Janelle Peters: The Phoenix in 1 Clement

In his discussion of the phoenix, Clement assures his audience that this Christological sign happens while all are watching, though the witnesses are those who live in eastern climes. His credulity is in sharp contrast with the first extensive discussion of the phoenix in Greco-Roman literature, that of Herodotus who doubts the testimony of the Egyptians.  Clement and the church of Rome suggest that the church of Corinth believe the witness of foreigners, even those associated with a foreign temple. The lengthy description of the phoenix’s life cycle indicates that Clement does not want the reader to simply take the phoenix as a pagan symbol whose mere presence could signify resurrection, as found in the art of the catacombs. Clement’s interest is clearly on the visibility and discernible nature of this sign, which is available to even the gentiles on purely naturalistic terms. In his choice between competing accounts of the phoenix’s genesis, Clement chooses the tradition that explicitly states that the phoenix is born from a worm emerging from the elder phoenix’s corpse. In fact, he aggrandizes this tradition much in the same manner as 3 Baruch. The worm underscores that the outsiders acknowledge a paradoxical sign—a lowly creature resurrected and exalted—just as Christians do. Christological logic is good Roman logic.