“... In the two places where 1 Clement (ca. AD 96) cites words of Jesus, they very probably are drawn from oral tradition, as the parallel structure seems to indicate, rather than from the Gospels. Both passages use an introductory formula that points in the same direction: “most of all remembering [memnēmenoi] the words of the Lord Jesus which he spoke, teaching gentleness and patience” (1 Clem. 13:1); “remember [mnēsthēte] the words of our Lord Jesus” (1 Clem. 46:7). [...] What is important to note in these second-century references to oral tradition is that oral tradition overlapped the written Gospels and did not come to an immediate end with the appearance of the written documents. ...”

“... The first example is 1 Clem. 13. This passage opens with an appeal to its hearers to be humble, to do what is written in Scripture, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus which he spoke when teaching about gentleness and patience. It is these words that are quoted at 1 Clem. 13. 2. As Carlyle observes, ‘the phenomena of the passage are very complex’. Most, but not all, of the passage has parallels of differing degrees of similarity to sayings known also from synoptic double tradition found in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, but similar material is found also in other (later) patristic texts. Thus the material may depend on Matthew and Luke (and perhaps also on Mark), either directly or indirectly, or on some of the sources and/or traditions on which the evangelists drew. ...”