Clement of Alexandria on Trial Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language Editors J. den Boeft B.D. Ehrman J. van Oort D.T. Runia C. Scholten J.C.M. van Winden VOLUME 101 Clement of Alexandria on Trial The Evidence of ‘Heresy’ from Photius’ Bibliotheca By Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ashwin-Siejkowski, Piotr, 1964- Clement of Alexandria on trial : the evidence of “heresy” from Photius’ Bibliotheca / by Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski. p. cm. — (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, ISSN 0920-623X ; v. 101) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17627-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Christian heresies—History—Early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Clement, of Alexandria, Saint, ca. 150-ca. 215. Outlines. 3. Photius I, Saint, Patriarch of Constantinople, ca. 820-ca. 891. Bibliotheca. Codex 109. I. Title. II. Series. 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Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands contents v For my family vi contents contents vii CONTENTS Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Note on Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. Photios and his Political and Cultural Background . . . . . . 5 2. The Bibliotheca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3. Clement of Alexandria as seen by Photios . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4. Structure of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 PART ONE: METAPHYSICS Chapter One The Existence of Eternal Matter and the Eternity of Ideas . . . . 23 1. The Philosophical Background of Clement’s Thought . . . 24 2. Philo of Alexandria as an Important Precursor of Clement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 3. Clement’s own Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4. Clement’s Opinion about the Eternity of Matter . . . . . . . . 34 5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Chapter Two The Belief in Many Worlds before the Creation of Adam . . . . 39 1. Heraclitus of Ephesus and his Influence on Clement’s Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2. The Role of Jewish and Jewish-Christian Apocalyptic . . . 44 3. The Evidence from Book 5 of the Stromateis . . . . . . . . . . . 46 PART TWO: LOGOS-THEOLOGY Chapter Three The Teachings about Two Logoi of the Father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 1. Philo of Alexandria and the Nature of the Logos . . . . . . . 58 viii contents 2. Valentinian Exegesis of the Prologue to John’s Gospel and the Logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Chapter Four The Assumption that the Son of God is a Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 1. The Origin of the Logos in Philo of Alexandria’s Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 2. Sapiential and Jewish-Christian Narratives and Clement’s U nderstanding of the Origin of the Logos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 3. The Evidence from the Excerpta ex Theodoto . . . . . . . . . . . 84 4. The Gnostic γενεά as the Challenge to Logos-Theology . . 88 Chapter Five The Docetic View of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 1 Controversies over the Logos’ Body in Clement’s Oeuvre . 96 2. Docetic Christology: The Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 PART THREE: ANTHROPOLOGY Chapter Six The Transmigration of Souls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 1. Metempsychosis as a Philosophical Issue in Clement’s Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 2. Reincarnation in Clement’s Surviving Works . . . . . . . . . . 120 Chapter Seven The Creation of Eve from Adam in a Blasphemous and Shameful Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 1. Eve as a Literary Motif in Early Christian and Gnostic Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 2. Eve as a Metaphor in Philo’s Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 3. Eve in Clement’s Hermeneutics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Chapter Eight The Sexual Encounters of Angels with Human Women and the Children Conceived . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 1. Genesis 6.2-4 as the crux interpretatorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 contents ix 2. Genesis 6.2-4 and its Challenge to Clement’s Hermeneutics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 x contents