Brooke Foss Westcott

“ The various schools of philosophy, Jewish and heathen, are described by Clement under a memorable image, as rending in pieces the one truth like the Bacchants who rent the body of Pentheus, and bore about the fragments in triumph. Each, he says, boasts that the morsel which it has had the good fortune to gain is all the truth. Yet by the rising of the light all things are lightened, and he who again combines the divided parts and unites the exposition (λόγος) in a perfect whole will look upon the truth without peril (Strom. i. 57, p. 349) . ”

“ The transition was threefold, affecting doctrine, thought, and life. Doctrine was passing from the stage of oral tradition to written definition (1) . Thought was passing from the immediate circle of the Christian revelation to the whole domain of human experience (2) . Life in its fulness was coming to be apprehended as the object of Christian discipline (3) . A few suggestions will be offered upon the first two of these heads. (1) Clement repeatedly affirms that even when he sets forth the deepest mysteries, he is simply reproducing an original unwritten tradition. ”

“ It is an endeavour to claim for the gospel the power of fulfilling all the desires of men and of raising to a supreme unity all the objects of knowledge, in the soul of the true gnostic—the perfect Christian philosopher. The first book, which is mutilated at the beginning, treats in the main of the office and the origin of Greek philosophy in relation to Christianity and Judaism. Clement shews that Greek philosophy was part of the Divine education of men, subordinate to the training of the law and the prophets, but yet really from God (§§ 1‒58; 91‒100) . ”

“ By knowledge faith is perfected (id. vii. 55, p. 864) , for to know is more than to believe (id. vi. 109, p. 794) . Faith is a summary knowledge of urgent truths: knowledge a sure demonstration of what has been received through faith, being itself reared upon faith through the teaching of the Lord (id. vii. 57, p. 865) . Thus the gnostic grasps the complete truth of all revelation from the beginning of the world to the end, piercing to the depths of Scripture, of which the believer tastes the surface only (id. vi. 78, p. 779; 131, p. 806; vii. 95, p. 891) . ”

“ For in fact the knowledge of God can be gained only through serious effort and by divine help (68‒89) . This review of the character and sources of the highest knowledge leads Clement back to his characteristic proposition that the Greeks borrowed from the Jews the noblest truths of their own philosophy. The sixth and seventh books are designed, as Clement states (vi. § 1) to shew the character of the Christian philosopher (the gnostic) , and so to make it clear that he alone is the true worshipper of God. ”

“ The fragment which bears the title of the eighth book in the one remaining MS. is in fact a piece of a treatise on logic. It may naturally have served as an introduction to the examination of the opinions of Greek philosophers, the interpretation of Scripture, and the refutation of heresies which were the general topics of the second principal member of Clement's plan (iv. 2) ; but it is not easy to see how it could have formed the close of the Miscellanies. It is "a fresh beginning" and nothing more. ”

“ Endowed with an active and critical mind, he at first neglected the simple teaching of the Gospel for the more philosophic systems of heresy (Orig. in Johann. tom. v.) . However, when he met Origen he recognized his true teacher, and embraced the orthodox faith (Epiph. l.c.) . From that time to his death Ambrose devoted his whole energy to encouraging his great master in his labours on Holy Scripture, and used his fortune to further them (Eus. H. E. vi. 23) . ”

“ The Eastern Christians, with very few exceptions, remained in communion with Acacius; Talaia acknowledged the hopelessness of his cause by accepting the bishopric of Nola; and Zeno and Acacius took active measures to obtain the general acceptance of the Henoticon. Under these circumstances the condemnation of Acacius, which had been made in the name of the Pope, was repeated in the name of the council of Chalcedon, and the schism was complete [1] (485) . Acacius took no heed of the sentence up to his death in 489, which was followed by that of Mongus in 490, and of Zeno in 491. ”

“ Mongus was, or at least had been, unorthodox; Talaia was bound by a solemn promise to the Emperor not to seek or (as it appears) accept the patriarchate (Liberat. c. 17; Evagr. H. E. iii. 12) . Talaia at once sought and obtained the support of Simplicius, and slighted Acacius. Mongus represented to Acacius that he was able, if confirmed in his post, to heal the divisions by which the Alexandrine church was rent. Acacius and Zeno readily listened to the promises of Mongus, and in spite of the vehement opposition of Simplicius, received the envoys whom he sent to discuss the terms of reunion. ”

“ In both respects he appears to have acted more in the spirit of a statesman than of a theologian; and in this relation the personal traits of liberality, courtliness, and ostentation, noticed by Suidas (l.c.) , are not without importance.
The first important measures of Acacius carried with them enthusiastic popular support and earned for him the praise of pope Simplicius. ”

“ Shortly afterwards the Henoticon (An Instrument of Union) was drawn up, in which the creed of Nicaea, as completed at Constantinople, was affirmed to be the one necessary and final definition of faith ”

“ Thus, in the fragments which remain, occasion might be given to charge Clement with false opinions on the nature of the Son (§ 19) , on the creation of Eve (§ 21) , on the two Words (§§ 6, 7, 19) , on Fate (§§ 75 ff.) , on the Incarnation (§ 1) . There is no perceptible order or connexion in the series of extracts. The beginning and end are equally corrupt. Some sections are quite detached (e.g. §§ 9, 18, 21, 28, 66, etc.) ; others give a more or less continuous exposition of some mystery: e.g. §§ 10‒16 (the nature of spiritual existences) ”

“ Demetrius (2) succeeded Julianus A.D. 189, as 11th bp. of Alexandria (Eus. H. E. v. 22) . He presided over the see for 43 years, and died A.D. 231-232 (ib. vi. 26) . He appears to have been of an energetic and imperious nature. He took an active interest in the Catechetical School, and is said to have sent one of its early chiefs, Pantaenus, on a [second?] mission "to the Indians" on their own request (Hieron. de Vir. Ill. 36) . ”

“ Perhaps he was descended from a freedman of the consul; his wide and varied learning indicates that he had received a liberal education, and so far suggests that his parents occupied a good social position. The place of his birth is not certainly known. Epiphanius, the earliest authority on the question, observes that two opinions were held in his time, "some saying that he was an Alexandrian, others that he was an Athenian" (ὅν φασί τινες Ἀλεξανδρέα ἕτεροι δὲ Ἀθηναῖον, Haer. xxxii. 6) . Alexandria was the principal scene of his labours ”

“ It is opposed to the testimony of Scripture (93‒105) ; and it is of recent origin (106‒108) . At the close of the seventh book Clement remarks that he "shall proceed with his argument from a fresh beginning" (τῶν ἑξῆς ἀπ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς ποιησόμεθα τὸν λόγον) . The phrase may mean that he proposes to enter upon a new division of the Miscellanies, or that he will now pass to another portion of the great system of writings sketched out in Strom. iv. 1‒3. In favour of the first opinion it may be urged that Eusebius (H. E. vi. 13) and Photius (Cod. 109) expressly mention eight books of the Miscellanies ”

“ Bigg (The Christian Platonists of Alexandria, Oxf. 1886) ; F. J. A. Hort (Six Lectures on the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Lond. 1895) . A cheap popular Life is pub. by S.P.C.K. in their Fathers for Eng. Readers; an Eng. trans. of the Homily on the Rich Man by P. M. Barnard (S.P.C.K.) , text by the same in Texts and Studies, vol. v. No. 2 (Camb. Univ. Press) , who has also collected Clement's Biblical text for the gospel and Acts (ib. vol. v. No. 4) . A valuable ed. of the 7th book of the Miscellanies, with translation, introduction and notes, was pub. ”