Clement of Alexandria and Origen

The outstanding third century Greek writers were Clement of Alexandria and Origen. The former was a convert who became president of the School of Alexandria around 200 and dedicated his life to writing and teaching, the first Christian to attempt a synthesis of pagan learning and Christian revelation. Clement’s three main works that survive are the Protrepticus (Exhortation to the Greeks), the Pedagogue, and the Stromata (Tapestry or Miscellanies). Clement makes a strong case against the Gnostic contention that faith and reason are irreconcilable. He does not claim that reason establishes faith, but rather argues that reason brings understanding to the truths of the faith. This, for him, is the true Christian gnosis. When Clement had to flee the School of Alexandria due to the persecution of Septimus Severus, he was succeeded as president by Origen. Origen is the greatest scholar of ancient Christian times. Some of his teachings, or the misinterpretations of his teachings by his followers, were condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. They were related to the divine processions, angels, the soul and the last things. In regard to the divine processions Origen described the Father as ‘‘self-existent God’’ (autotheos) and the Son as a secondary deity, distinct from the Father by an essential inferiority. He is considered the source of the heretical teachings that were initiated by the heretic Arius. Origen’s much admired exegetical work, the Hexapla, presented various forms of the Old Testament in six columns with cross references so that a reader could compare the different versions with the original. He also left scholia or explanations of difficult passages, as well as commentaries and homilies On Matthew, On the Gospel of John, On the Epistle to the Romans, and On the Canticle ofCanticles. His main dogmatic work is his Peri archon or Deprincipiis (On First Principles). It is a treatise on the Trinity: the creation and fall of angels; the creation, fall, and redemption of man; and the basic principles of the moral life and the sources of revelation. His

Contra Celsum (Against Celsus) refutes Celsus’ portrait of Christ as a deceiver and contests his attempt to provide a naturalistic account of the extraordinary spread of Christianity. His On Prayer is an introduction to prayer in general, followed by an explanation of the Lord’s Prayer.