5

The friendship of a just God will greatly benefit you. Therefore, try to shake off the praise that comes from injustice, and through just administration to hunt for the beneficial praise that comes from Christ.

Having said these things and more than these, he looked again at the crowd and said: And you also, my beloved brothers and fellow servants, submit in all things to the one who presides in truth, knowing this, that he who grieves this man has not received Christ, whose chair he has been entrusted with; and he who does not receive Christ will be counted as one who has rejected the Father, wherefore he will be cast out of the good kingdom. For this reason, try to come to all the assemblies, so that you may not, as deserters, receive the charge of sin from the despondency of your commander. Therefore, above all, all of you be mindful of him, knowing this, that for the sake of each of you, the evil one makes war especially against him alone, showing hostility. You, therefore, try to continue in affection for him and in goodwill toward one another and to listen to him, so that he himself may be relieved and you may be able to be saved. But some things you ought to understand for yourselves, because he cannot speak openly on account of the plots, for example, if he is hostile to someone, do not wait for him to say, ‘Do not associate with this man,’ but wisely follow his will, becoming enemies to those to whom he is hostile and not speaking with those with whom he does not speak; so that each one, striving to have everyone as friends, may be saved by reconciling him, by listening to his speech. But if anyone remains a friend to those to whom he is hostile and speaks with those with whom he does not converse, he himself is also one of those who wish to destroy the church; for though he is with you in body, not being with you in mind, he is against you, much worse than the enemies who appear on the outside, scattering those within under the guise of friendship.

And having said these things, in the midst of all, he laid his hands on me and implored me to be seated in his chair. And when I was seated, he immediately said this to me: I ask you, in the presence of all my brothers who are here, that whenever I depart from this life here (as is my due), you send to James, the brother of the Lord, a written epitome of your thoughts even from childhood and how from the beginning until now you have journeyed with me, listening to the words and deeds preached by me in every city, then, toward the end, do not hesitate to declare also the cause of my death, as I have foretold. For this will not grieve him too much, knowing that what I had to suffer in any case I have suffered piously, but he will receive the greatest comfort, learning that after me the teacher's chair was not entrusted to an unlearned man, ignorant of life-giving words and not knowing the rule of the church; for deceitful speech destroys the souls of the listening crowds. Wherefore I, my lord James, having promised when he said these things, did not hesitate, as I was commanded, to make an epitome, as for a memorandum, of the many discourses in the cities that have already been written to you and sent by him in books, and thus to send it to you with the title: Clement's Epitome of the Preachings of Peter's Journeys. Nevertheless, I will begin to set it forth as I was commanded.

5

δικαίου θεοῦ φιλία πολύ σε ὀνήσει. ὥστε πειρῶ τὸν ἐξ ἀδικίας γινόμενον ἔπαινον ἀποσείεσθαι, διὰ δὲ δικαίαν διοίκησιν τὸν ἐκ Χριστοῦ ἐπωφελῆ θηρεύειν ἔπαινον.

