Pantaenus of Alexandria

At that time a man of the highest reputation for learning, named Pantaenus, was leading the school of the faithful there, for by an ancient custom a school of sacred learning had existed among them. It continues to our own day, and we are told that it is carried on by men powerful in learning and in zeal for divine things. Among them, the story goes, Pantaenus was especially brilliant at that time, since he had come from the philosophical training of those called Stoics. [a] They say he showed such ardent eagerness for the divine word that he was even appointed a herald of the gospel of Christ to the nations of the East, and traveled as far as the land of the Indians. For there were, yes, there still were at that time many evangelists of the word, who were eager to bring an inspired zeal, in imitation of the apostles, to the growth and building up of the divine word. Pantaenus was one of them, and he is said to have gone to the Indians. The story is that there he found that the Gospel according to Matthew had arrived before him, among some people there who had come to know Christ. Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them and had left them Matthew’s writing in Hebrew letters, which they had kept until that time. [b] Pantaenus, at any rate, after many achievements, ended by leading the school at Alexandria, setting out the treasures of the divine teachings both by word of mouth and in writing.