As it is a Sunday, we take a break from our New Testament readings to look more closely at a related topic. Today I want to describe an individual known at Clement of Rome (or Pope Clement or Saint Clement.)
Towards the end of Paul's letter to the church in Philippi (Philippians 4:3), he mentions someone named Clement. Later, after Peter's death in Rome, the church in Rome was led by an elder (or "bishop") named Clement, possibly the same individual. Early church writings describe Clement as one appointed by Peter and possibly designated by Peter as his successor.
Clement wrote one letter that has survived to the modern era, a letter to Corinth, written around 96 C.E., about 30 years after Paul's letters to Corinth. In that letter, Clement confronts new divisions within the Corinthian church, doing so with humility and compassion. This early letter must have had the desired effect, for it was was regularly read aloud in the church in Corinth and is one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament canon.
A description of that letter and its author is here at a Christianity Today website. In that letter to Corinth, Clement quotes from Paul's first letter, I Corinthians. In his letter, Clement has a lot to say about jealousy, giving numerous examples from the Old Testament. Clement identifies jealousy as the source of conflict in Corinth. Clement also admits that as he writes these things to the church in Corinth, he is also reminding himself and those around him of the same need to act in love and not with jealousy.
Wikipedia has an article on Clement and another on his letter to Corinth. In some traditions Clement is described as the first pope since he ministered in Rome shortly after Peter; in other traditions there are two intermediary leaders of the church in Rome. Clement has also been suggested as a possible author of the letter to the Hebrews.
A website on Clement's writings is available here.
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