Clement of Alexandria

Titus Flavius ​​Clemens, Greek Klemes Alexandreus, Κλήμης Ἀλεξανδρεύς (c. 150 in Athens, † 215 in Cappadocia ), today as Clement of Alexandria ( Clement of Alexandria ) is known, was a Greek theologian and writer.

After Clemens had found the way of Platonism / Mittelplatonismus to Christianity, he traveled from his native Athens to Christian teachers, in Greece, southern Italy and Egypt. To 175 he became a teacher of the catechetical school of Alexandria, 200 as successor to the Pantaenus its director. He remained for most of the rest of his life in Alexandria. Shortly before his death, he was forced to flee Alexandria. Clemens tried to bring Christianity and Greek philosophy in agreement with each other. From his works we learn a lot about Gnosticism, a religion that was then in competition with the young Christianity. His pupil, Origen was the successor of the catechetical school.

Clemens enjoyed great prestige throughout Late Antiquity and thereafter to the east; his works were not translated into Latin in the Middle Ages. 1748 was Benedict XIV of removal from the Roman calendar of saints as his life little is known, a public worship does not exist and his teaching is doubtful. Its attribution to the church fathers is therefore controversial.

Clemens is a letter to a certain Theodoros attributed in which he provided this text a secret Gospel of Mark.

Works

In the trilogy Protreptikos ice Tous Héllenas ( exhortation to the Greeks [or nations ] ) Clemens sets apart with Greek philosophemes to convert the heathen to Christianity formed layers.

In the work Paidagogos (, educators ') is a Christian ethics. Treated also ethical issues, starting from 10.17 to 27 Mk EU, the small font Quis dives salvetur (, Which kingdom shall be saved ').

In his major work, the eight books of the Stromateis (plural of στρωματεύς strōmateús =, carpet ' ( within the meaning of throw), patchwork '), Clemens tried to prove the principle of compatibility between Greek philosophy and Christian faith and the epistemological superiority of the latter. The philosophy is represented as still deficient precursor of true knowledge ( gnosis γνῶσις ), the possibility for this was only opened by the parousia of Christ. Therein lies but the benefits of pagan writings, as one who use them on the basis of the Christian faith could find in them instructions for obtaining the truth. Clemens uses in this document according to his own statement of a encrypted, allusive and erratic style (hence the title ) to deny heretics access to knowledge.

In his work, Clemens made ​​a decisive contribution to the - at that time still controversial - Christian reception of pagan philosophers and assume Platonic elements in the at that time Formative dogmatic system of orthodoxy.