True Gnosis and Clement of Alexandria
Mar 15, 2020 22:07:11 GMT
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Post by KGrim on Mar 15, 2020 22:07:11 GMT
Spiritual Knowledge Gnosis, Greek: γνώσις, is the knowledge of the nous or intellect as knowledge of the divine which is distinct from the knowledge of reason (dianoia). Gnosis is as such knowledge that which is inspired by and or given by God and is thus linked to contemplation or theoria and immediate spiritual perception (revelation)
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Gnosis in Orthodox Christian (primarily Eastern Orthodox) thought is the spiritual knowledge of a saint (one who has obtained theosis or mystically enlightened human being). Within the cultures of the term's provenance (Byzantine and Hellenic) Gnosis was a knowledge or insight into the infinite, divine and uncreated in all and above all, rather than knowledge strictly into the finite, natural or material world. Gnosis is transcendental as well as mature understanding. It indicates direct spiritual, experiential knowledge and intuitive knowledge, mystic rather than that from rational or reasoned thinking. Gnosis itself is gained through understanding at which one can arrive via inner experience or contemplation such as an internal epiphany of intuition and external epiphany such as the Theophany.
In the Philokalia, it is emphasized that such knowledge is not secret knowledge but rather a maturing, transcendent form of knowledge derived from contemplation (theoria resulting from practice of hesychasm), since knowledge cannot truly be derived from knowledge, but rather, knowledge can only be derived from theoria (to witness, see (vision) or experience). Knowledge, thus plays an important role in relation to theosis (deification/personal relationship with God) and theoria (revelation of the divine, vision of God) Gnosis, as the proper use of the spiritual or noetic faculty plays an important role in Orthodox Christian theology. Its importance in the economy of salvation is discussed periodically in the Philokalia where as direct, personal knowledge of God (noesis; see also Noema) it is distinguished from ordinary epistemological knowledge (episteme—i.e., speculative philosophy).
Source
Moreover, the “mind” has its own form of cognition — Gnosis, that is, the intuitive or immediate apprehension of things spiritual and divine. Gnoseology is not epistemology which is concerned with the nature and scope of human knowledge; nor with the metaphysics it presupposes. Gnosis is the “knowledge” of the “greater mysteries” of existence, divine and human. It is the action of the dispassionate Nous in the state of meditating on spiritual truths, especially God Himself (Theoria). It a practice resulting from prayer, fasting and worship, involving a culture of “watchfulness” (nepsis) or “guarding the mind” or “heart” against the malignancy of sensual images and illusions — always under the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The contemplative achieves success only in a state of “quiet” (hesychia) whether within himself or the world around him. In this practice the mind also has the assistance of reason; it acts as the sentinel against the invading sensory and illusory images. The end of this spiritual process is complete transformation of human nature, that is, deification (theosis) or salvation.
Source
While several authors mused on mystical topics during the second century, there is none that had a greater impact than Clement of Alexandria. Indeed, he has been labelled by many as the “father of Christian mysticism.” Unlike his contemporary Justin Martyr, Clement had no problem importing Platonist concepts such as divine incomprehensibility, vision, and deification into his theology. Interestingly, Clement also had a high view of gnosis. Christoph Markschies writes that, “Time and again, Clement is concerned with right ‘knowledge’ as opposed to a ‘knowledge wrongly so-called’” He believed that gnosis naturally fit within a wholistic biblical theology and, as such, belonged in a healthy definition of mysticism.
Defining Gnosis
For Clement, gnosis does not represent secret knowledge of a divine spark that allows the believer to ascend to divinity. Clement sees gnosis as the higher mysteries of the faith which are to be imparted once a believer has mastered the more basic elements. However, gnosis should be reserved for believers who are ready, willing, and qualified through their life and actions to receive it. The reception of gnosis, then, should be part of the natural growth and progression that every believer experiences in their walk with Christ. For Clement, the mystic is the true Gnostic; as the mystic’s faith grows, his knowledge of the deeper things of God grows too.
