What happened to the apostle Peter in Rome?

Answer 1

In his epistles, Paul mentions Peter as a pillar of the Jerusalem Church in the forties or fifties, when he was presumably in his late middle age. Acts of the Apostles gives a somewhat different story in which Peter took more of a leading role in the Jerusalem Church. Neither source tells us of the final years of Peter.

Christian tradition says that Peter went to Rome to lead the Christian Church there, and that he was crucified upside down, but this is a legen that seems to have originated in the second century. Clement of Rome wrote around 95 CE (1 Clement) in general terms about the life of Peter and the 'labours' he faced, but seems neither to have known that Peter ever went to Rome nor how he died.

The second-century pope, Anicetus (156-166) claimed that Peter had travelled to Rome to lead the Christians there, and had been beheaded in Rome, meaning that he spoke with the authority of the apostle Peter. Origen, writing in the third century, changed this to say that Peter was sentenced to crucifixion but, feeling unworthy of being crucified like Jesus, asked to be crucified upside down.

There is no reason to accept the word of Origen over that of Anicetus, and no reason to accept the word of Anicetus over that of Clement. We do not know what happened to Peter, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary we can assume that he died of old age, probably in or near Palestine.

Answer 2

A:

In his epistles, Paul describes Peter as one of the three pillars of the Jerusalem Church, so presumably Peter spent most of his years as a Christian in Jerusalem. In Galatians 2:11, Paul talks of Peter travelling to Antioch, so it seems likely that Peter preached from time to time in Syria and neighbouring cities, probably to Jews of the diaspora.

A later Christian tradition says that Peter finally went to Rome, where he was executed. However, there is no suggestion in Paul's Epistle to the Romans (dated around 60 CE) that he expected to find Peter in Rome. Clement of Rome, who ought to have known if Peter had been in Rome only about thirty years earlier, also seems unaware that Peter either came to Rome or was executed there (1 Clement). It is very unlikely that Peter ever went to Rome.

Answer 3

A:As far as we know for certain, Peter probably never went to Rome. If Paul's epistles are correctly dated to the fifties and early sixties of the first century, then Peter was already relatively old when Paul wrote of him in Palestine and Syria. Clement of Rome, writing around 95 CE (1 Clement), spoke in general terms about the life and death of Peter but appears to have been unaware that Peter had even visited Rome, although he surely would have known if this were the case.

Answer 4

St. Peter's First Epistle was written almost undoubtedly from Rome, since the salutation at the end reads: "The church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you: and so doth my son Mark" (5:13). Babylon must here be identified with the Roman capital; since Babylon on the Euphrates, which lay in ruins, or New Babylon (Seleucia) on the Tigris, or the Egyptian Babylon near Memphis, or Jerusalem cannot be meant, the reference must be to Rome, the only city which is called Babylon elsewhere in ancient Christian literature. For more information about Peter's mission in Rome and elsewhere, click on this link.

Answer 5

The only reasonably reliable information we have about Peter is from Paul, in his epistles in which he says that Peter remained in Jerusalem as a 'pillar' of the Jerusalem Church probably at least until the fifties, by which time he would no longer have been a young man. At that stage, if he had not already chosen a new location to spread the gospel, he was unlikely to do so. The implication of this is that he saw his best contribution to Christianity as being the assistant to James, brother of Jesus, rather than in moving permanently elsewhere. Paul does say that Peter visited him briefly in Asia Minor. On this evidence, Peter carried out his mission in Jerusalem.

In spite of this, a Christian tradition, possibly of second century origin, holds that Peter went to Rome to lead the Christian community there. However, there is no evidence either in The Bible or any other contemporary source, that Peter ever went to Rome.

Answer 6

He was the first Pope of the Catholic Church, & was crucified upside down, because he said he was unworthy to die the Same Death as the Lord Jesus.