Vision 2.4 of the
Shepherd of Hermas reads:
. . . So you will write two little books and send one
to CLement and one to Grapte. Clement will send his to the other cities, for he
is charged with this responsibility. Grapte will admonish the widows and
orphans. But you will read it in this city with the presbyters who preside in
the church."
Commenting on this
passage, Carolyn Osiek noted that:
The debate has raged among scholars about this Clement:
is he or is he not Clement of Rome, author of 1 Clement? Even if the
two figures are identical, that does nothing to establish a monarchical
episcopate at Rome at this early date; the end of v. 3 is very clear about
church government. Even if there were a single bishop in Rome at this
time-though all evidence is to the contrary-sending someone else's letter to
other churches would hardly be his task. The reference is more likely to the
church secretary, perhaps a deacon. The figure of Clement was powerful enough
in the early tradition to establish a long literary connection: not only 1
Clement, but 2 Clement, the Clementine Romances, and the Recognitions.
Though the writing of 1 Clement is generally dated to the 90s of the
first century, there is nothing against an early second-century date, so that
discrepancy of dating is not a problem. Hermas' original community obviously
knows who this person is supposed to be. If Clement of Rome is alive and
functioning as a kind of community secretary, this remark must refer to him. (Carolyn
Osiek, The Shepherd of Hermas [Hermeneia—A Critical and Historical
Commentary on the Bible; Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 1999], 59)
