__________________________________________________________________

           Title: Early Christian Fathers
      Creator(s): Richardson, Cyril C. (1909-1976)
     Print Basis: Philadelphia, Westminster Press [1953]
          Rights: Public Domain
   CCEL Subjects: All; Classic; Early
      LC Call no: BR60
   LC Subjects:

   Christianity

   Early Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.
     __________________________________________________________________

   THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN

   CLASSICS

  GENERAL EDITORS

   JOHN BAILLIE

   Principal, New College,

   Edinburgh

   JOHN T. McNEILL

   Auburn Professor of Church History,

   Union Theological Seminary,

   New York

   HENRY P. VAN DUSEN

   President, Union Theological Seminary,

   New York

  THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS

   Volume
   I. Early Christian Fathers. Editor: Cyril C. Richardson, Washburn
   Professor of Church History, Union Theological Seminary, New York.
   II. Alexandrian Christianity. Editors: Henry Chadwick, Regius Professor
   of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford; J. E. L. Oulton, late
   Professor of Divinity, Trinity College, Dublin.
   III. Christology of the Later Fathers. Editor: Edward Rochie Hardy,
   Professor of Church History, Berkeley Divinity School, New Haven,
   Connecticut.
   IV. Cyril of Jerusalem and Nemesius of Emesa. Editor: William Telfer,
   formerly Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge.
   V. Early Latin Theology. Editor: S. L. Greenslade, Regius Professor of
   Ecclesiastical History and Canon of Christ Church, University of
   Oxford.
   VI. Augustine: Earlier Writings. Editor: J. H. S. Burleigh, Professor
   of Ecclesiastical History, University of Edinburgh, and Principal of
   New College, Edinburgh.
   VII. Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion. Editor: Albert Cook
   Outler, Professor of Theology, Perkins School of Theology, Southern
   Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
   VIII. Augustine: Later Works. Editor: John Burnaby, Fellow of Trinity
   College and formerly Regius Professor of Divinity, University of
   Cambridge.
   IX. Early Medieval Theology. Editor: George E. McCracken, Professor of
   Classical Languages, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.
   X. A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham. Editor: Eugene R.
   Fairweather, Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Ethics,
   Trinity College, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
   XI. Nature and Grace: Selections from the Summa Theologica of Thomas
   Aquinas. Editor: A. M. Fairweather, Lecturer in Philosophy, University
   of Edinburgh.
   XII. Western Asceticism. Editor: Owen Chadwick, Master of Selwyn
   College and Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of
   Cambridge.
   XIII. Late Medieval Mysticism. Editor: Ray C. Petry, Professor of
   Church History, The Divinity School, Duke University, Durham, North
   Carolina.
   XIV. Advocates of Reform: From Wyclif to Erasmus. Editor: Matthew
   Spinka, Waldo Professor Emeritus of Church History, Hartford
   Theological Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut.
   XV. Luther: Lectures on Romans. Editor: Wilhelm Pauck, Professor of
   Church History, Union Theological Seminary, New York.
   XVI. Luther: Early Theological Works. Editor: James Atkinson, Canon
   Theologian of Leicester.
   XVII. Luther and Erasmus on Free Will. Editor: E. Gordon Rupp,
   Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Manchester.
   XVIII. Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel. Editor: Theodore G.
   Tappert, Schieren Professor of the Synod of New York and New England,
   Church History, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia,
   Pennsylvania.
   XIX. Melanchthon and Bucer. Editor: Wilhelm Pauck, Professor of Church
   History, Union Theological Seminary, New York.
   XX. Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion. Editor: John T.
   XXI. McNeill, Auburn Professor Emeritus of Church History, Union
   Theological Seminary, New York.
   XXII. Calvin: Theological Treatises. Editor: J. K. S. Reid, Professor
   of Church Dogmatics, University of Aberdeen.
   XXIII. Calvin: Commentaries. Editor: Joseph Haroutunian, Professor of
   Systematic Theology, The Divinity School, University of Chicago.
   XXIV. Zwingli and Bullinger. Editor: G. W. Bromiley, Professor of
   Church History and Historical Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary,
   Pasadena, California.
   XXV. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers. Editors: George Huntston
   Williams, Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History, The Divinity
   School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; ANGEL M. MERGAL,
   Professor of Theology, Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, Rio
   Piedras, Puerto Rico.
   XXVI. English Reformers. Editor: T. H. L. Parker, Vicar of Oakington,
   Cambridge, England.

VOLUME I

EARLY CHRISTIAN FATHERS

  THE LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN CLASSICS

  Volume I

                                     EARLY

                                   CHRISTIAN

                                    FATHERS

   Newly translated and edited by

   CYRIL C. RICHARDSON, Th.D., D.D.

   Washburn Professor of Church History in the Union Theological Seminary,

   New York

   In collaboration with

   EUGENE R. FAIRWEATHER, Th.D.

   Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology in Trinity College,

   Toronto

   EDWARD ROCHIE HARDY, Ph.D.

   Professor of Church History in the Berkeley Divinity School,

   New Haven

   MASSEY HAMILTON SHEPHERD, Jr., Ph.D.

   Professor of Church History in the Episcopal Theological School,

   Cambridge, Massachusetts

   Philadelphia

  THE WESTMINSTER PRESS

   Published simultaneously in Great Britain and the United States of
   America.

   by the S.C.M. Press, Ltd., London, and The Westminster Press,
   Philadelphia.

   First published MCMLIII

   Printed in the United States of America
     __________________________________________________________________

  GENERAL EDITORS' PREFACE

   The Christian Church possesses in its literature an abundant and
   incomparable treasure. But it is an inheritance that must be reclaimed
   by each generation. The Library of Christian Classics is designed to
   present in the English language, and in twenty-six volumes of
   convenient size, a selection of the most indispensable Christian
   treatises written prior to the end of the sixteenth century.

   The practice of giving circulation to writings selected for superior
   worth or special interest was adopted at the beginning of Christian
   history. The canonical Scriptures were themselves a selection from a
   much wider literature. In the Patristic era there began to appear a
   class of works of compilation (often designed for ready reference in
   controversy) of the opinions of well-reputed predecessors, and in the
   Middle Ages many such works were produced. These medieval anthologies
   actually preserve some noteworthy materials from works otherwise lost.

   In modern times, with the increasing inability even of those trained in
   universities and theological colleges to read Latin and Greek texts
   with ease and familiarity, the translation of selected portions of
   earlier Christian literature into modern languages has become more
   necessary than ever; while the wide range of distinguished books
   written in vernaculars such as English makes selection there also
   needful. The efforts that have been made to meet this need are too
   numerous to be noted here, but none of these collections serves the
   purpose of the reader who desires a library of representative treatises
   spanning the Christian centuries as a whole. Most of them embrace only
   the age of the Church Fathers, and some of them have long been out of
   print. A fresh translation of a work already translated may shed much
   new light upon its meaning. This is true even of Bible translations
   despite the work of many experts through the centuries. In some
   instances old translations have been adopted in this series, but
   wherever necessary or desirable, new ones have been made. Notes have
   been supplied where these were needed to explain the author's meaning.
   The introductions provided for the several treatises and extracts will,
   we believe, furnish welcome guidance.

   John Baillie

   John T. McNeill

   Henry P. Van Dusen
     __________________________________________________________________

                       CONTENTS
                                                page
   PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   13

   INTRODUCTION TO EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND ITS SETTING (By the
   Editor ) . . . . . . . . . . . .
   15

   BASIC WORKS ON EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND HISTORY . . . . . . . . .
   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   27
   LETTERS IN CRISES

   THE LETTER OF THE CHURCH OF ROME TO THE CHURCH OF CORINTH, COMMONLY
   CALLED CLEMENT'S FIRST LETTER (Edited and Translated by the Editor )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   33

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   39

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   43

   THE LETTERS OF IGNATIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH (Edited and Translated by
   the Editor )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   74

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   81

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   87

   THE LETTER OF POLYCARP, BISHOP OF SMYRNA, TO THE PHILIPPIANS (Edited
   and Translated by Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr. )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   121

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   127

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   131
   THE WAY OF MARTYRDOM

   THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP, AS TOLD IN THE LETTER OF THE CHURCH OF
   SMYRNA TO THE CHURCH OF PHILOMELIUM

   (Edited and Translated by Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr. )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   141

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   145

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   149
   A CHURCH MANUAL

   THE TEACHING OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, COMMONLY CALLED THE DIDACHE
   (Edited and Translated by the Editor )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   161

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   167

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   171
   AN EARLY CHRISTIAN SERMON

   AN ANONYMOUS SERMON, COMMONLY CALLED CLEMENT'S SECOND LETTER (Edited
   and Translated by the Editor )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   183

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   190

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   193
   IN DEFENSE OF THE FAITH

   THE SO-CALLED LETTER TO DIOGNETUS (Edited and Translated by Eugene R.
   Fairweather )

   Introduction and Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   205

   Text: I. An Anonymous Brief for Christianity Presented to Diognetus;
   II. A Homily Concerning the Mystery of Faith.
   213

   THE FIRST APOLOGY OF JUSTIN, THE MARTYR (Edited and Translated by
   Edward Rochie Hardy )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   225

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   239

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   242

   A PLEA REGARDING CHRISTIANS BY ATHENAGORAS, THE PHILOSOPHER (Edited and
   Translated by the Editor )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   290

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   297

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   300
   AN EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH

   SELECTIONS FROM THE WORK AGAINST HERESIES BY IRENAEUS, BISHOP OF LYONS
   (Edited and Translated by Edward Rochie Hardy )

   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   343

   Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   355

   Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
   358
   INDEXES                                             399
     __________________________________________________________________

PREFACE

   In this volume we have attempted to give new translations of some of
   the basic Christian writings of the first two centuries. Our aim has
   been to render the originals in clear, idiomatic English, and to
   facilitate the reading of these classics by revising the standard
   paragraphs and by relegating the chapter and verse numbers to the
   margins.

   In view of the fact that most of the material in our book has been
   rendered into English so frequently as well as so recently, the
   translations offered cannot but reflect some knowledge of those already
   published. While our work has been done without conscious borrowing,
   the same turn of phrases is likely to occur to more than one
   translator, and acquaintance with previous renderings cannot be, and
   should not be, eradicated from the memory.

   We have sought to provide adequate introductory material, and to add
   such notes as are necessary for understanding the text. The lists of
   books are purposely more extensive than in some other series, and are
   planned to aid the student who wishes to study these particular
   documents more thoroughly.

   The division of work among the contributors is indicated by the Table
   of Contents. I should like to thank the general editors for their
   assistance in the preparation of the manuscript and for their many
   helpful suggestions; the three contributors for their splendid
   co-operation; and Dr. Bard Thompson for his help with the notes for
   Athenagoras.

   Cyril C. Richardson.

   Union Theological Seminary.
     __________________________________________________________________

          Introduction to Early Christian Literature and Its Setting
     __________________________________________________________________

  THE LITERATURE

   The most striking facts about early Christian literature are its rich
   variety and its almost exclusively Gentile authorship. Outside the New
   Testament writings little belongs to the first century, the only
   considerable document being Clement's Letter to the Church of Corinth.
   But the second century saw an increasing literary activity among
   Christians, which swelled to a flood toward its end.

   To choose the works of the first two centuries that can be called
   "classics" is a difficult, even an arbitrary, task. It is the purpose
   of this volume to select a number of the most notable treatises, having
   in mind their representative character as well as their intrinsic
   worth. Thus an early sermon has been included despite its somewhat
   banal nature, while more weighty works such as the Apologies of Tatian
   and Theophilus have been excluded. Justin and Athenagoras must suffice
   to indicate that class of literature. It has not, however, been
   possible to include every type of early Christian writing. There is no
   apocalypse, no apocryphal gospel, no Christian poetry. Yet the
   selection made will give a good indication of the temper of second
   century Christianity and the quality of its literature.

   The earliest Christian writings after the New Testament are customarily
   known under the title "Apostolic Fathers." It is to a French scholar of
   the seventeenth century, Jean Cotelier, that we owe this grouping. In
   1672 he published two volumes entitled SS. Patrum qui temporibus
   apostolicis floruerunt . . . opera edita et inedita, vera et
   suppositicia. This collection included the letter ascribed to Barnabas,
   the Shepherd of Hermas, two letters of Clement (of which only one is
   genuine), seven of Ignatius, and one of Polycarp, along with the
   account of the latter's martyrdom. All but Barnabas and Hermas will be
   found in this volume. Later on, the anonymous brief addressed to
   Diognetus and the fragments of Papias and Quadratus were added to the
   collection by Andreas Gallandi in his Bibliotheca veterum Patrum, 1765.
   Finally, with the discovery of the Didache by Byrennios in 1873, this
   tractate too came to find a place in editions of the Apostolic Fathers.

   These writings do not form a unity either in date or in type. The
   earliest is Clement's Letter, about A.D. 96. The latest are the sermon
   mistakenly known as his Second Letter, and the brief addressed to
   Diognetus. Both these were written somewhat before the middle of the
   second century. Other Christian literature not included in the
   Apostolic Fathers also comes from this period, as, for instance, the
   Apology of Aristides (about A.D. 130) and the Odes of Solomon (before
   A.D. 150). Yet, on the whole, the collection can be said to comprehend
   most of the significant Christian literature between the New Testament
   period and that of the great Apologists.

   In type, the letter predominates. Even the account of Polycarp's
   martyrdom is a letter, from the church of Smyrna to that of
   Philomelium. The Letter of Barnabas is a theological tract, which
   attempts to grapple with the problem of the significance of the Old
   Testament for Christianity. It is a good example of the use of the
   epistolary form for a literary convention. Another instance is the
   piece addressed to Diognetus. While it bears the title of a letter, it
   is really a brief for Christianity. The earliest Christian sermon, as
   we have observed, is misleadingly called "Clement's Second Letter."
   Actually, however, it is a homily, and only by accident did it get
   dubbed an epistle.

