During 2011 I am going to try to focus a good bit on the Church Fathers. Things that catch my eye and such. I had an enjoyable time this past weekend doing a little reading on them. I was amazed how much I had forgot.
I really enjoyed reading the Letter to the Corinthians by St Clement of Rome , Pope.
I think it is a good read for those that are dismayed that the Church is full of sinners and are tired of scandal. More on that in second.
There has always been an interesting debate over the debate of this letter. There is still some confusion about the actual time of the reign of Pope Clement. Various early lists provided by the Church Fathers have him either as the immediate successor of St Peter or the 2nd or 3rd. There is a good discussion on that as well as the letter here.
The traditional view has to been to date this letter around AD 96. However there has been some movement toward an earlier date. In fact Pope Benedict even seems to be of two minds on the matter at times.
Pope Benedict during his Wednesday audience talked on Clement.
He said in part:
An almost canonical character was attributed to this Letter. At the beginning of this text - written in Greek - Clement expressed his regret that "the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves" (1, 1) had prevented him from intervening sooner. These "calamitous events" can be identified with Domitian's persecution: therefore, the Letter must have been written just after the Emperor's death and at the end of the persecution, that is, immediately after the year 96.
However according to this source:
In 1996, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI supported a date of A.D. 70, and by 2002 most scholars a date earlier than 96, some agreeing with the A.D. 70 date.
I am no expert on the matter nor am I qualified to know what the latest scholarship is on the matter. However I tend to agree with an earlier date. There appears to be the same problem we see the Book of Revelation. That is trying to put a late date on the writing in attempts to put this during the Domitian persecution. The problem is that as many scholars point out is that it is not clear at all the Domitian persecution was as severe as many are lead to believe. That there is little evidence of a widespread persecution at all. Now this is not to say it did not happen. I have heard some a pretty spirited debates on the subject. Still I tend to go to a possible earlier date as to the Letter of Clement.
Patristic scholar William Jurgens makes some excellent points as to a earlier date. That is the mention of the former Imperial Slaves That is Claudius Ephebus and Valeria Messalina. Jurgens makes the excellent point that while the Letter notes that while these men had grown old in the faith that an traditional dating would put these men at 80 or 90 years old!! Quite an age to be going on long trips taking letters to Corinth.
We then get to this part :
On account of the sudden and repeated calamities and mischances, brethren, that have come upon us, we suppose that we have the more slowly given heed to the things that are disputed among you, beloved, and to the foul and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few headstrong and self-willed persons have kindled to such a degree of madness, that your venerable and famous name, worthy to be loved of all men, is greatly blasphemed.
This is plays a large part in the dating of the letter for being at the time of Domitian. However as Jurgens points out this very well could refer to the natural disaster that involved the eruption of Mount Vesuvius outsides Naples. It caused problems as far as way as Rome. In fact it was followed by a period of pestilence. The very few New Testament references also might indicate a earlier date.
I am giving the evidence for an earlier date because that is what I lean toward. However the above links also give the other side for the later date. Perhaps as we return to this letter in the future I will devlop a more rock solid view.
Regardless of the date it appears things were in an uproar. We get some interesting history here.
:
1 On account of the sudden and repeated calamities and mischances, brethren, that have come upon us, we suppose that we have the more slowly given heed to the things that are disputed among you, beloved, and to the foul and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few headstrong and self-willed persons have kindled to such a degree of madness, that your venerable and famous name, worthy to be loved of all men, is greatly blasphemed.
1:2 For who that hath tarried among you hath not approved your most virtuous and firm faith, hath not admired your sober and seemly piety in Christ, hath not proclaimed your splendid disposition of hospitality, hath not deemed blessed your perfect and unerring knowledge?
1:3 For ye did all things without respect of persons, and walked in the laws of God, submitting yourselves to them that have the rule over you, and giving the due honour to the presbyters that are among you. Young men ye enjoined to think such things as be sober and grave. Women ye exhorted to perform all things in a blameless and honourable and pure conscience, loving dutifully their own husbands; and ye taught them to manage the affairs of their houses with gravity, keeping in the rule of obedience, being temperate in all things.
After giving examples from the Old Testament he writes:
CHAPTER 5
5:1 But let us pass from ancient examples, and come unto those who have in the times nearest to us, wrestled for the faith.
5:2 Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death.
5:3 Let us place before our eyes the good Apostles.
5:4 Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him.
5:5 Through envy Paul, too, showed by example the prize that is given to patience:
5:6 seven times was he cast into chains; he was banished; he was stoned; having become a herald, both in the East and in the West, he obtained the noble renown due to his faith;
5:7 and having preached righteousness to the whole world, and having come to the extremity of the West, and having borne witness before rulers, he departed at length out of the world, and went to the holy place, having become the greatest example of patience.
CHAPTER 6
6:1 To these men, who walked in holiness, there was gathered a great multitude of the elect, who, having suffered, through envy, many insults and tortures, became a most excellent example among us.
6:2 Through envy women were persecuted, even the Danaides and Dircae, who, after enduring dreadful and unholy insults, attained to the sure course of the faith; and they who were weak in body received a noble reward.
6:3 Envy hath estranged the minds of wives from their husbands, and changed the saying of our father Adam: This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.
6:4 Envy and strife have overthrown mighty cities and rooted out great nations.
So it appears that in the early Church there were possibly informers in high places. People that went Apostate which resulted in the deaths of many people including Peter and Paul himself. One can imagine the state of underground Church in those days.
Now of course this could have been coming from outside the Church. The Strife and jealousy talked about could have been coming from the Jews or the Civil authorities. However Clement seems to be linking this to the sedition that is happening in the Church at Corinth itself which indicates an intra Church dispute.
What I like about this letter is it indicates there was truly no perfect age of the Church. Perfect as to at least we would like to imagine it. Strife and scandal have sadly been part of the human side of Christ's Church. The whole thing is a rather good read.
The letter is also noted for giving us the first real indications outside the New Testament of the position, power, and authority of the Bishop of Rome. It also gives us good indications tom Apostolic succession at this very early date. A subject I will tackle at another date. That will be coming up shortly as we read the writings of Saint Ignatius of Antioch which if one believes in a later date of Clements letter must have been writing himself not just 10 years later.
Again I would recommend Pope Benedict short and very readable overview before jumping into the letter itself.
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