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Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria

Neither Clement's birthdate or birthplace is known with any degree of certainty. It is conjectured that he was born in around 150. According to Epiphanius Scholasticus, he was born in Athens, but there is also a tradition of an Alexandrian birth.

His parents were pagans, and Clement was a convert to Christianity. In the Protrepticus he displays an extensive knowledge of Greek mythology and mystery religions, which could only have arisen from the practise of his family's religion.

Having rejected paganism as a young man due to its perceived moral corruption, he travelled in Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt. Clement's journeys were primarily a religious undertaking. In Greece, he encountered an Ionian theologian, who has been identified as Athenagoras of Athens; while in the east, he was taught by an Assyrian, sometimes identified with Tatian, and a Jew, who was possibly Theophilus of Caesarea.

In around 180, Clement reached Alexandria, where he met Pantaenus, who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Eusebius suggests that Pantaenus was the head of the school, but it is controversial whether the institutions of the school were formalized in this way before the time of Origen. Proponents of a formalized leadership and succession suggest that Clement succeeded Pantaenus as leader of the school, and was succeeded himself by Origen. Clement studied under Pantaenus, and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Julian before 189. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known of Clement's life in Alexandria. He may have been married, a conjecture supported by his writings. Clement's diet is also unknown, but he said some things that look down upon eating flesh such as, "It is good...neither to eat flesh" and that even the fumes from cooked flesh "darken the soul"; however he said non-vegetarians aren't sinning except in certain circumstances such as those who eat flesh with "gluttony" and he was not opposed to all instances of eating meat.

