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THE GREEK WORD for CHURCH LEADERS in the FIRST EPISTLE of SAINT CLEMENT of ROME to the CORINTHIANS John M. Shields, M.M. a Thesi

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THE GREEK WORD for CHURCH LEADERS in the FIRST EPISTLE of SAINT CLEMENT of ROME to the CORINTHIANS John M. Shields, M.M. a Thesi THE GREEK WORD FOR CHURCH LEADERS / IN THE FIRST EPISTLE OF SAINT CLEMENT OF ROME TO THE CORINTHIANS by John M. Shields , M.M. A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University 1n Partial Fulfillment of the Requ1rements for the Degree of Ma ster of Theology Milwaukee, Wisconsin January, 1966 1i PREFACE / This study was originally undertaken with a view to understanding the Church in the ministerial structure of its ch1ldhood. In particular it was felt that the nature of the priesthood would be reflected in this first well-documented writing. of the sub-apostolic period. Although few of the valuable insights for the writer appear in these pages they would not have been possible had it not been for the reading and study required by the more limited aims of this paper. Special thanks are due to the Marquette library staff for making ,:~: available many books which were not on hand. The same must be extended to the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago. The McGaw Memorial Library of that institution provided many books and periodicals es pecially pertinent to this study. I wish to thank Rev. Bernard J. Cooke , S.J. and especially Rev . William J. Kelly S .J. for his patience, kindness and inciSive advice. 111 j TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE 11 INTRODUCTION. 1 Chapter I. The Scriptural Usage • 4 II. Five Texts on Church Leaders 26 III. The Mind of 1 Clement 48 IV. The Prayer of 1 Clement • 8 ~ BIBLIOGRAPHY 96 I N TRODUCTION / The first epistle of 31int Clement of Rome represents the earliest gl1mpB(-; of Church mlnistry to be found outside the canon of Scripture. 1 .l\s sl\~h it: has clrawn considerable attention. At the time of Us writing the Church was st1ll structuring itself mInisterially. 'l'he terminology for the different offices of presbyter I b1shop and deacon has been examined with some detail in 1 Clement as well as tn other early Christian literature. However there is an as yet unexamined word 1n the epistle which 1 Scholarship generally follows Lightfoot, Funk and Harnack 1n dating the letter at 95 - 96 A. D. 'the internal and external evidence 1s given 1n 1. B. Ughtfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, Patt I. Vol . 1 . S. Clemcmt t')f Rome (London: Macmillan and Co., 1890) PP. 346-358: there has never been a wide divergence of opinion in placinq it: K. Lake. The Apostolic Fathers (NewYork-Londom G. P. Putnam's Sons , 1930). Vol . 1, p. 5, gives the wide Dtargin between 75 and 110 A. D. Soripture scholars say it falls some­ wh~re between the writing of Hebrews , Ephesians, and the Epistle of Poly­ Calt) . It cannot be dated soon after Nero as pre-Lightfoot scholarship (Grotius, Grabe, Orsl, Uhlhorn, Hefele, Wieseler) had maintained, nor in the reign of Hadrian (Volkman, Baud. H. De la Fosse, "La Lettre de St. Clement Romain aUK Corinthiens , " Revue de L'Hlstoire des Religions, 97 (I92a) , pp. 53-89, argues unconvlnclngly for around 150 A. D. Only the first Epistle of Clement 1s considered authentio. For a sum­ mary of the other Clementine literature, the most important of which is th se-caUed Second Epistle of Olement, Cf. J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers , Part 1. Vol . 2 I S. Clement of Rome (London: Macmillan and Co. , 1090), pp. 191-210. Thisis a critical treatment of 2 Clement. Further in­ formation on authorship and general evaluation may be found in R. Harris , "The Authorship of the so-called Seoond Ep1stle of Clement" , Zeitschrift fUr die Neutestilmentliche Wlss~n6ohaft, XXIII (1924) , pp. 193-200; G . Kruqer , "Bemerkungen zum Zweiten Olemensbrlef; " in S. J. Oase. Ed ., Studies in Early Christianity (1928) , pop . 419-439: B. H. Streeter, Tbe Primitive Church (1929) pp. 244-53; Cayr691ves a standard list of the other writings called Clementine: Two Epistles to Virgins. Five Decretal Letters, The Pseudo­ Clementines (The Twenty HomiUes, The Recognitions) and the Clementine Apocrypha. Cf. F. Cayre, Manual of Petrology and History of Theology, trans. H. Howitt (Tournai: Desclee et Co. , 1936), pp. 53-54. 