Excerpts from Theodotus 78.2
Summary: Not only the washing frees, but the knowledge of who we were and have become, where we came from and where we go, what birth and rebirth are.
Greek text · Stählin 3:131
ἔστιν δὲ οὐ τὸ λουτρὸν μόνον τὸ ἐλευθεροῦν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ γνῶσις, τίνες ἦμεν, τί γεγόναμεν· ποῦ ἦμεν, [ἢ] ποῦ ἐνεβλήθημεν· ποῦ σπεύδομεν, πόθεν λυτρούμεθα· τί γέννησις, τί ἀναγέννησις. Ἕως οὖν ἀμόρφωτον, φασίν, ἔτι τὸ σπέρμα, θηλείας ἐστὶ τέκνον·
English · Claude translation
But it is not only the washing that sets free, but also the knowledge: who we were, what we have become; where we were, or where we have been thrown; where we are hastening, from what we are redeemed; what birth is, and what rebirth. As long, then, as the seed is still unformed, they say, it is a child of the female;
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- This famous summary of Gnostic knowledge is attributed to Theodotus. The bracketed word in the Greek is the editor's deletion.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 78.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/78/2/).
The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Exc. 78.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-excerpta/78/2/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text