Clement of Alexandria I: Protrepticus and Paedagogus

wherefore he fittingly made the title of the Stromata correspond to the subject matter. He uses in them testimonies from the disputed writings, of the so-called Wisdom of Solomon and Jesus son of Sirach and the Epistle to the Hebrews and those of Barnabas and Clement and Jude. He mentions Tatian’s discourse To the Greeks and Cassian, as one who also compiled a chronicle; furthermore, Philo and Aristobulus, Josephus, Demetrius, and Eupolemus, Jewish authors, as those who have all demonstrated in writing that Moses and the Jewish race are older than the ancient history of the Greeks. The aforementioned discourses of the man happen to be full of much other useful learning; in the first of which he reveals regarding himself that he was as close as possible to the succession of the apostles, and he promises in them to also provide a commentary on Genesis. In his discourse On the Passover, he confesses to having been compelled by his companions to transmit to writing for those who come after the traditions he happened to have heard from the ancient presbyters, and he mentions in it Melito and Irenaeus and some others, whose accounts he has set down.

14. "In the Hypotyposes, to summarize, he has made abridged accounts of the entire canonical scripture, not even passing over the disputed ones, I mean Jude and the remaining Catholic Epistles, and the Epistle of Barnabas and the so-called Revelation of Peter. He says that the Epistle to the Hebrews is indeed Paul’s, but was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language, and that Luke, having carefully translated it, published it for the Greeks; whence the same complexion is found in the translation of this epistle and the Acts. And that 'Paul the Apostle' was not written at the beginning, is reasonable; for, he says, when writing to the Hebrews, who had formed a prejudice against him and suspected him, he very prudently did not alienate them at the beginning by placing his name."
Then, continuing below, he adds:

"But now, as the blessed presbyter used to say, since the Lord, being the apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, out of modesty, as one who had been sent to the Gentiles, does not write himself as the apostle of the Hebrews, both out of respect for the Lord and because he was writing to the Hebrews from his abundance, being a herald and apostle of the Gentiles."

Again, in the same books, Clement has set down a tradition of the ancient presbyters regarding the order of the Gospels, having this character. He said that those of the Gospels which contain the genealogies were written first, but that the one according to Mark had this arrangement. As Peter was preaching the word publicly in Rome and declaring the Gospel by the Spirit, those present, being many, encouraged Mark, since he...