Readings:

Psalm 34:9-14
Colossians 1:11-20
John 6:57-63

Preface of Baptism

[Common of a Theologian and Teacher]
[Of the Holy Spirit]
[Of the Incarnation]
[For All Baptized Christians]

 


PRAYERS (traditional language)
   O God of unsearchable wisdom, who didst give thy servant Clement grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the source of all truth: Grant to thy church the same grace to discern thy Word wherever truth is found; through Jesus Christ our unfailing light, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

PRAYERS (contemporary language)
   O God of unsearchable wisdom, you gave your servant Clement grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the source of all truth: Grant to your church the same grace to discern your Word wherever truth is found; through Jesus Christ our unfailing light, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
 

This commemoration appears in Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2018, with revised readings & collects.

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Last updated: 6 October 2018
 

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

TEACHER AND APOLOGIST (5 DEC 213?)


Icon of Clement of AlexandriaClement, a native of Athens, was converted to Christianity by Pantaenus, founder of the Catechetical School at Alexandria (then the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean world), and succeeded his teacher as head of the School about 180. For over 20 years he labored effectively as an apologist for the faith and catechist of the faithful. He regarded the science and philosophy of the Greeks as being, like the Torah of the Hebrews, a preparation for the Gospel, and the curriculum of his School undertook to give his students both a knowledge of the Gospel of Christ and a sound liberal education. His speculative theology, his scholarly defense of the faith and his willingness to meet non-Christian scholars on their own grounds, helped to establish the good reputation of Christianity in the world of learning and prepare the way for his pupil, Origen, the most eminent theologian of Greek Christianity. Clement is not on the present Roman calendar (having been removed by Bellarmine at the time of Galileo, when the Roman See was undergoing a period of wariness about intellectual venturesomeness), but is on the Eastern calendar and many modern revisions of the Anglican calendar. His influence has been considerable.
 

by James Kiefer