Butterworth Concludes "Clement Knew the Phaedrus Intimately ... [His Knowledge] Betrays a Familiarity Born of Affection"

In order for us to understand 'Secret Mark' as a Platonic gospel, we have to understand Clement's relationship with Plato. I think there is a tendency to just brush off the association with Platonism. Maybe people imagine Clement just 'injected' some superfluous Platonic exgesis to a 'normative' understanding of Christianity. I don't know how scholars reconcile Clement's Platonism in their own minds. In fact, I am not sure that most scholars give it much thought. Their pre-existent 'belief' in the 'Church' oppresses all other considerations. It's like a child being crushed under the weight of the fat lady from the circus.

That's why I am recommending that everyone reads this article on Clement's use of the Phaedrus in the 1916 edition of the Classics Quarterly here. 

Charles W Butterworth has translated just about everything there is to render into English related to the Alexandrian tradition. His discussion of Clement's interest in the Phaedrus is especially significant for our understanding of 'Secret Mark,' not in the least because a sublimation of homoerotic love is at the heart of both works. It is for this reason that readers should pay careful attention to his discussion of Clement's development of the Platonic interest in eros in the Phaedrus (p. 200).

This is a very important article, not in the least because it helps define for us Clement's absolute dependance on the Greek philosopher. As Butterworth notes "he uses the language of Plato as unconsciously as he uses that of the Scriptures; and it need hardly be said that when he writes under these two influences he is at his very best." Secret Mark represents nothing short of the very embodiment of this synthesis. As such it should be considered to be an authentic Alexandrian composition from the late second century.