Clement crowned their works with yet one grand service:
they translated the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments,
into Coptic. Thus, they were the first scholars to translate
the Scriptures, in their entirety, into their own native tongue.
This work was the response of vigilant souls to the desires of
their people.
- When Pantaenus went unto his reward, his office was
given to Clement, his illustrious disciple and collaborator.
Clement was a born teacher and philosopher, and, to him,
Christianity was the summit of all philosophy. From this
standpoint his position is both profound and interesting, for
he was an ardent admirer of all the noble efforts of thought
which preceded Christianity. He was the first person to
muster the evidence for Christianity from all the Greek
cultural sources and all the speculations of the Christian
heretics. He deeply meditated. on the questions raised by the
poets, philosophers, and heretic writers. To him, Christianity
was the means of raising the people to the highest levels of
spiritual living. Greek philosophy attained only fragments of
the Truth, whereas Truth, as revealed in Christ, was perfect
and absolute. All the stages of. the world's history were,
therefore, the means of preparing humanity for this full
revelation of God.
To exemplify this belief, Clement captivated his
listeners by reciting to them quotations from poets,
philosophers, and orators; they were entranced as one
familiar passage after the other fell on their ears. Then,
before their elated souls, he expounded the Holy Scriptures.
He delighted in guiding them, step by. step, from the
teachings they knew to the teachings they did not know,
leading them in a triumphant procession to the conclusion
that Christian Wisdom was more complete, more lofty and
more magnificent than all the wisdom of antiquity.^10