During the Severian persecutions of 202–203, Clement left Alexandria. In 211, Alexander of Jerusalem wrote a letter commending him to the Church of Antioch, which may imply that Clement was living in in Cappadocia at that time. The date and location of his death are unknown.
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For why should not the wine of their own country satisfy men’s desires, unless they were to import water also, like the foolish Persian kings?
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I call him truly learned who brings everything to bear on the truth, so that from geometry, music, grammar, and philosophy itself, culling what is usefule, he guards the faith against assault.
topics: philosophy  
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Dès lors, chaque fois que nous l'entendons dire "ta foi t'a sauvé", nous comprenons qu'il ne dit pas tout simplement que seront sauvés ceux qui ont une forme de foi quelconque, quand bien même les oeuvres ne la suivraient pas.
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Ce sujet que je traite est tout plein de mysticité ; car lorsque le Créateur tout-puissant de la nature commença à donner sa loi, et qu'il voulut manifester sa puissance à Moïse, il lui apparut en forme de lumière dans un buisson ardent, qui brûlait sans se consumer. De même lorsque le Verbe eut établit sa loi et cessé de converser avec les hommes, il remonta au ciel, d'où il était descendu, avec une mystique couronne d'épines sur la tête, unissant ainsi les deux époques de la promulgation de sa loi, afin de prouver que c'est un seul et même Dieu, le père et le fils, principe et fin du siècle, qui les a données.
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So I think it is demonstrated that the God being good, and the Lord powerful, they save with a righteousness and equality which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere. For it is not here alone that the active power of God is beforehand, but it is everywhere and is always at work.
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Of the gnostic so much has been cursorily, as it were, written. We proceed now to the sequel, and must again contemplate faith; for there are some that draw the distinction, that faith has reference to the Son, and knowledge to the Spirit. But it has escaped their notice that, in order to believe truly in the Son, we must believe that He is the Son, and that He came, and how, and for what, and respecting His passion ; and we must know who is the Son of God. Now neither is knowledge without faith, nor faith without knowledge. Nor is the Father without the Son ; for the Son is with the Father. And the Son is the true teacher respecting the Father; and that we may believe in the Son, we must know the Father, with whom also is the Son. Again, in order that we may know the Father, we must believe in the Son, that it is the Son of God who teaches ; for from faith to knowledge by the Son is the Father. And the knowledge of the Son and Father, which is according to the gnostic rule—that which in reality is gnostic—is the attainment and comprehension of the truth by the truth.
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Und der nämliche ist gerecht und gut, der wahrhafte Gott, der selbst alles ist, wie alles er selbst ist, weil er selbst Gott, der alleinige Gott ist. Denn wie der Spiegel dem Häßlichen nicht übelgesinnt ist, weil er ihn so zeigt, wie er ist, und wie der Arzt dem Kranken nicht übelgesinnt ist, wenn er ihm sagt, daß er Fieber hat (denn der Arzt ist nicht schuld an dem Fieber, sondern er stellt das Fieber nur fest), so ist auch der Tadelnde gegen den nicht übelgesinnt, der an seiner Seele krank ist; denn er bringt die Verfehlungen nicht erst in sie hinein, sondern weist auf die vorhandenen Sünden hin, um von ähnlicher Handlungsweise abzuhalten.
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For self-control is common to all human beings who have made choice of it. And we admit that the same nature exists in every race, and the same virtue. As far as respects human nature, the woman does not possess one nature, and the man exhibit another, but the same: so also with virtue. If, consequently, a self-restraint and righteousness, and whatever qualities are regarded as following them, is the virtue of the male, it belongs to the male alone to be virtuous, and to the woman to be licentious and unjust. But it is offensive even to say this. Accordingly woman is to practise self-restraint and righteousness, and every other virtue, as well as man, both bond and free; since it is a fit consequence that the same nature possesses one and the same virtue. We do not say that woman's nature is the same as man's, as she is woman. For undoubtedly it stands to reason that some difference should exist between each of them, in virtue of which one is male and the other female. Pregnancy and parturition, accordingly, we say belong to woman, as she is woman, and not as she is a human being. But if there were no difference between man and woman, both would do and suffer the same things. As then there is sameness, as far as respects the soul, she will attain to the same virtue; but as there is difference as respects the peculiar construction of the body, she is destined for child-bearing and housekeeping.
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For, on the other hand, he who in chaste love looks on beauty, thinks not that the flesh is beautiful, but the spirit, admiring, as I judge, the body as an image, by whose beauty he transports himself to the Artist, and to the true beauty[.]
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Si quelques personnes veulent s'opiniâtrer à dire que l'apôtre, sous le symbole du lait, a entendu parler des premières instructions qui sont comme la première nourriture de l'âme, et que par les aliments plus solides il a entendu les connaissances spirituelles qui leur servent de degré pour arriver à une plus haute science, qu'ils sachent, lorsqu'ils disent que la chair et le sang de Jésus-Christ sont une nourriture solide, que cette science, dont ils sont si vains, les abuse. Le sang est, en effet, la première chose qui se fasse dans la formation du corps de l'homme. C'est même pour cela que quelques philosophes n'ont pas craint de le regarder comme l'essence de l'âme. Le sang, après que la femme a conçu, change de nature comme par une espèce de coction. Il s'épaissit, il se décolore, il perd de la vie. L'amour maternel croît en même temps pour assurer l'existence de l'en- 34 fant. Le sang est plus fluide que la chair ; car il est comme une espèce de chair liquide, et le lait est la partie la plus douce et la plus subtile du sang. Cependant il n'est que du sang qui change de forme et monte vers les mamelles qui commencent alors à se gonfler, par l'ordre de Dieu, auteur de la génération et qui nourrit tout : là, changeant de nature, à l'aide d'une douce chaleur, il s'élabore en une nourriture très agréable à l'enfant. Le lait provient donc du sang. Partant des veines nombreuses qui traversent en tous sens les mamelles, le sang se réfugie dans les réservoir naturels où se forme le lait. Ce sang, agité par les esprits vitaux, blanchit comme blanchissent les vagues de ja mer lorsque bouleversées par le souffle impétueux des vents, elles vomissent leur écume sur le rivage. Cependant la substance du sang ne change pas, pour nous servir de l'expression des poètes.
