Letters of the Superiors

FRAGMENTS OF PREVIOUS EPISTLES

Fragments which do not exist in these, or of other works, left behind by the ancients.

I. FROM THE *SPICILEGIUM SOLESMENSE* ⁽ᵃ⁾. (Spicilegium Solesmense, including unpublished works of the Holy Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, selected from Greek, Oriental, and Latin codices, made public property under the care of Dom J. B. Pitra, O. S. B. monk of the Gallican congregation; vol. 1, Paris, at the house of the brothers Firmin Didot, 1852, in-4°. By permission of the editor.)

Saint Clement of Rome establishes a law concerning the consent of the priests to be ordained. [Fragment recognized by the faith of the ancient interpreter ⁽¹⁴⁾.]

What think you, beloved? Did not Moses foresee that this would come to pass? Most certainly he knew; but in order that no dissension should arise in Israel, he did thus, so that the name of the one true and only God might be glorified (to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen). And our apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife over the name of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those afore-mentioned,

^A Moses did as the Lord had commanded, and when all the congregation was gathered before the door, he said: This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done, and he immediately offered Aaron and his sons (Lev. viii, 4-6).

^B In the Epistle of Saint Clement to the Corinthians (15). He knew (16) that Moses knew that the rod of Aaron would blossom (17), but for this reason he called the people together, so that the honorable Aaron might be vindicated (18), and that God might be glorified by the peoples; but he himself might be free from envy...

⁽¹⁴⁾ Concerning the interpreter. Who this ancient interpreter might be, I have not been able to inquire for a long time, and with difficulty, although I have pondered with myself many times those things about which Paulinus of Nola testifies explicitly that the Clementine version was composed by him, as Paulinus himself (epist. 46) and Gennadius (Catal. XLVIII) attest. One should listen to that illustrious and most pious interpreter, in his epistle to Rufinus, describing our version as if graphically: "I believe indeed that in the Translation of Saint Clement, besides other failures of my talent, you have mostly considered this poverty of my ignorance, that I have translated some words which I could not understand or express, by catching at the sense rather, or, to speak more truly, by conjecture." To which Paulinus soon adds that at the same time when these things were being written, the books of Moses were being read by him, which this place of Clement himself illustrates. It may be inferred, therefore, that there first existed an ancient Latin version of the Clementine epistle hitherto unknown, with Paulinus of Nola, as is probable, as interpreter; then that there existed between Rufinus and Paulinus a certain exchange of letters concerning Clement, by which one—the *Recognitions*, which, the Greek text being lost, have remained only from the Latin version; the other, the Epistles, he undertook to translate for himself, which he translated so hastily that, neglecting the rough version, the Clementine letters have reached us only in Greek. For the rest, this John, our Roman deacon ⁽ᵇ⁾, is the first and only one of all the ancient Latins who, by authentic testimony, brought forward the epistles of so great a pontiff, perhaps in Greek, certainly in Latin at that time existing at Rome. In the Paris codex Sangerman. 838 it exists, fol. 144.

⁽¹⁵⁾ Addendum, first; regarding the collector’s use of expressing titles as briefly as possible, the less will anyone of sound mind reproach it, because he designates the authors much more fully than other commentators of this kind; nay, I would wish you to value greatly this testimony of our John regarding S. Clement, as being Roman and perhaps pontifical; and you might willingly except the single fragment to be ascribed to the ancient interpretation of Paulinus of Nola, as it is conjectured.

⁽¹⁶⁾ He knew. Single words, as they are to be weighed as diligently as possible, so are they never to be pondered enough; for they fall into a nearly desperate place in the Greek text, so riddled with wounds that every editor has tried to remedy it as best he could. Therefore, with this first word "he knew" being attentive, it is almost certain to me that the reading of Cotelerius is good, inserting *ἐνόησεν* here, where Junius and others read *ἐποίησεν*.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Would blossom. Rare is the example you have, to which the unusual *floritum* appeals, concerning which there is indeed some mention; but regarding the former, there is deep silence in the lexicons.

⁽¹⁸⁾ That the honorable Aaron might be vindicated. In the Greek there is neither trace nor vestige; and my suspicion is not silent that, either instead of the doxology, which smacks of a gloss, there existed originally other things corresponding to our Latin, or these are the things which Paulinus candorously says he was unable to understand or express, and that he translated them only by conjecture, having caught at the sense rather.

(ᵃ) Vol. I, p. 293. (ᵇ) See Prolegomena to *Spicilegium Solesmense*, p. LVII.

