Primary source · Koine Greek

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

Clement of Rome (for the church of Rome) · c. AD 96

Codex Alexandrinus (British Library) — manuscript witness to The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Codex Alexandrinus (British Library) — 5th c.This file has been provided by the British Library from its digital collections. Links to the British Library's website may be broken as the library recovers from a October 2023 cyber attack, and will be updated once material becomes accessible online. For more information on the attack see: https://www.bl.uk/about/cyber-attack It is also made available on a British Library website . Catalogue entry: Royal MS 1 D viii · Public domain · Commons
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Codex Alexandrinus (British Library) — manuscript witness to The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

Codex Alexandrinus (British Library) — 5th c.This file has been provided by the British Library from its digital collections. Links to the British Library's website may be broken as the library recovers from a October 2023 cyber attack, and will be updated once material becomes accessible online. For more information on the attack see: https://www.bl.uk/about/cyber-attack It is also made available on a British Library website . Catalogue entry: Royal MS 1 D viii · Public domain · Commons

What this text is

Rome’s letter to a Corinthian church torn by the deposition of its presbyters — the earliest datable Christian writing outside the New Testament, and long read aloud in the Corinthian assembly beside scripture.

Profile of Clement of Rome →

Interlinear passages

Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.

Chapter 49.1 — On love
ὉThe oneἔχωνhavingἀγάπηνloveἐνinΧριστῷChristποιησάτωlet him doτὰtheτοῦofΧριστοῦChristπαραγγέλματα.commandments
Chapter 5.4 — On Peter
ΠέτροςPeterδιὰthroughζῆλονjealousyἄδικονunjustοὐχnotἕναoneοὐδὲnorδύοtwoἀλλὰbutπλείοναςmanyὑπήνεγκενenduredπόνους.labours

Public-domain translations

J. B. Lightfoot (1890)

Let him that hath love in Christ fulfil the commandments of Christ. …Peter, who by reason of unrighteous jealousy endured not one nor two but many labours, and thus having borne his testimony went to his appointed place of glory.

Roberts–Donaldson (ANF, 1885)

Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. …Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours; and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him.

Manuscript witnesses

Codex Alexandrinus (British Library)

5th c.

The great Bible of Alexandria appends 1–2 Clement to the New Testament — 1 Clement lacking one leaf.

EARLIEST WITNESS

Codex Hierosolymitanus 54

AD 1056

The Bryennios codex supplies the full text, including the long closing prayer.

COMPLETE GREEK

Latin, Syriac & Coptic versions

2nd–7th c. (translations)

An old Latin version possibly of the 2nd century attests the letter's early, wide circulation.

EARLY VERSIONS

Provenance

Rome to Corinth, c. AD 96; read liturgically at Corinth for generations

Editions & scholarship

Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.

Figures named in this text (7)

Complete public-domain text ↗