Chapter XL

Clement addresses strife in the church
over certain individuals who are exceeding
the boundaries of their own liturgical authority

These things therefore being manifest to us,
and since we look into the depths of the divine knowledge,
it behoves us to do all things in [their proper] order,
which the Lord has commanded us to perform at stated times.
He has enjoined offerings [to be presented]
and service to be performed [to Him],
and that not thoughtlessly or irregularly,
but at the appointed times and hours.
Where and by whom He desires these things to be done,
He Himself has fixed by His own supreme will,
in order that all things being piously done according to His good pleasure, may be acceptable unto Him.
Those, therefore, who present their offerings at the appointed times, are accepted and blessed;
for inasmuch as they follow the laws of the Lord, they sin not.
For his own peculiar services are assigned to the high priest,
and their own proper place is prescribed to the priests,
and their own special ministrations devolve on the Levites.
The layman is bound by the laws that pertain to laymen.

Chapter XLI

Clement's model is the Jerusalem Temple,
the only location where appropriate services are carried out
and the proper order of the High Priest and the liturgists is observed.

Let every one of you, brethren, give thanks to God in his own order,
living in all good conscience, with becoming gravity,
and not going beyond the rule of the ministry prescribed to him.
Not in every place, brethren, are the daily sacrifices offered,
or the peace-offerings, or the sin-offerings and the trespass-offerings,
but in Jerusalem only.
And even there they are not offered in any place,
but only at the altar before the temple,
that which is offered being first carefully examined
by the high priest and the ministers already mentioned.
Those, therefore, who do anything beyond that which is agreeable to His will,
are punished with death.
Ye see, brethren, that the greater the knowledge that has been vouchsafed to us,
the greater also is the danger to which we are exposed.

Chapter XLII

The Order of Ministers in the Church

The apostles have preached the Gospel to us
from the Lord Jesus Christ;
Jesus Christ [has done so] from God.
Christ therefore was sent forth by God,
and the apostles by Christ.
Both these appointments, then,
were made in an orderly way,
according to the will of God.
Having therefore received their orders,
and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and established in the word of God,
with full assurance of the Holy Ghost,
they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand.
And thus preaching through countries and cities,
they appointed the first-fruits [of their labours],
having first proved them by the Spirit,
to be bishops and deacons
of those who should afterwards believe.
Nor was this any new thing,
since indeed many ages before it was written
concerning bishops and deacons.
For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place,
“I will appoint their bishops (“overseers”) in righteousness,
and their deacons (“servants”) in faith.

Clement is quoting Isaiah 60:17 according to the Septuagint;
“I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers in righteousness.”
But the text here has been altered by Clement.

Chapter XLIII

Moses of old stilled the contention which arose
concerning the priestly dignity.
The Faithful in Christ are repeating
what Moses did in Establishing the Priesthood in Israel

And what wonder is it if those in Christ
who were entrusted with such a duty by God,
appointed those [ministers] before mentioned,
when the blessed Moses also,
“a faithful servant in all his house,
noted down in the sacred books
all the injunctions which were given him,
and when the other prophets also followed him,
bearing witness with one consent
to the ordinances which he had appointed?

Aaron becomes the Patriarch of the Israelite Priesthood

For, when rivalry arose concerning the priesthood,
and the tribes were contending among themselves
as to which of them should be adorned with that glorious title,
he commanded the twelve princes of the tribes to bring him their rods,
each one being inscribed with the name of the tribe.
And he took them and bound them [together],
and sealed them with the rings of the princes of the tribes,
and laid them up in the tabernacle of witness on the table of God.
And having shut the doors of the tabernacle,
he sealed the keys, as he had done the rods, and said to them,
Men and brethren, the tribe whose rod shall blossom
has God chosen to fulfill the office of the priesthood,
and to minister unto Him.
And when the morning was come,
he assembled all Israel, six hundred thousand men,
and showed the seals to the princes of the tribes,
and opened the tabernacle of witness, and brought forth the rods.
And the rod of Aaron was found not only to have blossomed,
but to bear fruit upon it.
What think ye, beloved? Did not Moses know beforehand that this would happen? Undoubtedly he knew; but he acted thus, that there might be no sedition in Israel, and that the name of the true and only God might be glorified; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Chapter XLIV

The ordinances of the apostles, that there might be
no contention respecting the priestly office.

Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ,
and there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate.
For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as
they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this,
they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned,
and afterwards gave instructions,
that when these should fall asleep,
other approved men should succeed them in their ministry.

Clement describes the political turmoil in the Church of Corinth

We are of opinion, therefore, that
those appointed by them,
or afterwards by other eminent men,
with the consent of the whole Church,
and who have blamelessly served the flock of Christ
in a humble, peaceable, and disinterested spirit,
and have for a long time possessed the good opinion of all,
cannot be justly dismissed from the ministry.
For our sin will not be small, if we eject from the episcopate
those who have blamelessly and holily fulfilled its duties.
Blessed are those presbyters who, having finished their course before now,
have obtained a fruitful and perfect departure [from this world];
for they have no fear lest any one deprive them of the place now appointed them.
But we see that ye have removed some men
of excellent behaviour from the ministry,
which they fulfilled blamelessly and with honour.

Clement's Letter is a strong contemporary witness to the political strife
that was obviously a serious problem in the churches
in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries CE.