Frequently in the written word, Clement and others would hide such gnosis in allegory, anagogy, and symbolism. Clement deliberately conceals gnosis in plain sight in his writings. This ‘gnostic’ writing style for mature Christians can be found throughout his corpus, particularly in works such as the Stromateis.
Critical Concepts:
1. God and Creation
Clement holds to several different ideas that are critical to understanding the role of gnosis in his mystical theology, but perhaps principal among these ideas is the concept of God being central to the universe, the creator and ruler of all of creation. Unlike Gnostic mythology, which perceives the material universe as evil and something to escape to an ineffable God, Clement sees the opposite. Clement holds a Pauline view of creation: that the material world points to a knowable God who must be worshipped due to His self-evident holiness and righteousness.
2. Participation
Clement also argues that after man accepts the centrality of God as both creator and ruler, one must partake in that divine nature. He argues that it is necessary for the believer to enter the mystical path which leads to eternal life with God. In keeping an ecclesiological focus, Clement argues that the gnostic has a responsibility not just to himself, but also to the health of the church as a whole:
“Let us … strive to be united into one love, corresponding to the Unity of the One Being. So also, let us follow unity by the practice of good works, seeking the good Monad. For the union of many into one, bringing a divine harmony out of many diffused sounds, becomes one symphony, following one leader and teacher, the Word, until it teaches the Truth itself.”
3. Ascetic Disciplines
Seeking the divine mind of God which is focused on His church, Clement contends that practice of the ascetic disciplines are key to the Christian mystic. Clement argues that through the self-discipline and the life of prayer, the Gnostic does not pursue the things of this world but the things of the next world. Clement is adamant about the importance of the life of prayer, saying that the Christian mystic must spend much time in prayer so that he might converse with God. It is only when a believer consistently meets God in prayer that the believer can be inspired to do all things in love as commanded by God.
4. Divinization
Finally, Clement argues that as the mystic pursues God, he must go through the process of divinization. Clement broaches divinization through the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility and ineffability. Despite his constant adherence to this doctrine, Clement attempts to “expound his views of knowledge and faith, wisdom and understanding.” In essence, Clement argues that, “It is thus by acknowledging one’s ignorance concerning the truth that one may walk the right road towards love and even be assimilated to it.” Hägg sums up Clement’s view saying,
"Clement’s apophaticism, then, depends on his view of the absolute ‘unknowledge’ of the divine essence. It is not an irrational knowledge, but a knowledge which is conscious of its ignorance (ἄγνοια) of the transcendent, as clement says in the well-known passage (Strom. 5.71.5): “not knowing what He is, but what He is not.” The paradox is that the negative process does not allow man to know God as he is in himself, except as the Unknowable and Incomprehensible."
However, Hägg also contends that while gnosis does play a role in Clement’s concept of the virtuous life, it appears that, for Clement, gnosis has a limit. Unlike the Gnostics, who believe that gnosis is the true knowledge of the Supreme God, Clement acknowledges that while gnosis is helpful in coming to know something of God, at some point divine incomprehensibility will veil the divine from man and, as such, gnosis is inherently limited. Man’s only hope of penetrating that veil and going ‘further up and further in’ lies in a combination of gnosis and pistis, not merely gnosis.
