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PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
after holiness must live in constant prayer. His whole life should
be an act of devotion in which prayers and deeds were but
aspects of the one whole. Prayer, which was true wisdom, was
to be practised continually in the midst of a life of activity.
Clement of Alexandria embodied very fully the Early
Church’s ideal of Christian living. Not only did he break down
the barriers between Christianity and the culture of his age; he
was also the first mission teacher to follow strict pedagogic
principles in his work as a spiritual adviser. He met people on
their own ground, divided them into groups according to their
spiritual maturity and tried to lead and instruct them. He had a
very clear idea of what Christian perfection should mean and
painted the picture in simple, plain words.
The idea of perfection in Christian living played an
important part, if not a decisive one, in the thought of Origen, too.
He emphasised the importance to a Christian of self-knowledge
and rated very highly the ascetic ideal.
Macarius of Egypt is known for his homilies. They give a
clear picture of the Early Church’s ideal of Christian holiness.
Macarius stresses the value of moral purity. Perfect Christianity
is attained only by degrees. It is not a matter of ‘Taking off one
coat and putting on another’. “There are some who can be
compared with pearl divers,” he writes. ‘They descend naked
into the depths of the ocean, subjecting their lives to grave
dangers, but they find pearls beautiful enough to adorn a king’s
crown. The same is true of the saints. They leave this world and
descend into the deepest darkness, but they emerge from it with
pearls from the crown of Christ.” But their victories cannot be
won without hardship and great suffering. Human beings
mature to perfection slowly and step by step.
The Roman Catholic Church
The Early Church’s ideals concerning the care of souls were
fundamentally changed as the Church gradually developed an
organisation that evolved into the increasingly complex
hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church. No longer is the
development of the individual or his personal destiny of central
or decisive importance. The body corporate has become
paramount, and the office of Spiritual Adviser carries with it
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