The First Letter of Clement is an epistle addressed by the church in Rome to its counterpart in Corinth in response to an outbreak of factionalism there. In ancient sources it is ascribed to Clement, a leading figure of the church in Rome toward the end of the first century, but this attribution is now doubted. A late first-century date seems likely nonetheless, with most scholars placing the letter between 80 and 100 CE, and some more precisely in the mid-90s. The First Letter of Clement is thus one of the earliest extant Christian writings, as old as some of the documents that were later incorporated into the New Testament. It was greatly esteemed and extensively read in early Christianity; as late as the fourth century it was even regarded by some as part of the New Testament canon. Since the seventeenth century it has been included in the collection of early Christian writings known as the Apostolic Fathers.