The Early Christians in RomeSpence-Jones, H. D. M. (Henry Donald Maurice)
History
The Early Christians in Rome
Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Henry Donald Maurice)
Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600; Rome (Italy) -- Church history
These and other literary notices, more or less definitely, all ascribe
the laying of the foundation stories of the Church of Rome to the
preaching and teaching of the Apostles Peter and Paul. All without
exception in their notices of this foundation work place the _name of
Peter first_. It is hardly conceivable that these very early writers
would have done this had Peter only made his appearance in Rome for
the first time in A.D. 63 or 64, _after_ Paul’s residence in
the capital for some two years, when he was awaiting the trial which
resulted in his acquittal.
Then again, the repeated mention of the two great apostles as the
_Founders_ of the Roman Church would have been singularly inaccurate if
neither of them had visited the capital before A.D. 60-1, the
date of Paul’s arrival, and A.D. 63-4, the date of S. Peter’s
coming, supposing we assume the later date for S. Peter’s coming and
preaching.
When we examine the literary notices in question we find in several of
them a more circumstantial account of Peter’s work than Paul’s; for
instance:
_Papias_ and _Irenæus_ give us special details of S. Mark’s position
as the interpreter of S. Peter, and tell us particularly how the
friend and disciple of S. Peter took down his master’s words, which he
subsequently moulded into what is known as the second Gospel.
_Tertullian_ relates that S. Peter baptized in the Tiber, and mentions,
too, how this apostle ordained Clement.
_Eusebius_, the great Church historian to whom we owe so much of
our knowledge of early Church history, writing in the early years
of Constantine’s reign, in the first quarter of the fourth century,
goes still more into detail, and gives us approximately the date of
S. Peter’s first coming, which he states to have been in the reign of
Claudius, who was Emperor from A.D. 41 to A.D. 54 (Eusebius, _H. E._
II. xiv.). The same historian also repeats the account above referred
to of Mark’s work as Peter’s companion and scribe in Rome (_H. E._ II.
xv.), adding that the “Church in Babylon” referred to by S. Peter (1
Ep. v. 13) signified the Church of Rome.
_Jerome_, writing in the latter years of the same century (the fourth),
is very definite on the question of the early arrival of S. Peter
at Rome--“Romam mittitur,” says the great scholar, “ubi evangelium
prædicans XXV annis ejusdem urbis episcopus perseverat.” Now, reckoning
back the twenty-five years of S. Peter’s supervision of the Roman
Church would bring S. Peter’s first presence in Rome to A.D.
42-3; for Jerome tells us how “Post Petrum primus Romanam ecclesiam
tenuit Linus,” and the early catalogues of the Roman Bishops--the
Eusebian (Armenian version), the catalogue of Jerome, and the catalogue
called the Liberian--give the date of Linus’ accession respectively as
A.D. 66, A.D. 68, A.D. 67.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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