The first text to suggest that Nero ordered the execution of an apostle is a letter by Clement to the Corinthians traditional dated to around 96 A.D. The apocryphal Ascension of Isaiah , a Christian writing from the 2nd century says , " the slayer of his mother , who himself ( even ) this king , will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted . Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands " was interpreted to mean Nero .