Ante-Nicene Fathers – Page 40

Frequent confession is the mark of a Christian

The frequent asking of forgiveness, then, for those things in which we often transgress, is the semblance of repentance,

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter XIII

Clement quotes the Shepherd of Hermas

“Faith leads the way, fear upbuilds, and love perfects.” (from the Shepherd of Hermas)

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter XII

Man can know the truth but he follows what is false

…if you consider the truth, you will find man naturally misled so as to give assent to what is false, though possessing the resources necessary for belief in the truth.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter XXII

Faith is the first movement towards salvation

Such a change, then, from unbelief to faith—and to trust in hope and fear, is divine. And, in truth, faith is discovered, by us, to be the first movement towards salvation; after which fear, and hope, and repentance, advancing in company with temperance and patience, lead us to love and knowledge.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter VI

Living by faith IS following the commandments

“Now the just shall live by faith,” which is according to the covenant and the commandments; since these, which are two in name and time, given in accordance with the [divine] economy—being in power one—the old and the new, are dispensed through the Son by one God.

…For love, on account of its friendly alliance with faith, makes men believers; and faith, which is the foundation of love, in its turn introduces the doing of good; since also fear, the pædagogue of the law, is believed to be fear by those, by whom it is believed.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter VI

God is above space and time

For God is not in darkness or in place, but above both space and time, and qualities of objects.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book II
Chapter II

Jesus born on the 25th of Pachon

And there are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, and in the twenty-fifth day of Pachon.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book I
Chapter XXI

Heretics celebrate Eucharist with bread and water

Scripture manifestly applying the terms bread and water to nothing else but to those heresies, which employ bread and water in the oblation, not according to the canon of the Church. For there are those who celebrate the Eucharist with mere water.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book I
Chapter XIX

Choice and refusal depends on ourselves

To these prophecy says, “If ye be willing and hear me, ye shall eat the good things of the land;” proving that choice or refusal depends on ourselves.

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book I
Chapter XVIII

Greek philosophy was separate fragments of truth

So, then, the barbarian and Hellenic philosophy has torn off a fragment of eternal truth not from the mythology of Dionysus, but from the theology of the ever-living Word. And He who brings again together the separate fragments, and makes them one, will without peril, be assured, contemplate the perfect Word, the truth. Therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes: “And I added wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem; and my heart saw many things; and besides, I knew wisdom and knowledge, parables and understanding. And this also is the choice of the spirit, because in abundance of wisdom is abundance of knowledge.”

Clement of Alexandria
The Stromata, Book I
Chapter XIII