Clement of Alexandria

Clement says in his own Stromata that he sought out teachers in Greece, Italy and the East and found rest with the last of them, in Egypt; Eusebius identifies this teacher as Pantaenus (Eusebius, Church History 5.11). Eusebius reports that Clement succeeded Pantaenus in charge of catechetical instruction at Alexandria and that Origen as a boy was among his pupils (Eusebius, Church History 6.6). He lists Clement’s works: the Stromata in eight books, the Exhortation to the Greeks, the Instructor, the homily What Rich Man is Saved? and others, and notes how often he quotes Greek authors (Eusebius, Church History 6.13).

He appears again in letters of Alexander, who became bishop of Jerusalem, as Eusebius quotes them. He sent a letter to Antioch by the hand of “Clement, the blessed presbyter” and, writing afterwards to Origen, speaks of Clement as his master and as one who had gone before (Eusebius, Church History 6.11.6, 6.14.8–9). The passages cited here do not give the years of his birth or death.