Stromata
The Stromata (Greek: Στρώματα), a mistake for Stromateis (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork," i.e., Miscellanies), attributed to Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), is the third of a trilogy of works regarding the Christian life.It attempts, on the basis of Scripture and tradition, to give such an account of the Christian faith as shall answer all the demands of learned men, and conduct the student into the innermost realities of his belief.Its place in the trilogy is disputed – Clement initially intended to write the Didascalus, a work which would complement the practical guidance of the Paedagogus with a more intellectual schooling in theology.[1] The Stromata is less systematic and ordered than Clement's other works, and it has been theorized by André Méhat that it was intended for a limited, esoteric readership.[3] In the 19th century, Percy Mordaunt Barnard and Otto Stählin posited that this manuscript was copied out in the 910s for Arethas of Caesarea, the remainder of whose extant library is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.As with the library of Arethas held at Paris, the Laurentian manuscript contains numerous misspellings, omitted words and sentences and even marginalia integrated into the text.According to Clement, there is no way of empirically testing the existence of God the Father, because the Logos has revelatory, not analysable meaning, although Christ was an object of the senses.[27] The final extant book written c. 203 AD begins with a description of the nature of Christ, and that of the true Christian, who aims to be as similar as possible to both the Father and the Son.Clement then criticizes the simplistic anthropomorphism of most ancient religions, quoting Xenophanes' famous description of African, Thracian and Egyptian deities.