Ecclesiastical writer
c. 150–215 · 3rd c. · 4 works
Clement of Alexandria was a Christian theologian and teacher who worked at Alexandria around the turn of the third century. Writing in Greek within the Hellenistic intellectual world, he sought to reconcile Greek philosophy with Christian faith, treating philosophy as a preparatory discipline that, like the Law, led toward the truth embodied in the Logos. He is associated with the city's catechetical school, which he is reckoned to have headed.
Probably born at Athens around 150 of pagan parents, Clement traveled widely in search of teachers before settling at Alexandria, where he studied under and succeeded Pantaenus as head of the catechetical school about 190. Among his pupils was Origen. During the persecution under Septimius Severus, around 202, he left the city.
His principal surviving works form a trilogy: the Exhortation to the Greeks (Protrepticus), the Instructor (Paedagogus), and the Miscellanies (Stromateis), to which is added the homily “Who Is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?”.
Clement was long venerated as a saint and once kept in calendars, with a commemoration on 4 December; his name was later removed from the Roman martyrology on the grounds of the scant record of his life and teachings regarded as suspect.
Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica — St. Clement of Alexandria · Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent) — Clement of Alexandria