Apostles
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute. Luke 11:49
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Acts 2:43
For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 1 Corinthians 4:9
Thus wrote Irenaeus. Moreover, Papias himself, in the introduction to his books, makes it manifest that he was not himself a hearer and eye-witness of the holy apostles; but he tells us that he received the truths of our religion from those who were acquainted with them [the apostles] in the following words:
If, then, any one who had attended on the elders came, I asked minutely after their sayings, --what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the Lord's disciples: which things Aristion and the presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice. Papias (A.D. 60-130) fragment I
Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death…To these men who spent their lives in the practice of holiness, there is to be added a great multitude of the elect, who, having through envy endured many indignities and tortures, furnished us with a most excellent example. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch. 5-6
Having therefore received a charge, and having been fully assured through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed in the word of God with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they (the apostles) went forth with the glad tidings that the kingdom of God should come. So preaching everywhere in country and town, they appointed their first-fruits, when they had proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons unto them that should believe. And this they did in no new fashion; for indeed it had been written concerning bishops and deacons from very ancient times; for thus said the scripture in a certain place, I will appoint their bishops in righteousness and their deacons in faith. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch.42
"Because," said he, "these, the apostles and the teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after they had fallen asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached also to them that had fallen asleep before them, and themselves gave unto them the seal of the preaching." Hermas (A.D. 150) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg. 49
And that it did so come to pass, we can convince you. For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.175
Moreover, the prescription that twelve bells be attached to the [robe] of the high priest, which hung down to the feet, was a symbol of the twelve apostles, who depend on the power of Christ, the eternal Priest; and through their voice it is that all the earth has been filled with the glory and grace of God and of His Christ. Wherefore David also says: 'Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.' And Isaiah speaks as if he were personating the apostles, when they say to Christ that they believe not in their own report, but in the power of Him who sent them. And so he says: 'Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’ Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.215
Accordingly, the apostle Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, and vegetables, without flesh. And John, who carded temperance to the extreme, "ate locusts and wild honey." Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.241
"But each has his own proper gift of God" - one in one way, another in another. But the apostles were perfected in all. You will find, then, if you choose, in their acts and writings, knowledge, life, preaching, righteousness, purity, prophecy. We must know, then, that if Paul is young in respect to time -- having flourished immediately after the Lord's ascension -- yet his writings depend on the Old Testament, breathing and speaking of them. For faith in Christ and the knowledge of the Gospel are the explanation and fulfillment of the law; and therefore it was said to the Hebrews, "If you believe not, neither shall you understand;" that is, unless you believe what is prophesied in the law, and orally delivered by the law, you will not understand the Old Testament, which He by His coming expounded. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.434
SEE ALSO: JAMES, PETER AND PAUL