^A and in the meantime they have given an appointment, so that when they fall asleep, other approved men might succeed to their ministry... the whole Church consenting.

II. From the third book of St. Irenæus, *Adversus Haereses*, ch. 3.

Under this Clement, therefore, since no slight dissension had arisen among the brethren who were at Corinth, the Church which is at Rome wrote most powerful letters to the Corinthians, gathering them into peace, and repairing their faith, and announcing the tradition which it had recently received from the apostles, announcing one God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, fashioner of man; who brought on the cataclysm, and called Abraham, who led out the people from the land of Egypt, who spoke with Moses, who arranged the law, and sent the prophets, who prepared fire for the devil and his angels.

III. From St. John of Damascus, *Eclogues*, book 1, tit. 49, p. 752.

*Of St. Clement, bishop of Rome.* Love toward God is sufficient for the salvation of man. It is indeed of gratitude to preserve within ourselves affection toward the Cause of our existence, by which also we may be saved unto the second and ageless age.

*Of the same.* God tempted Abraham, not because He was ignorant of who he was, but in order to show him to those after him, and not to hide such a man, and to stir them up to the imitation of his faith and endurance, and to persuade them to neglect even the love of children for the fulfillment of a divine command; ^B wherefore He foresaw and acted, that his history should be committed to writing.

IV. From St. John of Damascus, book 1, *Eclogues*, tit. 23, p. 783.

*Of St. Clement, bishop of Rome, from the second epistle to the Corinthians.* Let not your heart be troubled, because we see the wicked prospering, and the servants of God being afflicted. For no one...

(49) To hold this form of the apostle (or his successors), whom they were choosing, they were ordaining as leaders with the consent of the whole Church. We refrain from rendering the Greek word *epinomēn* which has caused much trouble to many learned men, and has been read variously. Nor is there less disagreement in its interpretation: some render it as "appointed order," others as "assigned turns of office," others as "command or form." Be that as it may, let the last opinion stand; let the meaning be genuine, and let that Greek word be the ancient one which has come closest to this meaning.

(20) Or, the interpreter obscured the knot by a paraphrase; whom Davisius, in order to solve it, thought should be corrected or deleted. Perhaps someone will guess that the collector read it and translated it in a broader way: the apostle or his successors, meaning Peter and his first successors, namely Linus, Cletus, Clement. What more? Clement could have written as the fourth from Peter, and the interpreter could have read it exactly: "or his successors."

(21) This fragment does not permit us to doubt Irenæus' prologue. In it, the summary of Clement's sentiments is referred to rather than his own words. Therefore, we refrain from referring to the Greek text of Irenæus.

(22) It indicates nothing else than what Irenæus indicates; he wished to mention the author of the *Responses to Questions* at Justin, 74, where he says: "If the end of the present state is the judgment of the impious by fire, as the writings of the prophets and apostles say, and furthermore Sibylla herself, just as the blessed Clement says in his epistle to the Corinthians." But if this is so, that writer cites Clement's first epistle, not the second: and thus Ussher's argument against this falls, as if in it the Sibylline books, which he wishes to be later than Clement, had been quoted. But neither does pseudo-Justin affirm in the cited place that the Sibylline books were cited by Clement: for it is convenient to understand his words so that the prophets, apostles, and Sibylla—and indeed Clement as well—have said that the end of the present state will be the judgment of the impious by fire, especially if Cotelerius' conjecture holds, namely that in the Greek text it is not "Clement" that is to be read.

(23) Irenæus commends these things with these words: "That this Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is announced by the Churches, those who wish to learn can understand from the Scripture itself, and understand the apostolic tradition of the Church; since this epistle is older than those who now teach falsely." Where we learn the double font of Christian knowledge: Scripture, namely, and tradition.

the unjust who prosper, and the servants of God who are in distress. For no one among the just has received fruit quickly, but expects it. For if God were to render the reward of the just immediately, we would be engaging in commerce, not in piety, and we would be seen to be just not for the sake of religion, but for the sake of gain. ^A

V.

From an ancient codex of the Library of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus.

Saint Clement’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

VI.

From Sermon 8 of Saint Maximus, edited by Combefis, page 556.

Clement of Rome.

VII.

From a manuscript collection of Sentences culled from the Fathers and other authors in codex 143 of the Barocci collection, Bodleian Library, chapter, fol. 156.

Clement of Rome.

VIII.

From Basil’s book On the Holy Spirit, c. 29.