Pope Saint Clement I, (
flFloruit is a verb meaning 'flourished', which denotes the period of time during which a person, school, movement or even species was active or flourishing...
. 96), also known as
Saint Clement of Rome (in Latin,
Clemens Romanus), is listed from an early date as a Bishop of Rome. He was the first Apostolic Father of the early Christian church.
Few details are known about Clement's life. According to
TertullianQuintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian Berber author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy...
Clement was ordained by
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
, and he is known to have been a leading member of the church in Rome in the latter part of the
1st centuryThe earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Second Temple, Jewish sect, which historians refer to as Jewish Christianity. The Apostles and others following the Great Commission's decree to spread the teachings of Jesus to "all nations," had great success spreading the religion to...
. Early church lists place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after Saint Peter, but the meaning of this evidence is unclear; i.e., his role as bishop is not entirely clear.
St Clement's only genuine extant writing is his letter to the Corinthian church, 1 Clement (
cCirca means "in approximately" , referring to a date...
. 96), which was a response to strife in the Corinth church, where certain presbyters had been deposed. He asserted the authority of the presbyters (elders) as rulers of the church, on the grounds that the Apostles had appointed such. It was read in church, along with other epistles, some of which would later become Christian canon; and is one of the oldest Christian documents still in existence outside the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
. This important work was the first to affirm the apostolic authority of the clergy.
A second epistle, 2 Clement, was attributed to Clement although recent scholarship suggests it to be a homily by another author. In the legendary Clementine Literature, Clement is the intermediary through whom the Apostles teach the church. According to a tradition not earlier than the 4th century, Clement was imprisoned under the Emperor Trajan but nonetheless led a ministry among fellow prisoners. He was then executed by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea.
Clement is recognized as a saint in many Christian churches. He is commemorated on November 23 in the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, the
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy...
, and the Lutheran Church. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity his feast is kept on November 24 or November 25.
Life
Early succession lists name Clement as the first, second, or third successor of
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
. However, the meaning of his inclusion in these lists has been much controverted. There were presbyter-bishops as early as the first century, but there is no evidence for a monarchical episcopacy in Rome at such an early date. There is also, however, no evidence of a change occurring in ecclesiastical organization in the latter half of the second century, which would indicate that a new or newly-monarchical episcopacy was establishing itself.
A large congregation existed in Rome
c 58, when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans. Paul arrived in Rome
c 60 (Acts). His Captivity Epistles, as well as Mark, Luke, Acts, and 1 Peter were written here, according to many scholars. Paul and Peter were said to have been martyred here. Nero persecuted Roman Christians after Rome burned in 64, and the congregation may have suffered further persecution under Domitian (81-96). Clement was the first of early Rome's most notable bishops.
Clement is known for his epistle to the church in Corinth (
c 96), in which he asserts the apostolic authority of the bishops/presbyters as rulers of the church. The epistle mentions
episkopoi (overseer, bishops) or
presbyteroi (elders, presbyters), as the upper class of minister, served by the deacons, but, since it does not mention himself, it gives no indication of the title or titles used for Clement in Rome. It has been cited as the first work to establish Roman primacy, but most scholars see the epistle as more fraternal than authoritative, and
OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
scholar
John MeyendorffJohn Meyendorff was a modern Orthodox scholar, writer, and teacher. He was born into the Russian nobility as Ivan Feofilovich Baron von Meyendorff , but was known as Jean Meyendorff during his life in France.Fr John Meyendorff retired as Dean of St Vladimir's Seminary on June 30, 1992...
sees it as connected with the Roman church's awareness of its "priority" (rather than "primacy") among local churches.
In the epistle Clement uses the terms bishop and presbyter interchangeably for the higher order of ministers above deacons. The letters of
Ignatius of AntiochIgnatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch, and was possibly a student of John the Apostle. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology...
(
c 35 -
c 107) indicate the several congregations were headed by individual bishops but that Rome's congregation was not. In some congregations, particularly in Egypt, the distinction between bishops and presbyters seems to have become established only later. But by the middle of that century all the leading Christian centres had bishops.
The
"Liber PontificalisThe Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...
," which documents the reigns of popes states that Clement had known
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
. It also states that he wrote two letters (though the second letter,
"2 Clement" is no longer ascribed to him) and that he died in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
in the third year of Emperor
TrajanMarcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
's reign, or 101 AD.
Starting in the 3rd and 4th century,
traditionThe word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem, acc. of traditio which means "handing over, passing on", and is used in a number of ways in the English language:...
has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians as a fellow laborer in Christ. In the 19th century he was identified as a freedman of
Titus Flavius ClemensTitus Flavius Clemens was a great-nephew of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. He was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus , brother to Titus Flavius Sabinus and a second cousin to Roman Emperors to Titus and Domitian.-In classical sources:...
