Dr Paul Allen

Imagine being tied to an anchor and cast into the sea. According to legend, that was the fate that befell Clement of Rome under the emperor Domitian . This is probably incorrect, however, since Domitian died before the turn of the first century and church historian Eusebius of Caesarea tells us Clement was martyred on this day, November 23, 101, which would put his death in the reign of Trajan. Clement was only the fourth bishop of Rome, the first possibly being Peter. Did he know Peter and Paul? It is completely possible that those two Spirit-filled men taught him. Clement even wrote a letter to the Corinthian church that echoed the teachings of the apostles. We know next to nothing about the two bishops between Peter and Clement. But Clement's letter made him stand out among the early leaders of the Roman church. The Roman church claims that Clement's letter proves that the popes (although they weren't called by that name for many centuries to come) were already seen ...

English: Clement of Alexandria, from book 1, folio 5 recto of Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens (1584) by André Thevet. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Author: Phil Vischer. We actually have very little clue as to what day Jesus was actually born. Though scientists and theologians have tried to pinpoint it, there is no way of knowing even whether or not he was born in December! We do know, however, why we celebrate Jesus on the 25th.  Gnostic Christians in Egypt first celebrated Christ ’s birth around 200 A.D.. Many church leaders identified January 6th as the day of Christ’s birth and thus celebrated Christmas then; today, we celebrate Epiphany (or the arrival of the Magi) on that day.  In the early Roman church , pagan holidays were often “Christianized” to help convert people to Christianity.  Several pagan holidays were celebrated on and around December 25th, include a day to worship the sun because of the solstice...