The full and original text, in Greek, was found in a 12th-century manuscript discovered in 1843 at Vienna and published[2] in the same year by Johann Wilhelm Bickell,[3] which named it Apostolische Kirchenordnung.
The titles found on the manuscripts can be different, so the Bohairic Alexandrine Sinodos version is entitled "Canons of our Fathers the Holy Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they appointed in the Churches", while the Syriac version has "Third book of Clement, Teaching of the twelve Apostles".
As usual in genre of the Church Orders, this texts purports to be the work of the Twelve Apostles, whose instructions, whether given by them as individuals or as a body.
The names of the Apostles are so listed: John, Matthew, Peter, Andrew, Philip, Simon, James, Nathanael, Thomas, Cephas, Bartholomew and Judas.
The presence of both Peter and Cephas, and the first place given to John, is found also in the more ancient Epistula Apostolorum.