   Of the other works in this group, the Shepherd of Hermas is an
   apocalpyse, dealing with repentance after baptism; the Didache is a
   Church manual; while the fragments of Papias and Quadratus are from
   theological treatises. The former wrote five books entitled
   Explanations of the Lord's Sayings. They were apparently a running
   commentary on Jesus' utterances, interspersed with a good deal of oral
   tradition. Quadratus' work was an apology addressed to the emperor
   Hadrian.

   What marks these writings, taken as a whole, is their literary
   simplicity, their earnest religious conviction, and their independence
   of Hellenistic philosophy and rhetoric. They are closer to the New
   Testament in their artlessness, and while they may lack something of
   its spiritual depth, they reveal an intense concern for its basic
   message. They come from a time when the Church was warring on two
   fronts--against pagan attack and internal schism. Hence their peculiar
   concern is for order. The unity of the Church around its leaders and
   the preservation of the faith from perversion are their dominant
   themes. In consequence the religious spontaneity of the New Testament
   writings gives place to a more moral and ecclesiastical note.

   The next important group of Christian writings in the second century is
   that of the Apologists. The earliest is perhaps the brief addressed to
   Diognetus. There follow the Apologies of Aristides, Justin, Tatian,
   Athenagoras, Theophilus, and, by the end of the century, of Clement of
   Alexandria and Tertullian. They are notable contributions to Christian
   literature. In Athenagoras, Clement, and Tertullian emerge writers of
   no small literary merit, who can vie with the best rhetoricians of the
   day. Their purpose is to defend the faith by making contact with the
   prevalent philosophies and by showing the superiority of Christianity.
   By means of the Logos doctrine which appears in John's Gospel and is
   clearly formulated in Justin, they relate the revelation in Christ to a
   current way of thinking. But their leading theme is monotheism; and
   their sharpest attacks fall on the weaknesses of the ancient mythology.
   They do not primarily emphasize the place of Jesus Christ in the faith.
   They are addressing Gentiles who are not inheritors of the Old
   Testament monotheism. Hence the unity of God is their first concern.
   Particularly is this true of Athenagoras' Plea.

   A third group of early Christian writings is the apocryphal literature.
   [1] Of this a great deal has come down to us. Much of it, however, is
   later than the second century, and much of it is heretical in nature,
   being tinged with a Docetic point of view. In general this literature
   is Christian romance. There are tales of Jesus and the apostles which
   are told to satisfy the curiosity awakened by the paucity of incident
   in many of the New Testament accounts, and to meet the yearning for the
   miraculous. Popular folklore is blended with Gospel material, and
   legend upon legend is created in the style of a novelist with a pious
   imagination.

   Then there is Christian poetry. Little of this has survived, the most
   significant work being the Odes of Solomon. [2] This is the first
   Christian hymnbook that we possess. It was almost certainly written in
   Greek sometime before A.D. 150, though it has come down to us only in
   Syriac, and in a partial Coptic version. The Odes are hymns of praise,
   displaying a mystical spirit akin to that of John and Ignatius, and
   free from speculative thought.

   Another group of early Christian writings is composed of the stories of
   martyrdoms. The simple but stirring tale of Polycarp's suffering forms
   the theme of the Letter of the Church of Smyrna to that of Philomelium.
   Other important accounts concern the persecutions in Lyons and Vienne;
   the martyrdoms of Perpetua and Felicitas in Carthage; of Carpus,
   Papylus, and Agathonice in Pergamon; and of Apollonius in Rome. [3]
   There have also been preserved some official court proceedings of the
   trials and executions of Christians. Notable are those of Justin, and
   of the martyrs of Scili in North Africa.

   Finally, there are the Christian forms of Gnostic and anti-Gnostic
   literature. Most of the former has perished, though excerpts in the
   writings of Church Fathers enable us to reconstruct the systems of the
   great Gnostic teachers such as Valentinus, with some accuracy. [4] A
   number of the early Fathers wrote against Gnosticism-- Justin, Rhodo,
   Melito, Theophilus, Modestus, and others--but their works have not
   survived. The five books of Irenaeus, Refutation and Overthrow of the
   Pretended but False Gnosis (usually referred to as Against Heresies),
   are the first full-length treatise we have giving the Catholic reply to
   various Gnostic systems. It is, indeed, more than this, for it includes
   a careful exposition of the faith; and it is unfortunate that its text
   has been preserved only in a Latin translation. The significance of
   Irenaeus cannot be over-estimated. While he is neither a penetrating
   nor a systematic thinker, he sums up the main lines of the Catholic
   development of the second century; and from him there flow the two
   differing streams of Western and Eastern Christianity.

   Such are the types of Christian writing in the first two centuries.
   Almost all of it was penned by Gentiles. Practically no Jewish
   Christian literature has survived. It is possible that Clement of Rome
   and Hermas were Hellenistic Jews; and it is to our loss that the
   Memoirs of Hegesippus, a Hellenistic Jew of the Orient, have perished.
   These Memoirs comprised five books and constituted a polemic against
   Gnosticism. They contained also some historical details of the early
   Palestinian Church, of which Eusebius has preserved some fragments in
   his Ecclesiastical History. At the end of the second century one of the
   main sources underlying the pseudo-Clementine literature [5] was
   written; and this gives us some knowledge of Jewish Christianity. But
   it is remarkable with what rapidity the Christian faith, born in the
   obscure environment of Galilee, should have become a Gentile religion,
   enlisting the efforts of Gentile writers of distinction, while Jewish
   Christianity should have dwindled in importance. Judaizers were, to be
   sure, a force to be reckoned with in the days of Ignatius, and from
   time to time we hear of them in the writings of later Church Fathers
   such as Epiphanius. But they have left no significant body of
   literature. Separated from their countrymen by their religious
   convictions, and from the Holy City by the destruction under Titus,
   Jewish Christians eked out a precarious and isolated existence, until,
   having splintered into various groups, they were almost extinct by the
   fifth century, though a number of their ideas survived in Islam. It was
   the Greek, rather than the Jew, who became the inheritor of the
   Christian message-a fact which should give pause to those who unduly
   exaggerate the importance of Hebrew above Greek thinking.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1] See the collection made by M. R. James, The Apocryphal New
   Testament. Oxford, 1924.

   [2] J. R. Harris and A. Mingana, The Odes of Solomon, 2 vols.
   Manchester, 1916-1920.

   [3] A selection has been translated and published by E. C. E. Owen,
   Some Authentic Acts of the Early Martyrs. 1927.

   [4] A notable document, for instance, is the letter of Ptolemy to
   Flora, preserved in Epiphanius' Panarion. See the new edition by G.
   Quispel, Editions du Cerf, Paris, 1950 (in Sources chretiennes). An
   English translation is given by R. M. Grant in his Second Century
   Christianity, pp. 30-37. S.P.C.K., London, 1946.

   [5] I.e., The Sermons of Peter. See the recent study by H. J. Schoeps,
   Theologie und Geschichte des Judenchristentums. J. C. B. Mohr,
   Tuebingen, 1949.
     __________________________________________________________________

  THE SETTING

   The introductions to the various documents in our volume will provide
   the reader with the requisite information to appreciate their setting
   and importance. It may, however, be appropriate here to characterize
   briefly the main lines of the Christian development in the second
   century.

   The expansion of Christianity in this period was rapid and far-flung.
   It penetrated Mesopotamia to Edessa and Arbela and reached as far west
   as the interior of Spain, and perhaps the southern coast of Britain.
   Christians were to be found on the Rhone in Gaul, and even on the
   Rhine. The Dalmatian coast was beginning to be missionized. The Church
   was taking root in North Africa, Cyrenaica, and interior Egypt, as well
   as consolidating and enlarging its gains in Syria, Greece, Asia Minor,
   and Italy. The spread of the new faith naturally followed the great
   trade routes and was centered in the cities. Only gradually did it win
   the rural areas, where ancient traditions were more stubbornly
   defended.

   Primary among the marks of the period is the rise of the Catholic
   consciousness. By this phrase is meant the emergence of a distinctly
   ecclesiastical point of view, evident in the ordering of Church life.
   The kerygma, or "preaching," of the New Testament becomes the regula
   fidei of the early Fathers. Didactic and ethical interests come to the
   fore. The faith is more carefully prescribed and the Church more
   exactly organized. The leading concern is to conserve the apostolic
   witness, and, while showing its relevance to pagan modes of thought, to
   guard against the extremes of Gnostic speculation and prophetic
   enthusiasm.

   Under the single bishop who, with his council of presbyters, rules the
   congregation, there is built up a closely knit organization which will
   be able to withstand the concerted persecutions of the third century.
   The bishop is the successor of the apostles, representing the
   localizing of the prophetic, teaching, and liturgical functions of the
   original apostolate. He becomes the center of the Church's life, the
   living witness and guardian of its faith. Exactly how it came about
   that a single bishop should succeed to powers earlier vested in local
   bodies of presbyters, is not altogether clear; though much may be
   explained by the occasional settling of an apostle, prophet, or teacher
   of the original missionary ministry, in some locality. What, however,
   is clear is that the development was orderly, and that it was very
   widespread by the time of Ignatius. The obvious convenience of having a
   single administrative head, the economic necessity whereby a
   congregation could afford to maintain only one full-time official, the
   dominance of certain leading personalities, together with the
   suitability of having a single celebrant for worship--all these factors
   doubtless played a role in the rise of the monepiscopate. It is,
   indeed, already foreshadowed in the Pastoral Epistles, where Timothy
   and Titus are viewed as Paul's delegates, entrusted with the
   supervision of the presbyteries in Ephesus and Crete. The final step is
   taken in the communities reflected in Ignatius' correspondence. There
   the bishop is the bishop of a local congregation, and the term,
   originally synonymous with "presbyter," now characterizes this
   distinctive office.

   The bishop is the living center of the Christian tradition. He is a
   prophetic as well as a sacramental person; and nothing more clearly
   reveals the second century attitude toward the episcopate than the
   description the Smyrnaeans give of their martyred bishop, Polycarp: he
   was "an apostolic and prophetic teacher" (Mart. Poly. 16:2).

   With the rise of the episcopate there emerges the importance of the
   great sees of Christendom, claiming apostolic foundation. The
   significance of the episcopate in Irenaeus, for instance, does not lie
   in a sacramental chain of ordinations, but in a chain of authorized
   teachers, which reaches back to the apostles. Of first importance among
   such sees is Rome, the center of Western Christianity, whose place of
   eminence is due both to its being the imperial city and to its being
   the city of Peter and Paul. It is, too, Christendom in miniature, for
   there Christians from all lands eventually turn up. In consequence,
   Rome is the ideal center from which to set one's compass of orthodoxy.

   The tradition of the faith, however, was incorporated in more than
   living personalities. It was enshrined in a book, and expressed in
   brief, formal statements suitable for baptismal confessions. The second
   century saw the rise of the New Testament canon and the formation of
   the earliest creeds. Both were partly determined by the pressure of
   heresy and the consequent necessity for the Church to make its message
   clear. But heresy was only one factor in the development. The internal
   needs of the Church were such that the tradition should be preserved in
   accepted writings and in authentic confessions.

   The New Testament canon has its origin in the high regard with which
   Christians from the first viewed the logia of the Lord and the writings
   of apostles. Until A.D. 150, however, the only Bible of Christians was
   the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament. This the Church had inherited
   from Judaism, and at first it sufficed. The Christian message entailed
   the explication of the Old Testament in the light of the acts and words
   of the Messiah. What was foreshadowed in the sacred books of the Law
   and the Prophets had now come to pass in the Christ. Hence Christian
   preaching was founded on the Old Testament and on the living tradition
   of Jesus, passed from mouth to mouth. This feeling for personal witness
   was very strong in the Early Church. Papias, for instance, records his
   disdain for books and his preference for "the living and abiding
   voice." The tradition was not something dead, but a vital reality to be
   discovered from living persons. Yet the corruptions to which oral
   tradition was subject soon necessitated the writing of Christian books;
   and as the living witnesses to Christ and the apostles passed away,
   these books took on a new significance. They came to be read in
   worship, and by A.D. 150 they had gained the authority that had once
   belonged exclusively to the Old Testament.

   The actual formation of the canon, however, was both determined and
   hastened by the Gnostic rejection of the Old Testament. The sharp
   dualism of the Gnostics, who viewed the Jewish and Christian
   revelations as antithetical, found its clearest expression in Marcion,
   who flourished in the middle of the second century. He contrasted the
   good God revealed in Jesus Christ with the Old Testament God of
   retaliation and vengeance, whom he viewed as responsible for the evil
   in creation. In consequence, he did away with the Old Testament as the
   sacred book of Christians, and in its place he supplied a canon called
   "The Gospel and the Apostle." The "Gospel" was a form of our present
   Luke; the "Apostle" was a corpus of ten letters of Paul. Both the
   Gospel and Paul he expurgated of Old Testament references, to suit his
   theology. The Catholic canon was doubtless framed with Marcion's in
   view, though it was not until the fourth century that there was final
   unanimity on which books should be included. Three of the works in our
   present volume (I Clement, II Clement, and the Didache) were at one
   time part of the New Testament in some areas of the Church.

   The creed developed as a baptismal formula. The most important is the
   Roman symbol which underwent various revisions until the seventh
   century, and came finally to be known as "The Apostles' Creed." Its
   primitive form is reflected in Irenaeus, and at the end of the second
   century Hippolytus [6] gives us the first text of the three statements
   to which the baptized yielded assent on their immersion.