Source
Quotes from Clement:
Those even who claim God as their teacher, with difficulty attain to a conception of God, grace aiding them to the attainment of their modicum of knowledge; accustomed as they are to contemplate the will [of God] by the will, and the Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit. “For the Spirit searches the deep things of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XVIII)
For real science (ἐπιστήμη, which we affirm the Gnostic alone possesses) is a sure comprehension (κατάληψις), leading up through true and sure reasons to the knowledge (γνῶσις) of the cause. And he, who is acquainted with what is true respecting any one subject, becomes of course acquainted with what is false respecting it. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XVIII)
But the art of sophistry, which the Greeks cultivated, is a fantastic power, which makes false opinions like true by means of words. For it produces rhetoric in order to persuasion, and disputation for wrangling. These arts, therefore, if not conjoined with philosophy, will be injurious to every one. For Plato openly called sophistry “an evil art.” And Aristotle, following him, demonstrates it to be a dishonest art, which abstracts in a specious manner the whole business of wisdom, and professes a wisdom which it has not studied. - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.VIII)
He, then, who of himself believes the Scripture and voice of the Lord, which by the Lord acts to the benefiting of men, is rightly [regarded] faithful. Certainly we use it as a criterion in the discovery of things. What is subjected to criticism is not believed till it is so subjected; so that what needs criticism cannot be a first principle. Therefore, as is reasonable, grasping by faith the indemonstrable first principle, and receiving in abundance, from the first principle itself, demonstrations in reference to the first principle, we are by the voice of the Lord trained up to the knowledge of the truth. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VII.XVI)
For many reasons, then, the Scriptures hide the sense. First, that we may become inquisitive, and be ever on the watch for the discovery of the words of salvation. Then it was not suitable for all to understand, so that they might not receive harm in consequence of taking in another sense the things declared for salvation by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the holy mysteries of the prophecies are veiled in the parables—preserved for chosen men, selected to knowledge in consequence of their faith; for the style of the Scriptures is parabolic. Wherefore also the Lord, who was not of the world, came as one who was of the world to men. For He was clothed with all virtue; and it was His aim to lead man, the foster-child of the world, up to the objects of intellect, and to the most essential truths by knowledge, from one world to another. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XV)
For to him [the true gnostic] knowledge (gnosis) is the principal thing. Consequently, therefore, he applies to the subjects that are a training for knowledge, taking from each branch of study its contribution to the truth. Prosecuting, then, the proportion of harmonies in music; and in arithmetic noting the increasing and decreasing of numbers, and their relations to one another, and how the most of things fall under some proportion of numbers; studying geometry, which is abstract essence, he perceives a continuous distance, and an immutable essence which is different from these bodies. And by astronomy, again, raised from the earth in his mind, he is elevated along with heaven, and will revolve with its revolution; studying ever divine things, and their harmony with each other; from which Abraham starting, ascended to the knowledge of Him who created them. Further, the Gnostic will avail himself of dialectics, fixing on the distinction of genera into species, and will master the distinction of existences, till he come to what are primary and simple. - Clement, "The Stromata" (IV.X)
First, even if philosophy were useless, if the demonstration of its uselessness does good, it is yet useful . . . philosophy does not ruin life by being the originator of false practices and base deeds, although some have calumniated it, though it be the clear image of truth, a divine gift to the Greeks; nor does it drag us away from the faith, as if we were bewitched by some delusive art, but rather, so to speak, by the use of an ampler circuit, obtains a common exercise demonstrative of the faith. Further, the juxtaposition of doctrines, by comparison, saves the truth, from which follows knowledge. - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.II)
Now, inasmuch as there are four things in which the truth resides—Sensation, Understanding, Knowledge, Opinion,—intellectual apprehension is first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the essence of Knowledge is formed; and evidence is common to Understanding and Sensation. Well, Sensation is the ladder to Knowledge; while Faith, advancing over the pathway of the objects of sense, leaves Opinion behind, and speeds to things free of deception, and reposes in the truth. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Should one say that Knowledge is founded on demonstration by a process of reasoning, let him hear that first principles are incapable of demonstration; for they are known neither by art nor sagacity. For the latter is conversant about objects that are susceptible of change, while the former is practical solely, and not theoretical. Hence it is thought that the first cause of the universe can be apprehended by faith alone. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Knowledge, accordingly, is characterized by faith; and faith, by a kind of divine mutual and reciprocal correspondence, becomes characterized by knowledge. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Hope, too, is based on faith . . . And hope is the expectation of the possession of good. Necessarily, then, is expectation founded on faith . . . Faith is the voluntary supposition and anticipation of pre-comprehension. Expectation is an opinion about the future, and expectation about other things is opinion about uncertainty. Confidence is a strong judgment about a thing. Wherefore we believe Him in whom we have confidence unto divine glory and salvation. And we confide in Him, who is God alone, whom we know, that those things nobly promised to us, and for this end benevolently created and bestowed by Him on us, will not fail. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.VI)
“If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” For truth is never mere opinion. But the “supposition of knowledge inflates,” and fills with pride; “but charity edifieth,” which deals not in supposition, but in truth. Whence it is said, “If any man loves, he is known.” - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.XI)
Source
Gnosis in Orthodox Christian (primarily Eastern Orthodox) thought is the spiritual knowledge of a saint (one who has obtained theosis or mystically enlightened human being). Within the cultures of the term's provenance (Byzantine and Hellenic) Gnosis was a knowledge or insight into the infinite, divine and uncreated in all and above all, rather than knowledge strictly into the finite, natural or material world. Gnosis is transcendental as well as mature understanding. It indicates direct spiritual, experiential knowledge and intuitive knowledge, mystic rather than that from rational or reasoned thinking. Gnosis itself is gained through understanding at which one can arrive via inner experience or contemplation such as an internal epiphany of intuition and external epiphany such as the Theophany.
