Clement’s Harmonized Markan Gospel as a Precursor to the Eusebian Canon: Evidence from the Markan Discipleship Corridor (Mark 8:34–10:52) Stromateis 2.20.104.3 (Third Example)

Clement locus	Gospel material engaged (Greek)	Synoptic location	Relation to Markan discipleship corridor (Mark 8:34–10:52)	Effect on Secret Mark / Eusebius Canon hypothesis
Stromateis 2.20.104.3	οὗτος τὸν σταυρὸν τοῦ σωτῆρος περιφέρων ἕπεται κυρίῳ μετ' ἴχνιον	Mark 8:34 // Matt 16:24 // Luke 9:23 (taking up the cross and following)	Explicitly invokes the core corridor saying (“take up the cross and follow”), but in an ethical–ascetical register rather than narrative sequence	Weakly supportive: confirms Clement’s use of a central Markan corridor saying, but does not reconstruct or harmonize surrounding Markan material

Clement clearly alludes to the dominical command to take up the cross and follow Jesus, a saying that inaugurates the Markan discipleship corridor at Mark 8:34. His language—ἕπεται κυρίῳ, τὸν σταυρὸν περιφέρων—matches the core conceptual content of the Markan formulation and fits naturally within the corridor’s thematic framework of renunciation, imitation, and following. However, Clement does not situate the saying within a reconstructed narrative sequence, nor does he fuse it with adjacent corridor material (such as loss of life, κρίσις, or recompense). Instead, the saying is absorbed into an ascetical and moral portrait of the perfected Christian. As a result, the passage confirms Markan control at the level of discipleship ideology but does not materially advance the stronger claim that Clement is working from a harmonized or “Secret” Markan gospel that preserves corridor structure.