Saint Pantaenus

Philosopher and Evangelist
(died c. 200)

Saint Pantaenus was a philosopher from Sicily who became one of the most important Christian teachers of the second century and the founder of what would become the famous Catechetical School of Alexandria. Before his conversion to Christianity he had studied Stoic philosophy, and the combination of his philosophical training with his deep Christian faith made him an unusually effective teacher and apologist, able to engage the intellectual culture of his day on its own terms.

He was converted to Christianity and eventually settled in Alexandria, where he became a teacher of the faith whose reputation drew students from across the Mediterranean world. He is described by Eusebius of Caesarea, the great early Church historian, as having a thorough understanding of philosophy in the old sense, and as one who was particularly effective in expounding the Scriptures with spiritual insight and philosophical penetration. Under his direction the Christian school at Alexandria began to take on the character of a serious academic institution, capable of engaging with the pagan philosophy of the age.

His most famous pupil was Clement of Alexandria, who succeeded him at the school and who preserved some account of his teaching, though the works of Pantaenus himself have not survived. Clement describes him with great admiration and says that he was like a Sicilian bee gathering honey from the flowers of both Hebrew and Greek gardens, meaning that he combined the wisdom of the Old Testament with the best of Greek philosophy in the service of the Christian faith.

Around 180 Pantaenus undertook a missionary journey to India, or perhaps to the region of Arabia Felix, at the request of some who had come to Alexandria seeking a teacher. He is said to have found Christians there already, claiming descent from the mission of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, and to have discovered there a copy of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew, which he brought back with him to Alexandria. He returned to his school and died there around the year 200, having done more than any other single figure to establish Alexandria as a great centre of Christian learning.