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Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VIII: Pseudo-Clementine Literature.: Chapter VIII

Ante-Nicene FathersChristian ApocryphaClementine Literature

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This is a chapter from the *Clementine Homilies*, an early Christian pseudepigraphical text (likely 2nd–3rd century) presented as a dialogue between the apostle Peter and his companions, belonging to the Pseudo-Clementine literary tradition. The passage addresses a theological question about whether the good and evil cosmic principles share a common origin. Peter argues they do not: the evil one arose as an *accidental* byproduct of God combining a fourfold substance externally — the evil disposition was never directly created or intended, but supervened as a consequence. The good one, by contrast, was genuinely *begotten* from God's own nature through a beautiful inner change, making the relationship direct and essential rather than incidental. A notably distinctive element is Peter's strong epistemic caution at the close: he warns that these doctrines are unwritten, unverifiable beyond conjecture, and should be held silently rather than asserted, lest the mind stop seeking truth — or the speaker incur punishment for voicing what deserves silence. The text will interest readers studying early Christian cosmological dualism, proto-orthodox responses to Gnostic theodicy, and the esoteric/exoteric distinction in early Christian teaching.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VIII: Pseudo-Clementine Literature.: Chapter VIII

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