character seemed to Eusebius to present so clear an image of Christian virtues that he claimed them as Christians ; and there can be no doubt that some of the forms of monasticism were shaped upon the model of the Therapeutae (Euseb. //. E. ii, 16).
At the beginning of the second century the number of Christians at Alexandria must have been very large, and the great leaders of Gnosticism (q. v.) who arose there (Basilides, Valentinus) exhibit an exag-
seems to have likewise been for some time principal of the school. The name of the learned and pious Didymus is mentioned as an Alexandrian catechist not only by Philip, but by Sozomen (//. E. iii, 15) and Putin (II. E. ii, 7), and there is reason to believe that he presided over the school during the long period from 340 to 395. His assistant in later years, and his successor as catechist, was Rhodon, the teacher of Philip of Sida, and his withdrawal from Alexandria
geration of the tendency of the Church. But the later ! to Sida about 395 led, according to the testimony of forms of Alexandrine speculation, the strange varieties \ Philip, to the close of the Alexandrian school. It is of Gnosticism, the progress of the catechetical school, I more probable that other causes had a greater share the development of Neoplatonism, the various phases I in bringing about this event. The controversies con- of the Arian controversy, belong to the history of the eerning Origen, and later, concerning Nestorianism Church and to the history of philosoplry. To the last and Monophysitism, in which the Alexandrian spirit Alexandria fulfilled its mission; and we still owe degenerated and became extinct; the complete vie- much to the spirit of its great teachers, which in later tory of Christianity, which diminished the number of ages struggled, not without success, against the stern- ; adult converts and lessened the need of catechetical er systems of the West. — Smith, Diet, of Bible, i, 46. I instruction for adults, and the prosperous development See Kirchbaum, D. Jiklische. A lexandrinismirs (Lpz. J of Christian science, gradually undermined the prom- 1841) ; Diihne, Geschichtliche Darstelhuig der Judisch- ! inent position of the Alexandrian school in the Church. Alexandrinischcn ReVgions-rhilosojihie (Halle, 1834); , It again became what it had been at the beginning, a Gfrorer, Philo, und die Jiidisch-Alexandrinische Theoso- ' school in which children received catechetical instruc- phie (Stuttgart, 1835). To these may be added, Ewald, tion.
Gesch. des VoUces Israel (Giittingen, 1852), iv, 250 sq., j In the best days of the school the number of stu- 393 sq. ; Jost, Gesch. des Judenthums (Leipzig, 1857), : dents was very great, but it seems never to have had i, 344 sq., 388 sq. ; Schaff, Hist, of the Church, § 126. j buildings or endowments. The head master chose his III. Christian. — The Christian school of Alexandria J own assistants ; the teachers were paid onty by presents at first aimed only at the instruction of converts from '■ from the scholars ; and the students lodged where they heathenism, and the instruction was catechetical. It could. The manner of teaching was as in the schools was afterward developed into a theological seminary. ' of the ancient philosophers, accommodated in many Jerome dates its origin from the time of St. Mark, but i cases to the needs of individuals, and frequently it was there is no authority for his statement. Eusebius j catechetical. Whoever wished it received instruction (Hist. Eccl. v, 10) states that it had existed from " an- : in philosophj' also. In general the instruction was cient times;" but the first definite account dates from related to the Christian Gnosis, as milk to more sub- stantial food. It did not depart from the plainness of faith; and the speculative doctrines of the essence of God, the origin of the world, the relation of reason to revelation, were excluded (Stmm. v, 685). Probably what is contained in the Cohortatio of Clement consti- tuted the contents of his introductory catechetical lec- tures; and it was followed by instructions in a pious,
about 181, when Pantsenus, a philosopher who had
abandoned first Stoicism and then Platonism, and had been a Christian missionary in India, commenced lec- turing in Alexandria (Euseb. loc. cit.). Whether Athenagoras, a philosopher who embraced Christianity about the middle of the 2d century, and who is called by Philip of Sida (see Dodwell, Dissert, in Ircn. Oxon. 1689, p. 488, 497) a predecessor of Pantamus, was ever ! moral life, as we find them in the Pcedagogus, and by
ALEXANDRIAN
159
ALEXAS
a discussion of the fundamental doctrines of Chris- tianity. To impart a more profound "gnostic" in- sight into Christianity, he reserved for private con- versations. The following chronological list of the catechists is given in Guerike, De Schola Alexandrina (Halle, 1824-25, 2 pts.) :
Veahs.
PRINCirALS.
Assistants.
160*-181*
Athenngoras.t
181*-190*
Panta?nus.
190*-203*
Pantasmis.
Clement.
203
Pantsenus Clement.
203 -20(1*
Origen.
206 -Jll*
Panta>nus Clement.
Origen.
211*-213*
Clement.
Origen.
21 3*
Origen.
213*-232
Origen.
lleraclas.
232
Ileraclas.
233 -265*
Dionysius.
265*-280*
Pierius.*
280*-282*
Pierius.*
Achillas.t
2S2*-2J0*
Theognostus.*
Achillas, t
2;:o*
Theognostus.*
290 -295*
Serapion.t
295*-312
Peter Martyr.*
313 -320*
Arius.*
320*-330*
330*-340*
Macarius.t
340"-390*
Didymus.
3 0 -3: 5
Didymus.
Rhode*
395
Rhodo.*
This .-ign (lciintfs probability as regards the dates and the to which it is affixed. t The cross denotes doubt.