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St. Peter and Rome
Catholic Exchange.com ^ | 11-15-04 | Amy Barragree

Posted on 10/27/2006 8:14:39 PM PDT by Salvation

St. Peter and Rome
11/15/04

Dear Catholic Exchange:

Why did St. Peter establish the Church in Rome?

Ed


Dear Ed,

Peace in Christ!

We do not know why Peter went to Rome. The Church has always maintained, based on historical evidence, that Peter went to Rome, but has never taught why this happened. In speculating on this matter, there are two primary considerations.

First, at the time of Jesus and the early Church, the Roman Empire controlled the lands around the Mediterranean, a large portion of what is now Europe, and most of what is now called the Middle East. Rome was one of the biggest, most influential cities in the Western world. It was the center of political authority, economic progress, cultural expression, and many other aspects of life in the Roman Empire. This may have played a role in Peter’s decision to go to Rome.

Second, Jesus promised the Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit to guide them. Scripture shows Peter following the promptings of the Holy Spirit throughout his ministry. It somehow fits into God’s providence and eternal plan that His Church be established in Rome. Peter may have gone to Rome for no other reason than that is where the Holy Spirit wanted him.

Historical evidence does show that Peter did go to Rome and exercised his authority as head of the Apostles from there. The earliest Christians provided plenty of documentation in this regard.

Among these was St. Irenæus of Lyons, a disciple of St. Polycarp who had received the Gospel from the Apostle St. John. Near the end of his life St. Irenæus mentioned, in his work Against Heresies (c. A.D. 180-199), the work of Peter and Paul in Rome:

Matthew also issued among the Hebrews a written Gospel in their own language, while Peter and Paul were evangelizing in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church (Book 3, Chapter 1, verse 1).
The African theologian Tertullian tells us that Peter and Paul both died in Rome in Demurrer Against the Heretics (c. A.D. 200):
Come now, if you would indulge a better curiosity in the business of your salvation, run through the apostolic Churches in which the very thrones of the Apostles remain still in place; in which their own authentic writings are read, giving sound to the voice and recalling the faces of each.... [I]f you are near to Italy, you have Rome, whence also our authority [i.e., in Carthage] derives. How happy is that Church, on which the Apostles poured out their whole doctrine along with their blood, where Peter endured a passion like that of the Lord, where Paul was crowned in a death like John’s [i.e., the Baptist], where the Apostle John, after being immersed in boiling oil and suffering no hurt, was exiled to an island.
Tertullian was certainly not the only ancient author who testified that Peter was crucified in Rome. An ancient, orthodox historical text known as the "Acts of Saints Peter and Paul" elaborates on the preaching and martyrdom of the two Apostles in Rome. The dating of this document is difficult, but historians cited in the Catholic Encyclopedia placed its probable origins between A.D. 150-250.

One of the earliest thorough histories of the Church was Bishop Eusebius of Cæsarea’s Ecclesiastical History. Most of this work was written before Constantine became emperor in A.D. 324, and some portions were added afterward. Eusebius quotes many previous historical documents regarding Peter and Paul’s travels and martyrdom in Rome, including excellent excerpts from ancient documents now lost, like Presbyter Gaius of Rome’s "Disputation with Proclus" (c. A.D. 198-217) and Bishop Dionysius of Corinth’s "Letter to Soter of Rome" (c. A.D. 166-174). Penguin Books publishes a very accessible paperback edition of Eusebius’s history of the Church, and most libraries will probably own a copy as well.

For more ancient accounts of Peter’s presence in Rome, see the writings of the Church Fathers, which are published in various collections. Jurgens’s Faith of the Early Fathers, volumes 1-3, contains a collection of patristic excerpts with a topical index which apologists find very useful (Liturgical Press). Hendrickson Publishers and Paulist Press both publish multi-volume hardcover editions of the works of the Church Fathers. Penguin Books and St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press publish a few works of the Fathers in relatively inexpensive paperback editions.

More treatments of Petrine questions may be found in Stephen K. Ray’s Upon This Rock (Ignatius); Jesus, Peter, & the Keys by Butler, Dahlgren, and Hess (Queenship); Patrick Madrid’s Pope Fiction (Basilica); and in the Catholic Answers tracts “Was Peter In Rome?” and “The Fathers Know Best: Peter In Rome.”

Please feel free to call us at 1-800-MY FAITH or email us with any further questions on this or any other subject. If you have found this information to be helpful, please consider a donation to CUF to help sustain this service. You can call the toll-free line, visit us at
www.cuf.org, or send your contribution to the address below. Thank you for your support as we endeavor to “support, defend, and advance the efforts of the teaching Church.”

United in the Faith,

Amy Barragree
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)



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TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Judaism; Theology
KEYWORDS: catholiclist; rome; stpeter
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To: annalex
Matthew is not about a church, it is about the individual and his ability to do all thing regarding his own salvation. This is its literal meaning. Any interpretation impressed on it is for the purpose of an outside human agency grasping power over the human soul.

The decision of an individual is binding in Heaven. Organizations have no souls, and are unneedful of salvation.

