The paper highlights the importance of the Johannine writings, particularly the First Epistle of John, in Clement of Alexandria’s thinking. In the introduction, it asks whether Clement knew all three of John’s Epistles. It initially deals with Clement’s commentary on 1 and 2 John, which was part of his lost writing Hypotyposes, and whose Latin translation was carried out by Cassiodorus Senator in the 6th century. It consequently identifies 16 explicit citations in Clement’s other works (Paedagogus, Stromata and Quis dives salvetur?) and finally highlights the importance of certain verses (1:5; 2:15; 3:16; 4:8.16–18; 5:14) for the author’s concept of the Christian gnostic.
The aim of this paper is to present ancient commentaries on Psalm 18 (LXX), with a special focus on verse 5c, in the works of Christian authors up to Origen. The paper initially draws attention to relevant passages in the works of the Apostolic Fathers as well as to the christological understanding of Psalm 18 in the work of Justin the Martyr. The main part consequently follows which is dedicated to the commentary of Psalm 18 in Eclogae Propheticae 51–63 written by Clement of Alexandria. This text in which Clement refers to Hermogenes and Pantainos, two less known figures of Early Christianity, represents the first systematic commentary on Psalm 18. Clement interprets the verse “In the sun he pitched his covert” not only from the christological, but also from the ecclesiological and eschatological point of view. The final part of the paper treats Origen’s commentary preserved in Pamphilus’ Apologia pro Origene. Origen supposedly interpreted Psalm 18 from the christological and ecclesiological point of view, however, unlike Clement he strongly disagrees with the interpretation of Hermogenes’ followers and, additionally, his interpretation lacks the eschatological level, so typical for Clement’s interpretation.
The paper compares the two oldest interpretations of the Gospel pericope about the rich young man, the homily of Clement of Alexandria Quis dives salvetur? and part of Origen’s Commentary on Matthew. The first part of the paper presents three principles of biblical hermeneutics, which are common to both authors, and at the same time highlights the different approaches in practical work with the biblical text, based on the differences in literary genres. It notes that both authors consider a literal interpretation of the word of Jesus insufficient, and therefore pay great attention to the allegorical, respectively other possible interpretations. The second part of the paper proposes seven points of contact in the interpretation of individual verses, which establish the similarity of both texts but also illustrate the differences in approach by their authors.
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