Afterword
The church at Corinth received two letters from Paul, dealing with the problems I have tried to illustrate in this story. If the background details have given you a renewed appreciation for the world in which Paul lived and preached, and a better understanding of his letters, then I am well rewarded for my labour.
Some of these problems continued to plague the Corinth church. Clement, bishop of Rome, sent a letter to the Corinthians about 110 AD in the first verses of which he declares, "Owing to the sudden and repeated misfortunes and calamities which have befallen us, we consider that our attention has been somewhat delayed in turning to the questions disputed among you, beloved, and especially the abominable and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-willed perons have made blaze up to such a frenzy that your name, venerable and famous, and worthy as it is of all men's love, has been much slandered." (I.i)
After congratulating the Corinthians for their good points and drawing extensively on edifying examples from legend - including the phoenix - and the Old Testament, Clement tackles the problem head on. "With true inspiration Paul charged you concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos, because even then you had made yourselves partisans. But that partisanship entailed less guilt on you; for you were partisans of Apostles of high reputation and of a man approved by them. But now consider who they are who have perverted you and have lessened the respect due to your famous love for the brethren." (XLVII.iii-v)
Despite these problems, Paul's work had not been in vain. In his letter Clement mentions Paul, saying, "Through jealousy and strife Paul showed the way to the prize of endurance; seven times he was in bonds, he was exiled, he was stoned, he was a herald both in the East and in the West, he gained the noble fame of his faith. He taught righteousness to all the world and when he had reached the limits of the West he gave his testimony before the rulers and thus passed from the world and was taken up into the Holy Place, the greatest example of endurance." (V.v-vii)
Pausanias, writing about a century after Paul visited Corinth, gave us a full description of the cities and towns of Greece. Although the ancient religions were still being practised, he repeatedly mentions temples that were no longer used and that were falling into ruins, their roofs collapsed and their walls crumbling. I cannot help but wonder if some, at least, of this decay was because people were turning away from the Immortals of Olympus towards the one true God.
The church at Corinth gradually overcame its problems. Eusebius in The History of the Church (p. 129) tells us: "Hegesippus in the five short works that have come into my hands has left a very full account of his own beliefs. In them he describes how, when travelling as far as Rome, he mixed with a number of bishops and found the same doctrine among them all. Listen to what he appends to some remarks about Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians: 'The Corinthian church continued in the true doctrine until Primus became bishop. I mixed with them on my voyage to Rome and spent several days with the Corinthains, during which we were refreshed with the true doctrine.'"
He then goes on to talk about the writings of Bishop Dionysius of Corinth who lived about the time of Trajan. "In the same letter he refers to Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians, proving that from the very first it had been customary to read it in church. He says: 'Today being the Lord's Day, we kept it as a holy day and read your epistle, which we shall read frequently for its valuable advice, like the earlier epistle which Clement wrote on your behalf.'" (p. 132)