As I said, individuals at their own pleasure tend to congregate in groups. It is not the group that is important, but the individual. Your's is the corporate viewpoint. The gospels are not for corporations.

The scriptures yield a very good description of the interdependency on each individual on each other in the body of Christ. Pushing an all powerful church that has sovereignty over the individuals is, again, a corporate viewpoint.

Jesus did not speak to corporations, He spoke to individuals.

Yes, He did build His church. It is the body of believers all over the world, however not under the wing of any spiritual despot. That is scriptural. The interpretation you impress on it is not consistent with the sovereignty of an individual over his own salvation preached by Jesus.

I don't recall discussing your personality. I was just puzzled how you can be unmindful of all the instances where Jesus clearly told the individual how to gain the Kingdom, where it was, and what to do, doable >only by the individual, to gain salvation. None of which required a church, except for the pleasure of those who like group worship.

There must be some cognitive dissonance there. But, then, the Catholic church has a lot of wealth and power to loose should their con job come to light.

841 posted on 11/14/2006 12:26:37 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: William Terrell

Your post does not address the scriptures I posted. Now who's got cognitive dissonance?


842 posted on 11/14/2006 1:23:40 PM PST by annalex
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To: annalex
Went through them and made the comments that were necessary, although repetitive.

843 posted on 11/14/2006 5:22:01 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: William Terrell

No you did not. You made a naked comment that "Matthew is not about a church" -- when the quote plainly refers to "church", then you mused about individuals and corporations. Then you made another assertion that the church is body of believers, as if that contradicts what I say. Then you make another naked assertion that the Church of the gospel is not "under the wing of any spiritual despot", despite the scripture from 1 Corinthians, which you left without comment. That was the extent of your commentary on the scripture I offered.


844 posted on 11/14/2006 6:41:17 PM PST by annalex
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To: annalex
I commented on everything, just not in order. Would you like me to put it in order for you?

845 posted on 11/14/2006 9:38:15 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: William Terrell

No, I can tell what you are driving at with these, so the order is not the problem. The problem with your commentary is that it does not really comment on the scripture in view, but rather gives me your thoughts on what the Church is that you would have given me regardless of any particular scripture.

You do make a point that is scriptural, regarding the Kingdom of God being inside of the beleiver. However, I also showed you that this metaphor does not preclude the Kingdom of God form being a social organization, as there is plenty of scripture where it is used in that way. And indeed, the Catholic Church never teaches that salvation is somehow divorced from the internal life of the soul. In fact, the entire church life is centered around the two sacraments, confession and Eucharist, that are deeply personal by their very nature.


846 posted on 11/15/2006 3:27:30 PM PST by annalex
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To: annalex
Tell me, if I'm not a Catholic and refuse the Catholic traditions and do not believe the Catholic doctrine, can I be saved to eternal life, with no input or permission at all from the church?

Do you really think that when Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within, He included human organizations. Show me the human organization's soul.

I'm afraid I don't agree with the church's interpretation of scripture, or the orientation of view it would have to have to interpret it that way. So, I don't address the scripture cites so much as to just write an alternate interpretation and why. I try to address the foundation of that interpretation of scripture.

847 posted on 11/15/2006 6:55:14 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: Diego1618
Hey Diego, in my studies of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, I came across this from Irenaeus writing about the disciples of Simon Magus and the Marcionites:

"When, however, they are confuted by the Scriptures, they turn around and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but by viva voce."

Does that sound familiar? The more things change the more they remain the same. The blabber of the RCC magisterium has not changed since its conception and they are living proof that the tradition that they pontificate ad infinitum is not that of the Apostles but that of the disciples of Simon Magus and their tradition of the tradition of tradition. Their own Holy Nicene Father Irenaeus nails them on this traditional Simonian technique, but then of course, I'm sure they can explain away even his words --- by tradition and the viva voce of the magisterium, as always, to continue to deceive their gullible laity.

848 posted on 11/16/2006 5:39:54 AM PST by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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To: Diego1618
That's Irenaeus: Against Heresies; Book III; Chapter 2; Verse 1 ----
849 posted on 11/16/2006 5:46:27 AM PST by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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To: Uncle Chip
That's Irenaeus: Against Heresies; Book III; Chapter 2; Verse 1 ----

Thanks very much for the update. I "had" seen that in the past but could not remember where. Yeah......it's so typical, but they'll come up with twelve reasons why it is so.... and a Papal Bull to go with it.

850 posted on 11/16/2006 8:51:53 AM PST by Diego1618
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To: William Terrell
if I'm not a Catholic and refuse the Catholic traditions and do not believe the Catholic doctrine, can I be saved to eternal life, with no input or permission at all from the church?

The Catholic teaching is that men are judged solely on how much they resemble Christ in their works. They are also judged according to the light they are given. A man who is not Catholic because of a cultural bias but does not reject the essence of Catholic teaching, and who lives according tothe natural moral law can be saved. We are not to judge the futire salvation of individuals. I can, however, recommend conversion to the Catholic Church as the Church Christ founded as the surest way to reach heaven.

when Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within, He included human organizations

I showed you a few posts above that there is scirpturally, a social aspect to the Kingdom, as well as, of course, the individual aspect.

