THE CHRISTIAN 'SCHOOL' OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES

This chapter discusses the tradition that the Alexandrian school, like the great philosophical schools of Antiquity, knew a real succession of teachers who themselves had been the pupils of their predecessors. Another tradition about the teachers of the Alexandrian school was transmitted by Philip of Side, who between 434 and 439 wrote a voluminous but chaotic Christian History. The teachers were responsible for all forms of religious education, from pre-baptismal instruction to high theology. During the persecution of governor Aquila (206-210/11) all Christian teachers, also those who gave the pre-baptismal instruction, fled Alexandria. According to Nautin, it is inconceivable that Origen taught a similar curriculum already in his Alexandrian period. After Origen's departure from Alexandria in 234, the connection between church and school became so close that the two successors who came after him, Heraclas and Dionysius, were both elected bishop of the Alexandrian church. Keywords: Alexandrian school; pre-baptismal instruction; religious education