Clement Of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215 CE) appears in the depth-psychology corpus as a pivotal transitional figure whose work bridges Stoic moral philosophy, Platonic epistemology, and emerging Christian ascetic theology. The corpus does not treat him as an object of historical curiosity alone; rather, his writings — principally the Stromateis and the Paedagogus — are consistently invoked as primary sources for understanding the genealogy of apatheia, the ideal of the ‘perfect Gnostic,’ and the Christianisation of Greek philosophical ethics. Sorabji’s detailed engagement foregrounds Clement’s appropriation of Stoic emotional theory, particularly his adaptation of the doctrine of apatheia into a specifically Christian soteriology in which freedom from emotion becomes the mark of the perfected believer post-resurrection. Sinkewicz situates Clement as an indispensable antecedent to Evagrian spirituality, tracing the absorption of Clementine Platonism — his ‘perfect Gnostic martyr,’ his ethics of love modelled on divine love, his ‘likeness to God’ reworked as ‘imitation of Christ’ — into Desert asceticism. Jung and Kerényi invoke Clement in a different register, citing the Clementine logion on the unity of opposites in connection with the coniunctio symbolism central to depth psychology. What unites these divergent readings is Clement’s role as a hermeneutical mediator: between Stoic, Platonic, and Christian traditions, and between literal and allegorical modes of interpretation.

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Clement of Alexandria’s (d. c.215) adaptation of Platonic dicta in service of his own portrait of the ‘perfect Gnostic martyr.’ There, Clement developed Platonic epistemology and ethics into a vision of lifelong ascetic perfection in imitation of Christ and, above all, love of God and neighbor.

Sinkewicz argues that Clement’s synthesis of Platonic epistemology with Christian ascetic ethics — centred on the ‘perfect Gnostic martyr’ — was foundational to Evagrian and Desert spirituality.

Sinkewicz, Robert E., Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus, 2003thesis

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Christ was completely free of emotion. Perfected humans retain hunger and thirst, which are needed for the body, but they lack any emotions: anger, fear, appetite (epithumia), desire in general (orexis), including the emotions commonly considered good.

Sorabji uses Clement’s Stromateis 6.9 to demonstrate how Clement radicalised the Stoic ideal of apatheia within a Christian framework, extending emotionlessness even to the eupatheiai the Stoics had considered virtuous.

Richard Sorabji, Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 2000thesis

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Clement of Alexandria introduces this logion with the words: ‘When ye have trod the cloak of shame (with thy feet)…’ which probably refers to the body; for Clement as well as Cassian…interpreted the words in a spiritual sense, in contrast to the Gnostics.

Jung and Kerényi cite Clement’s spiritualising interpretation of the coniunctio logion — the union of male and female — as evidence of his allegorical mediation between Gnostic literalism and Christian mystical symbolism.

Jung, C. G. and Kerényi, C., Essays on a Science of Mythology: The Myth of the Divine Child and the Mysteries of Eleusis, 1949thesis

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It seems to us that Clement exaggerates man’s achievement in this area when he speaks of his attaining a state even here on earth where he is not exposed to desire and lacks nothing of spiritual goods.

The Evagrian commentary critiques Clement’s account of apatheia as overstating the degree of perfection attainable by humans in earthly life, marking a key doctrinal tension within the ascetic tradition.

Evagrius Ponticus, Praktikos, 2009supporting

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Clement of Alexandria Stromateis 2. 22 (vol. 2, p. 186. 19–23 Stählin = Speusippus frag. 77 Tarán). Diogenes Laertius Lives 6. 3; Clement of Alexandria Stromateis 2. 20.

Sorabji cites Clement’s Stromateis as a source for the Academic and Cynic traditions on pleasure and indifference, documenting Clement’s role as a conduit for pre-Stoic Greek philosophy into Christian ethical discourse.

Richard Sorabji, Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, 2000supporting

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CLEMENT of Alexandria. Christian bishop and philosopher, fl. c. A.D. 200…Miscellanies [Stromateis = Strom.] 2.21.129.4-5…5.9.58.2…8.9.26.3-4…8.9.30.1-3…8.9.33.1-9

Long and Sedley’s index identifies Clement as a ‘Christian bishop and philosopher’ whose Stromateis is cited as a primary source for Hellenistic philosophical doctrines, particularly Stoic logic and physics.

A.A. Long and D.N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers, 1987supporting

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CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. Stromata. In: CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS. Werke, Vol. II. Edited by Otto Stühlin. (Griechisch

Jung’s bibliography cites Clement’s Stromata in the standard critical edition, marking the work as a scholarly reference within his broader research on religious symbolism and the collective unconscious.

Jung, Carl Gustav, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 1959aside

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