borne beneath.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 3:121–122 · 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.
Scripture
  • Gen 1:2 · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Gen 1:2.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent on the relative ἣν): οὐσίας, ἥν φησιν → οὐσίας, ἣν φησιν.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 47.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/47/3/).

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Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 47.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/47/3/).

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