1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Pantaenus

PANTAENUS, head of the catechetical school at Alexandria, c. A.D. 180–200, known chiefly as having been the master of Clement, who succeeded him, and of Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem. Clement speaks of him as the “Sicilian bee,” but of his birth and death nothing is known. Eusebius and Jerome speak of him as having been, originally at least, a Stoic, and as having been sent, on account of his zeal and learning, as a missionary to “India.” There is some reason to think that this means the Malabar coast. There was a considerable intercourse between south India and the east Mediterranean at the time, and Christian thought possibly did something to mould the great system of Tamil philosophy known as the Saiva Siddhanta. Pantaenus “expounded the treasures of divine doctrine both orally and in writing,” but only a few brief reminiscences of his teaching are extant (see Routh, Rel. sac. i. 375–383). Lightfoot suggests that the conclusion of the well-known Epistle to Diognetus, chs. 11, 12, may be the work of Pantaenus. Clement thought highly of his abilities, and Origen appeals to his authority in connexion with the inclusion of philosophy in the theological course.