CHURCH FATHERS

 

Introduction to Clement of Alexandria [1]

 

He [Clement] describes philosophy as a divinely ordered preparation of the Greeks for faith in Christ, as the law was for the Hebrews; and shows the necessity and value of literature and philosophic culture for the attainment of true Christian knowledge, in opposition to the numerous bodies among Christians who regarded learning as useless and dangerous. He proclaims himself an eclectic, believing in the existence of fragments of truth in all systems, which may be separated from error; but declaring that all truth can be found in unity and completeness only in Christ, as it was from Him that all its scattered gems originally proceeded.

 

 

On Clement of Alexandria

 

As Christianity overpowered its Gnostic and Hermetic rivals through the efforts of the early Church Fathers, one of the most influential of these in the second century was Clement of Alexandria. Being the head of the Christian school in Egypt his voice assumed an importance amongst religious people throughout the Roman world. Widely read and with first hand experience of the Gnostics of Egypt, he brought many intelligent people into the young Church. In his Miscellany, which he called the “Stromata” or “Patchwork,” we find many mentions of the maxim Know Thyself. Clement understood and respected its mystical meaning beyond the common moral interpretation. But, he also provides the Platonic sequence of gaining Knowledge, that only the double ignorance of the ‘many’, the ignorance of ignorance, keep them from Knowledge of themselves.

“The knowledge of ignorance is, then, the first lesson in walking according to the Word.”[2]

 

Indeed he stressed the importance of knowledge in religion

“Know Thyself shows many things; both that thou art mortal, and that thou wast born a human being;...And it says, Know for what thou wert born, and whose image thou art; and what is thy essence, and what thy creation, and what thy relation to God.”[3]

 

But, he also pointed out the occult or hidden meanings that often lay behind inspired writings;

“All then, in a word, who have spoken of Divine things, both Barbarians and Greeks, have veiled the first principles of things, and delivered the Truth in enigmas, and symbols, and allegories, and metaphors.”[4]

 

And into this class he puts the Delphic maxim. While Faith is good enough for the simple masses Clement recognizes that the intelligent convert needs more,

“Whence by starting from this faith, and being developed by it, through the Grace of God, the Knowledge respecting Him is to be acquired as far as possible.”[5]

 

But, where is this ‘Knowledge’ to lead?

For Knowledge (Gnosis), to speak generally, is a perfecting of man as Man, is consummated by acquaintance with Divine things, in character, life and word.”[6]

 

Indeed, how does this Self Knowledge relate to the Knowledge of God? Clement, in the beginning of the third book of the Instructor, explains that relationship.

It is then, as appears, the greatest of all lessons to know one’s self. For if one knows himself, he will know God; and by knowing God, he will be made like God,...[7]

 

In the same chapter he quotes one of the Greek Presocratic philosophers,

Heraclitus, then rightly said, “Men are Gods, and gods are men.” For the Word Himself [Jesus] is the manifest mystery; God in man, and man God.[8]

 

He also makes the relationship between God and man extend to man and man.

And the saying, ‘Know Thyself,’ has been taken rather more mystically from this, ‘Thou hast seen thy brother, thou hast seen thy God.’ Thus also, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.’[9]

 

When Clement speaks of the Planetary spheres he speaks mystically.

Whether, then, the time be that which through the seven periods enumerated returns to the chiefest rest, or the seven heavens, which some reckon one above the other; or whether also the fixed sphere which borders on the intellectual world be called the eighth, the expression denotes that the Gnostic ought rise out of the sphere of creation and of sin.[10]

 

 

On the Maxim ‘Know Thyself’.

 

The expression, “Know Thyself”, some supposed to be Chilon’s, [one of the seven sages of ancient Greece]. But Chamaeleon, in his book ‘About the Gods’, ascribes it to Thales, [another of the seven sages]; Aristotle to the Pythian, [Apollo]. It may be an injunction to the pursuit of knowledge. For it is not possible to know the parts without the essence of the whole; and one must study the genesis of the universe, that thereby we may be able to learn the nature of man.[11]

 

For knowledge (gnosis), to speak generally, a perfecting of man as man, is consummated by acquaintance with divine things, in character, life, and word, accordant and conformable to itself and to the divine Word. For by knowledge faith is perfected, inasmuch as it is solely by knowledge that the believer becomes perfect. Faith is an internal good, and without searching for God, confesses His existence, and glorifies Him as existent. Whence by starting from this faith and being developed by it through the grace of God, the knowledge respecting Him is to be acquired as far as possible...[12]