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Salvation does not depend upon outward things, whether they are many or few, small or great, splendid or lowly, glorious or mean, but upon the soul's virtue, upon faith, hope, love, brotherliness, knowledge, gentleness, humility and truth, of which salvation is the prize.
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Nous attribuons la bonté au Père et la justice au Fils, qui est le Verbe du Père, parce que ces vertus sont inséparables comme leurs personnes, et que leur puissance est infiniment égale comme leur amour.
topics: simplicité  
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Now Aristotle says that the judgment which follows knowledge is in truth faith. Accordingly, faith is something superior to knowledge, and is its criterion. Conjecture, which is only a feeble supposition, counterfeits faith; as the flatterer counterfeits a friend, and the wolf the dog.
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For self-control is common to all human beings who have made choice of it. And we admit that the same nature exists in every race, and the same virtue. As far as respects human nature, the woman does not possess one nature, and the man exhibit another, but the same: so also with virtue. If, consequently, a self-restraint and righteousness, and whatever qualities are regarded as following them, is the virtue of the male, it belongs to the male alone to be virtuous, and to the woman to be licentious and unjust. But it is offensive even to say this. Accordingly woman is to practise self-restraint and righteousness, and every other virtue, as well as man, both bond and free; since it is a fit consequence that the same nature possesses one and the same virtue. We do not say that woman's nature is the same as man's, as she is woman. For undoubtedly it stands to reason that some difference should exist between each of them, in \ virtue of which one is male and the other female. Preg-\ nancy and parturition, accordingly, we say belong to woman, |as she is woman, and not as she is a human being. But if there were no difference between man and woman, both would do and suffer the same things. As then there is sameness, as far as respects the soul, she will attain to the same virtue ; but as there is difference as respects the peculiar construction of the body, she is destined for child-bearing and housekeeping.
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C'est-à-dire que vous ne soupçonniez pas qu'il y eût d'autre nourriture que le lait qui est cependant une nourriture aussi substantielle que les autres. Car le Verbe est tour à tour doux et fluide comme le lait, tour à tour 33 compacte et resserré comme les autres aliments. En y réfléchissant bien, nous comparerons le lait à la prédication de la parole divine qui coule et se répand de tous côtés, et la nourriture solide à la foi qui, aidée de l'instruction, devient le fondement inébranlable de toutes nos actions. Par cette nourriture, notre âme se change pour ainsi dire en un corps ferme et solide. Telle est la nourriture dont le Seigneur nous parle dans l'évangile selon saint Jean, lorsqu'il nous dit : « Mangez ma chair et buvez mon sang. » Cette nourriture est l'image évidente de la foi et de la promesse. Par ce breuvage et cet aliment, l'Église, semblable à un homme formé de plusieurs membres, est arrosée et solidifiée. Elle nourrit son corps et son âme : son corps, de foi; son âme, d'espérance. Elle devient comme le Seigneur, qui est un composé de chair et de sang. L'espérance est le sang de la foi, c'est elle qui l'anime et la fait vivre dans notre âme. Détruisez l'espérance, la vie de la foi s'éteint comme celle d'un homme qui perd son sang.
topics: sang-de-christ  
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« Mon sang, dit le Seigneur, est un véritable breuvage. » Lors donc que l'apôtre dit qu'il nous a donné à boire du lait, n'est-il pas clair qu'il veut parler de cette joie parfaite, c'est-à-dire la connaissance de la vérité qu'on trouve dans le Verbe, qui est notre lait, notre nourriture
topics: sang-de-christ  
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Cette pensée de Platon prouve que la justice et la bonté sont une seule et même chose.
topics: simplicité  
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Dieu est appelé bon parce qu'il est la bonté même
topics: simplicité  
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Plus tard, la sainte vigne produisit la grappe prophétique, c'est-à-dire la Verbe, dont le sang mêlé avec l'eau, suivant sa volonté, est le signe de ceux qui de l'erreur sont entrés dans le repos. Le sang entre en mélange avec le salut. Le sang du Seigneur est, de deux natures, l'un charnel qui nous rachète de la mort, l'autre spirituel, qui nous purifie. Boire le sang de Jésus, c'est participer à l'incorruptibilité du Seigneur. L'esprit est la force du Verbe, comme le sang est la force de la chair. Comme le vin se mêle à l'eau, l'esprit est mêlé avec l'homme. Ce mélange de l'un et de l'autre, je veux dire du Verbe et de la boisson, s'appelle Eucharistie, qui signifie de grâces; et ce sacrement sanctifie l'âme et le corps 95 de ceux qui y participent avec foi, lorsque la Volonté divine a mystiquement mélangé, par l'Esprit et le Verbe, ce divin breuvage qui représente l'homme. L'esprit, en effet, s'y mêle à l'âme, et le Verbe à la chair.
topics: eucharistie  
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Clement calls the πῦρ αἰώνιον that was sent by God against Sodom "full of discernment" (φρόνιμον) and declares that the very punishment of that city is τῆς εὐλογίστου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σωτηρίας εἰκών, "for the human beings, the image of their well calculated salvation." (Paed. 3.8.44-45)
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