In the Philokalia, it is emphasized that such knowledge is not secret knowledge but rather a maturing, transcendent form of knowledge derived from contemplation (theoria resulting from practice of hesychasm), since knowledge cannot truly be derived from knowledge, but rather, knowledge can only be derived from theoria (to witness, see (vision) or experience). Knowledge, thus plays an important role in relation to theosis (deification/personal relationship with God) and theoria (revelation of the divine, vision of God) Gnosis, as the proper use of the spiritual or noetic faculty plays an important role in Orthodox Christian theology. Its importance in the economy of salvation is discussed periodically in the Philokalia where as direct, personal knowledge of God (noesis; see also Noema) it is distinguished from ordinary epistemological knowledge (episteme—i.e., speculative philosophy).
Source
Moreover, the “mind” has its own form of cognition — Gnosis, that is, the intuitive or immediate apprehension of things spiritual and divine. Gnoseology is not epistemology which is concerned with the nature and scope of human knowledge; nor with the metaphysics it presupposes. Gnosis is the “knowledge” of the “greater mysteries” of existence, divine and human. It is the action of the dispassionate Nous in the state of meditating on spiritual truths, especially God Himself (Theoria). It a practice resulting from prayer, fasting and worship, involving a culture of “watchfulness” (nepsis) or “guarding the mind” or “heart” against the malignancy of sensual images and illusions — always under the grace and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The contemplative achieves success only in a state of “quiet” (hesychia) whether within himself or the world around him. In this practice the mind also has the assistance of reason; it acts as the sentinel against the invading sensory and illusory images. The end of this spiritual process is complete transformation of human nature, that is, deification (theosis) or salvation.
Source
While several authors mused on mystical topics during the second century, there is none that had a greater impact than Clement of Alexandria. Indeed, he has been labelled by many as the “father of Christian mysticism.” Unlike his contemporary Justin Martyr, Clement had no problem importing Platonist concepts such as divine incomprehensibility, vision, and deification into his theology. Interestingly, Clement also had a high view of gnosis. Christoph Markschies writes that, “Time and again, Clement is concerned with right ‘knowledge’ as opposed to a ‘knowledge wrongly so-called’” He believed that gnosis naturally fit within a wholistic biblical theology and, as such, belonged in a healthy definition of mysticism.
Defining Gnosis
For Clement, gnosis does not represent secret knowledge of a divine spark that allows the believer to ascend to divinity. Clement sees gnosis as the higher mysteries of the faith which are to be imparted once a believer has mastered the more basic elements. However, gnosis should be reserved for believers who are ready, willing, and qualified through their life and actions to receive it. The reception of gnosis, then, should be part of the natural growth and progression that every believer experiences in their walk with Christ. For Clement, the mystic is the true Gnostic; as the mystic’s faith grows, his knowledge of the deeper things of God grows too.
Frequently in the written word, Clement and others would hide such gnosis in allegory, anagogy, and symbolism. Clement deliberately conceals gnosis in plain sight in his writings. This ‘gnostic’ writing style for mature Christians can be found throughout his corpus, particularly in works such as the Stromateis.
