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TITUS FLAVIUS CLEMENS, a native of Athens, passed the earlier part of his life as a student and teacher of Greek philosophy. By some he was called a Stoic, by others a Platonist. He himself says that he had many teachers, both in Greece, in South Italy, and in Syria; and finally had found one in Alexandria who satisfied him more fully than the rest. This was Pantænus, formerly of the Stoic school, but converted to Christianity, and at that time head of the Christian school in Alexandria. Clement became a Christian, and ultimately succeeded Pantænus. He had many celebrated pupils, amongst them Origen. He was driven from Alexandria in the time of Severus, but seems to have returned, and to have died there.
Clement's conversion did not divert him from philosophical studies. On the contrary, he made it his object to prove that Greek philosophy, as taught by the great masters, and above all by Plato, was the best preparation for Christian doctrine. Philosophy was given to the Greeks, as the Law was given to the Jews, and, though superseded by the Gospel, the study of it remained none the less important. Clement, nevertheless, spends much effort in proving that the Greeks were not the original source of wisdom that was commonly supposed. He quotes with approval, the remark of the Egyptian priest in Plato: "Greeks, Greeks, you are always children!" Cadmus brought them the alphabet from Phoenicia. From Phoenicia, too, according to some authorities, came Thales. Pythagoras was, perhaps, of Etruscan origin. Anisthenes was a Phrygian; Orpheus, a Thracian; Anacharsis, a Scythian; and in any case the oldest of these philosophers was far less ancient than Moses. He came long before the Trojan war, before the sailing of the Argo, before Bacchus, Hercules, or Prometheus. It is clear, he thinks, that Plato borrowed much from the legislation of Moses; so much so, that Numanius, a Pythagorean philosopher asked, "What is Plato but Moses talking Attic Greek?" Plato (Strom. ii. 22) places the highest happiness in striving with submissive humility to become like God. What is this but the Christian doctrine? Similarly, Clement insists on the connection between the Platonic Idea and the Christian Logos.
The principal work of Clement, his Stromateis (Tapestry or Patchwork), is filled with quotations from Greek poets or philosophers, many of them otherwise unknown to us, which appeared to him likely to lead men imbued with Hellenic culture to the Christian system. The teaching and discipline of the Church are presented by him with quiet moderation, contrasting strongly with the fierce fervour of his contemporary, Tertullian.
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| This biography is
reprinted from The New Calendar of Great Men. Ed. Frederic
Harrison. London: Macmillan and Co., 1920. |
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