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Clement of Alexandria

Born: c. 150, AthensDied: c. 211-216, CappadociaFeast day: December 4

Clement of Alexandria

was one of the major Greek-speaking thinkers of the early church. Hecame from a pagan background at Athens and his Christian theology was strongly influenced byGreek philosophy. Clement taught at the catechetical school in Alexandria, Egypt, where he wassucceeded by another great teacher, Origen of Alexandria. Clement's best-known work is a set of three treatises entitled

Protrepticus, Paedagogus,

and

Stromata

Biography of Clement of Alexandria

According to a tradition cited by Eusebius, St. Mark is the founder of the Church of Alexandria.Between St. Mark and Bishop Demetrius, who governed that church in 221, Julius Africanuscounts ten bishops. Valentine, Carpocrates, and Basilides went out from Alexandria to establishtheir dissident sects, a circumstance which alone implies that, already in the middle of the secondcentury, the intellectual activity there was intense.A catechetical school had been founded there, dependent, to a certain extent, upon the officialauthority, without being precisely its organ. In this school not only were the elements of faithexplained to the catechumens, but a more substantial theological teaching was given to thoseChristians desirous of learning, and the grounds of Catholic belief were discussed even before pagans. This school must have existed in the early part of the second century, although it doesnot appear to us before 180, with two of its earliest known presidents, Pantaenus and Clement.Pantaenus, "The Sicilian Bee," was the teacher of Clement. He was appointed president of thecatechetical school of Alexandria after he had been a missionary. He explained "by word of mouth and in writing the treasures of the Divine Scriptures."[3] Notwithstanding the assertion of Eusebius, it is doubtful whether Pantaenus published any works. The most ancient orthodoxwriter of Alexandria of whom we can be sure is Clement.Clement was born probably c. 150 of heathen parentage at Athens. The circumstances of hisconversion are not known. It is supposed that he was troubled, like Justin, by the problem of Godand, like him, was attracted to Christianity by the nobility and purity of the evangelical doctrinesand morals. His conversion, if it had not yet taken place, was at least imminent when heundertook the journeys spoken of in his writings. He set out from Greece and travelled throughsouthern Italy, Palestine, and finally Egypt, seeking everywhere the society of Christian teachers.Towards 180, he met Pantaenus at Alexandria, and took up his permanent residence in that city.There he was ordained a presbyter and, from being a disciple of Pantaenus, became, in 190, hisassociate and fellow-teacher. In 202 or 203, he was forced to suspend his lessons on account of the persecution of Septimius Severus, which closed the Christian school of Alexandria. Hewithdrew into Cappadocia, residing there with his former disciple, Bishop Alexander. We meethim again in 211, carrying to the Christians of Antioch a letter from Alexander, in which arementioned the services he, Clement, had rendered in Cappadocia.[4]In 215 or 216, the same Alexander, now bishop of Jerusalem, writes to Origen and speaks of Clement as having gone to his rest. Clement must therefore have died between 211 and 216.Ancient authors speak of him as St. Clement, but his name was not admitted to the RomanMartyrology by Benedict XIV.

Clement's Thought

Clement was naturally of a broad and noble mind. His character was sympathetic and generous,and he was always eager to help his disciples and readers. His erudition was prodigious; no other ancient writer, not even Origen, knew or cited so many pagan and Christian authors as he. Nodoubt his was not all first-hand knowledge but obtained largely by reading florilegia andmiscellaneous collections of extracts. His learning is none the less surprising and, in any case, proves that he had read widely and remembered much of what he had read. Add to this a fluent,agreeable, and florid style, and you will be able to form some idea of Clement's ability as awriter.Unfortunately, these marvellous qualities are disparaged by considerable defects, which render the study of his works fatiguing. He never analyses the subjects he is treating, so as to presentthem in an orderly manner to the reader. He exposes his subject all at once and, as he never exhausts it, is constantly forced to retrace his steps and make up for omissions. Hence, a tiresome prolixity, aggravated by an excess of digressions and quotations.It is in the Stromata especially that this absence of plan and discrimination is felt the most.Again, his style, although fluent and easy, lacks finish and is often incorrect in both Atticgrammar and syntax. Clement wrote very fast and cared little for Hellenic elegance of structure.We must remark, however, that many of his defects are less personal ones than defects of hissphere and time. At the end of the IInd century Greek had already lost much of its classical purity.From a theological point of view, one of the chief aims of Clement was to determine the relations between faith and reason and to show what philosophy has achieved to prepare the world for Christian Revelation and how it must be used in order to transform the data of this revelation intoa scientific theology. The solution given by Clement is, on the whole, exact. He is accused of afew errors in the details of his work which are not always proved to be such. It would besurprising if, in so vast and so new a subject, there could be found everywhere the finestdiscrimination and absolute exactness of expression.

