Clement and truthy-ness

[RandyHelzerman]

For, even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so, agree with them.

one must never give way . . . but should even deny it on oath.

Is this a thing? Does Clement elsewhere, or any other church father explicitly tell a disciple to never agree with their opponents, even if they were telling the truth?

cf. with what Pliny wrote about the christians, that they met on a certain day, and swore to never break an oath.

*Even if* by some miracle of sleuthing, this were proven to be genuine correspondence between Clement and Theodore, how could we trust anything he said? "Oh yeah, Theodore, don't worry, I'm telling *you* the truth....Mark was a disciple of Peter, he really wrote that gospel...those are the true truths."

[andrewcriddle]

There is a general issue here. The letter if authentic is intended to reassure Theodore of the truth of orthodox Christianity. However, its effect on Theodore is likely to be rather different.

Andrew Criddle