Clement of Alexandria (Full Script)

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Clement of Alexandria

Post-Apostolic Church

Clement, whose full name was Titus Flavius Clemens, was an overseer in Alexandria, Egypt and wrote around AD 195.

Like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria was raised as a pagan and went on a personal pilgrimage to find truth.  And also like Justin, this led him to Jesus Christ.  Pantaenus, who began a catechetical school--that is, a school for new converts--in Alexandria, was Clement of Alexandria's teacher.  Athenagoras might also have taught Clement.  After Pantaenus left Alexandria in AD 189 to become a missionary in India, Clement took over the catechetical school.  Clement’s students included Origen and Hippolytus of Rome.

Like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus before him, Clement of Alexandria was one of the first writers to write an extensive amount of Christian literature.  Beginning with Clement's writings, the attitudes of the church appear to change.  By the days of Clement of Alexandria, it seems that paganism had shown clear signs of decline.  By the same token, Christianity had become well-known in every corner of the Roman Empire and beyond.  Even though Christianity was still illegal and punishable by death and there were still intense persecutions to come, Clement's writings show some of the first signs that the attitudes of the church moved more away from primitive orthodoxy and more towards institutional orthodoxy.

When the persecutions under Emperor Septimius Severus became intense, Clement fled to Syrian Antioch in AD 202.  He may have died around AD 220.

Clement of Alexandria did much good for the Church.  He was the famous teacher of the catechetical school in Alexandria and helped bring up one of the most intelligent Christians writers in history, Origen.  Clement of Alexandria is notably marked by his extremely kind and loving spirit.