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Clement of Rome

2ND century

  • The text is anonymous.
  • 1 Clement is dated to 96CE because it says: "By reason of the sudden and repeated calamities and reverses which are befalling us"
    • It's assumed that it happened during Domitian's reign but the only evidence is an account of two individuals (Flavius Clemens and Domitilla) who were executed for "atheism" a term sometimes associated with Christians.
    • The Catacombs of Domitilla are also associated to Christian persecution but they were constructed after Domitian during the 2ND and 3RD centuries.
    • The connection to Christian persecution claim are three individuals who were not contemporaries:
      • Tertullian (155CE-220CE)
      • Cassius Dio (165CE-??)
      • Eusebius (??-339CE)
    • Pliny the Younger was a practicing lawyer while Prefect of the Military (96CE) during reign of Domitian but in Pliny's letter to Trajan he mentions never being present for the trial of a Christian.
    • Eusebius says that Dionysius of Corinth (??CE-??CE) attributed 1 Clement to Clement of Rome.
    • Eusebius also claimed that Clement died in the third year of the reign of Trajan (99/100CE)
    • That is the only evidence we have for the existence of Dionysius of Corinth.
  • It briefly mentions the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. It doesn't mention the method of execution for either of them.
  • Dr. M. David Litwa provides more information on 1 Clement and why it should be dated to the mid 2ND century. He also provides a follow-up video covering 2 Clement.

The Shepherd of Hermas

  • The Muratorian fragment 170CE, Liberian catalogue, and the poem of Pseudo-Tertullian against Marcion identify Hermas as the brother of Pope Pius I (??-154CE).
  • In Shepherd of Hermas, Clement's job was to communicate with other churches.

Liberian catalogue

  • Lists Clement as Pope in 67CE.
  • It is thought to be dependent on the lost work Chronica by Bishop Hippolytus of Rome (??-235CE).
  • Edited by Furius Dionysius Philocalus the official engraver of the Pope in 354CE.
  • The Hippolytean source is inaccurate about Pope Pius; the Muratorian fragment 170CE states they lived "very recently in our own times."