Clement of Rome
c. 35 – c. 99 · Bishop of Rome
Also known as Pope Clement I
Feast: 23 November (Catholic) · 25 November (Orthodox)
Bishop of Rome late in the 1st century. Author of 1 Clement to the Corinthian church c. AD 96 — the earliest surviving Christian document outside the New Testament.
1 Clement is the oldest surviving piece of Christian writing outside the New Testament. Around AD 96, the Roman church wrote to Corinth telling them to stop deposing their elders — and the letter doesn't read like scripture, it reads like a pastor writing a problem letter. That's invaluable. It shows what the second-generation church actually believed about church order, succession, and authority, before any of those things became contested. Some early Christian communities read it alongside the New Testament for centuries.
Notable works
- ·1 Clement (Letter to the Corinthians) · 96
Primary sources
- ·1 Clement (entire)
- ·Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 3.3.3
- ·Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 3.4, 3.15-16
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