Critical Concepts:
1. God and Creation
Clement holds to several different ideas that are critical to understanding the role of gnosis in his mystical theology, but perhaps principal among these ideas is the concept of God being central to the universe, the creator and ruler of all of creation. Unlike Gnostic mythology, which perceives the material universe as evil and something to escape to an ineffable God, Clement sees the opposite. Clement holds a Pauline view of creation: that the material world points to a knowable God who must be worshipped due to His self-evident holiness and righteousness.
2. Participation
Clement also argues that after man accepts the centrality of God as both creator and ruler, one must partake in that divine nature. He argues that it is necessary for the believer to enter the mystical path which leads to eternal life with God. In keeping an ecclesiological focus, Clement argues that the gnostic has a responsibility not just to himself, but also to the health of the church as a whole:
“Let us … strive to be united into one love, corresponding to the Unity of the One Being. So also, let us follow unity by the practice of good works, seeking the good Monad. For the union of many into one, bringing a divine harmony out of many diffused sounds, becomes one symphony, following one leader and teacher, the Word, until it teaches the Truth itself.”
3. Ascetic Disciplines
Seeking the divine mind of God which is focused on His church, Clement contends that practice of the ascetic disciplines are key to the Christian mystic. Clement argues that through the self-discipline and the life of prayer, the Gnostic does not pursue the things of this world but the things of the next world. Clement is adamant about the importance of the life of prayer, saying that the Christian mystic must spend much time in prayer so that he might converse with God. It is only when a believer consistently meets God in prayer that the believer can be inspired to do all things in love as commanded by God.
4. Divinization
Finally, Clement argues that as the mystic pursues God, he must go through the process of divinization. Clement broaches divinization through the doctrine of divine incomprehensibility and ineffability. Despite his constant adherence to this doctrine, Clement attempts to “expound his views of knowledge and faith, wisdom and understanding.” In essence, Clement argues that, “It is thus by acknowledging one’s ignorance concerning the truth that one may walk the right road towards love and even be assimilated to it.” Hägg sums up Clement’s view saying,
"Clement’s apophaticism, then, depends on his view of the absolute ‘unknowledge’ of the divine essence. It is not an irrational knowledge, but a knowledge which is conscious of its ignorance (ἄγνοια) of the transcendent, as clement says in the well-known passage (Strom. 5.71.5): “not knowing what He is, but what He is not.” The paradox is that the negative process does not allow man to know God as he is in himself, except as the Unknowable and Incomprehensible."
However, Hägg also contends that while gnosis does play a role in Clement’s concept of the virtuous life, it appears that, for Clement, gnosis has a limit. Unlike the Gnostics, who believe that gnosis is the true knowledge of the Supreme God, Clement acknowledges that while gnosis is helpful in coming to know something of God, at some point divine incomprehensibility will veil the divine from man and, as such, gnosis is inherently limited. Man’s only hope of penetrating that veil and going ‘further up and further in’ lies in a combination of gnosis and pistis, not merely gnosis.
Source
Quotes from Clement:
Those even who claim God as their teacher, with difficulty attain to a conception of God, grace aiding them to the attainment of their modicum of knowledge; accustomed as they are to contemplate the will [of God] by the will, and the Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit. “For the Spirit searches the deep things of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XVIII)
For real science (ἐπιστήμη, which we affirm the Gnostic alone possesses) is a sure comprehension (κατάληψις), leading up through true and sure reasons to the knowledge (γνῶσις) of the cause. And he, who is acquainted with what is true respecting any one subject, becomes of course acquainted with what is false respecting it. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XVIII)
But the art of sophistry, which the Greeks cultivated, is a fantastic power, which makes false opinions like true by means of words. For it produces rhetoric in order to persuasion, and disputation for wrangling. These arts, therefore, if not conjoined with philosophy, will be injurious to every one. For Plato openly called sophistry “an evil art.” And Aristotle, following him, demonstrates it to be a dishonest art, which abstracts in a specious manner the whole business of wisdom, and professes a wisdom which it has not studied. - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.VIII)