   The process whereby the faith became ordered in the episcopate,
   preserved in the canon, and defined in a creed, has its counterpart in
   the development of the liturgy. Throughout the second century prayer
   was still extemporaneous, though set forms and phrases had been taken
   over from the Jewish synagogue, and Christian prayers were gradually
   becoming stereotyped. We have an instance of a traditional intercessory
   prayer in I Clement (chs. 59 to 61), and some reflections of the
   Eucharistic prayer will be observed in Polycarp's Martyrdom (ch. 14).
   The primitive prayers of the Didache survived in Alexandria, and,
   indeed, turn up two centuries later in Egyptian liturgies. But it was
   the structure, rather than the exact wording of the liturgy, that was
   early established. The way in which the Church should continue the
   action of Jesus at the Last Supper was a matter of grave importance. It
   was an action that was the center of the Church's life, for by this
   mystery the Christian believed he was incorporated into the very
   humanity of Christ (Justin, Apol. I, ch. 66).

   By the turn of the first century the Eucharist was no longer a supper
   meal. The ceremony of the bread and wine had been attached to a service
   of lections and prayer, derived from the synagogue. The first
   description we have is in Justin's Apology (I, chs. 65; 67). The
   service takes place about dawn in a private house, and its order is as
   follows: lections, sermon, intercessory prayers, kiss of peace,
   offering of the bread and wine, consecration prayer, Communion. By the
   end of the century we have a text of the consecration prayer in
   Hippolytus, though that learned Roman is careful to indicate that he is
   giving a pattern, not insisting on the exact words to be followed. [7]

   The change from a supper meal to a dawn service arose from several
   factors. For one thing, slaves, who formed a significant part of a
   Christian congregation, were not free to attend an evening meal. Then
   again, imperial edicts had forbidden unlicensed clubs to hold such
   suppers. Moreover, to Gentiles, who dated their days from midnight, a
   supper on Saturday evening would have seemed an odd way of celebrating
   the day of the resurrection. Jews dated their days from sundown, and so
   the primitive Christian communities (envisaged in the liturgical
   section of the Didache) naturally celebrated the day of the
   resurrection with a Saturday supper. For Gentiles, however, this cannot
   but have seemed inappropriate.

   Practically all the documents in our volume refer to the persecution of
   Christians, and of this a brief word may be said. It is a disputed
   point whether Christians in this early period were persecuted because
   of an official, imperial rescript forbidding their existence, or
   whether the action taken against them rested only on the general police
   powers of Roman magistrates. In any case there was persecution; but it
   was neither so incessant nor so widespread as is often imagined. There
   were spasmodic outbreaks of a savage nature, as Nero's action, or the
   condemnations of Ignatius and Polycarp, or the sad tale of the martyrs
   in Lyons and Vienne. But the State made no concerted attempt to stamp
   out Christianity until the days of Decius in the middle of the third
   century. Yet by their attacks on the Roman gods and by their refusal to
   sacrifice to the imperial genius, the Christians were always liable
   both to popular vengeance and to criminal prosecution.

   Internally, the life of the Church in the second century was disturbed
   by two important movements--Gnosticism and Montanism. The former was an
   attempt to modernize the faith by accommodating it to the syncretic
   spirit of the age. During our period the type of Christianity that
   flourished in two widely separated centers, Edessa and Alexandria, was
   avowedly Gnostic; and not, indeed, until the turn of the second century
   did there emerge significant Catholic minorities in those areas.

   Gnosticism [8] is older than Christianity. It represents the fusion of
   Oriental and Greek ideas into various elaborate systems whose aim is to
   acquire "gnosis" or knowledge of the divine. Ancient mythological
   material is blended with philosophic and religious ideas. Sometimes the
   dominating interest is the philosophic one-the problem of the one and
   the many. At other times the religious element is primary, and
   salvation is sought from the insecurity and evil of the natural world.
   Popular magical notions and astrology also enter in; and the vast
   movement of Gnosis had manifold forms throughout the Hellenistic world.
   Gnosis is knowledge based on revelation, but it is not intellectual
   knowledge. It is saving knowledge, enabling the soul to escape from the
   flux and change of life and to find the assurance of immortality. By
   the true gnosis the soul is freed from the evil prison house of the
   body into which it has fallen, and empowered to ascend to its original
   home in the spiritual world.

   In the Christian forms of Gnosis there are instances where the
   Christian element is clearly a superficial addition to a system already
   complete. But in other cases, as in those of the great Alexandrine
   teachers, Basilides and Valentinus, the Christian factor is
   fundamental. Yet all Gnostic systems depend upon a principle that is at
   variance with Christianity--the dualism of matter and spirit. That the
   body was basically evil, and in no sense the creation of a good God,
   was a central tenet. It led Gnostics to dispute the underlying message
   of the Old Testament, and to contrast the creator-God with the God
   revealed in Jesus Christ. In consequence, as we have already seen, the
   Old Testament was rejected, and new Christian books were substituted in
   its place. It is interesting that not only the first New Testament
   canon comes from Gnostic sources, but Gnostics were the first to give
   New Testament passages the authority once enjoyed by the Old Testament
   ( Basilides), to write a New Testament commentary ( Heracleon), and to
   make a Gospel harmony ( Tatian). This peculiar interest in a New
   Testament stems from the rejection of the Old.

   Other serious consequences followed from the Gnostic disparagement of
   the body. The doctrine of the incarnation was denied. Jesus only
   "appeared": he did not genuinely take on human flesh. Hence these
   Gnostics came to be known as "Docetics" (from dokeo, appear); and it is
   against this aspect of their teaching that Ignatius' letters are
   primarily aimed.

   In the ethical sphere the Gnostics either espoused a strict asceticism
   or else indulged in antinomianism. In the one case they argued that the
   soul should cut itself as loose as possible from the material world; in
   the other case they contended that, because creation was outside the
   sphere of the good God, the soul's relation to it was a matter of
   indifference. Both these attitudes were challenged by the anti-Gnostic
   writers, such as Irenaeus; while it is against the second that the
   earliest Christian sermon (II Clement) is directed.

   At the opposite pole to Gnosticism stands the Montanist movement of the
   latter half of the second century. In essence this was an earnest
   attempt to recover the prophetic note in primitive Christianity, and to
   challenge both the intellectualistic tendencies in Gnosticism and the
   ecclesiastical trend of the second century Church. It was a revival of
   the religion of the Spirit--an ecstatic outburst, eagerly expectant of
   the end of the world and rigorous in its ascetic demands. It opposed
   the developing laxity in Christian morals, which went hand in hand with
   the Church's claim to forgive sins after baptism, and the antinomianism
   to which some forms of Gnosticism had led. Born in Phrygia in Asia
   Minor, it passed eventually to North Africa, where it won for its cause
   the vehement Tertullian, in whose writings it takes on a severely
   puritanical note. But its most characteristic feature was its revival
   of prophecy and its emphasis on the Spirit. Wrapped in ecstatic
   visions, Montanus and his prophetesses declared new revelations,
   foretelling the coming of the New Jerusalem, forbidding second
   marriages and second repentance, and insisting on rigorous fasts and
   other ascetic practices.

   The Catholic opposition to Montanism rested on the conviction that the
   Christian revelation was complete. Nothing new in principle could be
   added to the apostolic deposit of the faith. The Church, too, was
   cautious about ecstasies in which the prophet lost the use of his
   reason and identified himself with God. "I am come neither as an angel,
   nor as an ambassador, but as God the Father," said Montanus. Against
   such extravagant claims, the Church insisted on the sufficiency of the
   apostolic tradition.

   The ascetic tendencies in Gnosticism and Montanism affected the ethical
   life of the Catholic Church. While the extremes of both positions were
   renounced, an increasing veneration of celibacy and virginity is to be
   observed. In both Justin and Athenagoras this is apparent; and it
   reaches its full expression in the development of monasticism in the
   fourth century.

   To conclude: The dominant interest of the second century Church was the
   ordering of its life and teaching. To preserve the apostolic witness
   against Gnostic perversions and Montanist extravagancies, the
   episcopate, the canon, and the creed were developed. To interpret it to
   the Gentile mind, its affinities with the best in pagan religious
   thought were utilized. To maintain it against persecution, the martyr
   was willing to suffer. Finally, to ensure the perpetuity of the faith,
   the Church built up a closely knit organization which was as
   uncompromising toward heresy and schism as it was toward the demands of
   the State.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [6] Apostolic Tradition, ch. 21. For the early dating of this work, see
   my article in the Anglican Theological Review, January, 1948, pp.
   38-44.

   [7] Apostolic Tradition, chs. 4; 10:4.

   [8] For a clear and cogent survey of Gnosticism, with some reference to
   the recent discoveries in Egypt, see G. Quispel, Gnosis als
   Weltreligion. Origo Verlag, Zurich, 1951.
     __________________________________________________________________

  BASIC WORKS ON EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND HISTORY

   In addition to the books mentioned in the introductions to the various
   documents, the following more comprehensive works may be consulted. In
   the list below and elsewhere in this volume the names of publishers are
   given only for books published since 1928.

    MANUALS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

   Altaner, B., Patrologie, 2d ed. J. C. Herder, Freiburg, 1950.

   Bardenhewer, O., Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, 5 vols. J. C.
   Herder, Freiburg, 1913-1932.

   Goodspeed, E. J., A History of Early Christian Literature. University
   of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1942.

   Harnack, A., Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius, 5
   vols. Leipzig, 1893-1904.

   Labriolle, P. de, Histoire de la litterature latine chretienne. Paris,
   1924.

   Monceaux, P., Histoire de la litterature latine chretienne. Paris,
   1924.

   Puech, A., Histoire de la litterature grecque chretienne jusqu'`a la
   fin du IV^e siecle, 3 vols. Societe d'edition "Les Belles Lettres,"
   Paris, 1928-1930.

   Quasten, J., Patrology, Vol. I (the best manual in English). Spectrum
   Publishers, Utrecht, 1950.

   Raemers, S. A., A Handbook of Patrology (based on J. Tixeront, M langes
   de patrologie ). J. C. Herder, St. Louis, 1934.

   Staehlin, O., Die altchristliche griechische Literatur (in W. von
   Christ, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur ,2.2), 6th ed. Munich,
   1924.

    HISTORIES OF THE EARLY CHURCH

   Duchesne, L., Early History of the Christian Church, 3 vols. London,
   1909-1924.

   Elliott-Binns, L. E., The Beginnings of Western Christendom.
   Lutterworth Press, London, 1948.

   Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History. Greek text by Schwartz, E., in Die
   griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte.
   Leipzig, 1903. English translations with copious notes by McGiffert, A.
   C., in Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol.
   I, New York, 1890; and by Lawlor, H. J., and Oulton, J. E. L., London,
   1928.

   Harnack, A., The Expansion of Christianity, English translation by J.
   Moffatt, 2 vols. New York, 1904-1905.

   Kidd, B. J., A History of the Church to A.D. 461. 3 vols. (standard
   work, carefully documented). Oxford, I922.

   Latourette, K. S., The First Five Centuries (Vol. I of A History of the
   Expansion of Christianity). Harper & Brothers, New York, 1937.

   Lebreton, J., and Zeiller, J., The History of the Primitive Church, 2
   vols., English translation by E. C. Messenger. The Macmillan Company,
   New York, 1949.

   Lietzmann, H., The Beginnings of the Christian Church, English
   translation by B. L. Woolf. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1937.

   The Founding of the Church Universal, English translation by B. L.
   Woolf. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1938.

   Moffatt, J., The First Five Centuries (brief sketch with rich
   bibliography, including novels with early Christian background).
   University of London Press: Hodder, London, 1938.

    HISTORIES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE

   Bauer, W., Rechtglaeubigkeit und Ketzerei im aeltesten Christentum
   (fundamental study of relation of orthodoxy to heresy, somewhat
   radical). J. C. B. Mohr, Tuebingen, 1934.

   Bethune-Baker, J. F., Introduction to the Early History of Christian
   Doctrine (standard work), 5th ed. Cambridge University Press, London,
   1933.

   Cadoux, C. J., The Early Church and the World (clearly organized and
   well-documented work on early Christian ethics). Edinburgh, 1925.

   Dix, G., The Shape of the Liturgy (standard work on liturgy, deals
   largely with early period). The Dacre Press, London, 1944.

   Harnack, A., A History of Dogma, English translation by N. Buchanan, 7
   vols. London, 1894 ff.

   Lebreton, J., Histoire de la dogme de la Trinite , 2 vols. Paris,
   1927-1928. English translation of Vol. I by A. Thorold. Burns, London,
   1939.

   McGiffert, A. C., A History of Christian Thought, 2 vols. Charles
   Scribner's Sons, New York, 1931.

   Seeberg, R., Textbook of the History of Doctrines, English translation
   by C. E. Hay. Philadelphia, 1905.

   Srawley, J. H., The Early History of the Liturgy. Cambridge University
   Press, Cambridge, 1947.

   The New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers. Oxford, 1905.

   Tixeront, J., History of Dogmas, English translation by H. L. B., 3
   vols. St. Louis, 1923 ff.

    SOURCE BOOKS

   Ayer, J. C., A Source Book for Ancient Church History. Charles
   Scribner's Sons, New York, 1933.

   Grant, R. M., Second Century Christianity (a small volume of some
   important fragments). S.P.C.K., London, 1946.

   James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford, 1924.

    COLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS

   Migne, J. P., Patrologia cursus completus: Series Graeca,
   Paris,1857-1866; Series Latina, Paris, 1844-1855.

   Berlin Corpus: Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten
   drei Jahrhunderte. Berlin, 1897 ff.

   Vienna Corpus: Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum. Vienna,
   1866 ff.

   Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium. Paris, 1903 ff. There are
   four series, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic.

   Patrologia Orientalis, ed. Graffin, R., and Nau, F. Paris, 1907 ff.

   Patrologia Syriaca, ed. Graffin, R. Paris, 1894-1926.

    COLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS IN TRANSLATION

   The Ante-Nicene Fathers (reprint of the Edinburgh edition by A. Roberts
   and J. Donaldson, revised by A. C. Coxe). Buffalo, 1884-1886.

