Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
CLEMENT I
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: CHR-CLI
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:CLEMENT I ., generally known as Clement of See also:Rome, or CLEMENS See also:ROMANUS (fim c. A.D. 96), was one of the "Apostolic Fathers," and in the lists of bishops of Rome is given the third or See also:fourth place—Peter, See also:Linus, (See also:Anencletus), Clement. There is no ground for identifying him with the Clement of Phil. iv. 3. He may have been a freedman of T. Flavius Clemens, who was See also:consul
with his See also:cousin, the See also:Emperor Demitian, in A.D. 95. A 9th-See also:century tradition says he was martyred in the See also:Crimea in 102; earlier authorities say he died a natural See also:death; he is commemorated on the 23rd of See also:November.
In The Shepherd of Hernias (q.v.) (Vis. Ir. iv. 3) mention is made of one Clement whose See also:office it is to communicate with other churches, and this See also:function agrees well with what we find in the See also:letter to the See also: Whilst being on our guard against See also:reading later ideas into the See also:title" See also:bishop " as applied to Clement, there is no See also:reason to doubt that he was one of the See also:chief personalities in the See also:Christian community at Rome, where since the See also:time of See also:Paul the See also:separate See also:house congregations (Rom. xvi.) had been See also:united into one church officered by presbyters and deacons (Clem. 4o-42). The letter in question was occasioned by a dispute in the church of Corinth, which had led to the ejection of several presbyters from their office. It does not contain Clement's name, but is addressed by " the Church of See also:God which sojourneth in Rome to the Church of God which sojourneth in Corinth." But there is no reason for doubting the universal tradition which ascribes it to Clement, or the generally accepted date, c. A.D. 96. No claim is made by the See also:Roman Church to interfere on. any ground of See also:superior See also:rank; yet it is noteworthy that in the earliest document outside the See also:canon which we can securely date, the church in the imperial See also:city comes forward as a peacemaker to compose the troubles of a church in See also:Greece. Nothing is known of the cause of the discontent; no moral offence is charged against the presbyters, and their dismissal is regarded by Clement as high-handed and unjustifiable, and as a revolt of the younger members of the community against the See also:elder. After a laudatory See also:account of the past conduct of the Corinthian Church, he enters upon a denunciation of vices and a praise of virtues, and illustrates his various topics by copious citations from the Old Testament scriptures. Thus he paves the way for his tardy rebuke of See also:present disorders, which he reserves until two-thirds of his See also:epistle is completed. Clement is exceedingly discursive, and his letter reaches twice the length of the Epistle to the See also:Hebrews. Many of his See also:general exhortations are but very indirectly connected with the See also:practical issue to which the epistle is directed, and it is very probable that he was See also:drawing largely upon the homiletical material with which he was accustomed to edify his See also:fellow-Christians at Rome. This view receives some support from the See also:long liturgical See also:prayer at the See also:close, which almost certainly represents the intercession used in the Roman eucharists. But we must not allow such a theory to See also:blind us to the true See also:wisdom with which the writer defers his censure. He knows that the roots of the See also:quarrel See also:lie in a wrong See also:condition of the church's See also:life. His general exhortations, courteously expressed in the first See also:person plural, are directed towards a wide See also:reformation of See also:manners. If the wrong spirit can be exorcised, there is See also:hope that the quarrel will end in a general See also:desire for reconciliation. The most permanent See also:interest of the epistle lies in the conception of the grounds on which the Christian See also:ministry rests according to the view of a prominent teacher before the 1st century has closed. The orderliness of nature is appealed to as expressing the mind of its Creator. The orderliness of Old Testament See also:worship bears a like See also:witness; everything is duly fixed by God; high priests, priests and See also:Levites, and the See also:people in the people's See also:place. Similarly in the Christian See also:dispensation all is in See also:order due. " The apostles preached the See also:gospel to us from the See also:Lord Jesus See also:Christ; Jesus Christ was sent from God. Christ then is from God, and the apostles from Christ. . . . They appointed their first-fruits, having tested them by the Spirit, as bishops and deacons of those who should believe. . . . Our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife about the name of the bishop's office. For this cause therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid, and after-wards gave a further See also:injunction (Elnvojx, v has now the further See also:evidence of the Latin legem) that, if these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed to their ministry.. . It will be no small See also:sin in us if we eject from the bishop'soffice those who have offered the gifts blamelessly and holily " (cc. xlii. xliv.). Clement's familiarity with the Old Testament points to his being a Christian of long See also:standing rather than a See also:recent convert. We learn from his letter (i. 7) that the church at Rome, though suffering persecution, was firmly held together by faith and love, and was exhibiting its unity in an orderly worship. The epistle was publicly read from time to time at Corinth, and by the 4th century this usage had spread to other churches. We even find it attached to the famous Alexandrian MS. (Codex A) of the New Testament, but this does not imply that it ever reached canonical rank. For the See also:mass of See also:early Christian literature that was gradually attached to his name see CLEMENTINE LITERATURE. The epistle was published in 1633 by See also:Patrick See also:Young from See also:Cod. Alexandrinus. in which a See also:leaf near the end was missing, so that the See also:great prayer (cc. lv.-lxiv.) remained unknown. In 18i5 (six years after J. J3. See also:Lightfoot's first edition) See also:Bryennius (q.v.) published a See also:complete See also:text from the MS. in See also:Constantinople (dated 1055), from which in 1883 he gave us the See also:Didache. In 1876 R. L. Bensly found a complete See also:Syriac text in a MS. recently obtained by the University library at See also:Cambridge. Lightfoot made use of these new materials in an Appendix (11897); his second edition, on which he had been at See also:work at the time of his death, came out in 189o. This must remain the See also:standard edition, notwithstanding Dom See also:Morin's most interesting See also:discovery of a Latin version (1894), which was probably made in the 3rd century, and is a valuable addition to the authorities for the text. Its evidence is used in a small edition of the epistle by R. Knopf (See also:Leipzig, 1899). See also W. See also:Wrede, Untersuchungen zum ersten Clemensbrief (1891), and the other literature cited in See also:Herzog-See also:Hawk's Realencyklopddie, vol. iv. (A. J. G.; J. A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] CLEMENT (Lat. Clemens, i.e. merciful; Gr. K)4gs) |
[next] CLEMENT II |