Works of Clement of Alexandria

Protrepticus, Paedagogus, Stromata

Nearly all the extant works of Clement are comprised under these three treatises, which form parts of one complete whole. The author gives the outline of this work in the

Paedagogus

. In the

Protrepticus

he exhorts the pagans to abandon their errors, - then he will convert them(προτρεπων); in the

Paedagogus

he will teach him how to lead an honest Christian life(παιδαγογων); finally, in a third work he will instruct him in the dogmas of the Catholic faith andwill explain to him the speculative truths of his new religion (επι πασιν εκδιδασκων). It wastherefore a complete theology, - apologetical, moral and dogmatic, - that Clement purposed towrite.The

Protrepticus

(προτρεπτικος προς Ελληνας:

Exhortation to the Greeks

), in twelve chapters, isan apology which is connected with similar writings of the second century. The author exposesthe worthlessness and untruth of heathen beliefs and the powerlessness of philosophy to furnishmen with a sufficient teaching on God and religion. He concludes that the entire truth must besought from the Prophets and from Jesus Christ. Both the matter and the form of this book arewell finished; it has all the merits of a beautiful literary composition.

In the

Paedagogus

appear for the first time the defects of Clement. The work is divided intothree books. The first commences with a disputation with the false Gnostics.These men regarded themselves as of superior intelligence and treated ordinary Catholics aschildren (νηπιοι), incapable of reaching perfection. Clement argues that by Baptism we are allthe children of Christ, our Teacher, and that Baptism, which is an illumination rendering uscapable of seeing God, contains the germ of Christian perfection; the true gnosis, therefore, isnothing more than a development of faith, effected through the educative influence of the Logos.This process, directed by goodness, is as old as the world itself, since the Logos who becameincarnate is the same as He who created man and instructed him from the beginning.The second and third books of the

Paedagogus

deal with practical questions. Clement makes asurvey of the various circumstances of our everyday life and, under the guise of a lofty andsprightly chat, scores the current views of his time and gives advice on virtue and even on politeness and hygiene. He develops no special moral theory, but places before his readers aseries of realistic illustrations, to which he joins exhortations to do good.The

Paedagogus

reveals a moralist quite different from the speculative Clement we are generallyaccustomed to think of. He appears, however, in the latter capacity in the

Stromata

. From whathas already been said one would expect to see this last work of Clement's trilogy entitled TheMaster ('Ο διδασκαλος) and to find it a treatise on Christian dogma. Instead of that, it is acollection of miscellanies, the full title of which is "Tapestries of Gnostic Memoirs on the TruePhilosophy." Is this the work announced by Clement? Probably it is, although it represents onlyrough sketches and preliminary studies. Instead of giving a didactic exposition of Christiandoctrine, the author preferred to personify Christian perfection and to offer a living portrait, mostlovingly painted, of the true Gnostic, i.e., the perfect Christian. As in the

Paedagogus

, the factsare outstanding, while the theory is kept in the background.Actually we possess only seven

Stromata

and perhaps enough material for an eighth one. Thefirst proves that it is permissible for a Christian not only to write books, but to study Greek philosophy and, generally, the sciences. The second treats of the relations between faith andChristian gnosis; the third deals with marriage; the fourth speaks of martyrdom and the possibility for every Christian to become a true Gnostic, i.e., a perfect man; the fifth treats of symbols and allegory; the sixth recalls what has been said in the two preceding "stromata" andcompletes them; the seventh depicts the religious life of the Christian Gnostic. This last is themost interesting and the best written portion of the whole work.It is certain that the

Protrepticus

was written before the

Paedagogus

, and the latter before the

Stromata

. The Stromata are generally regarded as Clement's last work, and the date of their composition is not placed before 202-203 or even 208-211. The

Protrepticus

and the

Paedagogus

may date from 189-200.

Hypotyposes

After the great trilogy, the most important of Clement's works is the

Hypotyposes

(υποτυποσεις,sketches, outlines). It contained in eight books a commentary on passages chosen from the Oldand New Testaments, notably the Epistles of St. Paul, the Catholic Epistles (except the third of St. John), and the Acts of the Apostles. Clement's exegesis is especially allegorical. Photius, whoread the work, passed a rather severe judgment upon its theological teaching. Many Greek citations have been preserved and, in Latin, the commentaries on the First Epistle of St. Peter, theFirst and Second Epistles of St. John, and the Epistle of St. Jude, gathered together under thesingle title of

Adumbrattones dementis Alexandrini in Epistulas Canonicas