It is the year AD 99.  Corinth, one of the most ancient churches, has had a schism.  The Roman Christian community out of serious concern for the spiritual health of their Corinthian brethren has written a letter by Clement their bishop because the Corinthians’ “good name, once so renowned and loved by all, has been greatly reviled” (Clement 1.1).

This good name rose up because of the fact that they received the Gospel of Christ at the hands of Paul the Apostle in the mid-50s AD, that they received two epistles written by the Apostle himself that now make up part of our Bible, and that they presumably repented of the errors in which they were tangled.  Their errors have caused the church to receive teaching for all time through the two epistles to the Corinthians in the New Testament.  Those two epistles have teachings on spiritual gifts, how to understand the Old Testament, the famous love chapter (1 Corinthians 13), Heaven, and marriage.

Yet, by the year 99, something had happened: division.  It was not due to doctrine, but to following specific individuals over others.  People were setting up factions in the church.  The schism was also an attack against the bishops and presbyters of the church.  The Corinthians already had the mindset for this to happen even in the days of Paul, with some proclaiming themselves followers of Paul, while others as followers of Peter, others of Apollo, and some ones knowing the right words calling themselves followers of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:12).

This letter of the Romans, written by Clement, to the Corinthians at the end of the 1^st Century becomes an occasion for us to think and really consider the factors that create division in the Christian community.  In addition, the letter gives us a model to follow when addressing division and restoring unity to the church.

Part of a painting Visione di papa Clemente I (Vision of Pope Clement I)

by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, between 1730-1735

What causes division?

Clement wrote about the division saying “All follow the lusts of their evil heart, inasmuch as they have assumed that attitude of unrighteousness and ungodly jealousy through which, in fact, death entered into the world” (Clement 3.4).

This shows us that schisms are caused by three mindsets.

1. Arrogance

Lucifer himself fell and became Satan because of his arrogance.  He did not want to accept the natural order of things that God was Most High.  He wanted to do whatever he felt like doing even thinking to himself,

“‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13, 14).

This caused a schism in heaven, and those who followed Lucifer became demons.  The same mindset that produced demons can also turn us into enemies of God when we choose to create division rather than work in the natural order that God has set for us whether that be in our homes or in our churches.

2. Jealousy

In Chapter 4, Clement talks about how Cain was jealous of Abel.  Jealousy means fear of losing what you have whether it is an object or a status.  Cain did not want to accept the fact that Abel’s sacrifice was better than his in the sight of God.  He was upset that he lost his status of being first because he was the first human born to Adam and Eve.  So he ended up killing his brother Abel.  This caused a division in his family, and he escaped to be away from his family after that.

We as Christians are a family, the family of Christ.  It does not mean that we will not have issues.  All families have issues.  If there are arguments or disagreements it is because the members of the family are listening, are there, and they care.  However, they may not see eye to eye.  Often when there are no disagreements or arguments in families it is because there is no one listening, no one is there, or no one cares.  The point of the matter is that as a family we must resolve our issues in a peaceful way, and when that resolution comes, it strengthens the relationship between the family and causes them to be a stronger family.  The same holds true for the church community of believers.  We should not go to church as we go to work or to a convention or to a concert.  We are going because we are part of the Christian family and the specific parish family to which we belong.  If a problem arises, we should, in the love of Christ, seek to resolve it.  When the resolution comes, it can strengthen our relationship with the community.

3. Envy

Envy is slightly different from jealousy.  When one is envious, one does not only fear losing what he has, but actually wants what someone else has whether that is a congregation, a church, or a specific position of leadership.

Clement points out that the same faults of the Corinthians which were jealousy and envy that caused the division were the same faults in the emperor and the people who killed Peter and Paul the Apostles, “Because of jealousy and envy the greatest and most righteous pillars [Peter and Paul] were persecuted and fought to the death” (Clement 5.2).

We cannot claim to participate in the life of Christ by following and imitating Him and then also participate in the way of the sinful world, and in the specific ways that lead innocent people to death.  Paul himself in his 2^nd Epistle to the Corinthians wrote about this wrong way of thinking admonishing the Corinthians saying,

“What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

Clement made it very clear in the end of his letter that “It is better for you to be found small but included in the flock of Christ than to have a preeminent reputation and yet be excluded from his hope” (Clement 57.2).

What does the Letter of Clement then teach us to do in situations like these?

1. Keeping Church Harmony

Clement uses the word harmony regularly throughout his letter to describe what the relationship between Christians should be.  The word in the original Greek is homonoia, which means having the same reasoning.  This means that Christians should have the same type of reasoning.  Perhaps this is what Paul the Apostle meant when he said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).  That transformed mind refers to a framework which is set up by Christ for us to follow.

Another father, Ignatius of Antioch, wrote about church harmony.  In one place he used a really beautiful metaphor to describe church harmony: “It is proper for you to run together in harmony with the mind of the bishop… For your council of presbyters, which is worthy of its name and worthy of God, is attuned to the bishop as strings to a lyre.  Therefore in your unanimity and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung.  You must join this chorus, every one of you, so that by being harmonious in unanimity and taking your pitch from God you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father” (Ignatius to the Ephesians 4.1-2).

The schism in Corinth had begun because some people did not like the fact that there were presbyters and bishops who held the positions of leadership as Christ and the Apostles ordained.  The lay people wanted to be the ones who were leaders, the ones who had a reputation, the ones who were first, so they set themselves up as leaders of the Christian community in Corinth by breaking away and taking some members of the community.

Clement then talks about the Apostolic tradition which Paul both passed down to the Corinthians and the Romans, “conform to … our tradition” (Clement 7.2).  That tradition which came from Christ and the Apostles taught that the bishop of a community is the pastor of the church, the presbyters are to help him, the deacons are to assist, and the lay people are to be the flock.  The bishop and presbyters must be ordained by a bishop; they cannot simply appoint themselves.  Yet, that is what the Corinthian schismatics did.  This is not the harmony, the same type of reasoning of Christ and the Apostles and the Christian community that we should have.

Next, Clement brings out so many examples of how those who were saved lived in harmony, from the animals on the Ark of Noah, to Abraham and Sarah, then he goes to nature and shows how the universe and what is in it exists in harmony.  That should extend to us to who were saved by Christ, so we should most definitely live a life of harmony with the bishops, presbyters, and other Christians.

2. Helping If You Can

One last thing to note from the Letter of Clement is how the Romans dealt with the problem they saw in Corinth.  When the Romans heard of what was going on, they didn’t sit aside.  They didn’t criticize.  They didn’t complain.  They didn’t say, “What can I do?  I am so far away.”  They helped in whatever way they could.  The result was another letter to Corinth which proved to be instructive for all Christian generations that followed.

Clement began by pointing out the positives in the Corinthian church before addressing the problem because not everything was bad [rarely is everything bad; everyone has some good in them].  He then addressed the issues in an instructive way taking the Corinthians through a journey with Christ taking them back to Genesis, through the Old Testament, then to the universe itself with its examples of harmony, and then came to the point that they should humble themselves, repent, rejoin the community, and continue following Christ.

We should not bring people into despair over the problems in their lives.  We should help them to correct them and to grow in Christ after that.

Perhaps if we all strived to be truly united, humbled ourselves to the authority of the Bible and our bishops and priests, repented from our arrogance, rejoined the community, strived to live peacefully, then we could continue following Christ as one united church.

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