And the wisdom which is trite and not contrary to reason, trusting not in mere words and oracular utterances, but in invulnerable armour of defence and drastic mysteries (καὶ ἀμυντηρίοις δραστικοῖς), and devoting itself to divine commands, and συγγυμνασίᾳ, and practice, receives a divine power according to its inspiration from the Word. [Strom 2.20]
But far more interesting is what closely follows - a comparison of Christians to the gymnosophists (the naked gurus of Indian whom Alexander encountered during his world conquest) and then this statement:
But, say they, if God cares for you, why are you persecuted and put to death? Has He delivered you to this? No, we do not suppose that the Lord wishes us to be involved in calamities, but that He foretold prophetically what would happen -- that we should be persecuted for His name's sake, slaughtered, and impaled. So that it was not that He wished us to be persecuted, but He intimated beforehand what we shall suffer by the prediction of what would take place, training us to endurance (εἰς καρτερίαν γυμνάσας), to which He promised the inheritance, although we are punished not alone, but along with many. [Strom 2.23]
Readers familiar with the writings of Clement know that the Alexandrian always makes reference to this idea - viz. Jesus 'preparing' his disciples for martyrdom but most scholars just laugh it off as another example of Clement's 'fanciful imagination.' I am not so sure. I think it is yet another reference to LGM 1.
You see there are just too many references to Jesus literally 'training' his disciples or a particular disciple for his Passion in the writings of Clement of Alexandria for them to be ignored. The link here between training and 'endurance' is particularly interesting as it is a kind of 'endurance' that was always associated with naked initiates as we read in a particularly enlightened discussion of the meaning of karteria in Bar-Kochva The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature:
The use of the name Kalanos to designate the indian philosophers was therefore not accidental. The aim would have been to emphasize all the more strongly the peculiar characteristics of the gymnosophists, singled out by Greeks mainly for their karteria. Aristobulos of Cassandreia, a maintenance man close to Alexander, says that the “sophists” who met alexander in Taxila (Taksaśilā in the Punjab) taught him a lesson in karteria (Strabo 15. 1. 61; cf. Arr. Anab. 7. 2. 2), and Onesicritus the Cretan, a “cynic” sailor who also participated in alexander's campaign, reports that the king heard that the gymnosophists devoted themselves to karteria, and for this reason wished to meet with them (Strabo 15.1.61). The acts of karteria performed by the gymnosophists were often related in the literature of the time of alexander and the successors, and in later authors using these texts as their source; but the reader gets the impression that Kalanos surpassed everyone in realizing this virtue. This impression is reinforced, for example, by Philo of Alexandria, who is here drawing upon his sources:
Kalanos was an indian by birth, of the gymnosophistai. This man was considered of all his contemporaries the most in karteria (καρτερικώτατος), and was admired not only by his countrymen but also by members of other peoples, and what is most rare, by hostile kings, because he combined good deeds with praiseworthy words. (Quod omnis probus liber sit 93)
Philo is not expressing his own impression of what he has read, but is reporting the appreciation of his predecessors. This may be concluded at the very least from what comes after this passage, a (fictitious) letter allegedly sent by Kalanos to Alexander. The letter is not known from any other source, but Philo did not usually invent letters of this sort.
Karteria, then, is the most peculiar characteristic of the gymnosophists, and Kalanos was regarded as the most outstanding of all of them in this respect. The image of Kalanos was established by his dramatic self-immolation in Alexander's camp in the presence of all the army and attendants. This act was recorded for posterity in great detail by various authors, some of whom were eyewitnesses. The modern reader, too, while browsing through the various fragments of alexander's authors and of contemporary and later ethnographers, is particularly impressed by this act and the ornamental ceremony accompanying it in the sources, such as the procession alexander organized in honor of Kalanos on that occasion, the magnificent chariot in which Kalanos lay at the top of the pyre, and the fanfare of trumpets accompanying his burning. The image of Kalanos and his acts of karteria were deeply engraved on historical memory. The account of his self- immolation, while itself not exactly in accord with Greek taste, drew attention to his other deeds and turned him of all people into a model for karteria in its most prominent form. [Bezalel Bar-Kochva The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period p. 61]
The gymnosophists were of course 'naked sophists' - i.e. they didn't wear clothes and they are also always connected with training and of course karteria. The interesting thing now is that Clement, who makes many references to the 'training' of the gymnosophists in what precedes our last reference seems to now connect the mysteries of Alexandria with the 'training' which prepares Christians for martyrdom. What was the purpose of this training? Clearly it was to 'perfect the body' and make the initiate indifferent to pain. There are also countless 'baptism by fire' references alongside the mention of 'ritual nakedness.' I wonder ...
