From Clement of Alexandria’s EXHORTATION TO THE HEATHEN:
Whether, then, the Phrygians are shown to be the most ancient people by the goats of the fable; or, on the other hand, the Arcadians by the poets, who describe them as older than the moon; or, finally, the Egyptians by those who dream that this land first gave birth to gods and men: yet none of these at least existed before the world. But before the foundation of the world were we, who, because destined to be in Him, pre-existed in the eye of God before,–we the rational creatures of the Word of God, on whose account we date from the beginning; for “in the beginning was the Word.” Well, inasmuch as the Word was from the first, He was and is the divine source of all things; but inasmuch as He has now assumed the name Christ, consecrated of old, and worthy of power, he has been called by me the New Song.
God is Open 
That’s interesting in the light of Origen who, probably also being from Alexandria and who also standing in the line of Clement of Alexandria / the Alexandrian school comes LATER…
“This point, indeed, is not to be idly passed by, that the holy Scriptures have called the creation of the world by a new and peculiar name, terming it ‘katabole,’ which has been very improperly translated into Latin by ‘constitution for in Greek ‘katabole’ signifies rather ‘dejicere,’ i.e.., to cast downwards,–a word which has been, as we have already remarked, improperly translated into Latin by the phrase ‘constitutio mundi.’…From this it follows, that by the use of the word ‘katabole,’ a descent from a higher to a lower condition, shared by all in common, would seem to be pointed out.”
– Origen, De Principiis (Concerning The Principles), Book III, Chapter V