1 clement offers valuable evidence about the state of the ministry in the early church. he calls on the corinthians to repent and to reinstate the leaders that they had deposed. he explains that the apostles had appointed ”bishops and deacons”, that they had given instructions on how to perpetuate the ministry, and that christians were to obey their superiors. the author uses the terms ”bishops” and ”elders” (presbyters) interchangeably.