Abstract
This chapter approaches Photios' charge by, first, presenting the main hermeneutical models available within Clement's religious and theological milieu for dealing with difficult biblical passages. It is quite certain that Clement was acquainted with those interpretations. The chapter analyses the passages from Clement's works which are relevant to Photios' claim. Photios' accusation stated that, in the Hypotyposes, Clement proclaimed nonsense about sexual intercourse between angels and women on the basis of his literal reading of Genesis 6. 2-4. It is evident that the Hebrew Bible interpreted the union of the angels and the women as an offence against God, as a transgression against the natural order. Clement's oeuvre contains a number of comments on Genesis 6. 1-4, together with its Enochic interpretation. The Gnostics, the perfected Christians in Clement's theory, are those who achieved freedom from passions, calmed conflicting desires, gained unity and integrity of life.Keywords: angels; Clement's oeuvre; hermeneutical models; human women; sexual intercourse
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