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Vatican City, 18th April 2007 (CNA) -
Thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square today to attend Pope
Benedict XVI’s weekly General Audience and catechesis. The Holy Father
discussed the great Father of the Church, St. Clement of Alexandria, who
emphasized the need for a harmony between faith and reason to achieve an
intimate union with God.
The Pope recalled that Clement was born in the mid second century, probably
in Athens, whence "the great interest for philosophy which would make him
one of the flag-bearers of dialogue between faith and reason in Christian
tradition." He later moved to Alexandria, but abandoned the city during the
persecution of 202-203 and died in Cappadocia in 215.
His most important work is a trilogy that has provided "effective
accompaniment to the spiritual maturation of Christians," said the Pope. The
first part is "an exhortation addressed to those beginning the journey of
faith" in which "the Logos, Jesus Christ, exhorts mankind to start
decisively down the road of Truth."
In the second part of the trilogy "Jesus
Christ becomes a pedagogue, in other words educator of those who, by virtue
of Baptism, have already become children of God." And in the third part,
Christ is "the Master Who presents the most profound teachings."
In this way "the Clementine catechesis provides a step-by-step accompaniment
to the progress of catechumens and of baptized so that, with the two 'wings'
of faith and reason, they may attain an intimate knowledge of the Truth that
is Jesus Christ. Only this knowledge of the Person Who is truth, is 'true
gnosis.’”
"Clement returns to the doctrine which holds that man's ultimate goal is to
become like God. This is possible thanks to the connatural similarity with
Him that man received at the moment of the creation, and by which he is
already [made in] the image of God. This connatural similarity makes it
possible to know the divine realities, to which man adheres primarily
through faith." Then, "through the practice of virtue, he can develop to the
point of contemplating God."
"Two virtues adorn the heart of the 'true gnostic,' ... freedom from the
passions," and love "which ensures intimate union with God." Thus "the
ethical ideal of ancient philosophy, in other words freedom from the
passions, is redefined by Clement and conjugated with love in the constant
process of assimilation to God.”
In this way Clement “creates the second great opportunity for dialogue
between the Christian message and Greek philosophy.”
“For him,” Pope Benedict noted, “the Greek
philosophical tradition, almost like the Law for the Jews, is an area of
'revelation', both being paths leading to the Logos."
This Father of the Church, the Pope concluded, "can serve as an example to
Christians, to catechists and to theologians of our time" whom John Paul II
urged in his Encyclical "Fides et Ratio" to " recover and express to the
full the metaphysical dimension of truth in order to enter into a demanding
critical dialogue with (...) contemporary philosophical thought.”
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