Clement of Rome

This early pastor of Rome served at a time when the teachings of the apostles Peter and Paul were still ringing in the ears of the early Christians. In fact, some early church historians identify this Clement with the companion of Paul mentioned in Philippians 4:3. After writing a letter to the church in Corinth exhorting them to unity, Clement was martyred under the great persecution of Domitian.

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Clement of Rome  (c. 35 AD – 99 AD), also known as Pope Clement I, was the bishop of Rome in the late first century AD. He is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as the bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 AD to his death in 99 AD. and is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the Church, one of the three chief ones together with Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch.

Clement was said to have been consecrated by Peter the Apostle, and he is known to have been a leading member of the Church in Rome in the late 1st century. Early church lists place him as the second or third bishop of Rome. The Liber Pontificalis states that Clement died in Greece in the third year of Emperor Trajan's reign, or 101 AD. Eusebius, in his book Church History mentioned Clement as the third bishop of Rome and as the "co-laborer" of Paul. In Against Heresies, Irenaeus describes Clement as a personal acquaintance of the Apostles.

Clement's only genuine extant writing is his letter to the church at Corinth in response to a dispute in which he asserted the authority of the presbyters as rulers of the church on the ground that the Apostles had appointed such.