   Translations of Christian Literature, ed. W. J. Sparrow-Simpson and W.
   K. Lowther Clarke. Four series: Greek Texts, Latin Texts, Liturgical
   Texts, and Oriental Texts. London, 1917 ff.

   Ancient Christian Writers, ed. J. Quasten and J. C. Plumpe. Newman
   Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1946 ff.

   The Fathers of the Church, ed. L. Schopp. Cima Publishing Company, New
   York, 1947 ff.

   Bibliothek der Kirchenvaeter, ed. O. Bardenhewer, Th. Schermann, and C.
   Weyman, Jos. Koesel, Kempten, 1911-1930; Second Series, 1932-1939.

   Sources chretiennes, ed. H. de Lubac and J. Danielou. Editions du Cerf,
   Paris, 1941 ff.

    DICTIONARIES

   The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York, 1907-1914.

   Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne et de liturgie. Paris, 1907 ff.

   Dictionnaire de la theologie catholique. Paris, 1903 ff.

   Dictionary of the Apostolic Church. Edinburgh, 1915-1918.

   Dictionary of Christian Biography. London, 1877-1888.

   Realencyclopaedie fuer protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3d ed.
   Leipzig, 1896-1913.

   Reallexikon fuer Antike und Christentum. Hiersemann Verlag, Leipzig,
   1941 ff.

    ATLASES

   Heussi, K., and Mulert, H., Atlas zur Kirchengeschichte. Tuebingen,
   1919.

   Shepherd, W. R., Historical Atlas. 7th ed. Henry Holt & Company, Inc.,
   New York, 1929.

   Wright, G. E., and Filson, F. V., The Westminster Historical Atlas to
   the Bible. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1945.

    BIBLIOGRAPHY

   Richardson, E. C., Bibliographical Synopsis in The Ante-Nicene Library,
   Vol. 10. New York, 1899.

   See also the relevant sections in the manuals listed, especially
   Altaner and Quasten.

    INDEXES

   Goodspeed, E. J., Index Patristicus (Greek index of the Apostolic
   Fathers). Leipzig, 1907.

   Goodspeed, E. J., Index Apologeticus (Greek index of the Greek
   Apologists). Leipzig, 1912.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

                               LETTERS IN CRISES
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Letter of the Church of Rome

   to the Church of Corinth,

   Commonly Called Clement's First Letter
     __________________________________________________________________

  INTRODUCTION

   Outside the new testament writings, the earliest Christian document we
   possess is an anonymous letter of the church of Rome to the church of
   Corinth. It was written about A.D. 96, and was so highly esteemed in
   Christian antiquity that for a while it was even reckoned as part of
   the canon in Egypt and Syria. [9] Very ancient tradition ascribes the
   letter to a certain Clement who, according to the early episcopal
   lists, was the third bishop of Rome. The style of the document is
   simple and clear, though it is marked by some rhetorical devices,
   notably a fondness for synonyms. The importance of the letter lies in
   the picture it gives us of early Roman Christianity. Here we see a
   version of the gospel which, while reflecting Paulinism, is more
   strongly influenced by Hellenistic Judaism, and which, in several ways,
   foreshadows the leading emphases of later Roman Catholicism.

    DATE

   Some references in the letter itself indicate that it stems from the
   period of the second generation of Christians. The Neronian persecution
   of A.D. 64 is already past (chs. 5; 6): the Corinthians are viewed as
   an "ancient church" (ch. 47:6), and there are in Rome those who from
   youth to old age have lived irreproachable Christian lives (ch. 63:3).
   Yet Peter and Paul can be described as heroes belonging to "our own
   generation" (ch. 5:1); and while the apostles have passed away, there
   still survive some whom they appointed as presbyters (ch. 44). Certain
   calamities have again befallen the church (chs. 1:1; 7:1). These are
   distinguished from the Neronian persecution (ch. 7:1), and are
   generally taken to refer to Domitian's capricious attacks on
   Christians. While we are not well informed about these, there is
   sufficient evidence to credit them. [10] A further indication that the
   letter belongs to the first century is the lack of a knowledge of the
   canonical Gospels. All in all, there can be little doubt that A.D. 96
   or 97 (the end of Domitian's reign or the beginning of Nerva's) is the
   correct date.

    THE OCCASION OF THE LETTER

   The occasion of the letter was a schism in the Corinthian church. The
   same factious spirit that Paul had encountered there had once again
   provoked serious dissension. It appears that some young men had been
   the ringleaders of a revolt which had succeeded in deposing the ruling
   presbyters (chs. 3:3; 44:6). Exactly what lay behind this action is not
   altogether clear. It may be that these youths, restless under the rule
   of clergy considerably older than themselves and who held office for
   life, sought to introduce a more flexible system into the ministry.
   Following the custom of the cults, they may have wished for annual
   elections and for a constant change of officers. It is probable,
   however, that an even deeper issue was involved. There are hints in the
   letter that the rebels claimed to have particular spiritual gifts which
   (in their judgment) were not receiving adequate recognition. They were
   ascetics observing continence (ch. 38:2). They boasted of
   "gnosis"--secret knowledge of the faith, that is, revealed only to the
   elite (ch. 48:5). Perhaps, too, they spoke with tongues, though the
   references are equally open to the interpretation that they were
   persuasive and powerful speakers (chs. 21:5; 57:2). These slight
   indications might lead us to suppose that the strife was between
   charismatics and the regular ministry. In the course of the Church's
   history those with special spiritual gifts have not seldom felt
   slighted if they received insufficient recognition or failed to be
   elected to office. This is the reverse of the situation reflected in
   the Didache, where the visiting prophet is held in high esteem and it
   is the claims of the local ministry that have to be pressed (chs. 11:3
   ff.; 13; 15:1, 2).

   News of the dissension seems to have reached Rome through hearsay (ch.
   47:7). It is possible that some traveling Romans had not been accorded
   the usual welcome, as visitors, by the rebellious faction, and on
   returning home had spread the report. This would account for the
   emphasis on hospitality (chs. 1:2; 11; 12). In any case there is no
   evidence that Corinth applied to Rome for a judgment in the matter.
   Rome's intervention is to be explained from other factors.

   It was nothing extraordinary for leaders of one church to send a letter
   of advice and warning to another congregation. The apostolic
   prerogative exercised by Paul had set a wide precedent which was
   followed by the author of the seven letters in the Revelation, by
   Ignatius, by Polycarp, by Dionysius of Corinth, [11] by Serapion, [12]
   and by many others. Each Christian community seems to have felt a
   sufficient sense of responsibility for the others so that its leaders
   could admonish them with solicitude. In some instances, of course, the
   authors claimed a special right to speak. The seer of the Revelation
   and the martyr Ignatius are examples. But the point to bear in mind is
   that the local churches did not conceive of themselves as isolated and
   autonomous units. They were part of the wider Church, and were not
   unconcerned with what happened in other congregations. This is most
   forcibly brought home to us by the style of our document. For it is not
   written in the name of an individual, but of a congregation. It is very
   far from a papal decree, though it was doubtless written by one of the
   leaders of the Roman church. It makes no claim to superior authority,
   but, basing itself on the authority of Scripture, it tries to persuade
   an errant congregation to return to the right way.

   Furthermore, that Rome should intervene in the internal affairs of the
   Corinthian church is partly to be explained by the close relations
   between the two cities. Refounded as a Roman colony in the middle of
   the first century, Corinth had built up a peculiarly intimate
   connection in trade and culture with the mother city. Indeed,
   excavations have made clear how exactly Corinth tried to mimic Rome--in
   its sculpture, architecture, organization, and even its names. Neither
   the church at Rome nor that at Corinth was, it is true, Latin in race
   or language. The predominant element in both congregations was
   doubtless converted Hellenistic Jews. Yet these affinities between the
   two cities help to explain even the Christian connections. Corinth,
   moreover, by being a natural halt on the route between Rome and the
   East would be in constant touch with the imperial capital.

   Yet it cannot be denied that these two explanations do not fully
   account for the tone of the letter. Rome very definitely regards it as
   her duty to intervene (ch. 63) and sends envoys to see that matters are
   put right (ch. 65). Something of her unique place as the church of the
   imperial city, and the church of Peter and Paul (ch. 5), must surely
   have been in the writer's mind. Among the Roman clergy (as we learn
   from Hermas, Vis., II, ch. 4) there seems to have been one who acted as
   a sort of "foreign secretary" for the church, sending abroad various
   advices and exhortations as well as gifts of charity. [13] This implies
   more than a casual relation with other churches; and while this should
   not be pressed to vindicate much later papal claims, it does indicate
   that the Roman community took most seriously its responsibility as a
   sister church for the welfare of other congregations. Here, in germ, is
   that exercise of authority which was to become the papal primacy.

    THE AUTHOR

   While the letter was written in the name of the church of Rome and its
   subscription did not originally mention Clement, there can be little
   doubt that he was the author. The Greek manuscripts attribute it to
   him, and, as early as A.D. 170, Dionysius of Corinth ascribes it to
   him. He speaks of it as the letter "which was previously written to us
   through Clement," and he mentions the fact it was still read publicly
   in the Corinthian church on Sundays ( Eusebius, Hist. eccl. IV. 23:11).

   Precisely who Clement was is not altogether clear. The earliest
   episcopal lists, those of Irenaeus and Hegesippus, make him the third
   bishop of Rome. This tradition, however, implies that the monepiscopate
   was very early established in that city, and doubtless reads back a
   later situation into the more primitive period. Certainly the terms
   "bishop" and "presbyter" were not yet clearly distinguished in
   Clement's time, for he uses them as synonyms or at any rate to refer to
   the same class of persons, the church rulers (cf. chs. 42:4; 44:4, 5;
   47:6; 57:1). Exactly what the situation was in those early years we do
   not know. The only hint we derive is from the Roman prophet Hermas, who
   in the course of his visions relates rather epigrammatically that he is
   bidden to write "two little books and [to] send one to Clement and one
   to Grapte. Clement must then send it to the cities abroad, for that is
   his duty, and Grapte shall exhort the widows and orphans" (Hermas, Vis.
   II. 4:3). The date of this vision is the late first century, and it
   doubtless refers to our Clement, among whose duties was that of acting
   as a kind of foreign secretary for the church. That he had some of the
   functions later vested in the episcopate may well be true; but that he
   was exactly a "bishop" in the later sense is open to doubt. It must
   suffice to call him a leading--perhaps the leading--presbyter-bishop of
   the Roman church.

   More than that we do not know of Clement. The attempts to identify him
   with the Clement mentioned in Paul's Philippians (ch. 4:3), [14] or
   with the family of the consul Titus Flavius Clemens, are only
   conjectures. The name is a very frequent one in this period, especially
   in military circles. Yet it must be conceded that the hypothesis that
   has been elaborated by J. B. Lightfoot, that Clement was a freedman of
   the Flavian family, is attractive and not entirely lacking in
   substance. The consul Titus Flavius Clemens was a cousin of Domitian,
   and according to Dion Cassius he was executed by the emperor on the
   charge of atheism. This may possibly mean that he was a Christian,
   since the accusation of atheism was frequently brought against the new
   faith. Furthermore, his wife Domitilla was exiled; and it appears that
   one of the oldest Roman catacombs, the Coemeterium Domitillae, was
   situated on an estate belonging to her. Slight as these indications
   are, they do lend support to the theory that the consul and his wife
   were Christians. By virtue of his position he certainly could never
   have been a church official; but it is not altogether unlikely that
   someone connected with his household and bearing his name was the
   author of our letter.

    CLEMENT'S CHRISTIANITY

   The most striking feature of Clement's letter is its blending of Old
   Testament and Christian themes with Hellenistic ideas and expressions.
   Its author is saturated in the Old Testament, citing the Septuagint
   with frequency and finding in the heroes of Israel the patterns of
   Christian conduct. He is familiar with Pauline writings, especially
   with I Corinthians, which he uses as a model for his own letter,
   imitating its hymn on love (chs. 49; 50) and enlarging on its teachings
   regarding the resurrection (ch. 24) and schism (ch. 47). But these
   Jewish and Christian elements often take on a Stoic dress (e.g., chs.
   20; 21); and while sometimes Clement speaks in the very tones of Paul,
   as for instance on justification by faith (ch. 32:4), his leading
   convictions are somewhat different.

   There is a strain of moralism in his religion, which links him on the
   one hand with Hellenistic Judaism and on the other with Stoicism.
   Where, for Paul, Abraham was the hero whose faith alone made him right
   with God, for Clement, he is the pattern of obedience, of hospitality,
   of humility, and of righteousness (chs. 10:1, 7; 17:2; 31:2). Again,
   while our author is aware of the grave issue raised by the doctrine of
   justification by faith, viz., that men might continue to sin that grace
   should abound, the answer he gives to this dilemma is very different
   from Paul's. Where the latter in Rom., ch. 6, emphasizes the mystical
   dying of the Christian to sin, Clement stresses the moral imitation by
   the Christian of the Creator's good works (ch. 33). Once again, in
   defending the doctrine of the resurrection, Clement, like Paul, can
   base his case on a natural theology (ch. 24.; cf. I Cor. 15:36), and is
   well aware that Christ is the first fruits of those that slept (ch.
   24:1; cf. I Cor. 15:20). Yet his crowning argument is not the victory
   won by Christ over sin and the law, but the incredible tale of the
   phoenix (ch. 25)! Finally, where Paul reaches to the very heart of the
   issue of schism by asking the incisive question, "Is Christ divided?"
   Clement expatiates on the orderliness of nature (ch. 20) and the
   consequences of envy and rivalry (chs. 4 to 6).

   These instances must suffice to indicate the extent to which Clement
   has moved away from the Pauline gospel into an atmosphere more
   concerned with the moral life, and in particular with the virtues of
   humility and order. Where ethical injunctions are secondary to Paul's
   letters, they are primary in Clement. We observe, too, a tendency, very
   evident in chs. 20; 24 to 25, to emphasize natural theology. All these
   are marks of that later Romanism to which Clement's Letter points.

