Group of Christian leaders and writers from the late first and early second centuries A. D. These authors were not apostles themselves, but had close proximity to the apostles, either by personal relationship or close connexion with apostolic teaching. Examples include Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Papias, Pseudo-Barnabas, the Didache, the Second Epistle of Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and The Apostle's Creed.