, who was
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
with his cousin, the Emperor
DomitianTitus Flavius Domitianus , known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death...
; however, no ancient sources suggest this identification, and it is likely false. The 2nd-century
Shepherd of Hermas mentions a Clement whose office it is to communicate with other churches.
According to apocryphal
acta dating to the fourth century at earliest, Clement was banished from
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
to the Chersonesus during the reign of the Emperor
TrajanMarcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
and was set to work in a stone quarry. Finding on his arrival that the prisoners were suffering from lack of water, he knelt down in prayer. Looking up, he saw a lamb on a hill, went to where the lamb had stood and struck the ground with his pickaxe, releasing a gushing stream of clear water. This miracle resulted in the conversion of large numbers of the local pagans and his fellow prisoners to Christianity. As punishment, Saint Clement was
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed by being tied to an anchor and thrown from a boat into the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
. The legend recounts that every year a miraculous ebbing of the sea revealed a divinely built shrine containing his bones. However, the oldest sources on Clement's life, Eusebius and Jerome, note nothing of his martyrdom.
A year or two before his own death in 869,
Saint CyrilSaints Cyril and Methodius were Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century, who became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title...
brought to Rome what he believed to be the relics of Saint Clement, bones he found in the
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
buried with an anchor on dry land. They are now enshrined in the
Basilica di San ClementeThe Basilica of Saint Clement is a Roman Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement I located in Rome, Italy. Archaeologically speaking it is a three-tiered complex of buildings on the site, the lowermost notable as being an archaeological record of a first century insula belonging to T...
. Other relics of Saint Clement, including his head, are claimed by the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
.
Epistle of Clement
Clement's only existing, genuine text is a letter to the Christian congregation in
CorinthCorinth, or Korinth Corinth, or Korinth Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of...
, often called the First Epistle of Clement or 1 Clement. The history of 1 Clement clearly and continuously shows Clement as the author of this letter. It is considered the earliest authentic Christian document outside of the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
.
Clement writes to the troubled congregation in Corinth, where certain "presbyters" or "bishops" have been deposed (the class of clergy above that of deacons is designated indifferently by the two terms). Clement calls for repentance and reinstatement of those who have been deposed, in line with maintenance of order and obedience to church authority, since the
apostlesIn Christianity, apostles were missionaries among the leaders in the Early Church and, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ himself. The term was also used, especially by the Gospel of Luke, for "the Twelve," Jesus' inner circle of disciples...
established the ministry of "bishops and deacons". He mentions "offering the gifts" (a reference to the
EucharistThe Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a commemoration of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his...
) as one of the functions of the higher class of clergy. The epistle offers valuable insight into Church ministry at that time and into the history of the Roman Church. It was highly regarded, and was read in church at Corinth along with the Scriptures
c. 170.
Second Epistle of Clement
The Second Epistle of Clement is a homily, or sermon, likely written in Corinth or Rome, but not by Clement. Early Christian congregations often shared homilies to be read. The homily describes Christian character and repentance. It is possible that the Church from which Clement sent his epistle had included a festal homily to share in one economical post, thus the homily became known as the Second Epistle of Clement.
While 2 Clement has been traditionally ascribed to Clement, most scholars believe that 2 Clement was written in the second century based on the doctrinal themes of the text and a near match between words in 2 Clement and in the
Greek Gospel of the EgyptiansThe Greek Gospel of the Egyptians is a Gnostic religious text. Its title is adopted from its opening line.- Dating :The suppressed Greek Gospel of the Egyptians, , written in the second quarter of the 2nd century, was already cited in Clement of Alexandria's miscellany, the Stromata, where...
.
Epistles on Virginity
Two
"Epistles on Virginity" were traditionally attributed to Clement, but now there exists almost universal consensus that Clement was not the author of those two epistles.
False Decretals
A ninth-century collection of church legislation known as the False Decretals, which was once attributed to Saint
Isidore of SevilleSaint Isidore of Seville was Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien"...
, is largely composed of forgeries. All of what it presents as letters of pre-
NiceneCouncil of Nicaea can refer to:* First Council of Nicaea in AD 325* Second Council of Nicaea in AD 787* The Council of Nicaea * The Council of Nicaea...
popes, beginning with Clement, are forgeries, as are some of the documents that it attributes to councils; and more than forty falsifications are found in the decretals that it gives as those of post-Nicene popes from Pope Sylvester I (314-335) to
Pope Gregory IIPope Saint Gregory II served as pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary efforts among the Germanic tribes, and for...
