![]() In itself that isn’t surprising as noted earlier, the myth was popular and wide-ranging. ![]() What Clement actually understood about the existence of the phoenix is hard to know, though the first line of the next chapter suggests that he gave it credence. ![]() The Catholic Encyclopedia refers to this passage as “curious,” and most today would agree. Then the priests inspect the registers of dates, and they find that it has come at the fulfilment of the 500 th year.” Then, when it has become strong, it takes up that sepulchre, in which are the bones of its predecessor, and carries them from the country of Arabia as far as Egypt until it reaches the city called Heliopolis, and in the daylight in the sight of all it flies to the altar of the Sun, places them there, and then starts back to its former home. Now, from the corruption of its flesh there springs a worm, which is nourished by the juices of the dead bird, and puts forth wings. This is the only one of its kind, and lives 500 years and when the time of its dissolution in death is at hand, it makes itself a sepulchre of frankincense and myrrh and other spices, and when the time is fulfilled it enters into it and dies. There is a bird which is called the Phoenix. In chapter 25, Clement writes: “Let us consider the strange sign which takes place in the East, that is in the districts near Arabia. It is in this regard that we encounter a puzzling passage. The letter is also concerned with reinforcing the truth of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and the hope of a future resurrection for human beings. This places him in an era when the Hebrew Scriptures were still providing definitive instruction for the conduct of the church, rather than being relegated to secondary status as they were by later generations. Clement’s exhortations to return to former behavior are derived from both the Old Testament and examples drawn from the early church. The letter seems to have been a response to a situation in which some members of the Corinthian church rose up and deposed certain of their elders. The date of the message is open to some debate, but if we make the assumption that Domitian’s persecutions ended with the emperor’s death, then it seems likely that it was writtensomewhere around96 C.E. It begins by saying that the delay in its sending from Rome was due to “sudden and successive calamitous events,” which appears to be a reference to the persecutions of the emperor Domitian. ![]() However, he did leave one epistle that is widely considered to be genuine, a letter to a church in Corinth. Several writings have been attributed to Clement, though most are believed to be spurious. As is often the case, however, things are not necessarily what they seem to be. One particular passage in Clement’s writings spawned a set of ideas that on the face of it may seem innocent and even helpful to believers. In what follows we will consider the basis of their teachings about the phoenix: a letter attributed to the man who is purported to have been the earliest of the Roman Catholic Church Fathers, Clement of Rome. Nothing more might need to be said about Christian involvement were it not for the fact that some early churchmen capitalized on the fable’s popularity as they shaped the developing Christian orthodoxy. Yet the myth of the phoenix was immensely popular throughout the ancient world even early Christians were quite familiar with it. The image of the mystical phoenix is widely recognized, though perhaps not everyone is familiar with the story behind the bird.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |