Pope Clement I

Taurica, Bosporan Kingdom

Mariners

**Saint Clemente I** , also known as **Clemente of Rome**, was the 4th bishop of Rome and Greek pope from 88 to 97 and also the first of the Apostolic Fathers

Of his authentic writings, the Letter to the Church of Corinth, and many other writings of dubious attribution.

## Biography

According to the testimony of St Irenaeus ( c. 202 ),

According to Tertullian (c. 220), however, the Church of Rome stated that Clement was ordained by Saint Peter . Saint Jerome (c. 420) says it was the fourth bishop of Rome , although in his time "most of the Latins" considered him the immediate successor of St. Peter . Saint Jerome himself in other passages of his works follows this opinion

Moreover, the same author identifies Pope Clement with the eponymous character mentioned by Saint Paul in Philippians 4.3. This identification, already supported by Origen (254), does not seem acceptable today.

Eusebius of Caesarea (339) remembers sending the letter to the Corinthians and observes that this takes up some passages from the Letter to the Hebrews . For this reason he welcomes the opinion of those who considered Clement a translator in Greek of this letter, according to him originally composed by St. Paul in the language of the Jews . Eusebius also rejects the other writings attributed to Clement as not authentic, noting that none of them was known by the oldest authors. The same author cites a wide passage from the homilies of Origen onLetter to the Hebrews , which refers to the hypothesis, supported by some ancient commentators, according to which Clement was the author of the letter in question.

Epiphanius of Salamis (d 403) considers Clement contemporary of Peter and Paul and, to reconcile the two contrasting traditions, reports an "ingenious as well as convoluted conciliatory solution" : Clement would have been ordained bishop by Peter but would have temporarily given up covering the episcopate:

The memories in question would be those of Hegesippus  ( ca. 180 ).

The news on the martyrdom of Pope Clement is rather late: the first to speak of it is Tyrannius Rufinus  (410). It is possible that this news arises from Pope Clement confusion with the ' eponymous console made martyr by' Emperor Domitian with the prosecution atheism . The lack of news on a burial of Pope Clement in Rome, however, makes his death in exile possible  , as some later traditions would like.

### Later traditions

In the Passio Nerei et Achillei , Clemente is presented as the son of the brother of the above named consul. However, this text has no historical value .

According to the Pseudoclementines  Clement would have been Roman , son of a certain Faustinian, related to the family of the Emperor, and of Mattidia, a noble matron; he would also have two older brothers , the twins Fausto and Faustino  . Not even this information is reliable .

### Recent hypotheses

In the middle of the nineteenth century it was customary to identify Pope Clement with the aforementioned Titus Flavius Clemens, although none of the ancient authors provided elements to support this conjecture. This, by the way, is in contrast with what the sources tell us, according to which Pope Clement lived until the reign of Trajan ; furthermore, it seems unlikely that he belonged to the imperial family.

The wide knowledge of the Old Testament and of some works of the intertestamental literature and certain characteristics of the style and composition of the letter to the Corinthians have led several scholars to hypothesize that Clement was of Jewish origin. It is likely that he was a freedman or the son of a freedman of the imperial house. .

## Burial

Around 868, while he to evangelize the Kazakhs, Saint Cyril found a anchor and bones in a tumulus, identified with the relics of Pope Clement. Transported to Rome by Cyril himself, they were deposed by Pope Adrian II together with the remains of Saint Ignatius of Antioch in the high altar of the Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano.

## Works

*Main article: Epistle of Clement*

Pope Clement is considered the author of a letter to the Church of Corinth, torn by internal disagreements: the author deplores in particular the deposition of some presbyters, wanted by turbulent elements within the community.

The work, which is very broad compared to the average of the New Testament letters , amply mentions the Scripture . The uniformity of the style and the substantial unity, presents the letter as the work of a single author, although he does not present himself in the first person but writes on behalf of the community of Rome as a whole.

## Notes

1. ↑ John Chapman ( 1908 ) notes that one is sure of the presence of Christians in the house of Nero (see Philippians 4,22 ). The same author considers it highly probable that Claudio Efebo and Valerio Vito, bearers of Clemente's letter, also belonged to this group, since the names Claudius and Valerius recurred frequently with the freedmen of the emperor Claudius and his wife Messalina, as we know from the study of inscriptions

## References

1. ↑ De praescriptione haereticorum, 32, 2
2. ↑ De viris illustribus, 15
3. ↑ Adversus Iovinianum, I, 12; Commentarius in Isaiam, XIV, 52, 13
4. ↑ In Iohannem, VI, 54, 279
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2  Francesco Scorza Barcellona (2000)
6. ↑ Historia ecclesiastica, III, 38
7. ↑ Historia ecclesiastica, VI, 25, 14
8. ↑ Emanuela Prinzivalli ( 2010 )
9. ↑ Quote free from First letter of Clement , 54.2
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3  John Chapman ( 1908 )
11. ↑ Cf. San Girolamo , Apology against Gold , 2, 17
12. ↑ Francesco Scorza Barcelona ( 2000 ). See Passio Nerei et Achillei , 2, 9:
13. ↑ Reviews 1: 1; Homiliæ 1, 1
14. ↑ Reviews 7, 8