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In 1 Clement, the author refers to the mythical phoenix, reborn from its own remains in Greek and Roman tradition, as a sign that God can raise the dead. The Christian theologian Tertullian uses the same tradition as his strongest proof of resurrection.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 25:1
First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
Early Christian
1 Let us consider the marvelous sign which is seen in the regions of the east, that is, in the parts about Arabia. 2 There is a bird, which is named the phoenix. This, being the only one of its kind, lives for five hundred years; and when it has now reached the time of its dissolution that it should die, it makes for itself a coffin of frankincense and myrrh and the other spices, into which in the fullness of time it enters, and so it dies. 3 But, as the flesh rots, a certain worm is engendered, which is nurtured from the moisture of the dead creature and puts forth wings. Then, when it has grown strong, it takes up that coffin where are the bones of its parent, and carrying them journeys from the country of Arabia even to Egypt, to the place called the City of the Sun.
Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh 13
Early Christian
If, however, all nature but faintly figures our resurrection; if creation affords no sign precisely like it, inasmuch as its several phenomena can hardly be said to die so much as to come to an end, nor again be deemed to be reanimated, but only re-formed; then take a most complete and unassailable symbol of our hope, for it shall be an animated being, and subject alike to life and death. I refer to the bird which is peculiar to the East, famous for its singularity, marvelous from its posthumous life, which renews its life in a voluntary death; its dying day is its birthday, for on it it departs and returns; once more a phœnix where just now there was none; once more himself, but just now out of existence; another, yet the same.
Date: 205-215 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The first known example of a Christian use of the Phoenix motif is found in 1 Clement. In an argument that serves to enhance the probability of the resurrection of the dead Clement refers to the Phoenix bird. God has in different ways given signs that signify the resurrection. [...] The Phoenix is another wondrous sign pointing towards the resurrection. [...] In analogy with Clement Tertullian also exploits it as a symbol of resurrection. If the interchange of day and night and the alternation of the seasons do not represent a satisfactorily convincing argument because they symbolise cessation of being and not dying, renewal and not resuscitation, the gentile will have to accept the Phoenix as an indisputable proof of the hope of the resurrection. [...] Both Clement and Tertullian endorse Phoenix as a powerful symbol that enables them to render the idea of the resurrection probable. ...”
Petersen, Anders Klostergaard
"Between Old and New: The Problem of Acculturation Illustrated by the Early Christian Use of the Phoenix Motif" in García Martínez, Florentino; Luttikhuizen, Gerard P. (ed.) Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome: Studies in Ancient Cultural Interaction in Honour of A. Hilhorst
(pp. 161-162) Brill, 2003
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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