Friday, June 18, 2004
Clement and the Phoenix
The reference to the Phoenix as a resurrection symbol in 1 Clement 25 caught my attention.
Some pointers:
Where did Clement get this notion from, and why did he include the story in 1 Clement? Where do you else (esp. in other ancient Jewish or Christian writing) find similar references?
In 1 Clement it is explicitly a symbol of the resurrection.
Indeed Tertullian, for example, uses the phoenix in his On the Resurrection of the Flesh:
The history of the phoenix can be found in early Egyptian inscriptions (2500 BCE in the Heliopolitan mythology of Atum/Re). A notable point of that legend is that the phoenix had (according to the Book of the Dead) the function to assist the soul going from the underworld to the sun.
Another important feature of the phoenix is that it reflects periodization of history. This is something we find quite clearly in 1Enoch and of course in Iranian thought. It is also present in a more latent way in scriptural passages (think for example of Gen 1-12, or Dan 7 - cf. also Matt 1:1-17). The phoenix seems to draw on this common background, with emphasis on the apocalyptic message.
The story itself is not unknown to the HB: "Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix'" (Job 29:18). Note that Job (19:25) is quoted in 1 Clement 26, immediately after the phoenix tale.
I found an online reference to a Jewish legend, where the phoenix's name is Milcham; in this legend, the phoenix would have been rewarded with immortality by God for being the only animal not to be persuaded by Eve to eat the forbidden fruit (a sinless animal, one could say).
Diogenes Laertius writes in his Life of Pyrrho that the phoenix reproduces asexually. This will develop into a standard Christian symbol of life after death.
Lactantius says that the phoenix lives in a place very much full of attributes typical of the Christian paradise (e.g., eternity).
Overall, it seems clear then that the symbol of the phoenix is a nice testimony to the continuity of traditions (with new or better specified meanings) in different contexts.
Categories: Church_History
Some pointers:
- Pliny, Naturalis Historia
- De Ave Phoenice (Lactantius, ca. 300 CE)
- Jewish Heritage Online Magazine on the phoenix
Where did Clement get this notion from, and why did he include the story in 1 Clement? Where do you else (esp. in other ancient Jewish or Christian writing) find similar references?
In 1 Clement it is explicitly a symbol of the resurrection.
Indeed Tertullian, for example, uses the phoenix in his On the Resurrection of the Flesh:
God even in His own Scripture says: "The righteous shall flourish like the phoenix;" that is, shall flourish or revive, from death, from the grave-to teach you to believe that a bodily substance may be recovered even from the fire. Our Lord has declared that we are "better than many sparrows": well, if not better than many a phoenix too, it were no great thing. But must men die once for all, while birds in Arabia are sure of a resurrection?Incidentally, the Scripture passage Tertullian refers to here is Ps 92:12; Tertullian says Δίκαιος ὡς φοίνιξ ἀνθρήσει, but it is really "like a palm tree": this is a characteristic way of Tertullian's quoting a scripture which has even the least bearing on his subject (ANF footnotes).
The history of the phoenix can be found in early Egyptian inscriptions (2500 BCE in the Heliopolitan mythology of Atum/Re). A notable point of that legend is that the phoenix had (according to the Book of the Dead) the function to assist the soul going from the underworld to the sun.
Another important feature of the phoenix is that it reflects periodization of history. This is something we find quite clearly in 1Enoch and of course in Iranian thought. It is also present in a more latent way in scriptural passages (think for example of Gen 1-12, or Dan 7 - cf. also Matt 1:1-17). The phoenix seems to draw on this common background, with emphasis on the apocalyptic message.
The story itself is not unknown to the HB: "Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix'" (Job 29:18). Note that Job (19:25) is quoted in 1 Clement 26, immediately after the phoenix tale.
I found an online reference to a Jewish legend, where the phoenix's name is Milcham; in this legend, the phoenix would have been rewarded with immortality by God for being the only animal not to be persuaded by Eve to eat the forbidden fruit (a sinless animal, one could say).
Diogenes Laertius writes in his Life of Pyrrho that the phoenix reproduces asexually. This will develop into a standard Christian symbol of life after death.
Lactantius says that the phoenix lives in a place very much full of attributes typical of the Christian paradise (e.g., eternity).
Overall, it seems clear then that the symbol of the phoenix is a nice testimony to the continuity of traditions (with new or better specified meanings) in different contexts.
Categories: Church_History
