Clement of Alexandria | |
---|---|
Church Father, Theologian | |
Born | Titus Flavius Clemens c. 150 AD Athens, Achaia, Roman Empire |
Died | c. 215 AD Jerusalem, Syria Palaestina, Roman Empire |
Venerated in | Oriental Orthodoxy Eastern Catholicism Anglican Communion |
Canonized | Pre-congregation |
Feast | 4 December (Eastern Catholicism, Anglicanism) 5 December (Episcopal Church, Anglicanism) |
Controversy | Regarded as a heretic by Photius. |
Catholic cult suppressed | c. 1605 by Pope Clement VIII |
Philosophy career | |
Other names | Clement Alexandrine |
Notable work | |
Era | |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | |
Institutions | Catechetical School of Alexandria |
Notable students | Origen and Alexander |
Main interests | Christian theology |
Notable ideas | |
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox philosopher with unknown parameter "influences" Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox philosopher with unknown parameter "influenced" |
Part of a series on |
Catholic philosophy |
---|
Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (Ancient Greek: Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; c. 150 – c. 215 AD),[4] was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A convert to Christianity, he was an educated man who was familiar with classical Greek philosophy and literature. As his three major works demonstrate, Clement was influenced by Hellenistic philosophy to a greater extent than any other Christian thinker of his time, and in particular, by Plato and the Stoics.[5] His secret works, which exist only in fragments, suggest that he was familiar with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism as well. In one of his works he argued that Greek philosophy had its origin among non-Greeks, claiming that both Plato and Pythagoras were taught by Egyptian scholars.[6]
Clement is usually regarded as a Church Father. He is venerated as a saint in Coptic Christianity, Eastern Catholicism, Ethiopian Christianity, and Anglicanism. He was revered in Western Catholicism until 1586, when his name was removed from the Roman Martyrology by Pope Sixtus V on the advice of Baronius. The Eastern Orthodox Church officially stopped any veneration of Clement of Alexandria in the 10th century.[citation needed] Nonetheless, he is still sometimes referred to as "Saint Clement of Alexandria" by both Eastern Orthodox[7] and Catholic[8] authors.