Clement of Rome Clement of Rome (–99) was
bishop of Rome from 88 to 99.
Irenaeus and
Tertullian list him as the fourth bishop after
Peter,
Linus and
Anacletus. He 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. The
First Epistle of Clement () was copied and widely read and is generally considered to be the oldest
Christian epistle in existence outside of the
New Testament. The letter is extremely lengthy, twice as long as the
Epistle to the Hebrews, and it demonstrates the author's familiarity with many books of both the
Old Testament and New Testament. The epistle repeatedly refers to the Old Testament as scripture and includes numerous references to the
Book of Judith, thereby establishing usage or at least familiarity with Judith in his time. Within the letter, Clement calls on the
Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order. The
Second Epistle of Clement was traditionally ascribed by some ancient authors to Clement, but it is now generally considered to have been written later, , and therefore could not be the work of Clement, who died in 99. Whereas 1 Clement was an epistle, 2 Clement appears to be a transcript of an oral
homily or
sermon,
Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (also known as Theophorus, from the Greek for
God-bearer) () was
bishop of Antioch. He may have known the apostle
John directly, and his thought is certainly influenced by the tradition associated with this apostle. En route to his martyrdom in
Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of the theology of the earliest Christians. Important topics addressed in these letters include
ecclesiology, the
sacraments, the role of
bishops, and the nature of
biblical Sabbath. He clearly identifies the local-church hierarchy composed of bishop,
presbyters, and
deacons and claims to have spoken in some of the churches through the
inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. He is the second after Clement to mention the
Pauline epistles. His student Irenaeus wrote that he "was not only instructed by the apostles, and conversed with many who had seen the Lord, but was also appointed bishop by apostles in Asia and in the church in Smyrna", and that he had, as a boy, listened to "the accounts which (Polycarp) gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord". The options for this John are
John the son of Zebedee, traditionally viewed as the author of the Fourth Gospel, or
John the Presbyter. Traditional advocates follow Eusebius in insisting that the apostolic connection of
Papius was with
John the Evangelist, and that this John, the author of the
Gospel of John, was the same as the apostle John. Polycarp tried and failed to persuade
Anicetus, bishop of Rome, to have the
West celebrate
Easter on
14 Nisan, as in the
East. He rejected the bishop's suggestion that the East use the Western date. In 155, the Smyrnans demanded Polycarp's execution as a Christian, and he died a
martyr. His story has it that the flames built to kill him refused to burn him, and that when he was stabbed to death, so much blood issued from his body that it quenched the flames around him. Eusebius adds that Papias was Bishop of Hierapolis around the time of Ignatius of Antioch. The name
Papias (Παπίας) was very common in the region, suggesting that he was probably a native of the area. Papias's major work was the
Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord (Greek: Λογίων Κυριακῶν Ἐξήγησις) in five books; it has been lost and only survives in excerpts from Irenaeus and Eusebius. Other fragments come from the works of
Philip of Side and
George Hamartolos, but the authenticity of those are dubious.
Quadratus of Athens Quadratus of Athens (died ) was bishop of
Athens. Eusebius reports that he was a disciple of the apostles (
auditor apostolorum) and that he was appointed as bishop after the martyrdom of his predecessor
Publius. Quadratus's major work is the
Apology, which was apparently read to Emperor
Hadrian to convince him to improve imperial policy toward Christians. It has been lost and only survives in an excerpt from Eusebius. == Other sub-apostolic literature ==