Ταῦτα εἰπὼν καὶ τὰ τούτων πλείονα, πάλιν τῷ πλήθει προσεμβλέψας εἶπεν· Καὶ ὑμεῖς δέ, ἀγαπητοί μου ἀδελφοὶ καὶ σύνδουλοι, τῷ προκαθεζομένῳ ἀληθείας κατὰ πάντα ὑπείξατε, τοῦτ' εἰδότες ὅτι ὁ τοῦτον λυπήσας Χριστόν, οὗ τὴν καθέδραν πεπίστευται; οὐκ ἐδέξατο, καὶ ὁ Χριστὸν μὴ δεξάμενος ὡς ἀθετήσας τὸν πατέρα λογισθήσεται, διὸ τῆς ἀγαθῆς βασιλείας ἀποβληθήσεται. οὗ εἵνεκεν πειρᾶσθε κατὰ πάσας συνόδους ἔρχεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ ὡς λειποτάκται ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ταξιάρχου ἀθυμίας ἁμαρτίας ἔγκλημα λάβητε. διὸ πρὸ πάντων οἱ πάντες τὰ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ φρονεῖτε, τοῦτ' εἰδότες ὅτι δι' ἕκαστον ὑμῶν ὁ πονηρὸς αὐτῷ μόνῳ τὸ πλεῖον ἐχθραίνων προσπολεμεῖ. ὑμεῖς οὖν πειρᾶσθε τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν στοργῇ καὶ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους εὐνοίᾳ διατελεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ ἐπακούειν, ἵνα καὶ αὐτὸς κουφίζηται καὶ ὑμεῖς σωθῆναι δυνηθῆτε. ἔνια δὲ καὶ ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν νοεῖν ὀφείλετε διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν μὴ δύνασθαι ἐν φανερῷ λέγειν διὰ τὰς ἐπιβουλάς, οἷον ἐὰν ἐχθραίνῃ τινί, μὴ ἀναμένετε αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν· Τῷδε μὴ προσαμιλλᾶσθε, ἀλλὰ φρονίμως ἕπεσθε αὐτοῦ τῷ βουλήματι, ἐχθροὶ γινόμενοι οἷς ἐχθραίνει καὶ μὴ ὁμιλοῦντες οἷς μὴ ὁμιλεῖ· ἵνα ἕκαστος, πιδικαζόμενος τοῦ πάντας φίλους ἔχειν, αὐτὸν διαλλάττων σóζηται, τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπακούων ὁμιλίας. εἰ δέ τις φίλος μένει οἷς αὐτὸς ἐχθραίνει καὶ λαλεῖ οἷς αὐτὸς οὐχ ὁμιλεῖ, εἷς ἐστιν καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν ὀλοθρεύειν θελόντων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν· τῷ γὰρ σώματι συνὼν ὑμῖν, τῇ γνώμῃ μὴ ὢν μεθ' ὑμῶν, καθ' ὑμῶν ἐστιν, πολλῷ χείρων τῶν ἔξωθεν φαινομένων ἐχθρῶν, μετὰ δοκούσης φιλίας σκορπίζων τοὺς ἔσω.

Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐν μέσῳ ἐπὶ πάντων μοι τὰς χεῖρας ἐπιθεὶς εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ καθέδραν καθεσθῆναί με ἐδυσώπησεν. καθεσθέντι δὲ τοῦτό μοι εὐθέως ἔφη· Ἀξιῶ σε ἐπὶ πάντων μου τῶν συνπαρόντων ἀδελφῶν, ὅπως ὁπόταν τοῦ ἐνταῦθα (ὡς ἐμοὶ ὀφείλεται) ἀπαλλάξω βίου, σὲ Ἰακώβῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ τοῦ κυρίου διαπέμψαι ἐν ἐπιτομῇ ἀναγραψάμενον μέχρι καὶ τῶν ἐκ παίδων σου λογισμῶν καὶ ὡς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς μέχρι τοῦ νῦν συνώδευσάς μοι, ἐπακούων τῶν κατὰ πόλιν ὑπ' ἐμοῦ κηρυχθέντων λόγων τε καὶ πράξεων, ἔπειτα πρὸς τῷ τέλει καὶ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου μου πρόφασιν ὡς προεῖπον δηλῶσαι μὴ ὀκνήσῃς. οὔτε γὰρ λίαν αὐτὸν λυπήσει τοῦτο, εἰδότα ὅτι ὃ πάντως ἔδει με παθεῖν εὐσεβῶς ἀπεδόμην, μεγίστης δὲ παραμυθίας τεύξεται, μαθὼν ὅτι μετ' ἐμὲ οὐκ ἀμαθὴς ἀνὴρ καὶ ζωοποιοὺς λόγους ἀγνοῶν καὶ ἐκκλησίας κανόνα οὐκ εἰδὼς τὴν τοῦ διδάσκοντος ἐπιστεύθη καθέδραν· πλάνος γὰρ ὁμιλία τῶν ἀκουόντων ὄχλων ἀναιρεῖ τὰς ψυχάς. Ὅθεν ἐγώ, κύριέ μου Ἰάκωβε, αὐτοῦ ταῦτα εἰπόντος ὑποσχόμενος οὐκ ὤκνησα, ὡς ἐκελεύσθην, τὸ πολὺ τῶν κατὰ πόλιν λόγων τῶν ἤδη σοι προγραφέντων καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διαπεμφθέντων ἐν βίβλοις ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων ποιῆσαι ὥσπερ σημείου χάριν καὶ οὕτως διαπέμψαι σοι ἐπιγράψαντα· Κλήμεντος τῶν Πέτρου ἐπιδημίων κηρυγμάτων ἐπιτομή. πλὴν τοῦ ἐκτιθέναι ὡς ἐκελεύσθην ἄρξομαι.