The writings of the Apostolic FathersClement I, Pope
General
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers
Clement I, Pope
Apostolic Fathers; Christian literature, Early
I therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, “entreat you that
ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the
same judgment.”[1017] For there are some vain talkers[1018] and
deceivers, not Christians, but Christ-betrayers,[1019] bearing about the
name of Christ in deceit, and “corrupting the word”[1020] of the gospel;
while they intermix the poison of their deceit with their persuasive
talk,[1021] as if they mingled aconite with sweet wine, that so he who
drinks, being deceived in his taste by the very great sweetness of the
draught, may incautiously meet with his death. One of the ancients gives
us this advice, “Let no man be called good who mixes good with
evil.”[1022] For they speak of Christ, not that they may preach Christ,
but that they may reject Christ; and they speak[1023] of the law, not
that they may establish the law, but that they may proclaim things
contrary to it. For they alienate Christ from the Father, and the law
from Christ. They also calumniate His being born of the Virgin; they are
ashamed of His cross; they deny His passion; and they do not believe His
resurrection. They introduce God as a Being unknown; they suppose Christ
to be unbegotten; and as to the Spirit, they do not admit that He
exists. Some of them say that the Son is a mere man, and that the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the
creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some other strange
power.
CHAP. VII.—_The same continued._
SHORTER.
Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons. And this will be the
case with you if you are not puffed up, and continue in intimate union
with[1024] Jesus Christ our God, and the bishop, and the enactments of
the apostles. He that is within the altar is pure, but[1025] he that is
without is not pure; that is, he who does anything apart from the
bishop, and presbytery, and deacons,[1026] such a man is not pure in his
conscience.
LONGER.
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