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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On Clement of Alexandria
"One of the Great Promoters of Dialogue Between Faith and Reason"
H.H. Benedict XVI
April 18, 2007
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
After a time of holidays, we return to our normal catechesis, despite
the fact that the square is still visibly decorated for the feasts. With
these catecheses, we return, as I said, to the theme previously begun.
We have spoken about the Twelve Apostles, then the disciples of the
apostles, and now we turn to the great personalities of the nascent
Church, of the ancient Church.
Last time, we had spoken about St. Irenaeus of Lyons and today we will
speak of Clement of Alexandria, a great theologian who was probably born
in Athens, sometime around the turn of the second century. In Athens, he
picked up a keen interest in philosophy that would make him one of the
great promoters of dialogue between faith and reason in the Christian
tradition.
While still a youth, he moved to Alexandria, the "symbolic city" of this
fruitful nexus between cultures which characterized the Hellenistic age.
He was a disciple of Pantaenus and even succeeded him in directing the
catechetical school. Numerous sources say he was ordained a priest.
During the persecution from 202-203, he fled Alexandria and took refuge
in Caesarea, in Cappadocia, where he died in the year 215.
The most important of his works which still exist are the "Exhortation,"
the "Instructor" and the "Stromata." Although it seems that it was not
the author's original intention, these works make for a real trilogy,
adequate for efficiently accompanying the spiritual maturation of a
Christian.
"The Exhortation," as the title itself implies, exhorts one who is
beginning and searching for the path of faith. Moreover, "The
Exhortation" coincides with a person: the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who
is an "exhorter" of those who decidedly begin the journey toward Truth.
Christ himself later becomes the "educator," that is, the "instructor"
of those who, by virtue of baptism, have become sons and daughters of
God. Christ himself, finally, is also "Didascalo," that is, the
"Teacher," who proposes the deepest teachings. These are collected in
Clement's third work, "The Stromata," a Greek word meaning
"miscellanies." It is a composition that is not systematic, but rather
deals with various arguments, and is the direct fruit of the ordinary
teaching of Clement.
Taken together, Clement's catecheses accompany the catechumen and the
baptized step by step, because, with the two "wings" of faith and
reason, they lead to knowing the Truth, which is Christ, the Word of
God. "Authentic gnosis" -- the Greek expression which means "knowledge"
or "intelligence" -- can only be found in knowing the person of the
truth. This is the edifice built by reason under the impulse of the
supernatural principle. Therefore, the authentic "gnosis" is a
development of the faith, drawn forth by Christ in the souls of those
united to him. Clement later defines two levels of Christian life.
The first level: believing Christians who live the faith in an ordinary
way, although with their horizons always open toward sanctity. The
second level: the "gnostics," that is, those who lead a life of
spiritual perfection. In any case, the Christian has to begin with the
common base of the faith and by way of a path of searching, he should
allow himself to be led by Christ and thus arrive to the knowledge of
the Truth and the truths that make up the content of the faith.
This knowledge, Clement tells us, becomes for the soul a lived reality:
It is not just a theory. Rather, it is a life force, a union with a
transforming love. The knowledge of Christ is not just a thought, but a
love that opens the eyes, transforms the person and creates communion
with the "Logos," the divine Word that is truth and life. In this
communion, which is the perfect knowledge and is love, the perfect
Christian reaches contemplation and union with God.
Clement finally takes up doctrine, according to which the final end of
the person consists in being like God. We have been created in the image
and likeness of God, but this is also a challenge, a journey; in fact,
the objective of life, the final destiny of the person consists in
making himself like God. This is possible thanks to a connaturality with
him, which the person has received at the moment of his creation, by
which he is already the image of God. This connaturality enables him to
know divine realities to which the person adheres above all by faith,
and through the living of the faith, the practice of the virtues, can
grow until he reaches the contemplation of God.
