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The Late Roman Empire 1st to 4th Centuries
CHAPTER ONE
The very earliest popes were leaders of the small Christian community in pagan Rome. The nature and form of the office they held is unclear, but by the year 300 the bishop of Rome had emerged as a powerful, spiritual force within Christianity and the Roman Empire. What had begun as a religion of foreigners, the impoverished, and slaves—that met with mistrust and, at times, terrible persecution—had become the mainstream faith of Rome. Wealth and lands flowed in to the hands of the Church so the bishop of Rome took on the roles of caring for the poor, building churches, and managing finances. But, just as the papacy was finding its feet, disaster struck with the Fall of Rome.
ST. PETERThe 1st Pope c.33–c.64
Born Bethsaida, Palestine; c.1
Parents Father, Jonah; Mother, unknown
Died Rome, Italy; probably October 13, 64
St. Peter was both a personal disciple of Jesus Christ and the first person to organize a community of Christians in Rome. Together with the unique mission entrusted to him by Jesus, these facts mean that Peter is today recognized as having been the first pope. This was not always the case—the early Christians in Rome reserved the title of “pope” for St. Peter’s successors.
Ruins of the fishing village of Bethsaida on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee in modern-day Israel.
Peter was born as Simon in Bethsaida on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Together with his brother Andrew, he became a fisherman and moved to Capernaum where he married a local girl. Peter spent some time with John the Baptist but, when Jesus began His ministry, he became one of the very first disciples to give up his home to follow Christ. From the start, Peter was recognized as a leader among the disciples and seems to have been present with Jesus at every important event in His life. Peter was there to hear most of Jesus’s sermons and parables and witnessed the raising of Jairus’s daughter, the Transfiguration, the Last Supper, and the Agony in the Garden.
UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH AND THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT
MATTHEW 16
LEADER OF THE DISCIPLES
The particular favor with which Jesus viewed Peter is illustrated several times in the New Testament. When Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, it was Peter who stated that they took Him to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus then told Peter that he was blessed because of his insight and gave him the name or title of Cephas, the Aramaic word for “rock.” This name was later rendered into Greek as “Peter,” the name by which the fisherman born as Simon is today best known.
Of crucial importance to the papacy, Jesus then went on to tell the disciples that “upon this rock (i.e., Peter) I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Jesus continued, speaking directly to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
These passages, found in the Gospel of Matthew, are taken to mean that Jesus entrusted the care of His followers to St. Peter, a duty that Peter then passed on to his successors. It was largely on this basis that later popes established their claim to supremacy over other bishops. Exactly what Jesus intended in this incident has been disputed, particularly by Protestant theologians, but there can be no doubt at all that He intended Peter to have a special role of some kind.
This statue of St. Peter stands in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He is holding the key to the kingdom of heaven and a scroll containing the names of those fit to enter.
Peter attacks Malchus to protect Jesus. Jesus then ordered Peter to sheathe his sword, and laid hands on Malchus to heal his wound. He then rebuked Peter saying “those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.”
Throughout the Gospels, Peter comes across as being generous and warm-hearted but somewhat hot-tempered. This latter trait was shown most clearly when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had gone to the garden to pray, taking with Him three disciples of which Peter was one. Just as Jesus finished praying another disciple, Judas, arrived at the head of a group of men, some of whom were armed. Judas kissed Jesus, a pre-arranged signal to the servants of the high priest who Judas had brought with him. Those men surged forward to seize Jesus and Peter leapt to His defense. In the struggle that ensued, Peter cut off the ear of Malchus, the high priest’s servant. Jesus rebuked Peter, miraculously healed Malchus, and allowed Himself to be arrested.
That night, Jesus was put on trial. As Christ predicted, Peter was asked three times if he was a follower of Jesus, and each time Peter denied that this was the case. Peter was no doubt justifiably frightened of being arrested himself, or of being set upon by a mob.
Peter is absent from the Crucifixion, when only Christ’s mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and St. John seem to have been present, but he reappears as a witness to the Resurrection. He was the first of the disciples to see the risen Christ and remained a key player during the 40 days that Christ stayed on Earth.
Thereafter, the sources for Peter’s later life become less extensive. The Acts of the Apostles shows that Peter played a very important leadership role in the early Christian community in Jerusalem. He preached a major sermon on Pentecost and insisted on a new disciple being selected as a replacement for Judas. Peter is recorded as having been arrested and put on trial in front of the Sanhedrin where, although he openly defied the judges, he was set free. He was later imprisoned by King Herod but escaped—set free by an angel. Peter then traveled to Lydda, Joppa, and Caesarea to speak to followers of Jesus and keep their faith alive. It was about this time that Peter began preaching the message of Christ to non-Jews and it seems to have been Peter who first set out rules for allowing Gentiles to enter the Christian community.
When the disciples gathered in Jerusalem for what turned out to be the Last Supper, Jesus began washing the feet of His followers—a traditional act of hospitality at the time. Peter objected to Jesus washing his feet, but Jesus insisted and turned the incident into a lesson for his disciples: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you...
