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The Apostolic Fathers are a small number of Early Christian authors who lived and wrote in the second half of the first century and the first half of the second century. They are acknowledged as leaders in the early church, although their writings were not included in the New Testament. They include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna.
The label "Apostolic Fathers" has been applied to them since the seventeenth century to indicate that they were thought of as being of the generation that had personal contact with the Twelve Apostles. Thus they provide a link between the Apostles?who had personal contact with Jesus?and the later generations of Church Fathers, which includes the Christian apologists, defenders of orthodoxy, and developers of doctrine.