   It is, however, in the treatment of church order that Clement most
   clearly foreshadows later Catholicism. The deposition of the local
   Corinthian rulers leads him to set forth a hierarchical view of the
   ministry and to stress the need of submission to the duly elected
   clergy. It is claimed (chs. 42 to 44) that the apostles appointed their
   first converts as presbyter-bishops and provided for a future ministry
   should these eventually die. It is not entirely clear how the new
   clergy were to be installed, save that the congregation was to elect
   them. It is possible that they were to be ordained by the remaining
   presbyter-bishops, though it is more likely that Clement intends
   something different, viz., that they were to be ordained by a special
   class of ministers who succeeded to the apostolic prerogatives (see
   note on ch. 44). Here we have in essence the doctrine of apostolic
   succession. Emphasis, moreover, is laid upon the liturgical functions
   of these presbyter-bishops who stand in the apostolic line. It is they
   who lead worship and have the right to "offer the gifts" (ch. 44:4),
   just as the duly appointed priests of the Old Testament performed the
   various sacrifices (chs. 42 to 44). The sacrificial understanding of
   the Lord's Supper here comes to the fore and is clearly connected with
   the theme of apostolic succession.

   It has been already observed that Clement still uses the terms
   "presbyter" and "bishop" for the same class of persons, the church
   rulers, and we are not therefore to suppose that the monepiscopate has
   been fully established. The local church seems to be governed by a
   board of presbyter-bishops, though one of its number may have had
   special powers and privileges. What, however, is important to note is
   that the main lines of the later development are so plainly prefigured.

    CONCLUSION

   To summarize: Clement's Letter reflects the movement away from the
   Pauline faith to a type of Christianity in which ethical interests and
   concern for law and order predominate. This does not, however, exclude
   both acquaintance with, and some grasp of, the Pauline gospel. The
   cleavage is not so sharp as is sometimes made out. Nor do the Stoic
   expressions to be found in Clement or his interest in, and familiarity
   with, the pagan world (note chs. 37 and 55:1), indicate that he has
   capitulated to an alien culture. Rather must we say that Roman
   Christianity is giving evidence of its background in Hellenistic
   Judaism, and adapting itself to the imperial capital.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [9] Clement of Alexandria cites it as Scripture, and it is found in
   Syriac and Coptic codices of the N.T. as well as being appended to the
   Codex Alexandrinus.

   [10] The relevant passages will be found in J. B. Lightfoot, The
   Apostolic Fathers, Part I, Vol. I, pp. 104 ff.

   [11] Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, ch. 23.

   [12] Ibid., V, ch. 19; VI, 12:3-6.

   [13] The far-flung charity of the Roman church is noted by Ignatius,
   Rom. 1:2. Cf. Dionysius of Corinth apud Eusebius, Hist. eccl. IV.
   23:10.

   [14] Origen, Com. in John 6:36 and Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, ch. 15.
     __________________________________________________________________

  MANUSCRIPTS AND BOOKS

   Despite the fact that Clement's Letter was widely read in Christian
   antiquity, and at one time formed part of the New Testament canon in
   Egypt and Syria, its text was unknown in the West through the Middle
   Ages. Not until 1628, when the fifth century Codex Alexandrinus reached
   England, was it recovered. This Codex of the Bible was the gift of
   Cyril Lucar, the Patriarch of Constantinople, to Charles I. At the end
   of the New Testament two epistles of Clement are appended. The first is
   our document; the second is not an epistle at all but a second century
   homily, wrongly attributed to Clement. Patrick Young (Junius) edited
   the first edition of Clement's Letter from this Codex in 1633. This
   text, unfortunately defective in one page (chs. 57:7 to 63:4 being
   wanting), was the only one known until the discovery of the eleventh
   century Jerusalem Codex by Philotheos Byrennios, which he published in
   1875. An autotype of the latter manuscript is given by J. B. Lightfoot
   in his Apostolic Fathers, Part I, Vol. I, pp. 425-474.

   There are four other witnesses to the text. There is a Syriac version,
   extant in one twelfth century manuscript, now in Cambridge. It was
   published by R. H. Kennett (from Professor Bensley's work) in 1899.
   There is a Latin version, edited by Dom G. Morin in Anecdota
   Maredsolana, Vol. II, 1894. The manuscript belongs to the eleventh
   century, but the translation is very ancient, going back to the second
   or third century. There are finally two Coptic versions independent of
   each other and in the Akhmimic dialect. The better preserved of the two
   is a Berlin papyrus of the fourth century, edited by C. Schmidt in
   Texte und Untersuchungen, XXXII. 1, 1908. Chapters 34:6 to 42:2 are
   lacking. The other and more fragmentary one is from a Strassburg
   manuscript of the fifth century, edited by F. Roesch in 1910,
   Bruchstuecke des I Klemensbriefes. It breaks off at ch. 26:2.

   The best modern edition of the Greek text, and the one used for this
   translation, is that by Karl Bihlmeyer in his revision of F. X. Funk's
   Die apostolischen Vaeter, Part I, Tuebingen, 1924. The editions of J.
   B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, Part I, "S. Clement of Rome,"
   revised edition, London, 1890, and of Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic
   Fathers (Loeb Classics), London, 1912, should also be consulted. The
   text by H. Hemmer in Hemmer and Lejay, Les Peres apostoliques, Part 2,
   Paris, 1909, is based on Funk, Patres apostolici of 1901.

   There are a number of important modern translations. As well as the
   renderings by Lightfoot and Lake in the works just mentioned, there are
   two excellent idiomatic ones: by J. A. Kleist, The Epistles of St.
   Clement of Rome and St. Ignatius of Antioch, Newman Press, Westminster,
   Maryland, 1946, in the series Ancient Christian Writers; and by F. X.
   Glimm, The Apostolic Fathers, Cima Publishing Company, New York, 1947,
   in the series The Fathers of the Church. In the style of the Revised
   Version of the Bible is W. K. Lowther Clarke, The First Epistle of
   Clement to the Corinthians, S.P.C.K., London, 1937. The most recent
   translation is by Edgar Goodspeed in his The Apostolic Fathers: An
   American Translation, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1950.

   In German there are renderings by Adolf Harnack, Das Schreiben der
   roemischen Kirche an die korinthische aus der Zeit Domitians, J. C.
   Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1929; by Rudolf Knopf, Die Lehre der Zwoelf Apostel:
   Die zwei Klemensbriefe, Tuebingen, 1920, in Handbuch zum N. T.; by F.
   Zeller, Die apostolischen Vaeter, Munich, 1918, in the 2d series of the
   Bibliothek der Kirchenvaeter; and by Knopf and Krueger in E. Hennecke,
   Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 2d ed., Tuebingen, 1924.

   In French there is the translation by H. Hemmer in the edition already
   mentioned.

   In Italian there is a rendering by G. Bosio, I Padri apostolici, Part
   I, Societ`a editrice internazionale, Turin, 1940, Vol. VII of the
   series Corona Patrum Salesiana.

   All these editions have introductions and notes. The most illuminating
   are those by Lightfoot, Kleist, Lowther Clarke, Harnack, and Hemmer.
   Knopf is especially good on the lexicographical side and on parallel
   literature. For clarity, incisiveness, and penetration, Harnack's work,
   despite its brevity, is unsurpassed. Written some half a century after
   he first published an edition of Clement, it represents the fruit of a
   lifetime of patristic scholarship. Many of his points are reproduced in
   English dress by Lowther Clarke.

   Studies in Clement are numerous. The most significant are these: W.
   Wrede, Untersuchungen zum ersten Klemensbrief (a basic early work),
   Goettingen, 1891; W. Scherer, Der erste Klemensbrief an die Korinther
   nach seiner Bedeutung fuer die Glaubenslehre der katholischen Kirche
   untersucht, Regensburg, 1902; Th. Schermann, Griechische Zauberpapyri
   und das Gemeinde- und Dankgebet im ersten Kemensbrief, in Texte und
   Untersuchungen, XXXIV. 2b (useful material, but not incisively
   treated), Leipzig, 1909; F. Gerke, Die Stellung des ersten
   Klemensbriefes innerhalb der Entwicklung der altchristlichen
   Gemeindeverfassung und des Kirchenrechts, in Texte und Untersuchungen,
   XLVII. I, J. C. Hinrichs (an elaborate attack on Sohm's theory about
   Church law), Leipzig, 1931; L. Sanders, L'Hellenisme de Saint Clement
   de Rome et le Paulinisme (especially good on the parallels with Stoic
   thought and literary forms, but underestimates Clement's break with
   Pauline theology), Louvain, 1943.

   There are also a number of important articles: F. S. Marsh, "Clement of
   Rome" in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church (the best summary of
   significant issues), 2d ed., 1926; L. Lemme, "Das Judenchristentum der
   Urkirche und der Brief des Klemens Romanus," in Neues Jahrbuch fuer
   deutsche Theologie, I, pp. 325-480, 1892; V. Schweizer, "Glaube und
   Werke bei Klemens Romanus," in Theologische Quartalschrift, 85, pp.
   417-437; 547-575, 1903; W. Praetorius, "Die Bedeutung der beiden
   Klemensbriefe fuer die aelteste Geschichte der kirchlichen Praxis," in
   Zeitschrift fuer die Kirchengeschichte, 33, pp. 347-363, 1912; 501-528;
   E. Dubowy, "Klemens von Rom ueber der Reise Pauli nach Spanien," in
   Biblische Studien, XIX. 3, Freiburg, 1914; A. Plummer, "Danaids and
   Dirces," in The Expository Times, 26, pp. 560-562, 1915; T. Merill, "On
   Clement of Rome," in American Journal of Theology, 22, pp. 426-442,
   1918; G. Bardy, "Expressions stoiciennes dans le I^e Clementis," in
   Recherches de science religieuse, 12, pp. 78-85, 1922; R. van
   Cauwelaert, "L'Intervention de l'Eglise de Rome `a Corinth vers l'an
   96," in Revue d'histoire ecclesiastique, 31, pp. 267-306, 1935; J.
   Zeiller, " propos de l'intervention de l'Eglise de Rome `a Corinth,"
   ibid., pp. 762-764; R. van Cauwelaert, "Reponse aux remarques de M. J.
   Zeiller," ibid., pp. 765-766; O. Cullmann, "Les Causes de la mort de
   Pierre et de Paul d'apres le temoignage de Clement Romain," in Revue
   d'histoire et de philosophie religieuses, 10, pp. 294-300, 1930; S.
   Loesch, "Der Brief des Klemens Romanus. Die Probleme und ihrer
   Beurteilung in der Gegenwart," in Studi dedicati alla memoria de Paolo
   Ubaldi, pp. 177-188, Milan, 1937; P. Meinhold, "Geschehen und Deutung
   im ersten Klemensbrief," in Zeitschrift fuer die Kirchengeschichte, 58,
   pp. 82-129, 1939; R. L. P. Milburn, "The Persecution of Domitian," in
   Church Quarterly Review, 139, pp. 154-164 (disputes the traditional
   view), 1945; J. Klevinghaus, Die theologische Stellung der
   apostolischen Vaeter zur alttestamentlichen Offenbarung, pp. 45-77, C.
   Bertelsmann, Gueltersloh, 1948; W. C. Van Unnik, "Is I Clement 20
   Purely Stoic?" in Vigiliae Christianae, 4, pp. 181-189, 1950.
     __________________________________________________________________

   The Letter of the Church of Rome

   to the Church of Corinth,

   Commonly Called Clement's First Letter

  THE TEXT

   The church of God, living in exile [15] in Rome, to the church of God,
   exiled in Corinth--to you who are called and sanctified by God's will
   through our Lord Jesus Christ. Abundant grace and peace be yours from
   God Almighty through Jesus Christ.

   1 Due, dear friends, to the sudden and successive misfortunes and
   accidents we have encountered, [16] we have, we admit, been rather long
   in turning our attention to your quarrels. We refer to the abominable
   and unholy schism, so alien and foreign to those whom God has chosen,
   which a few impetuous and headstrong fellows have fanned to such a
   pitch of insanity that your good name, once so famous and dear to us
   all, has fallen into the gravest ill repute. ^2Has anyone, indeed,
   stayed with you without attesting the excellence and firmness of your
   faith? without admiring your sensible and considerate Christian piety?
   without broadcasting your spirit of unbounded hospitality? [17] without
   praising your perfect and trustworthy knowledge? ^3For you always acted
   without partiality and walked in God's laws. You obeyed your rulers and
   gave your elders the proper respect. You disciplined the minds of your
   young people in moderation and dignity. You instructed your women to do
   everything with a blameless and pure conscience, and to give their
   husbands the affection they should. You taught them, too, to abide by
   the rule of obedience and to run their homes with dignity and thorough
   discretion.

   2You were all humble and without any pretensions, obeying orders rather
   than issuing them, more gladly giving than receiving. [18] Content with
   Christ's rations and mindful of them, you stored his words carefully up
   in your hearts and held his sufferings before your eyes.

