Author: А. Ju. Bratukhin А. Ju. Bratukhin, L. V. Bratukhina (Perm State University Perm State University)

Keywords\n Clement of Alexandria, the New Testament, the early Church, Gnosticism, soteriology, eschatology, apokatastasis, πηλγηκότες, Clem. Alex. Paed. I, 8, 74, 2, Ἀπηλγηκυῖα ψυχή. Clement of Alexandria, apokatastasis, eschatology, soteriology, the early Church, the Bible, Gnosticism

Pages\n 88–97

Summary\n: Clement of Alexandria uses the different forms of the participle πηλγηκώς in his writings: once in the quotation from the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians (4:19) (Protr. 10, 83, 2–3) and three times speaking about ‘those being past feeling’ as people needing purgatorial punishment for their final salvation. The idea of the educative penalty is one of the most favorite for Clement. Concerning his soteriology there are three classes of people: the unbeliever, “he is outside salvation” (Osborn), the simple believer and the gnostic; and there is “the distinction between those who are deified and all other saved beings” (Yingling). But except this gradation the scholars distinguish the other three classes of the saved souls: the gnostic, the simple believer and the hard-hearted. The God forces the former to repentance by fear or by suffering. The hard-hearted (σκληροκάρδιος), the insensible ( ναίσθητος) and the πηλγηκώς (“who being past feeling”) are the same, but the word πηλγηκώς more clearly expresses the Clement’s idea of utility of suffering ( λγηδών) for such beings. In Paed. I, 8, 74, 2 there is the pun: “it is the time to wound the apathetic ( πηλγηκυῖαν) soul not mortally, but salutarily, securing exemption from everlasting death by a little pain ( λγηδόνος)” (translated by W. Wilson). This play upon words shows that Clement (who often uses such way of expressing his conception) wants to emphasize the “homoeopathic” idea of a salvation for insensible sinners by the divine chastisement. This antinomy is characteristic for the patristic literature. Except for the oxymoron described above, the phrases with this participle contain another curious moment. Epiphanius of Cyprus said that the apostle Paul used the words πηλγηκότα and ψυχικόν as synonyms. Clement speaking about the salvation of πηλγηκώς therefore affirms that such person can be saved, and in this way refutes the heretics whose position is that the Creator cannot save the “vital (ψυχικήν) image” The eschatology and the soteriology of Clement of Alexandria are investigated by many scholars. There are two opposite points of view on the problem of apokatastasis, as it was understood by Clement. Some scholars, such as Metropolitan Macarius (Oxiyuk), J. R. Sachs and A. C. Itter, speak about Clement as a supporter of the universal salvation, others, such as E. F. Osborn and E. Yingling, reckon that he admitted the eternal punishment for sinners. Metropolitan Macarius who misunderstood one passage by Clement supposed that Clement had admitted possibility of penitence for the devil. According to Itter, “it is exactly in this destruction that the soul’s restoration to God is accomplished”, but Osborn thinks that “the unbeliever is spiritually dead and remains so”. According to Sachs, “Clement can be confident that in the end everyone will receive help and healing”, but as Yingling admits, “those who are ashamed of the Lord receive bondage, destruction, punishment”. This discrepancy between these patrologists can be explained by Clement’s gentle character and by his unwillingness to write about the final death of the wicked. This author didn’t speak about “the second death” and didn’t use other apocalyptic images. Nevertheless, there are two passages in the Paedagogos, where he writes about the complete condemnation and the eternal punishment by God. Clement uses the word ποκατάστασις 16 times, often without any connection with the eschatology. This means that this word was not a term for him. Additionally, it meant deification for him which he separated from a simple salvation. His caution in the question of the universal salvation becomes more obvious if we compare his passages with those by his disciple Origen who admits that all reasonable souls will be saved; and his clemency is more evident if we contrast his words against the vindictive sentence of his contemporary Tertullian who anticipated the sufferings of sinners.

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