2 ( ,- designates the entirety of Churoh offices. The word is nyoumevoi, and it I may be simply translated "rulers. It It appears in the most important pas- sages of the letter and one is obliged to ask its meaning and the overtones given it. In itself, the word is apparently contemporary but rather neutral and unexciting . The purpose of this study is to investigate Clement' s2 use of this word. Particular attention is given to its application to Church office. An attempt is made to understand why Clement has chosen the word as well as the special qualities of authority he attaches to those it desig- nates . , / A first chapter explores the use of the word nyoumevoi in sacred l1ter- ature. The pr~vlous tradition of the word. may have been assumed by Clement. informing and modifying hls own usage. A second chapter studies five of the ten occurrences of the word in the actual epistle. These five are certain 1n- stances of Clement's applying the word of itself or in parallel to Church 2In fact , Clement is historically well-attested as allthor of 1 Clement; Of. Hegesippus (H. E. , IV, XXII, I): Dlonysius of Corinth (H. E., IV, XXII, I); Clement of Alexandria , Strom, I, 7-38i VI, 8-35: IV I 17: Origen, De Princip , II , 3-6; Select. in Ezech., VIII , 3: Eusebius of Caesada (H.E., III, XVI); A, L, S, name Clement to be the author. Irenaeus (Adv. Haereses, 111 , 3,3) teUs us Clement saw the apostles: "their preaching resounded in his ears; their tradition was still before his eyes • II Tertullian (De. PraescripUone, 32), says C. was ordained by Peter L. Duchesne (Liber Pontificalis: Paris, 1886, I , p. 71-3) finds evidence C . was third Pope J. B. Lightfoot, I, (pp. 14-103) touches most aspects of Co's personality, then (pp. 201-345) inves­ tigates his place as third Pope. It Is fairly safe to hold he was a freedman of connections with the imperial family, Cf. J. Lebreton-1acques Zeiller I lUstoire de 1'£911se Primitive, et A. Fl1che-V. Martin (Paris: Bloud et Gay, 1946) , p. 323; if he was martYfed there is no evidenoe he was entombed in Rome. There is a sea of contradictory opinions based on the charaoter of the letter which deduce Clement's background. These are not relevant to our considerations and are inconclusive. 3 leaders. They are found in Clem. 1:3: 21:6; 32:2; and 37:2,3. The findings 01 Chapters one and two ate' then compared to see if there is conver~ence of meaning or posstble dependancy. Strong similarities 1n use between 1 Clement and scripture are polnted out. But the result of the word-study rema1ns inconclusive until the g:re,ater context of the letter # espeoially understood as the expression of a certain turn of mind 11'1 Clement, is invesUgated. A thlrd chaPter tries to focus: on three factors whioh affect the text at every point. One of these 1s oonsld- Sled the matrix of Clementine thouOht. Two others are means of its expres- / alon. In thts chapter. three more texts oonoerntnq the nyoumevol. receive study. (5:1: 51:S; 55:1). The ohapter ooncludes by using Its information 1n order to give the ftndlngs ·of the previous ohapters perspective. The final chapter Presents the two concluding ocourenees of the word: 60:4; 61 =1 . it wUl appear that only In the HQ:ht of the examination made up to tMs point can these texts by properly understood. It 1s a natural oppor- tunity to olose the paper wtth some conclusions. These oonolusions apply ,- to Clement's use of 'the wor<1l nyoumevol. not only for Ohuroh office but also for any legitimate authorIty. f 4 CHAPTER I. THE SCRIPTURAL USAGE / /I The wotd nyoumevoi is derived from nyeom<)1. 3 In scripture and secular use alike it designates persons in some kind of leading position. The type of leadership may vary greatly. The first thing that strikes the investigator is that there are only tVl1elve uses of the term nyoumevoi in the entire LXX and NT . In com- parison to Clement's frequent employel (ten times), this is, perhaps significant. 3See the English version of W. Bauer (Griechisch-deutsches Worterbuch zu den Bchriiten des Neuen Testaments und der iibrigen Urchtlstl1chen Literatur, FourthEdition, 1949-1952): A Greek-Lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian Literature, Revised and Transl. by W. F. Arndt and F. W . Gingrich, (C hicago: University of Chicago Press , 1957), p . 344 . Since the Greek transcription into typed English may be confusing , several indications of the method employed are made: For: gamma • • read. • y zeta • written elta • • • n theta · e kappa • k lamda · I ksu .. • • written pai • p rho .. • • r sigma • s (in any position tn a word.) Phi • .,5 Chi • x psi • .t1 omega • • w 5 For Clement' s epistle 1s as close to a oanonioal plece of writing as there .. / r Is. The OT references to nyollm!vol are notably scant. All but one is post- exU1c . 4 They grow more ;frequent as the Christian era dawns. Bauer has diVided the entirety of the OT-NT oocurences Into four categories: High Official Princely Authority Religious leaders Aots 7: 10 Ezeoh. 43:7 Sir.33:19 Sit . 11:17 Heb. 13:1,11,24 MU1taw Commanders S1r.4h17 Luke 22:26 1 M ace, 9,20 !viatt.2;6(Mloh. 5:1·"Sm . 5:2) Acts 14:12 2 Mace.
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