   ^2In consequence, you were all granted a profound and rich peace and an
   insatiable longing to do good, while the Holy Spirit was abundantly
   poured out on you all. ^3You were full of holy counsels, and, with zeal
   for the good and devout confidence, you stretched out your hands [19]
   to almighty God, beseeching him to have mercy should you involuntarily
   have fallen into any sin. ^4Day and night you labored for the whole
   brotherhood, that by your pity and sympathy the sum of his elect might
   be saved. ^5You were sincere and guileless and bore no grudges. ^6All
   sedition and schism were an abomination to you. You wept for the faults
   of your neighbors, while you reckoned their shortcomings as your own.
   ^7You never regretted all the good you did, being "ready for any good
   deed." [20] Possessed of an excellent and devout character, you did
   everything in His fear. The commands and decrees of the Lord were
   engraven on the tablets of your heart. [21] 3You were granted great
   popularity and growing numbers, so that the word of Scripture was
   fulfilled: "My beloved ate and drank and filled out and grew fat and
   started to kick." [22]

   ^2 From this there arose rivalry and envy, strife and sedition,
   persecution and anarchy, war and captivity. ^3And so "the dishonored"
   rose up "against those who were held in honor," [23] those of no
   reputation against the notable, the stupid against the wise, "the young
   against their elders." [24] ^4For this reason righteousness and peace
   are far from you, since each has abandoned the fear of God and grown
   purblind in his faith, and ceased to walk by the rules of his precepts
   or to behave in a way worthy of Christ. Rather does each follow the
   lusts of his evil heart, by reviving that wicked and unholy rivalry,
   [25] by which, indeed, "death came into the world." [26]

   4 For Scripture runs thus: "And it happened after some days that Cain
   brought God a sacrifice from the fruits of the earth, while Abel made
   his offering from the first-born of the sheep and of their fat. ^2And
   God looked with favor on Abel and on his gifts; but he did not heed
   Cain and his sacrifices. ^3And Cain was greatly upset and his face
   fell. ^4And God said to Cain, 'Why are you so upset, and why has your
   face fallen? If you have made a correct offering but not divided it
   correctly, have you not sinned? [27] ^5Keep quiet. Your brother will
   turn to you and you shall rule over him.' [28] ^6And Cain said to his
   brother Abel, 'Let us go into the field.' And it happened that while
   they were in the field Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."
   [29]

   ^7You see, brothers, rivalry and envy are responsible for fratricide.
   ^8Because of rivalry our forefather Jacob fled from the presence of his
   brother Esau. ^9It was rivalry that caused Joseph to be murderously
   persecuted and reduced to slavery. ^10Rivalry forced Moses to flee from
   the presence of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, when he heard his fellow
   clansman say: "Who made you a ruler or judge over us? Do you want to
   slay me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?" [30] ^11By reason of
   rivalry Aaron and Miriam were excluded from the camp. ^12Rivalry cast
   Dathan and Abiram alive into Hades because they revolted against Moses,
   God's servant. ^13Because of rivalry David not only incurred the envy
   of foreigners but was even persecuted by Saul, the king of Israel.

   5 But, passing from examples in antiquity, let us come to the heroes
   [31] nearest our own times. Let us take the noble examples of our own
   generation. ^2By reason of rivalry and envy the greatest and most
   righteous pillars [32] [of the Church] were persecuted, and battled to
   the death. ^3Let us set before our eyes the noble apostles: ^4Peter,
   [33] who by reason of wicked jealousy, not only once or twice but
   frequently endured suffering and thus, bearing his witness, [34] went
   to the glorious place which he merited. ^5By reason of rivalry and
   contention [35] Paul showed how to win the prize for patient endurance.
   ^6Seven times he was in chains; he was exiled, stoned, became a herald
   [of the gospel] in East and West, and won the noble renown which his
   faith merited. ^7To the whole world he taught righteousness, and
   reaching the limits of the West [36] he bore his witness before rulers.
   And so, released from this world, he was taken up into the holy place
   and became the greatest example of patient endurance.

   6 To these men who lived such holy lives there was joined a great
   multitude of the elect who by reason of rivalry were the victims of
   many outrages and tortures and who became outstanding examples among
   us. ^2By reason of rivalry women were persecuted in the roles of
   Danaids and Dircae. [37] Victims of dreadful and blasphemous outrages,
   they ran with sureness the course of faith to the finish, and despite
   their physical weakness won a notable prize. ^3It was rivalry that
   estranged wives from their husbands and annulled the saying of our
   father Adam, "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." [38]
   ^4Rivalry and contention have overthrown great cities and uprooted
   mighty nations.

   7 We are writing in this vein, dear friends, not only to admonish you
   but also to remind ourselves. For we are in the same arena and involved
   in the same struggle. ^2Hence we should give up empty and futile
   concerns, and turn to the glorious and holy rule of our tradition. [39]
   ^3Let us note what is good, what is pleasing and acceptable to Him who
   made us. ^4Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and let us
   realize how precious it is to his Father, since it was poured out for
   our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to the whole world.
   ^5Let us go through all the generations and observe that from one
   generation to another the Master "has afforded and opportunity of
   repentance" [40] to those who are willing to turn to him. ^6Noah
   preached repentance and those who heeded him were saved. ^7Jonah
   preached destruction to the Ninevites; and when they had repented of
   their sins, they propitiated God with their prayers and gained
   salvation despite the fact they were not God's people.

   8 The ministers of God's grace spoke about repentance through the Holy
   Spirit, ^2and the Master of the universe himself spoke of repentance
   with an oath: "For as I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death
   of the sinner, but his repentance." ^3He added, too, this generous
   consideration: "Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity. Say to the
   sons of my people, Should your sins reach from earth to heaven, and be
   redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, and should you turn to
   me with your whole heart and say 'Father!' I will heed you as though
   you were a holy people." [41] ^4And in another place this is what he
   says: "Wash and become clean: rid your souls of wickedness before my
   eyes. Cease from your wickedness, learn to behave well, devote
   yourselves to justice, rescue the wronged, uphold the rights of the
   orphan and grant the widow justice. And come, let us reason together,
   says the Lord; and if your sins are like purple, I will make them white
   as snow, and if they are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool.
   And if you are willing and heed me, you shall eat the good things of
   the earth. But if you are unwilling and do not heed me, the sword shall
   devour you. For it is the mouth of the Lord that has spoken thus." [42]
   ^5Since, there, he wanted all those he loved to have an opportunity to
   repent, he confirmed this by his almighty will.

   9 So, then, let us fall in with his magnificent and glorious intention,
   and let us prostrate ourselves before him as suppliants of his mercy
   and kindness. Let us turn to his compassion and give up useless
   ventures and strife, and rivalry that leads to death. ^2Let us father
   our eyes on those who have served his magnificent glory to perfection.
   ^3Let us take Enoch, for instance, who, because he proved upright by
   his obedience, was translated and never died. ^4Noah proved faithful in
   his ministry and preached a new birth to the world. Through him,
   therefore, the Master saved those living creatures that entered
   peacefully into the ark. 10 Abraham, who was called "The Friend,"
   proved faithful in obeying God's words. ^2It was obedience which led
   him to quit his country, his kindred, and his father's house, so that
   by leaving a paltry country, a mean kindred, and an insignificant
   house, he might inherit God's promises. ^3For he told him: "Depart from
   your country and from your kindred and from the house of your father,
   and go to a land which I will show you. And I will make you great among
   the nations and I will bless you and I will make your name great and
   you will be blessed. And I will bless those who bless you and curse
   those who curse you, and all the tribes of the earth will be blessed
   through you." [43] ^4And again, when he separated from Lot, God told
   him: "Lift up your eyes and from where you now are look to the North,
   the South, the East, and the West, for all the land that you see I will
   give you and your seed forever. ^5And I will make your seed like the
   dust of the earth. If anybody can count the dust of the earth, then
   your seed will be counted." [44] ^6And again he says: "God led Abraham
   out and told him: Look up to heaven and count the stars, if you can.
   That is how numerous your seed will be! And Abraham believed God and
   this was put down to his credit as an upright deed." [45] ^7Because of
   his faith and hospitality a son was granted to him in his old age, and
   he obediently offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the hills
   which he indicated. 11 Because of his hospitality and religious
   devotion, Lot was saved from Sodom, when the whole countryside was
   condemned to fire and brimstone. In that way the Master made it clear
   that he does not forsake those who put their hope on him, but delivers
   to punishment and torment those who turn away from him. ^2Of this
   latter, to be sure, his wife became and example. After quitting the
   city with him, she changed her mind and fell out with him, with the
   result that she became a pillar of salt that exists to this day. In
   this way it was made evident to all that the double-minded and those
   who question God's power are condemned and become a warning to all
   generations.

   12 Because of her faith and hospitality Rahab the harlot was saved.
   ^2For when the spies were sent to Jericho by Joshua the son of Nun, the
   king of the land got to know that they had come to spy on his country.
   Consequently he sent out men to capture them, intending to arrest them
   and put them to death. ^3The hospitable Rahab, however, took them in
   and hid them in a room upstairs under stalks of flax. ^4When the king's
   men learned of it, they said to her: "The men who are spying on our
   country went into your house. Bring them out, for this is the king's
   command." But she at once answered, "The men you seek came into my
   house, but they immediately departed and are on their way," and she
   pointed in the opposite direction. ^5And she said to the men: "I am
   absolutely certain that the Lord God is handing this country over to
   you; for fear and terror of you have fallen on all its people. When,
   therefore, you come to take it, rescue me and my father's house." ^6And
   they said to her: "It shall be exactly as you say. When you learn of
   our approach, you shall gather together all your family under your roof
   and they shall be saved. But whoever is found outside the house will
   perish." ^7And in addition they gave her a sign that she should hang a
   piece of scarlet from her house. By this they made it clear that it was
   by the blood of the Lord that redemption was going to come to all who
   believe in God and hope on him. ^8You see, dear friends, that not only
   faith but prophecy as well is exemplified in this woman.

   13 Let us then, brothers, be humble and be rid of all pretensions and
   arrogance and silliness and anger. Let us act as Scripture bids us, for
   the Holy Spirit says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the
   strong man of his might or the rich man of his wealth. But let him that
   boasts boast of the Lord; and so he will seek Him out and act justly
   and uprightly." [46] Especially let us recall the words of the Lord
   Jesus, which he uttered to teach considerateness and patience. ^2For
   this is what he said: "Show mercy, that you may be shown mercy.
   Forgive, that you may be forgiven. As you behave to others, so they
   will behave to you. As you give, so will you get. As you judge, so you
   will be judged. As you show kindness, so will you receive kindness. The
   measure you give will be the measure you get." [47] ^3Let us firmly
   hold on to this commandment and these injunctions so that in our
   conduct we may obey his holy words and be humble. ^4For Holy Scripture
   says, "On whom shall I look except on him who is humble and gentle and
   who trembles at my words?" [48]

   14 It is right, then, and holy, brothers, that we should obey God
   rather than follow those arrogant and disorderly fellows who take the
   lead in stirring up loathsome rivalry. ^2For we shall incur no ordinary
   harm, but rather great danger, if we recklessly give ourselves over to
   the designs of men who launch out into strife and sedition to alienate
   us from what is right. ^3Let us be kind to one another in line with the
   compassion and tenderness of him who created us. ^4For it is written:
   "The kind shall inhabit the land, and the innocent shall be left upon
   it. But those who transgress shall be destroyed from off it." [49]
   ^5And again he says: "I saw an ungodly man exalted and elevated like
   the cedars of Lebanon. But I passed by and, look, he had vanished! And
   I searched for his place and could not find it. Maintain innocence and
   have an eye for uprightness, for a man of peace will have descendants."
   [50]

   15 Let us, then, attach ourselves to those who are religiously devoted
   to peace, and not to those who wish for it hypocritically. ^2For
   somewhere it is said, "This people honors me with its lips, but its
   heart is far removed from me." [51] ^3And again, "They blessed with
   their mouth, but they cursed with their heart." [52] ^4And again it
   says: "They loved him with their mouth, but they lied to him with their
   tongue. Their heart was not straightforward with him, and they were not
   faithful to his covenant. ^5Therefore let the deceitful lips that speak
   evil against the righteous be struck dumb." [53] And again: "May the
   Lord destroy all deceitful lips and the tongue that boasts unduly and
   those who say, 'We will boast of our tongues; our lips are our own; who
   is Lord over us?' ^6Because of the wretchedness of the poor and the
   groans of the needy I will now arise, says the Lord. I will place him
   in safety: I will act boldly in his cause." [54]

   16 It is to the humble that Christ belongs, not to those who exalt
   themselves above his flock. ^2The scepter of God's majesty, the Lord
   Jesus Christ, did not come with the pomp of pride or arrogance, though
   he could have done so. But he came in humility just as the Holy Spirit
   said of him. ^3For Scripture reads: "Lord, who has believed what we
   heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Before him we
   announced that he was like a child, like a root in thirsty ground. He
   has no comeliness or glory. We saw him, and he had neither comeliness
   nor beauty. But his appearance was ignominious, deficient when compared
   to man's stature. He was a man marred by stripes and toil, and
   experienced in enduring weakness. Because his face was turned away, he
   was dishonored and disregarded. ^4He it is who bears our sins and
   suffers pain for us. And we regarded him as subject to toil and stripes
   and affliction. ^5But it was for our sins that he was wounded and for
   our transgressions that he suffered. To bring us peace he was punished:
   by his stripes we were healed. ^6Like sheep we have all gone astray:
   each one went astray in his own way. ^7And the Lord delivered him up
   for our sins; and he does not open his mouth because he is abused. Like
   a sheep he is led off to be slaughtered; and just as a lamb before its
   shearers is dumb, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his
   condemnation ended. ^8Who shall tell about his posterity? For his life
   was taken away from the earth. ^9Because of the transgressions of my
   people he came to his death. ^10And I will give the wicked as an
   offering for his burial and the rich for his death. For he did no
   iniquity and no deceit was found in his mouth. And the Lord's will is
   to cleanse him of his stripes. ^11If you make an offering for sin, your
   soul will see a long-lived posterity. ^12And the Lord's will is to do
   away with the toil of his soul, to show him light and to form him with
   understanding, to justify an upright man who serves many well. And he
   himself will bear their sins. ^13For this reason he shall have many
   heirs and he shall share the spoils of the strong, because his life was
   delivered up to death and he was reckoned among transgressors. ^14And
   he it was who bore the sins of many and was delivered up because of
   their sins." [55]

   ^15And again he himself says: "I am a worm and not a man, a disgrace to
   mankind and despised by the people. ^16All those who saw me mocked me,
   they made mouths at me and shook their heads, saying: 'He hoped on the
   Lord. Let him rescue him, let him save him, since he is pleased with
   him!' [56]