In this way, on the journey to perfection, Clement gives the same
importance to moral requirements as to the intellectual ones. The two go
together because it is not possible to know the truth without living it,
nor to live the truth without knowing it. It is not possible to make
oneself like God and contemplate him simply with a rational knowledge:
In order to achieve this objective, it is necessary to live according to
the "Logos," a life according to truth. And, therefore, good works have
to accompany intellectual knowledge, as the shadow accompanies the body.
There are two virtues which particularly adorn the soul of the
"authentic gnostic." The first is freedom from passions ("apátheia");
the second is love, the true passion, which ensures intimate union with
God. Love gives perfect peace, and enables the "authentic gnostic" to
confront the greatest sacrifices, including the supreme sacrifice in the
following of Christ, and brings him to rise to the level of living
virtue. In this way, the ethical ideal of ancient philosophy, that is,
the freedom from passions, is redefined by Clement and complemented by
love, in the unending process which leads to being like God.
In this way, the thinker from Alexandria fosters the second great
opportunity for dialogue between the Christian message and Greek
philosophy. We know that St. Paul, in the Areopagus in Athens, where
Clement was born, had made the first attempt at dialogue with Greek
philosophy and for the most part, had failed, given that his listeners
said, "We will listen to you at another time." Now Clement, takes up
again this dialogue, and supremely ennobles it in the tradition of Greek
philosophy.
As my venerable predecessor, John Paul II, wrote in his encyclical
"Fides et Ratio," Clement of Alexandria arrived to an interpretation of
philosophy as "instruction which prepared for Christian faith" (No. 38).
And, in fact, Clement even affirmed that God had given philosophy to the
Greeks "as their own Testament" ("Stromata," 6, 8, 67, 1).
For him, the tradition of Greek philosophy, almost like the Law for the
Jews, is the context for "revelation." They are two currents that
definitively direct toward the very "Logos." Clement decisively
continues along the path of those who want to "give reason" for their
faith in Jesus Christ.
He can serve as an example for Christians, for catechists and
theologians of our time, who John Paul II exhorted in that same
encyclical to "recover and express to the full the metaphysical
dimension of truth in order to enter into a demanding critical dialogue
with […] contemporary philosophical thought."
We conclude with one of the expressions from the famous "Prayer to
Christ, 'Logos'" with which Clement concludes the "Instructor." His
prayer reads: "Show favor to your children … grant us to live in peace,
to arrive to your city, pass through the currents of sin without sinking
into them, be transported with serenity by the Holy Spirit, by ineffable
Wisdom: we, who by day and by night, until the last day, raise to you a
hymn of thanksgiving to the one Father … the Son, Instructor and
Teacher, together with the Holy Spirit, Amen!" ("Instructor," 3, 12,
101).
[Translation by ZENIT]
[At the end of the audience, the Holy Father greeted the people in
several languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our catechesis on the Fathers and teachers of the early Church, we
now turn to Saint Clement of Alexandria. As head of the catechetical
school of Alexandria, Clement promoted a fruitful encounter between the
Gospel and the Greek philosophical tradition. For Clement, faith in
Christ grants the true knowledge which the ancient philosophers had
sought through the use of reason. Faith and reason thus appear as two
necessary and complementary "wings" by which the human spirit comes to
the knowledge of Christ, the Word of God. Faith itself, as a divine
gift, inspires a search for a deeper understanding of God’s revelation.
As creatures made in God’s image, we are called to become ever more like
him not only through the perfection of our intellect, but also through
our growth in the virtues. Freed from our passions, we are drawn to
contemplate in love the God who has revealed himself in Christ. By his
life and teaching, Clement can serve as a model for all Christians who
seek to give an account of their hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), and especially
for catechists and theologians as they strive to articulate the
Christian faith in a disciplined dialogue with the great philosophical
tradition.
I greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present at
today’s Audience, including groups from Britain and Ireland, Gibraltar,
Scandinavia, Asia and North America. I extend a special welcome to the
ecumenical visitors from Finland and to the many students and teachers
present. Upon all of you I invoke the abundant blessings of this Easter
season, and I pray that your visit to Rome will bring you closer to
Christ our Risen Lord. May God bless you all!
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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