01 — Foundations
The historical and ecclesial ground on which the witness of St. Clement of Rome (d. c. 99/101) stands: the church of Rome in the apostolic and immediately post-apostolic age, formed under Peter and Paul and tested by the persecutions of Nero and Domitian; and Clement’s own place in the early succession lists, together with the genuinely open question of whether the first-century Roman church was led by a single bishop or governed by a college of presbyters. Almost nothing of Clement’s biography survives apart from his one letter and the brief notices of Irenaeus and Eusebius; these files establish what can be said and how securely.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostolic Father)
Clement belongs to the generation that received the faith directly from the apostles and handed it to the Church of the second century. He is named in the earliest succession-list we possess — that of Irenaeus — as the third to hold the place of oversight at Rome after the apostles, and as one who “had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them.” Yet his own letter never names him and never claims a personal title, and the form of leadership in the Roman church of his day is itself a scholarly question. This section sets the context of the Roman church in the first century — its apostolic foundation, its composition, and the two waves of persecution that frame Clement’s life — and then examines his place in the succession lists and the both-sides debate over the early Roman episcopate versus a collegial presbyterate.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Roman Church in the First Century | The church of Rome in the apostolic age — its foundation associated with Peter and Paul, its composition (the addressees of Romans), its presbyteral organization; and the persecutions under Nero (AD 64, the Tacitus and 1 Clement 5–6 evidence) and Domitian (the 90s, the setting of 1 Clement). |
| The Third Bishop of Rome | Clement in the early succession lists — Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.3.3), Hegesippus, the order in Eusebius and the later catalogues, and the variant placing him second (Tertullian, Apostolic Constitutions); and the both-sides question of whether the first-century Roman church had a single ruling bishop (“monepiscopate”) or a collegial presbyterate. |
See Also
- The Letter to the Corinthians — 1 Clement itself, the one secure witness to Clement and his church
- Order and the Ministry — what the letter implies about church order, bearing directly on the episcopate question
- The Historical Clement — the man behind the lists, and the Flavius Clemens question
- The Church Fathers — Clement among the Apostolic Fathers
- The Pre-Schism Church — the first-century Church of Clement’s world
References
- Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies, 3.3.3. Trans. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1. Buffalo: Christian Literature Company, 1885.
- Eusebius of Caesarea. The Ecclesiastical History. Trans. Arthur C. McGiffert, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 1. 1890.
- Holmes, Michael W. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
- Brent, Allen. Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century. Leiden: Brill, 1995.
- Lona, Horacio E. Der erste Clemensbrief. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998.