   ^17You see, dear friends, the kind of example we have been given. And
   so, if the Lord humbled himself in this way, what should we do who
   through him have come under the yoke of his grace? 17 Let us be
   imitators even of those who wandered around "in the skins of goats and
   sheep," [57] and preached the coming of the Christ. We refer to the
   prophets Elijah and Elisha-- yes, and Ezekiel, too--and to the heroes
   of old as well. ^2Abraham was widely renowned and called the Friend of
   God. When he gazed on God's glory, he declared in his humility, "I am
   only dust and ashes." [58] ^3This is what is written about Job: "Job
   was an upright and innocent man, sincere, devout, and one who avoided
   all evil." [59] ^4But he was his own accuser when he said, "There is
   none who is free from stain, not even if his life lasts but a single
   day." [60] ^5Moses was called "faithful in all God's house" [61] and
   God used him to bring His judgment on Egypt with scourges and torments.
   Yet even he, despite the great glory he was given, did not boast; but
   when he was granted an oracle from the bush, said: "Who am I that you
   send me? I have a feeble voice and a slow tongue." [62] ^6And again he
   says, "I am but steam from a pot." [63]

   18 And what shall we say of the famous David? God said of him, "I have
   discovered a man after my own heart, David the son of Jesse: I have
   anointed him with eternal mercy." [64] ^2But he too says to God: "Have
   mercy upon me, O God, according to your great mercy; and according to
   the wealth of your compassion wipe out my transgression. ^3Wash me
   thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I
   acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me. ^4Against
   you only have I sinned; and I have done evil in your sight. The result
   is that you are right when you speak and are acquitted when you are
   judged. ^5For, see, I was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did my
   mother bear me. ^6For, see, you have loved the truth: you have revealed
   to me the mysteries and secrets of your wisdom. ^7You shall sprinkle me
   with hyssop and I shall be cleansed. You shall wash me and I shall be
   whiter than snow. ^8You will make me hear joy and gladness: the bones
   which have been humbled shall rejoice. ^9Turn your face from my sins
   and wipe away all my iniquities. ^10Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a right spirit in my very core. ^11Cast me not away from your
   presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit away from me. ^12Give me
   back the gladness of your salvation, and strengthen me with your
   guiding spirit. ^13I will teach your ways to the wicked, and the
   godless shall turn back to you. ^14Save me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
   the God of my salvation. ^15My tongue will rejoice in your
   righteousness. You will open my mouth, O Lord, and my lips will
   proclaim your praise. ^16For if you had wanted sacrifice, I would have
   given it. You will not find pleasure in burnt offerings. ^17The
   sacrifice for God is a broken spirit: a broken and a humbled heart, O
   God, you will not despise." [65]

   19 The humility and obedient submissiveness of so many and so famous
   heroes have improved not only us but our fathers before us, and all who
   have received His oracles in fear and sincerity. ^2Since, then, we have
   benefited by many great and glorious deeds, let us run on to the goal
   of peace, which was handed down to us from the beginning. Let us fix
   our eyes on the Father and Creator of the universe and cling to his
   magnificent and excellent gifts of peace and kindness to us. ^3Let us
   see him in our minds and look with the eyes of our souls on his patient
   purpose. Let us consider how free he is from anger toward his whole
   creation.

   20 The heavens move at his direction and peacefully obey him. ^2Day and
   night observe the course he has appointed them, without getting in each
   other's way. ^3The sun and the moon and the choirs of stars roll on
   harmoniously in their appointed courses at his command, and with never
   a deviation. ^4By his will and without dissension or altering anything
   he has decreed the earth becomes fruitful at the proper seasons and
   brings forth abundant food for men and beasts and every living thing
   upon it. ^5The unsearchable, abysmal depths and the indescribable
   regions [66] of the underworld are subject to the same decrees. ^6The
   basin of the boundless sea is by his arrangement constructed to hold
   the heaped up waters, so that the sea does not flow beyond the barriers
   surrounding it, but does just as he bids it. ^7For he said, "Thus far
   you shall come, and your waves shall break within you." [67] ^8The
   ocean which men cannot pass, and the worlds beyond it, are governed by
   the same decrees of the Master. ^9The seasons, spring, summer, autumn,
   and winter, peacefully give way to each other. ^10The winds from their
   different points perform their service at the proper time and without
   hindrance. Perennial springs, created for enjoyment and health, never
   fail to offer their life-giving breasts to men. The tiniest creatures
   come together in harmony and peace. ^11All these things the great
   Creator and Master of the universe ordained to exist in peace and
   harmony. Thus, he showered his benefits on them all, but most
   abundantly on us who have taken refuge in his compassion through our
   Lord Jesus Christ, ^12to whom be glory and majesty forever and ever.
   Amen. [68]

   21 Take care, dear friends, that his many blessings do not turn out to
   be our condemnation, which will be the case if we fail to live worthily
   of him, to act in concert, and to do what is good and pleasing to him.
   ^2For he says somewhere, "The Spirit of the Lord is a lamp which
   searches the hidden depths of the

   3 heart." [69] ^3Let us realize how near he is, and that none of our
   thoughts or of the ideas we have escapes his notice. ^4It is right,
   therefore, that we should not be deserters, disobeying his will.
   ^5Rather than offend God, let us offend foolish and stupid men who
   exalt themselves and boast with their pretensions to fine speech. ^6Let
   us reverence the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood was given for us. Let us
   respect those who rule over us. Let us honor our elders. Let us rear
   the young in the fear of God. Let us direct our women to what is good.
   ^7Let them show a purity of character we can admire. Let them reveal a
   genuine sense of modesty. By their reticence let them show that their
   tongues are considerate. Let them not play favorites in showing
   affection, but in holiness let them love all equally, who fear God.
   ^7Let our children have a Christian training. Let them learn the value
   God sets on humility, what power pure love has with him, how good and
   excellent it is to fear him, and how this means salvation to everybody
   who lives in his fear with holiness and a pure conscience. ^9For he is
   the searcher of thoughts and of desires. It is his breath which is in
   us; and when he wants to, he will take it away.

   22 Now Christian faith confirms all this. For this is how Christ
   addresses us through his Holy Spirit: "Come, my children,2 listen to
   me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. ^2What man is there that
   desires life, and loves to see good days? ^3Keep your tongue from evil
   and your lips from uttering deceit. ^4Refrain from evil and do good.
   ^5Seek peace and follow after it. ^6The eyes of the Lord are over the
   upright and his ears are open to their petitions. But the face of the
   Lord is turned against those who do evil, to eradicate their memory
   from the earth. ^7The upright man cried out and the Lord heeded him and
   delivered him out of all his troubles. ^8Manifold are the plagues of
   the sinner, but his mercy will enfold those who hope on the Lord." [70]

   23 The all-merciful and beneficent Father has compassion on those who
   fear him, and with kindness and love he grants his favors to those who
   approach him with a sincere heart. ^2For this reason we must not be
   double-minded, and our souls must not harbor wrong notions about his
   excellent and glorious gifts. ^3Let that verse of Scripture be remote
   from us, which says: "Wretched are the double-minded, those who doubt
   in their soul and say, `We have heard these things even in our fathers'
   times, and, see, we have grown old and none of them has happened to
   us.' ^4You fools! Compare yourselves to a tree. Take a vine: first it
   sheds its leaves, then comes a bud, then a leaf, then a flower, and
   after this a sour grape, and finally a ripe bunch." [71] You note that
   the fruit of the tree reaches its maturity in a short time. ^5So, to be
   sure, swiftly and suddenly his purpose will be accomplished, just as
   Scripture, too, testifies: "Quickly he will come and not delay, and the
   Lord will come suddenly into his temple, even the Holy One whom you
   expect." [72]

   24 Let us consider, dear friends, how the Master continually points out
   to us that there will be a future resurrection. Of this he made the
   Lord Jesus Christ the first fruits by raising him from the dead. ^2Let
   us take note, dear friends, of the resurrection at the natural seasons.
   ^3Day and night demonstrate resurrection. Night passes and day comes.
   Day departs and night returns. ^4Take the crops as examples. How and in
   what way is the seeding done? ^5The sower goes out and casts each of
   his seeds in the ground. [73] When they fall on the ground they are dry
   and bare, and they decay. But then the marvelous providence of the
   Master resurrects them from their decay, and from a single seed many
   grow and bear fruit.

   25 Let us note the remarkable token which comes from the East, from the
   neighborhood, that is, of Arabia. ^2There is a bird which is called a
   phoenix. It is the only one of its kind and lives five hundred years.
   When the time for its departure and death draws near, it makes a burial
   nest for itself from frankincense, myrrh, and other spices; and when
   the time is up, it gets into it and dies. ^3From its decaying flesh a
   worm is produced, which is nourished by the secretions of the dead
   creature and grows wings. When it is full-fledged, it takes up the
   burial nest containing the bones of its predecessor, and manages to
   carry them all the way from Arabia to the Egyptian city called
   Heliopolis. ^4And in broad daylight, so that everyone can see, it
   lights at the altar of the sun and puts them down there, and so starts
   home again. ^5The priests then look up their dated records and discover
   it has come after a lapse of five hundred years. [74] 26 Shall we,
   then, imagine that it is something great and surprising if the Creator
   of the universe raises up those who have served him in holiness and in
   the assurance born of a good faith, when he uses a mere bird to
   illustrate the greatness of his promise? ^2For he says somewhere: "And
   you shall raise me up and I shall give you thanks" [75] and, "I lay
   down and slept: I rose up because you are with me." [76] ^3And again
   Job says, "And you will make this flesh of mine, which has endured all
   this, to rise up." [77]

   27 With this hope, then, let us attach ourselves to him who is faithful
   to his promises and just in his judgments. ^2He who bids us to refrain
   from lying is all the less likely to lie himself. For nothing is
   impossible to God save lying. [78] ^3Let us, then, rekindle our faith
   in him, and bear in mind that nothing is beyond his reach. ^4By his
   majestic word he established the universe, and by his word he can bring
   it to an end. ^5"Who shall say to him, What have you done? Or who shall
   resist his mighty strength?" [79] He will do everything when he wants
   to and as he wants to. And not one of the things he has decreed will
   fail. ^6Everything is open to his sight and nothing escapes his will.
   ^7For "the heavens declare God's glory and the sky proclaims the work
   of his hands. Day pours forth words to day; and night imparts knowledge
   to night. And there are neither words nor speech, and their voices are
   not heard." [80]

   28 Since, then, he sees and hears everything, we should fear him and
   rid ourselves of wicked desires that issue in base deeds. By so doing
   we shall be sheltered by his mercy from the judgments to come. ^2For
   where can any of us flee to escape his mighty hand? What world is there
   to receive anyone who deserts him? ^3For Scripture says somewhere:
   "Where shall I go and where shall I hide from your presence? If I go up
   to heaven, you are there. If I go off to the ends of the earth, there
   is your right hand. If I make my bed in the depths, there is your
   spirit." [81] ^4Where, then, can anyone go or where can he flee to
   escape from him who embraces everything?

   29 We must, then, approach him with our souls holy, lifting up pure and
   undefiled hands to him, loving our kind and compassionate Father, who
   has made us his chosen portion. ^2For thus it is written: "When the
   Most High divided the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, he
   fixed the boundaries of the nations to suit the number of God's angels.
   [82] The Lord's portion became his people, Jacob: Israel was the lot
   that fell to him." [83] ^3And in another place it says: "Behold, the
   Lord takes for himself a people from among the nations, just as a man
   takes the first fruits of his threshing floor; and the Holy of Holies
   shall come forth from that nation." [84]

   30 Since, then, we are a holy portion, we should do everything that
   makes for holiness. We should flee from slandering, vile and impure
   embraces, drunkenness, rioting, filthy lusts, detestable adultery, and
   disgusting arrogance. ^2"For God," says Scripture, "resists the
   arrogant, but gives grace to the humble." [85] ^3We should attach
   ourselves to those to whom God's grace has been given. We should clothe
   ourselves with concord, being humble, self-controlled, far removed from
   all gossiping and slandering, and justified by our deeds, not by words.
   ^4For it says: "He who talks a lot will hear much in reply. Or does the
   prattler imagine he is right? ^5Blessed is the one his mother bore to
   be short-lived. Do not indulge in talking overmuch." [86] ^6We should
   leave God to praise us and not praise ourselves. For God detests
   self-praisers. ^7Let others applaud our good deeds, as it was with our
   righteous forefathers. ^8Presumption, audacity, and recklessness are
   traits of those accursed by God. But considerateness, humility, and
   modesty are the traits of those whom God has blessed.

   31 Let us, then, cling to his blessing and note what leads to it. ^2Let
   us unfold the tale of the ancient past. Why was our father Abraham
   blessed? Was it not because he acted in righteousness and truth,
   prompted by faith? ^3Isaac, fully realizing what was going to happen,
   gladly let himself be led to sacrifice. ^4In humility Jacob quit his
   homeland because of his brother. He went to Laban and became his slave,
   and to him there were given the twelve scepters of the tribes of
   Israel. 32 And if anyone will candidly look into each example, he will
   realize the magnificence of the gifts God gives.

