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Œuvres Clément de Rome (35-99) Epistula altera ad Corinthios Introductory Notice to the Homily Known as the Second Epistle of Clement

Section 1.--text.

In this volume, pp. [309]372-376, will be found a brief account of the Codex discovered by Bryennios, now Metropolitan of Nicomedia. It remains in the library of the Jerusalem Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre at Constantinople. While the publication of the Greek text of the Teaching awakened unusual interest, the recovery of that document has not been the only valuable result of this important discovery. The Codex, as was speedily known, contains the only complete copy of the Greek text of the two Epistles of Clement. The lacunae previously existing in the genuine Epistle were not extensive; but, as now appears, the Alexandrian manuscript contains only three-fifths of the second Epistle. The entire Greek text of both Epistles was given to the public by Bryennios 1 in 1875.

This at once led to a revision of some recent editions, notably those of Hilgenfeld, 2 and of Gebhardt and Harnack. 3 Many monographs soon appeared. But the discovery of a new (Syriac) source for the text in 1876, while not affecting the general problem, gave to patristic scholars more abundant critical material. Bishop Lightfoot's Appendix 4 contains the most convenient and accessible collation of this material, as well as the most clear statements on all points affected by the two discoveries. The Syriac manuscript, containing a version of the two Epistles of Clement, was purchased by the Cambridge University Library in 1876, from the collection of "the late Oriental scholar M. Jules Mohl of Paris" (Lightfoot). It embraces the entire New Testament, except the Apocalypse, in the Harkleian recension of the Philoxenian (or later) Syriac version; but the scribe has inserted the two Epistles of Clement (entire) between the Catholic and Pauline Epistles. The value of the manuscript for New-Testament criticism is great, and the phenomena it presents interesting, as bearing on the discussion of the New-Testament canon; but the paucity of sources for the text of the Clementine Epistles gives special importance to the discovery of a version of these writings so soon after the recovery of the entire Greek text. A discussion of the textual questions is forbidden by the limits of this Introductory Notice, but a few points may be stated:--

  1. A comparison of the three authorities (the Alexandrian, the Constantinopolitan, and the Syriac), in the parts they in common contain, shows that the first is most trustworthy, and that the Syriac is usually more correct than the Constantinopolitan.

  2. Hence, in the recovered portions, the authority of the Syriac is very valuable in correcting the obvious blunders of the Greek copy. This should teach caution in accepting the text of the Teaching, where the same Greek manuscript is our only authority.

  3. The genuine Epistle of Clement, which stands next in age to the canonical books of the New Testament, now stands next in accuracy of text also. Doubt in regard to textual questions decreases as the critical material increases.


  1. The full title of his edition, in English form, is as follows: "The two Epistles of our holy father Clement Bishop of Rome to the Corinthians; from a manuscript in the Library of the Most Holy Sepulchre in Fanar of Constantinople; now for the first time published complete, with prolegomena and notes, by Philotheos Bryennios, Metropolitan of Serrae. Constantinople, 1875." ↩

  2. Novum Test. extra canonem receptum (2d ed., Leipzig, 1876). Pp. xliv.-xlix., 69-106, contain prolegomena, text, and notes, 2 Clement. ↩

  3. Patrum Apost. Opera, 2d ed., Leipzig, 1876. ↩

  4. St. Clement of Rome An Appendix containing the newly recovered portions, with introductions, notes, and translations. London, 1877. The original volume, London, 1869. ↩

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Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Loeb)
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An ancient Homily, commonly styled the second epistle of Clement
The Second Epistle of Clement
Zweiter Brief des Klemens an die Korinther (BKV)
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Einleitung zum sogenannten zweite Brief des Klemens an die Korinther
Introductory Notice - The Epistles of Clement
Introductory Notice to the Homily Known as the Second Epistle of Clement

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