We have copies of these texts in Coptic, Syriac, and Ge'ez that Rome never even knew about and that have been discovered only in the last few centuries.
I assume by "Clementine forgeries" you are talking about the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions? Here's the thing about those...even Eusebius knew they were not authentic:
And now some have only the other day brought forward other wordy and lengthy compositions as being Clement's, containing dialogues of Peter and Appion, of which there is absolutely no mention in the ancients."You will find the least reliable ancient documents have a tradition about their unreliability attached to them.
I didn't say that. I said it is impossible to determine what is fake and what is not. Ergo, it (as a whole) cannot be used for provenance nor pedigree, as already we know that intrinsic and necessary dogma rely upon known fraud... Proof of the succession from Peter being one. After all, 'a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump', no? What then makes Rome any different from the Mormons, other than impressive age? How am I to trust her? On her own say-so? I think not. PROVE IT. But then, you can't.
We have copies of these texts in Coptic, Syriac, and Ge'ez that Rome never even knew about and that have been discovered only in the last few centuries.
How do you know what Rome knew about? Once a forgery has been generated and sent down the pipe, copied and translated just like any other... Now, all these centuries later, you wouldn't know the difference. The premise of the propaganda is already established.
What CAN be determined is that what is the Roman church today could not have sprung whole cloth from a sect of Judaism. Nor can it be said that if she did indeed come from Judaism, that she is true to her foundations. And the closer to Judaism one would try to cause that genesis of the Roman church to be, the more ludicrous it becomes. That at least, can be determined by comparative studies. Hence, there is most certainly a profound disconnect between the Roman church today, and the Carpenter from Nazareth.
[...] You will find the least reliable ancient documents have a tradition about their unreliability attached to them.
Yet that doesn't stop their being used, or more often, their progeny (documents bearing reference to the original fraud) being used as proofs. Go figger. But then, without them, you would have no proof at all.