Pastor Steve Paulus

Patristics Part Two

The Church at Alexandria

The Church in North Africa

Nicene and Post Nicene Church

The Councils

The Heresies

The Schism between Orthodoxy and Catholicism

The Crusades

IV. The Church at Alexandria

A. Alexandrian Fathers

Introduction, The Catechetical School at Alexandria: Though its beginning is hard to trace, it was an official school for the training of converts, its director appointed by the bishop. Its most famous and distinguished leaders were Clement and Origen. The school had wide educational purposes including philosophy. Clement and Origen were pioneers in the science of systematic theology, using philosophical categories to arrange and declare knowledge about God and the scriptures.

1. Clement of Alexandria (150-216): A follower of Pantaenus, a convert to Christianity from Stoicism, Clement used the allegorical method of scripture interpretation. He emphasized the importance of gnosis, or knowledge. "At Alexandria Clement found a church afraid and on the defensive against Greek philosophy and pagan literature."(Chadwick, p. 95). "All truth and goodness, wherever found, come from the Creator." This includes Platonic metaphysics, Stoic ethics, and Aristotelian logic.(Chadwick, p. 97). He speaks of his teachers in the faith Ionicus and Pantaenus among others as those who “indeed preserved the true tradition of the salutary doctrine, which, as given by Peter and James, John and Paul, had descended from father to son. Though there are few like their fathers, they have, by the favor of God, also come down to us to plant that ancient and apostolic seed likewise in our misnds” (Clement inEusebius, EH, V, xi).

2. Origen (185-254): Leonidus his father was a martyr when he was eighteen under Septimus Severus. From 203-231 he was head of the school of Alexandria. 231-254 he lived in Caesarea where he had earlier been ordained. He led the school in Alexandria during times of very severe persecution according to Eusebius. He wrote as a member of the martyr church. He was later rejected by the church and condemned (543 synod of Constantinople, 553, fifth Ecumenical Council). His universalist views were particularly troublesome for the following generations. He is considered a founder of systematic theology.

Origen was a great scholar. “But so great was the research which Origen applied in the investigation of the Holy Scriptures, that he also studied the Hebrew language; and those original works written in the Hebrew and in the hands of the Jews, he procured as his own. He also investigated the editions of others, who besides the seventy, had published translations of the Scriptures, and some different from the well known translations of Acquila, Symmachus and Theodotian, which he searched up, and traced to I know not what ancient lurking places, where they had lain concealed from remote times, and brought them to light…Having collected all these versions and divided them by punctuation into their proper members, and arranged them opposite one another in parallel columns, together with the Hebrew tests, he left us those copies of the Hexapla which we now have. In a separate work he also prepared an edition of Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotian, together with the Septuagint, in what is called the Tetrapha” (Eusebius, EH, VI, xvi).

a. Written works.

i. Biblical : The Hexapla. "He placed in parallel columns the Hebrew, a transliteration of the Hebrew, text in Greek characters...and the four main Greek versions. For the Psalms two or more translations were added; one of them Origen found in a jar in the Jordan valley, perhaps in some find analogous to that of the Dead Sea Scrolls."(Chadwick, p.102). According to Origen, "(A)t death none is sinless and fit for the presence of the divine holiness and love, there will be a purging 'fire', purifying the soul of all dross." (p. 105).

ii.. Commentaries and sermons: Origen used the allegorical method of interpretation with levels of interpretation and meaning from literal to a hidden spiritual meaning.

iii.. Apologetics : Contra Celsus was his great work against the teaching and objections of the philosopher Celsus.

iv. Dogma : De Principis was a kind of systematic theology using philosophical categories to arrange thought about Biblical and spiritual themes.

b. Origen’s disciple Gregory Thaumaturgus (The wonder worker): He was pioneer missionary to Pontus, Asia Minor one of Origen’s convert/disciples. He became bishop of Neocaesarea and “lived through gruesome attacks by Goths in the 250’s and took part in the council that excommunicated Paul of Samosata in the 260’s” (Frederick W. Norris, “Gregory Thaumaturgus” in EEC, p. 406).

3. Dionysius: He was a pupil of Origen’s and head of the catechetical school from 233-248, and also was bishop of Alexandria. He guided the church through difficult times of persecution and participated in the controversies over the lapsed believers during the Decian persecution.

4. Athanasius and Cyril, both bishops of Alexandria and notable figures in Trinitarian and Christological controversies in later church history will be covered in a later section.

B. Excursus on Martyrdom

Jesus warned his disciples that they would face suffering and persecution as a result of their faith in him.

Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings…But when they arrest you do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father a child; children will rebel against parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me…Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul (Matt. 10:17-22,28).

Jesus told his followers, Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:10-12).

Martyrdom and imprisonment were facts of life for believers from New Testament times through the early fourth century. Stephen, the first martyr was given a remarkable vision. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’ (Acts 7:54-56). Peter teaches that believers who suffer for the gospel would experience special favor of God. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you (I Peter4:14).

After the martyrdoms of Ignatius and Polycarp, especially the miracles that accompanied the death of the latter, martyrs were seen as possessing unusual spiritual power. This came to play a role in the life and beliefs of the church in later times. The anniversaries of martyrs’ deaths were celebrated and their intercessory prayers were believed to have special efficacy. These factors, along with the belief in the church triumphant (those who had gone into the presence of the Lord) contributed to the eventual practice of seeking the prayers of deceased martyrs and saints. Other verses cite the fact of martyrdom and their place in heaven. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed” (Rev. 6:9-11). Later relics of the martyrs were valued as having special power, much like the bones of Elishah (2 Kings 13:20-21).

Confessors, as opposed to martyrs, were those who had faithfully endured suffering and persecution for the sake of the gospel, but had not suffered unto death. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions (Heb. 10:32-34).

C. Important Doctrinal Developments

In Alexandria there were strong developments in the area of doctrine, both positive and negative. The catechetical school developed the discipline of systematic theology, which carefully examined the teaching of scripture on various themes. Outstanding work was done in the area of apologetics (defending the faith against the claims of the philosophers), and textual studies. Origen collected the existing manuscripts and translations of the Bible and compared them carefully in a parallel Bible. On the down side, the Bible came to be interpreted allegorically at Alexandria introducing a strong element of subjectivism into the intellectual life of the church. Also, questionable eschatological beliefs (transmigration of souls, “purging” after death, and universalism) were introduced. Some of these beliefs were rejected by the church as being heretical.

Sources:

L. Boettner. “Purgatory,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

Chadwick, Henry. "Clement of Alexandria and Origen," in The Early Church. Penguin Books, 1967, pp. 94-115.

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History.

Everett Ferguson, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.

Hamell, A Handbook of Patrology

C.C. Kroeger. “Origen” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

Johannes Quasten, Patrology.

HOME