SELECT PASSAGES FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

IT WAS NOT UNCOMMON for the early church fathers to refer to the philosophers of Greece, even though for many the contact with their thought was only through outlines and handbooks rather than through primary sources.

For the most part the church fathers had positive things to say about the Pythagoreans. Clement of Alexandria, who had more than a passing acquaintance with Platonic thought, shows an interest in Pythagorean mathematics, and even applied the numbers of the harmonic ratio to the interpretation of scripture. Moreover, Justin Martyr sought entrance to a Pythagorean school but was rejected on account of inadequate mathematical knowledge; he later became a Platonist and then a Christian. The fragments which follow, which were not included in Guthrie's original edition of this book, are representative of what the church fathers had to say.

NOTICES FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

HERACLEIDES AND THE PYTHAGOREANS think: that each of the stars is a world, including an Earth, and an atmosphere and an ether in the infinite space. These doctrines are introduced in the Orphic Hymns, for they make each star a world. -- Ps.-Plutarch, On the Opinions of the Philosophers. Quoted by Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, 839b.

Then, in regular succession from another starting-point, Pythagoras the Samian, son of Mnesarchus, calls numbers, with their proportions and harmonies, and the elements composed of both, the first principles; and he includes also Unity and the Indefinite Dyad. -  Justin Martyr, Exhortatory Address to the Greeks, IV.

For the Pythagorean Theano writes, "Life would indeed be a feast to the wicked, who, having done evil, then die; were not the soul immortal, death would be a godsend." -- Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis IV, 7.

Did not Theano the Pythagorean make such progress in philosophy, that to him who looked intently at her, and said, "Your arm is beautiful," she answered "Yes, but it is not public." Characterized by the same propriety there is also reported the following reply. When asked when a woman after being with her husband may attend a religious festival, said, "From her own husband at once, from a stranger never." -- Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, IV, 19.

Pythagoras thus defined the being of God, "as a soul passing to and fro, and diffused through all parts of the universe, and through all nature, from which all living creatures which are produced derive their life." -- Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, I, 5.

And Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, who expounded the doctrines of his own philosophy mystically by means of symbols, as those who have written his life show, himself seems to have entertained thoughts about the unity of God not unworthy of his foreign residence in Egypt. For when he says that Unity is the first principle of all things, and that it is the cause of all good, he teaches by an allegory that God is one, and alone. And that this is so, is evident from his saying that unity and one differ widely from one another. For he says that unity belongs to the class of things perceived by the mind, but that one belongs to numbers. And if you desire to see a clearer proof of the opinion of Pythagoras concerning one God, hear his own opinion, for he spoke as follows: "God is one; and he himself does not, as some suppose, exist outside the world, but in it, he being wholly present in the entire circle, and beholding all generations, being the regulating ingredient of all the ages, and the administrator of his own powers and works, the first principle of all things, the light of heaven, and father of all, the intelligence and animating soul of the universe, the movement of all orbits." Thus, then, Pythagoras. -- Justin Martyr, Exhortatory Address to the Greeks, XIX.

Go to Next Page