   ^2For from Jacob there came all the priests and the Levites who serve
   at God's altar. From him comes the Lord Jesus so far as his human
   nature goes. From him there come the kings and rulers and governors of
   Judah. Nor is the glory of the other tribes derived from him
   insignificant. For God promised that "your seed shall be as the stars
   of heaven." [87] ^3So all of them received honor and greatness, not
   through themselves or their own deeds or the right things they did, but
   through his will. ^4And we, therefore, who by his will have been called
   in Jesus Christ, are not justified of ourselves or by our wisdom or
   insight or religious devotion or the holy deeds we have done from the
   heart, but by that faith by which almighty God has justified all men
   from the very beginning. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

   33 What, then, brothers, ought we to do? [88] Should we grow slack in
   doing good and give up love? May the Lord never permit this to happen
   at any rate to us! Rather should we be energetic in doing "every good
   deed" [89] with earnestness and eagerness. ^2For the Creator and Master
   of the universe himself rejoices in his works. ^3Thus by his almighty
   power he established the heavens and by his inscrutable wisdom he
   arranged them. He separated the land from the water surrounding it and
   fixed it upon the sure foundation of his own will. By his decree he
   brought into existence the living creatures which roam on it; and after
   creating the sea and the creatures which inhabit it, he fixed its
   boundaries by his power. ^4Above all, with his holy and pure hands he
   formed man, his outstanding and greatest achievement, stamped with his
   own image. ^5For this is what God said: "Let us make man in our own
   image and likeness. And God made man: male and female he created." [90]
   ^6And so, when he had finished all this, he praised it and blessed it
   and said, "Increase and multiply." [91] ^7We should observe that all
   the righteous have been adorned with good deeds and the very Lord
   adorns himself with good deeds and rejoices. ^8Since, then, we have
   this example, we should unhesitatingly give ourselves to his will, and
   put all our effort into acting uprightly.

   34 The good laborer accepts the bread he has earned with his head held
   high; the lazy and negligent workman cannot look his employer in the
   face. ^2We must, then, be eager to do good; for everything comes from
   Him. ^3For he warns us: "See, the Lord is coming. He is bringing his
   reward with him, to pay each one according to his work." [92] ^4He bids
   us, therefore, to believe on him with all our heart, and not to be
   slack or negligent in "every good deed." [93] ^5He should be the basis
   of our boasting and assurance. We should be subject to his will. We
   should note how the whole throng of his angels stand ready to serve his
   will. ^6For Scripture says: "Ten thousand times ten thousand stood by
   him, and thousands of thousands ministered to him and cried out: Holy,
   holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: all creation is full of his glory."
   [94] ^7We too, then, should gather together for worship in concord and
   mutual trust, and earnestly beseech him as it were with one mouth, that
   we may share in his great and glorious promises. ^8For he says, "Eye
   has not seen and ear has not heard and man's heart has not conceived
   what he has prepared for those who patiently wait for him." [95]

   35 How blessed and amazing are God's gifts, dear friends! ^2Life with
   immortality, splendor with righteousness, truth with confidence, faith
   with assurance, self-control with holiness! And all these things are
   within our comprehension. ^3What, then, is being prepared for those who
   wait for him? The Creator and Father of eternity, the all-holy, himself
   knows how great and wonderful it is. ^4We, then, should make every
   effort to be found in the number of those who are patiently looking for
   him, so that we may share in the gifts he has promised. ^5And how shall
   this be, dear friends? If our mind is faithfully fixed on God; if we
   seek out what pleases and delights him; if we do what is in accord with
   his pure will, and follow in the way of truth. If we rid ourselves of
   all wickedness, evil, avarice, contentiousness, malice, fraud, gossip,
   slander, hatred of God, arrogance, pretension, conceit, and
   inhospitality. [96] ^6God hates those who act in this way; "and not
   only those who do these things but those who applaud them." [97] ^7For
   Scripture says: "But God told the sinner: Why do you speak of my
   statutes and have my covenant on your lips? ^8You hated discipline and
   turned your back on my words. If you saw a thief you went along with
   him, and you threw in your lot with adulterers. Your mouth overflowed
   with iniquity, and your tongue wove deceit. You sat there slandering
   your brother and putting a stumbling block in the way of your mother's
   son. ^9This you did, and I kept silent. You suspected, you wicked man,
   that I would be like you. ^10I will reproach you and show you your very
   self. ^11Ponder, then, these things, you who forget God, lest he seize
   you like a lion and there be no one to save you. ^12A sacrifice of
   praise will glorify me, and that is the way by which I will show him
   God's salvation." [98]

   36 This is the way, dear friends, in which we found our salvation,
   Jesus Christ, the high priest of our offerings, the protector and
   helper of our weakness. ^2Through him we fix our gaze on the heights of
   heaven. In him we see mirrored God's pure and transcendent face.
   Through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened. Through him our
   foolish and darkened understanding springs up to the light. Through him
   the Master has willed that we should taste immortal knowledge. For,
   "since he reflects God's splendor, he is as superior to the angels as
   his title is more distinguished than theirs." [99] ^3For thus it is
   written: "He who makes his angels winds, and his ministers flames of
   fire." [100] ^4But of his son this is what the Master said: "You are my
   son: today I have begotten you. Ask me and I will give you the nations
   for you to inherit, and the ends of the earth for you to keep." [101]
   ^5And again he says to him: "Sit at my right hand until I make your
   enemies your footstool." [102] ^6Who are meant by "enemies"? Those who
   are wicked and resist his will.

   37 Really in earnest, then, brothers, we must march under his
   irreproachable orders. ^2Let us note with what discipline, readiness,
   and obedience those who serve under our generals carry out orders.
   ^3Not everybody is a general, colonel, captain, sergeant, and so on.
   But "each in his own rank" [103] carries out the orders of the emperor
   and of the generals. ^4The great cannot exist without the small;
   neither can the small exist without the great. All are linked together;
   and this has an advantage. ^5Take our body, for instance. The head
   cannot get along without the feet. Nor, similarly, can the feet get
   along without the head. "The tiniest parts of our body are essential to
   it," [104] and are valuable to the total body. Yes, they all act in
   concord, and are united in a single obedience to preserve the whole
   body.

   38 Following this out, we must preserve our Christian body too in its
   entirety. Each must be subject to his neighbor, according to his
   special gifts. ^2The strong must take care of the weak; the weak must
   look up to the strong. The rich must provide for the poor; the poor
   must thank God for giving him someone to meet his needs. The wise man
   must show his wisdom not in words but in good deeds. The humble must
   not brag about his humility; but should give others occasion to mention
   it. He who is continent must not put on airs. He must recognize that
   his self-control is a gift from another. ^3We must take to heart,
   brothers, from what stuff we were created, what kind of creatures we
   were when we entered the world, from what a dark grave he who fashioned
   and created us brought us into his world. And we must realize the
   preparations he so generously made before we were born. ^4Since, then,
   we owe all this to him, we ought to give him unbounded thanks. To him
   be glory forever and ever. Amen.

   39 Thoughtless, silly, senseless, and ignorant folk mock and jeer at
   us, in an effort, so they imagine, to exalt themselves. ^2But what can
   a mere mortal do? What power has a creature of earth? ^3For it is
   written: "There was no shape before my eyes, but I heard a breath and a
   voice. ^4What! Can a mortal be pure before the Lord? Or can a man be
   blameless for his actions, if he does not believe in His servants and
   finds something wrong with His angels? ^5Not even heaven is pure in His
   sight: let alone those who live in houses of clay--of the very same
   clay of which we ourselves are made. He smites them like a moth; and
   they do not last from dawn to dusk. They perish, for they cannot help
   themselves. ^6He breathes on them, and they die for lack of wisdom.
   ^7Call out and see if anyone will heed you, or if you will see any of
   the holy angels. For wrath destroys a stupid man, and rivalry is the
   death of one in error. ^8I have seen the foolish taking root, but
   suddenly their home is swept away. ^9May their sons be far from safety!
   May they be mocked at the doors of lesser men, and there will be none
   to deliver them. For what has been prepared by them, the righteous will
   eat; and they shall not be delivered from troubles." [105]

   40 Now that this is clear to us and we have peered into the depths of
   the divine knowledge, we are bound to do in an orderly fashion all that
   the Master has bidden us to do at the proper times he set. ^2He ordered
   sacrifices and services to be performed; and required this to be done,
   not in a careless and disorderly way, but at the times and seasons he
   fixed. ^3Where he wants them performed, and by whom, he himself fixed
   by his supreme will, so that everything should be done in a holy way
   and with his approval, and should be acceptable to his will. ^4Those,
   therefore, who make their offerings at the time set, win his approval
   and blessing. For they follow the Master's orders and do no wrong.
   ^5The high priest is given his particular duties: the priests are
   assigned their special place, while on the Levites particular tasks are
   imposed. The layman is bound by the layman's code.

   41 "Each of us," brothers, "in his own rank" [106] must win God's
   approval and have a clear conscience. We must not transgress the rules
   laid down for our ministry, but must perform it reverently. ^2Not
   everywhere, brothers, are the different sacrifices--the daily ones, the
   freewill offerings, and those for sins and trespasses--offered, but
   only in Jerusalem. And even there sacrifices are not made at any point,
   but only in front of the sanctuary, at the altar, after the high priest
   and the ministers mentioned have inspected the offering for blemishes.
   ^3Those, therefore, who act in any way at variance with his will,
   suffer the penalty of death. ^4You see, brothers, the more knowledge we
   are given, the greater risks we run.

   42 The apostles received the gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ;
   Jesus, the Christ, was sent from God. ^2Thus Christ is from God and the
   apostles from Christ. In both instances the orderly procedure depends
   on God's will. ^3And so the apostles, after receiving their orders and
   being fully convinced by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and
   assured by God's word, went out in the confidence of the Holy Spirit to
   preach the good news that God's Kingdom was about to come. ^4They
   preached in country and city, and appointed their first converts, after
   testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future
   believers. ^5Nor was this any novelty, for Scripture had mentioned
   bishops and deacons long before. For this is what Scripture says
   somewhere: "I will appoint their bishops in righteousness and their
   deacons in faith." [107]

   43 And is it any wonder that those Christians whom God had entrusted
   with such a duty should have appointed the officers mentioned? For the
   blessed Moses too, "who was a faithful servant in all God's house,"
   [108] recorded in the sacred books all the orders given to him, and the
   rest of the prophets followed in his train by testifying with him to
   his legislation. ^2Now, when rivalry for the priesthood arose and the
   tribes started quarreling as to which of them should be honored with
   this glorious privilege, Moses bid the twelve tribal chiefs bring him
   rods, on each of which was written the name of one of the tribes. These
   he took and bound, sealing them with the rings of the tribal leaders;
   and he put them in the tent of testimony on God's table. ^3Then he shut
   the tent and put seals on the keys just as he had on the rods. ^4And he
   told them: "Brothers, the tribe whose rod puts forth buds is the one
   God has chosen for the priesthood and for his ministry." ^5Early the
   next morning he called all Israel together, six hundred thousand
   strong, and showed the seals to the tribal chiefs and opened the tent
   of testimony and brought out the rods. And it was discovered that
   Aaron's rod had not only budded, but was actually bearing fruit. ^6What
   do you think, dear friends? Did not Moses know in advance that this was
   going to happen? Why certainly. But he acted the way he did in order to
   forestall anarchy in Israel, and so that the name of the true and only
   God might be glorified. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

   44 Now our apostles, thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, knew that there
   was going to be strife over the title of bishop. ^2It was for this
   reason and because they had been given an accurate knowledge of the
   future, that they appointed the officers we have mentioned.
   Furthermore, they later added a codicil to the effect that, should
   these die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry. [109]
   ^3In the light of this, we view it as a breach of justice to remove
   from their ministry those who were appointed either by them [i.e., the
   apostles] or later on and with the whole church's consent, by others of
   the proper standing, and who, long enjoying everybody's approval, have
   ministered to Christ's flock faultlessly, humbly, quietly, and
   unassumingly. ^4For we shall be guilty of no slight sin if we eject
   from the episcopate men who have offered the sacrifices with innocence
   and holiness. ^5Happy, indeed, are those presbyters who have already
   passed on, and who ended a life of fruitfulness with their task
   complete. For they need not fear that anyone will remove them from
   their secure positions. ^6But you, we observe, have removed a number of
   people, despite their good conduct, from a ministry they have fulfilled
   with honor and integrity. 45 Your contention and rivalry, brothers,
   thus touches matters that bear on our salvation.

   ^2You have studied Holy Scripture, which contains the truth and is
   inspired by the Holy Spirit. ^3You realize that there is nothing wrong
   or misleading written in it. You will not find that upright people have
   ever been disowned by holy men. ^4The righteous, to be sure, have been
   persecuted, but by wicked men. They have been imprisoned, but by the
   godless. They have been stoned by transgressors, slain by men prompted
   by abominable and wicked rivalry. ^5Yet in such sufferings they bore up
   nobly. ^6What shall we say, brothers? Was Daniel cast into a den of
   lions by those who revered God? ^7Or was Ananias, Azarias, or Mishael
   shut up in the fiery furnace by men devoted to the magnificent arid
   glorious worship of the Most High? Not for a moment! Who, then, was it
   that did such things? Detestable men, thoroughly and completely wicked,
   whose factiousness drove them to such a pitch of fury that they
   tormented those who resolutely served God in holiness and innocence.
   They failed to realize that the Most High is the champion and defender
   of those who worship his excellent name with a pure conscience. To him
   be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ^8But those who held out with
   confidence inherited glory and honor. They were exalted, and God
   inscribed them on his memory forever and ever. Amen.

   46 Brothers, we must follow such examples. ^2For it is written: "Follow
   the saints, because those who follow them will become saints." [110]
   ^3Again, it says in another place: "In the company of the innocent, you
   will be innocent; in the company of the elect, you will be elect; and
   in a crooked man's company you will go wrong." [111] ^4Let us, then,
   follow the innocent and the upright. They, it is, who are God's elect.
   ^5Why is it that you harbor strife, bad temper, dissension, schism, and
   quarreling? ^6Do we not have one God, one Christ, one Spirit of grace
   which was poured out on us? And is there not one calling in Christ?
   ^7Why do we rend and tear asunder Christ's members and raise a revolt
   against our own body? Why do we reach such a pitch of insanity that we
   are oblivious of the fact we are members of each other? Recall the
   words of our Lord Jesus. ^8For he said: "Woe to that man!