St. Clement of Rome

Oversimplified

• Bishop of Rome at the end of the first century, and author of a letter to Corinth that is among the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament.
• His epistle shows the apostolic Churches already appealing to ordered ministry and apostolic succession to settle disputes.

Summary

St. Clement of Rome (†c. 99), counted among the first bishops of Rome, wrote 1 Clement to the Corinthian Church, which had deposed its presbyters. The letter urges repentance, humility, and order, and is our earliest external witness to the structure of ministry the Apostles left behind.

Apostolic order

Clement argues that the Apostles appointed bishops and deacons and provided that others should succeed them — an early and explicit statement of Apostolic Succession.[^1] Written from Rome to Corinth, 1 Clement was so esteemed that some early Churches read it in worship. See Bishop, Presbyter, The Church.

[^1]: St. Clement of Rome, 1 Clement (Epistle to the Corinthians).