Clement of Rome

Clement of Rome (; ; died ), also known as Pope Clement I, was a bishop of Rome in the late first century AD. He is considered to be the first of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church, and a leading member of the Church in Rome in the late 1st century.

Little is known about Clement's life. Tertullian claimed that Clement was ordained by Saint Peter. Early church lists place him as the second or third details the debate regarding whether there was one pope with two names, or two distinct popes. Ancient sources are contradictory, and modern scholarship is divided.}} bishop of Rome. 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 the successor to Anacletus (third bishop of Rome), and a personal acquaintance of the Apostles. According to the ''Annuario Pontificio'', Clement was the fourth bishop of Rome, holding office at the very end of the 1st century. However, the 2012 edition settles for 92 as the beginning date, following Eusebius and Jerome. The date of 68–76 is given by the later ''Catalogus Liberianus'' and ''Liber Pontificalis'', which are not trustworthy for the chronology of the first popes. All four sources give Peter an episcopate of 25 years in Rome, and the ''Liber Pontificalis'' even records that Peter died 38 years after Jesus' death, that is, AD 67–68. However, the ''Catalogus'' and ''Liber'' counted Peter's episcopate from AD 30 and thus arrived to AD 55, as Pope Linus is said to have succeeded in AD 56. The author thus "gives two incompatible traditions." The year of Clement's death is disputed, it was AD 99 according to Jerome and AD 100 according to Eusebius (and the ''Liber Pontificalis'', despite previously stating that his tenure ended in AD 76). All four sources give him a tenure of 9 years, which would place his death in AD 100/101.}} It is likely that Clement died in exile, and was possibly martyred. According to apocryphal stories dating back to the 4th century by authors such as Rufinus, Clement was imprisoned by Roman Emperor Trajan, and was executed by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea. The ''Liber Pontificalis'' states that Clement died in Greece in the third year of Trajan's reign, or 100 AD.

The only known genuine extant writing of Clement is his letter to the church at Corinth (1 Clement) in response to a dispute in which certain presbyters of the Corinthian church had been deposed. He asserted the authority of the presbyters as rulers of the church because they had been appointed by the Apostles. His letter, which is one of the oldest extant Christian documents outside the New Testament, was read in the church at Corinth, along with other epistles, some of which later became part of the Christian canon. This letter is considered to be the earliest affirmation of the principle of apostolic succession. A second epistle, 2 Clement, was once controversially attributed to Clement, although recent scholarship suggests it to be a homily by another author. In the pseudo-Clementine Writings, Clement is the intermediary through whom the apostles teach the church.

Clement is recognized as a saint in many Christian churches and a patron saint of mariners. He is commemorated on 23 November in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity his feast is kept on 25 November. Provided by Wikipedia