The Clementine literature (also referred to as the Clementine Romance or Pseudo-Clementine Writings) is a late antique third-century Christian romance or "novel" containing a fictitious account of the conversion of Clement of Rome to Christianity, his subsequent life and travels with the apostle Peter and an account of how they became traveling companions, Peter's discourses, and finally Clement's family history and eventual reunion with his family.
In all likelihood, the original text went by the name of Periodoi Petrou or Circuits of Peter; sometimes historians refer to it as the "Basic Writing" or "Grundschrift".
In turn, there was plausibly a second-century document (referred to as the Kerygmata Petrou or "Preaching of Peter") that was used as a source for the original Clementine literature text.
[5] Some believe that the original was lost due to the substantially greater popularity of its recensions in the Homilies and Recognitions.
These were so popular that translations and recensions of them appeared in Syriac, Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Arabic, Slavonic, and Georgian.
Vernacular versions also appeared in Icelandic, Old Swedish, Middle High German, Early South English, and Anglo-Norman.
Though H and R largely correspond in wording and content, and have a similar length and framework, there is material that is distinctive to both.
It sharpens the divide between the two forms of these laws as was earlier witnessed in the canonical Acts of the Apostles.
[11] For the Clementine literature, Mosaic law has an ongoing validity despite what it believes to have been some partial level of corruption after it was composed.
Jesus, whose purpose was to save the gentiles, is himself said to confirm the Law, but also abrogate parts of it that were erroneously added.
"[12] This idea is likely to have originated from the Book of Elchasai written in the early second century, where all prophets are incarnations of the same pre-existent Christ in different bodies, all bearing the same message, but again only the last of them being the Messiah.
In particular, seven prophets from the Torah are repeatedly mentioned as ideal figures, whose authority is accepted: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses.
For example, John the Baptist (Homilies 2.23) is portrayed negatively as the teacher of Simon Magus, who in turn is the arch-villain of the novel.
The Clementine literature also describes Jesus in a way that contrasts starkly with his portrayal in other extant sources.
[18] Furthermore, the Clementine literature describes the sun and moon as "indicators" insofar as they constitute signs (as opposed to causes) of the events to come on Earth.
As is with an egg, a creature began to grow inside, until at some point it broke open to produce a human that was both male and female (i.e. androgynous) named Phanetas.
[21] Scholarly hypotheses have placed the date of the Clementine Recognitions and Homilies between the second and fourth centuries.
For these reasons, the present consensus places these texts in the mid-fourth century, originating perhaps in Syria.
The earliest witness to the Clementine literature is found in the works of Eusebius:And now some have only the other day brought forward other wordy and lengthy compositions as being Clement's, containing dialogues of Peter and Appion, of which there is absolutely no mention in the ancients.
[33] Insofar as the Judeo-Christian group as described according to the Didascalia Apostolorum can be corroborated in the Clementine literature, such practices are also found in the Quran.