 

Knowledge is therefore quick in purifying and fit for that transformation to the better. Whence also with ease it removes the soul to what is akin to the soul divine and holy, and by its own light conveys man through the mystic stages of advancement till it restores the heart to the crowning place of rest teaching to gaze on God face to face with knowledge and comprehension. For in this consists the perfection of the gnostic [knowing] soul, in its being with the Lord, where it is in immediate subjection to Him, after rising above all purification and service.[13]

 

Faith is then, so to speak, a comprehensive knowledge of the essentials; and knowledge is the strong and sure demonstration of what is received by faith, built upon faith by the Lord’s teaching, conveying the soul on to infallibility, science and comprehension. And, in my view, the first saving change is that from heathenism to faith, as I said before; and the second is from faith to knowledge. And the latter terminating in love, thereafter gives the loving to the loved, that which knows to that which is known. And, perchance, such an one has already attained the condition of “being equal to the angels.” (Luke 20:36) Accordingly, after the highest excellence in the flesh, changing always duly to the better, he urges his flight to the ancestral hall, through the Holy Septenniad [of heavenly bodies = the seven planets] to the Lord’s own mansion; to be a light, steady, and continuing eternally, entirely and in every part immutable.[14]

 

All then in a word who have spoken of divine things, both Barbarians and Greeks have veiled the first principles of things and delivered the truth in enigmas, and symbols, and allegories, and metaphors. Such also are the oracles among the Greeks. Some signified actions not by words only but also by symbols; by words, as in the case of what are called the Delphic maxims, ‘Nothing in Excess’ ‘Know Thyself’ and the like.[15]

 

Very useful then is the mode of symbolic interpretation for many purposes; and it is helpful to the right theology, and to pieta, and to the display of intelligence, and the practice of brevity, and the exhibition of wisdom,[16]... similarly also the maxim ‘Know Thyself’ shows many things; both that thou art mortal, and that thou wast born a human being; and also that in comparison with the other excellences of life, thou art of no account, because thou sayest that thou art rich, or renowned or on the other hand that being rich or renowned you are not honoured on account of your advantages alone. And it says, Know for what thou wert born, and whose image thou art; and what is thy essence, and what thy creation, and what thy relation to God.’[17]

 

 

On Knowledge and Hidden Sense.[18]

 

The knowledge of ignorance is, then, the first lesson in walking according to the Word. An ignorant man has sought and having sought he finds the teacher and finding has believed, and believing has hoped; and henceforward having loved, is assimilated to what was loved. Wise souls pure as virgins understanding themselves to be situated amidst the ignorance of the world kindle the light, and rouse the mind and illumine the darkness and dispel ignorance and seek truth and await the appearance of the Teacher... Wherefore also to those who ask the wisdom that is with us we are to hold out things suitable, that with the greatest possible ease they may, through their own ideas, be likely to arrive at faith in the truth. For “I became things to all men that I might gain all men.” [1 Cor 9; 22]

 

Now those instructed among the Egyptians learned first of all that style of the Egyptian letters which is called ‘Demotic’ and second, the ‘Hieratic’ which the sacred scribes practise and finally and last of all the ‘Hieroglyphic’ of which one kind, which is by the first elements, Literal and the other Symbolic. Of the Symbolic, one kind speaks literally by imitation and another writes as it were figuratively  and another is quite Allegorical, using certain enigmas..

 

Similarly also the maxim “Know Thyself” shows many things, both that thou art mortal and that thou wast born a human being and also that in comparison with the other excellences of life thou art of no account, because thou sayest that thou art rich or renowned or on the other hand, that being rich or renowned, you are not honoured on account of your advantages alone. And it says Know for what thou wert born and whose image thou art; and what is thy essence, and what thy creation, and what thy relation to God, and the like. And the Spirit says by Isaiah the prophet “I will give thee treasures hidden dark.”[19] Now wisdom hard to hunt, is the treasures of God and unfailing riches. But those taught: in theology by these prophets the poets, philosophize much by way of a hidden sense. [20]

 

This is Christian Gnosticism at its best. But, as the secular authority of the Church grew, and its administration became dependent on an hierarchical organization, it started to condemn independent thought. The Christian Gnostic must toe the line and accept the Doctrine of the Church no matter what his Knowledge of God had revealed. This tension drove much of the mystical speculation underground. When found out, these people were persecuted as “heretics” and often murdered. However, before the Church gained the power of secular executions of its enemies, mystical thought flourished.