Clement and the School of Alexandria
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the church history module for Grade 5 is to understand the beginning of Christian literature and the establishment of our theology. This lesson will focus on the foundation of the School of Alexandria in the time of St. Clement and Origen.
INTRODUCTION & HOOK - 5 Minutes
Please review the previous week's lesson. (5 minutes)
Ask them about their school - how it is set up, what subjects they learn, where do they go (a school building), what is the goal, etc. Can you think about your favorite teacher? What made them your favorite or made them stand out? This is so you can compare it with the School of Alexandria later.
HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes
Memory Verse
"You shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
"Christians who are content with faith, and do not use reason to build upon it, are again like a child who is forever content with milk" - St. Clement of Alexandria (Not scripture, just a quote)
CONTENT (KEY POINTS) - 30 Minutes
After they have told you about their school, you can tell them that we will now learn about what the church fathers' school was like.
Alexandria became Egypt's capital under Alexander the Great, which permitted total religious tolerance. He allowed the original Egyptian religion, Greeks, and Jews to remain intact. Alexandria was the home of many religions. Even before Christ, Alexandria was a world-renowned center for learning and culture with great schools and libraries.
The earliest Christians (known at the time just as Jews following Jesus of Nazareth) had not yet precisely defined the conception of God and Christ. When they were confronted by philosophers and other religions, they had to deeply understand their own beliefs to defend and explain them. For example, they had to define and understand the Trinity - God is three Hypostases or Persons (The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit) of one essence. This need for literature on the foundations of Christianity led to the founding of the School of Alexandria in the mid 2nd century.
The School of Alexandria was also called the Didaskaleion - "Place of Learning'' in Greek. It is not clear who originally founded the school - St. Jerome states that it was started by St. Mark; other sources found that Pantaneus was the first official leader of the school. In the beginning, the school was not really a "school" in the way we think of it now - it was loosely organized and not an established institution. They were more likely to teach in their homes than in a classroom or dedicated building.
The students did not only study Theology, but also profane (secular) subjects. They learned science, math, and other non-religious subjects first, then the teachings focused on moral and religious philosophy, and finally on Christian Theology. They also taught the students how to practice Christianity in their lives by showing them how to pray, fast, and practice different aspects of asceticism. In addition to purity and integrity, they were encouraged to observe celibacy. The school had three forms of teaching:
- Allegorism focused on the figurative interpretations of the Scripture as opposed to the literal meaning. St. Clement (the first known Christian writer to use this method) and Origen believed that the allegorical interpretation of the Scripture hides the truth from the uninstructed while revealing it to believers. Allegorism has to keep with the primary meaning of the text, and each text has to be interpreted within the context of the rest of the Scripture.
- Philosophy, influenced by the Greek thinkers, was used to defend and explain Christian beliefs. St. Clement encouraged Christians to find the truth through philosophy because he believed that Christianity was the true philosophy that fulfilled Greek philosophy, and also that true philosophy was striving to know the true God.
- Gnosis, meaning "knowledge", was used by St. Clement. He taught that a Christian Gnostic is someone who received the divine gnosis from the Holy Spirit by illumination through Christ, within the church's traditional beliefs. However, he believed that one must first have faith before knowledge, and also that God can only be known through the Son.
The school, with St. Clement following Pantaneus as its leader, and Origen following St. Clement, thrived in Alexandria and became a center for intellectualized Christianity. It presented the Christian religion to Christians and non-Christians alike, to show them that Christ was the summit of all human knowledge.
DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 5 Minutes
How did Alexandria become an intellectual center before Christianity?
What does Didaskaleion mean?
What is Allegorism and who was the first to use it?
What was the goal of the School of Alexandria?
How is the School of Alexandria similar to your school? How is it different?
LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes
Talk about how their school only teaches them secular information, and that's why we have Sunday School to learn about Theology and our religion. It's important to learn about Theology because for your relationship with God to grow, it's important to know who He is.
ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes
Have the kids break out into groups of 4 (flexible depending on class size - 2 is minimum). Give each group a card with a broad subject on it - you can make this more relevant by putting names of famous saints, or subjects like St. Clement, Alexandria, etc., or you can make it easier by just putting Math, Science, English, etc. Assign one child to be the 'teacher', and tell them to choose any topic/fact/story within their assigned subject to teach to the other kids on their team. This should take only a few minutes. Once they're done, someone else in the team is assigned 'teacher', and teaches their group something else within the same subject. Keep going until all the students have had a chance to be the 'teacher'.
SERVANT RESOURCES
Adventures of Professor Brainiac 2
PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK
Understand that learning your religion is just as (if not more) important as what your school teaches you - although we can't dedicate as much time to learning about God as we do in school, try to put the same effort and energy into your daily Bible readings and prayers as you do your lessons.