Clement of Alexandria
BIOGRAPHY
Titus Flavius Clemens, commonly known as Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215 CE), was a prominent Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. His influential teaching shaped notable Christian thinkers, including Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem.
A convert to Christianity, Clement possessed extensive knowledge of classical Greek philosophy and literature. His three major works demonstrate that he engaged with Hellenistic philosophy more deeply than any contemporary Christian scholar, drawing particularly from Platonic and Stoic traditions. His fragmentary secret works suggest familiarity with pre-Christian Jewish esotericism and Gnosticism. Clement provocatively argued that Greek philosophy originated from non-Greek sources, claiming that philosophers like Plato and Pythagoras had been instructed by Egyptian scholars.
Clement occupies a complex position in Christian veneration. He is generally recognized as a Church Father and is honored as a saint in Coptic Christianity, Eastern Catholicism, Ethiopian Christianity, and Anglicanism. His veneration in Western Catholicism continued until 1586, when Pope Sixtus V removed his name from the Roman Martyrology following Baronius' recommendation. Eastern Orthodoxy officially ceased venerating Clement of Alexandria in the 10th century, though both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic writers occasionally still refer to him as "Saint Clement of Alexandria."