He, then, who of himself believes the Scripture and voice of the Lord, which by the Lord acts to the benefiting of men, is rightly [regarded] faithful. Certainly we use it as a criterion in the discovery of things. What is subjected to criticism is not believed till it is so subjected; so that what needs criticism cannot be a first principle. Therefore, as is reasonable, grasping by faith the indemonstrable first principle, and receiving in abundance, from the first principle itself, demonstrations in reference to the first principle, we are by the voice of the Lord trained up to the knowledge of the truth. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VII.XVI)
For many reasons, then, the Scriptures hide the sense. First, that we may become inquisitive, and be ever on the watch for the discovery of the words of salvation. Then it was not suitable for all to understand, so that they might not receive harm in consequence of taking in another sense the things declared for salvation by the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the holy mysteries of the prophecies are veiled in the parables—preserved for chosen men, selected to knowledge in consequence of their faith; for the style of the Scriptures is parabolic. Wherefore also the Lord, who was not of the world, came as one who was of the world to men. For He was clothed with all virtue; and it was His aim to lead man, the foster-child of the world, up to the objects of intellect, and to the most essential truths by knowledge, from one world to another. - Clement, "The Stromata" (VI.XV)
For to him [the true gnostic] knowledge (gnosis) is the principal thing. Consequently, therefore, he applies to the subjects that are a training for knowledge, taking from each branch of study its contribution to the truth. Prosecuting, then, the proportion of harmonies in music; and in arithmetic noting the increasing and decreasing of numbers, and their relations to one another, and how the most of things fall under some proportion of numbers; studying geometry, which is abstract essence, he perceives a continuous distance, and an immutable essence which is different from these bodies. And by astronomy, again, raised from the earth in his mind, he is elevated along with heaven, and will revolve with its revolution; studying ever divine things, and their harmony with each other; from which Abraham starting, ascended to the knowledge of Him who created them. Further, the Gnostic will avail himself of dialectics, fixing on the distinction of genera into species, and will master the distinction of existences, till he come to what are primary and simple. - Clement, "The Stromata" (IV.X)
First, even if philosophy were useless, if the demonstration of its uselessness does good, it is yet useful . . . philosophy does not ruin life by being the originator of false practices and base deeds, although some have calumniated it, though it be the clear image of truth, a divine gift to the Greeks; nor does it drag us away from the faith, as if we were bewitched by some delusive art, but rather, so to speak, by the use of an ampler circuit, obtains a common exercise demonstrative of the faith. Further, the juxtaposition of doctrines, by comparison, saves the truth, from which follows knowledge. - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.II)
Now, inasmuch as there are four things in which the truth resides—Sensation, Understanding, Knowledge, Opinion,—intellectual apprehension is first in the order of nature; but in our case, and in relation to ourselves, Sensation is first, and of Sensation and Understanding the essence of Knowledge is formed; and evidence is common to Understanding and Sensation. Well, Sensation is the ladder to Knowledge; while Faith, advancing over the pathway of the objects of sense, leaves Opinion behind, and speeds to things free of deception, and reposes in the truth. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Should one say that Knowledge is founded on demonstration by a process of reasoning, let him hear that first principles are incapable of demonstration; for they are known neither by art nor sagacity. For the latter is conversant about objects that are susceptible of change, while the former is practical solely, and not theoretical. Hence it is thought that the first cause of the universe can be apprehended by faith alone. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Knowledge, accordingly, is characterized by faith; and faith, by a kind of divine mutual and reciprocal correspondence, becomes characterized by knowledge. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.IV)
Hope, too, is based on faith . . . And hope is the expectation of the possession of good. Necessarily, then, is expectation founded on faith . . . Faith is the voluntary supposition and anticipation of pre-comprehension. Expectation is an opinion about the future, and expectation about other things is opinion about uncertainty. Confidence is a strong judgment about a thing. Wherefore we believe Him in whom we have confidence unto divine glory and salvation. And we confide in Him, who is God alone, whom we know, that those things nobly promised to us, and for this end benevolently created and bestowed by Him on us, will not fail. - Clement, "The Stromata" (II.VI)
“If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” For truth is never mere opinion. But the “supposition of knowledge inflates,” and fills with pride; “but charity edifieth,” which deals not in supposition, but in truth. Whence it is said, “If any man loves, he is known.” - Clement, "The Stromata" (I.XI)