I try to address the foundation of that interpretation of scripture

This is moving from your personal belief system and using the scripture where it fits the personal beleif. The Catohlic way is to read the scripture and form the belief from the entirety of it, no matter how contradictory the pieces seem to be.

851 posted on 11/16/2006 5:00:38 PM PST by annalex
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To: Uncle Chip
From Father Irenaeus about the Gnostic Marcionite source of one of the RCC's most lasting traditions:

"When, however, they are confuted by the Scriptures, they turn around and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, and [assert] that they are ambiguous, and that the truth cannot be extracted from them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For [they allege] that the truth was not delivered by means of written documents, but by viva voce."

852 posted on 11/24/2006 3:42:22 AM PST by Uncle Chip (TRUTH : Ignore it. Deride it. Allegorize it. Interpret it. But you can't ESCAPE it.)
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To: Theoden

Hi,

Firstly I am not a Roman Catholic. I am a practicing Christian who is slightly peeved that so many of my contemporaries seem to think that the Christian church somehow began in the mid 1500’s

Isn’t it strange that this ‘Peter never went to Rome’ story never surfaced until the reformation? Up until then, it was generally accepted that Peter had met his end in the Neronian Circus, crucified upside down and then buried across the road in the Vatican cemetery.

Any historian will point out that if Peter had never even visited Rome then reliable and credible sources would exist, way before the reformation yet they don’t... Now why might that be so?

Well, I think that by attacking the itinerary of St Peter, any would be propaganda artists strike to the heart of Catholicism so Peter is an easy target in that regard. after all, if he wasn’t even in Rome, how could he be the first pope etc...

There are many reasons why I personally do not belong to the Church of Rome but this lame attempt at protestant propaganda is not one. Peter ends one of his letters with greetings from the church in Babylon, Aside from actually spelling out ROME, this is just about the best evidence anyone could ask for as to his whereabouts. The persecuted church frequently referred to Rome as ‘Babylon’ and we see a better example in John’s book of Revelation and the ‘Harlot of Babylon’ who sits on seven hills etc... In fact this is what we call ‘Textural Critisism’. Its the ability to draw on different biblical references to fill in ‘gaps’. Biblical scholars have identified that the early persecuted church met in secret and developed a series of secret signs and phrases to communicate with each other and not ‘outsiders’ after all if Peter was in Rome he wouldn’t necessarily want to publicise it at the time would he?

In fact, it’s rather foolish to interpret Peter’s closing comments literaly, are we really to think that Peter went to Iraq around AD50-70? There’s no evidence of such an early Christian community in that area however in Rome, there’s plenty of evidence, most of which can still be seen by any avid tourist within an hour of stepping off the plane.

As far as I can tell. Peter probably did go to Rome, He was probably executed in the Neronian Persecution (along with St Paul) and his original Tomb was probably remembered by the Christian community before being enshrined and then built over by Constantine so get over it!

Stupid arguments like this just serve to make some protestants look foolish rather than faithful. something which can be very dangerous indeed, especially if we choose the let our emotions fly in the face of reason.


853 posted on 02/12/2008 3:05:21 PM PST by pthurst
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To: pthurst
In fact, it’s rather foolish to interpret Peter’s closing comments literally, are we really to think that Peter went to Iraq around AD50-70? There’s no evidence of such an early Christian community in that area.

Yup....you're right. They were not Christian....they were Israelites, descendants of the Northern tribes taken captive 721 B.C. [II Kings 17:23] and also of the Southern tribes taken captive 125 years later [II Kings 25:11].

Josephus tells us during the first century that there were millions of Israelites still beyond the Euphrates, away from Roman control. You'll find that here: "Antiquities, Book XI, Chapter 5, Paragraph 2".

It says this: but then the entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.

The two tribes subject to the Romans were Benjamin and Judah and their ancestors had returned from Babylon after 70 years captivity [Jeremiah 25:11-12]. The Northern Israelites never returned from Assyria and it was these folks "THE TWELVE" had been chosen to evangelize [Matthew 10:5-6]. Peter was among the "Twelve" and as such was instructed not to go among the Gentiles. Paul was later chosen [Acts 9:15] for this task....and he had many assistants.

This is the reason you do not find Peter mentioned as ever being in Rome. This is very difficult for many to accept as it has been Catholic dogma for 1700 years. An entire false Church has been built upon this tradition, but the fact remains.....Paul went to the Gentiles (uncircumcised) and Peter went to the Israelites (circumcised) [Galatians 2:7-9].

[Matthew 15:24] But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Why would Our Lord make that statement?

Welcome to FReeRepublic!

854 posted on 02/12/2008 4:43:10 PM PST by Diego1618
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To: Diego1618; Uncle Chip; William Terrell

Meant to ping you to post #853.


855 posted on 02/12/2008 4:45:44 PM PST by Diego1618
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