Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome (+101)

The Hieromartyr Clement was born in Rome in the time of the Emperor Tiberius I (14–37). His father Faustus was a rich and noble pagan, and his mother, the wonderfully charming Matthidia, was a close relative of the emperor. The couple had two twin sons, and Clement was their youngest son. The family lived peacefully, but some years later Faustus’s brother came to live with them; seized with passion for Matthidia and embittered by the woman’s firmness, he began to insult her. Matthidia did not wish to reveal the wicked man’s scheming to her husband, and decided to go away from there herself. She asked her husband to let her move to Athens to live. After long and insistent pleading Faustus built a splendid ship for his wife and sent her to Athens with their elder sons. A few days later a terrible storm arose; the raging sea wrecked the ship, and Matthidia, unconscious, was cast up on the shore. Here she was taken in by a kind widow, who tried to ease her grief at the loss of her children. Matthidia’s elder sons, Faustus and Faustinian, were taken aboard their ship by sea pirates and sold as slaves in Caesarea to a pious woman, who brought them up like her own children. The brothers were taught every kind of learning. They also came to know the teaching of Christ and were baptised, and then became disciples of the Apostle Peter, who had come to that country to preach.

The father knew nothing of what had happened. Owing to various circumstances, only several years later did he learn that his wife and children had never reached Athens and had vanished without trace. Terribly grieved, Faustus entrusted little Clement to faithful slaves to bring up, while he himself hastened off in search of his lost wife and children.

Torn from his parents, Clement grew up in Rome. He received a brilliant education and was surrounded by luxury, but, saddened by the loss of his family, the young man began to reflect on what awaits a man after death, and tried to grasp the meaning of life. When news of Christ and His teaching reached the capital, the blessed one left his house and estate and hastened to where the apostles were preaching. In Alexandria Clement met the Apostle Barnabas, and then went to Palestine, was baptised by the hand of the Apostle Peter, and became his disciple, his inseparable companion and the constant sharer of his life full of labours and sufferings. Clement’s brothers Faustus and Faustinian also accompanied Peter, but naturally they did not recognise one another.