The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

“The Church of God which resides as a colony of strangers and pilgrims in Rome to the Church of God which is a colony of strangers and pilgrims in Corinth; to those who are called and sanctified by the will of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Owing to the sudden series of calamities and setbacks that have befallen us, we have been somewhat delayed, we think, in giving our attention to the subjects of dispute in your community, beloved. We mean that execrable and godless breach of unity among you, which is so utterly foreign to the elect of God. And it is only a few rash and headstrong individuals that have inflamed it.

Yes, to such a degree of madness that your venerable, widely renowned, and universally and deservedly cherished name has been brought into serious disrepute. Indeed, was there ever a visitor in your midst who did not approve your excellent and steadfast faith? Or did not admire your discreet and thoughtful Godly fear in Christ? Or who did not proclaim the magnificent character of your hospitality? Or who did not congratulate you on your perfect and sound knowledge? You certainly did everything without fear or favour and regulated your conduct by God’s commandments.

You were obedient to your officials and paid the older men among you the respect due to them. You trained the young in modesty and in an elevated mind.

And you instructed the women to do all things with a pure, honourable and chaste conscience, showing proper affection to their husbands.

You taught them to stay within the established norm of obedience in managing the household with decency and in general to show self-control.

Moreover, you were all in a humble frame of mind, in no way arrogant, practising obedience rather than demanding it, happier in giving than in receiving. Being content with the provisions that God granted for your journey, it was His words that you carefully treasured in your hearts, and His sufferings were ever before your eyes. Thus, all were blessed with a profound and radiant peace of soul, and there was an insatiable longing to do good, as well as a rich outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the whole community. Filled, moreover, with a desire for holiness, you stretched out your hands, with ready goodwill and devout confidence, to Almighty God, imploring Him to show mercy in case you had inadvertently sinned in any way.

Day and night you strove with one another on behalf of the entire brotherhood to further the salvation of the full number of His elect through your compassion and conscientiousness.

Guileless and sincere you were and bore one another no malice. The very thought of insubordination and divisions was an abomination to you. Over the sins of your neighbours, you mourned; their shortcomings you judged as your own. You had no regrets when you had been charitable, being ready for any good deed.

Adorned with the jewel of such a glorious and exulted conduct, you fulfilled all your duties in the fear of the Lord, whose precepts and ordinances were engraved upon the tablets of your heart.

All splendour and abundance were bestowed upon you, and then the Scripture was fulfilled: “My beloved ate and drank, and he grew fat and thick, and then he kicked out.”

From this sprang jealousy and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and anarchy, war and captivity. Then the dishonoured rose up against the honoured, the ignoble against the highly esteemed, the foolish against the wise, the young against their elders. For this reason, righteousness and peace are far removed, because everyone has abandoned the fear of God and lost the clear vision which faith affords, and nobody regulates his conduct by the norms of His commandments or tries to make his life worthy of Christ. On the contrary, everyone follows the appetites of his depraved heart, for they have absorbed that unjust and unholy jealousy through which death came into the world.

For this is what the Scripture says: “And after some days Cain offered to God a sacrifice from the fruits of the earth, and Abel, for his part, offered of the first-borns of his flock and their fat. And God looked kindly on Abel and his gifts but paid no attention to Cain and his sacrifices. Then Cain was angry, and his countenance fell. And God said to Cain: “Why are you angry, and why are you so crestfallen?” And Cain said to his brother Abel: “Let us go out into the field.” And this is what happened when they were in the field: Cain set upon his brother Abel and slew him.”

You see, brethren, jealousy and envy brought on fratricide. Jealousy was the reason for our father Jacob’s flight from his brother Esau. Jealousy caused Joseph to be persecuted with deadly intent and to finally end up in servitude. Jealousy compelled Moses to flee from Pharaoh, king of Egypt, when he heard his fellow tribesman say: “Who has appointed you to be ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Through jealousy Aaron and Miriam were exiled from the camp. Jealousy sent Dathan and Abiron alive down into Hades, because they had rebelled against Moses, the servant of God. Because of jealousy David not only incurred the envy of strangers, but was even persecuted by Saul, king of Israel.

(To be continued)