Anchor and fishes in the Catacombs of St. Domitilla
So the first Christian use of fish-anchor symbols is directly connected through Domitilla to her uncle, Emperor Titus, who used the symbol on his coins—and this tomb also happens to be the oldest archeological evidence for Christianity in the world. Here is Titus’s own symbolism at his own niece’s gravesite in the Flavians’ own sepulcher in Christianity’s first catacombs.
This extraordinary archeological evidence sheds more light on why the late 1st Century “pope,” Clement of Rome, who was Domitilla’s husband and also a Flavian, is associated with an anchor. An anchor is carved beneath the inscription on the Flavian family sepulcher, a unique imperial symbol used by Flavian emperors on their coinage and adopted as the symbol of a 1st Century pope who bore their name and was martyred at the same time their royal cousin was executed. We can only conclude St. Clement of Rome was that cousin.
With no way to explain these coincidences, Christian tradition has simply split these historical figures into completely different people. However, considering what we now know, let us examine the letter that Christians attribute to St. Clement, which many scholars hold to be a letter or parts of letters written at the end of the 1st Century, precisely when both “Clemens” and “St. Clement” flourished. As we shall see, it reads exactly like something that could have been penned by an imperial Christian.
The subject of Clement’s letter is his concern for discord and strife that has apparently arisen among Christians in the city of Corinth in Greece. Praising their former virtue, “Clement” reminds them that they had “walked in the commandments of God, being obedient to those who had the rule over you, and giving all fitting honor to the presbyters among you.” (10)
Notice that Clement is keen to emphasize the doctrine of obeying political authorities, a theme we find so often in the New Testament. Notice, too, that he admires their former obedience to Church authorities, as well—the “presbyters”—even at this very early stage of the Church.
Clement then warns them of what seem to be earthly punishments for those who might instigate strife:
For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good.” And he quotes scripture as follows: “Preserve innocence, and look on equity: for there shall be a remnant to the peaceful man. (Emphasis added.) (11)
While Clement emphasizes humility and virtuous conduct, like Paul, he clearly believes that salvation is a matter of faith rather than deeds. (12) Well aware of the conflict between the Apostles that Paul reported in Galatians, Clement’s exhortation for peace sounds decidedly Pauline. Here’s an excerpt:
Take up the epistle of the blessed Apostle Paul. What did he write to you at the time when the Gospel first began to be preached? Truly, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he wrote to you concerning himself, and Cephas, and Apollos, because even then parties had been formed among you. (Emphasis added.) (13)
Quite curiously, Clement’s letter assumes Paul’s mission as the point when the Gospel “first began to be preached”—decades after the supposed death of Jesus.
While Clement makes extensive use of the Hebrew Bible and certainly believes in the one God who created everything, he also cites the following distinctly pagan example for the resurrection:
Let us consider that wonderful sign [of the resurrection] which takes place in Eastern lands, that is, in Arabia and the countries round about. There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But as the flesh nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers. Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day, flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun, and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned exactly as the five hundredth year was completed. (14)
The phoenix is a mythological beast from the lore of Egypt and “Arabia,” as Clement makes clear, and not from Hebrew scripture. And, while mentioning this pagan creature, Clement also cites examples of virtue that are not only Jewish but also pagan:
To bring forward some examples from among the heathen: Many kings and princes, in times of pestilence, when they had been instructed by an oracle, have given themselves up to death, in order that by their own blood they might deliver their fellow-citizens [from destruction]. (15)
As might be expected from a Pope, however, Clement stresses obedience to Church authorities. And here, rather amazingly, he compares the properly functioning Church to the Roman army:
Let us then, men and brethren, with all energy act the part of soldiers, in accordance with His holy commandments. Let us consider those who serve under our generals, with what order, obedience, and submissiveness they perform the things which are commanded them. All are not prefects, nor commanders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals. The great cannot subsist without the small, nor the small without the great. (16)
Clement certainly seems to freely wield the authority of the Church at this very early stage, as if backed by the authority of the state:
Ye, therefore, who laid the foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves to the presbyters, and receive correction so as to repent, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be subject, laying aside the proud and arrogant self-confidence of your tongue. For it is better for you that you should occupy a humble but honorable place in the flock of Christ, than that, being highly exalted, you should be cast out from the hope of His people. (17)
Clement even seems to foreshadow the ironic method of his own martyrdom, in much the same way that Jesus does, and his letter may itself be a source for the tradition concerning his death:
Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea. (18)
During its infancy, we should expect a new religion to be flush with the excitement of a new doctrine, its unique message, and the inspirational qualities and deeds of its founder(s). We should expect “organizational issues” to develop only after the new faith has accumulated a large enough number of followers to require attention.
Should there even be a formal Church? If so, how should it be organized? Are bishops to be obeyed on matters of doctrine? Or presbyters? These are questions for an already burgeoning religion on its way to wider acceptance. For this reason, among others, most scholars have rejected the self-identified authorship of the New Testament epistles of both Titus and Timothy. Though these letters claim to have been written by Paul, most researchers believe these documents were composed towards the end of the 1st Century or the start of the 2nd Century precisely because they discuss such “organizational” issues. For many it just doesn’t make sense to imagine the need for an elaborate hierarchy or for mechanisms to enforce doctrinal purity among the small underground group of Christians that must have existed before the end of the 1st Century.