(715-731). The False Decretals were part of a series of falsifications of past legislation by a party in the Carolingian Empire whose principal aim was to free the church and the bishops from interference by the state and the metropolitan archbishops respectively.
Clement is included among other early Christian popes as authors of the Pseudo-Isidoran (or False) Decretals, a 9th century forgery. These decrees and letters portray even the early popes as claiming absolute and universal authority. Clement is the earliest pope to whom a text is attributed.
Clementine Literature
St Clement is also the hero of an early Christian romance or
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
that has survived in at least two different versions, known as the
Clementine literatureClementine literature is the name given to the religious romance which purports to contain a record made by one Clement of discourses involving the apostle Peter,...
, where he is identified with Emperor
DomitianTitus Flavius Domitianus , known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death...
's cousin
Titus Flavius ClemensTitus Flavius Clemens was a great-nephew of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. He was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus , brother to Titus Flavius Sabinus and a second cousin to Roman Emperors to Titus and Domitian.-In classical sources:...
. Clementine Literature portrays Clement as the Apostle's means of disseminating their teachings to the Church.
Recognition as a Saint
St Clement's name is in the Roman Canon of the
MassThe Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, in many Lutheran Churches, and in a small amount of High Church Methodist parishes...
. He is commemorated on November 23 as a
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
and
MartyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
in the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
as well as within the
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national Anglican churches. There is no single "Anglican Church" with universal juridical authority as each national or regional church has full autonomy...
and the Lutheran Church. The
Syriac Orthodox ChurchThe Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major...
, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the
Greek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of the Orthodox Church, sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament....
, as well as the
Syriac Catholic ChurchThe Syriac Catholic Church, or Syrian Catholic Church, is a Christian church in the Levant having practices and rites in common with the Syriac Orthodox Church. They are one of the Eastern Catholic Churches following the Antiochene rite, the Syriac tradition of Antioch, along with the Maronites and...
, the
Syro-Malankara Catholic ChurchThe Syro-Malankara Catholic Church is an Antiochene Rite, Major Archiepiscopal sui iuris Eastern Catholic Church in the Catholic Communion, in union with the Bishop of Rome , historically linked to the Syrian Church...
and all
Byzantine RiteThe Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite, is the liturgical rite used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches and by the Greek-Catholic Churches...
Eastern Catholic Churches, commemorate Saint Clement of Rome (called in
SyriacSyriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from the 4th to the 8th centuries...
"Mor Clemis") on November 24; the
Russian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known...
commemorates St Clement on November 25; and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria does so on December 8.
Symbolism
In works of art, Saint Clement can be recognized by having an anchor at his side or tied to his neck. He is most often depicted wearing the Papal vestments, including the pallium, and sometimes with the
Papal tiaraThe Papal Tiara, also known as the Triple Tiara, or in Latin as the Triregnum, and in Italian as the Triregno, is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown, supposedly of Byzantine and Persian origin, that is a prominent symbol of the papacy...
but more often with the
mitreThe mitre , from the Greek μίτρα, 'headband' or 'turban', is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in the Catholic Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, and also bishops and certain other clergy in the...
. He is also sometimes shown with symbols of his office as
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
and Bishop of Rome such as the
Papal CrossThe papal cross or ferula is an emblem of the papal office. As a material cross, it was carried before the Roman pontiff in processions or was used by him as his pastoral staff....
and the
Keys of HeavenIn ecclesiastical heraldry, the Papal coat of arms contain the keys of the office of St. Peter. The Keys of Heaven were, according to Christian tradition, received by Saint Peter from Jesus, marking Peter's ability to take binding actions. Thus, the Keys are seen as a symbol of Christian authority...
. In reference to his martyrdom, he often holds the palm of martyrdom. Saint Clement can be seen depicted near a
fountainA fountain is a piece of architecture which pours water into a basin or jets it into the air either to supply drinking water or for decorative or dramatic effect....
or
springA spring is any natural occurrence where water flows on to the surface of the earth from below the surface, and is thus where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.- Formation :...
, relating to the incident from his
hagiographyHagiography is the study of saints. A hagiography, from the Greek and , refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though...
, or lying in a temple in the sea. The Mariner's Cross is also referred to as
St. Clement's Cross in reference to the way he was martyred.
Further reading
- Louise Ropes Loomis, "The Book of Popes" (Liber Pontificalis), Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-86-8 (Reprint of the 1916 edition. Stops with Pope Pelagius, (579-590). English translation with scholarly footnotes, and illustrations).
External links