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00:00Rome, 64 AD. The Emperor Nero executes the leader of a small Jewish sect.
00:19Nearly 2,000 years later, a magnificent basilica stands over a humble grave.
00:26The bones within are believed to be those of Peter, a fisherman from Galilee.
00:32Peter was the disciple who denied Jesus to save his own skin.
00:37He was jealous, angry, often weak.
00:41Yet he became the father of the Christian faith, a man who is remembered as a saint.
00:49Many of the secrets of Peter only came to light in the last century.
00:53Now, through archaeology and science, we can discover who Peter was,
00:58how he became the leader of the early church,
01:01and whether it really is his body that was buried beneath these stones.
01:05I always think of the film Rocky, you know, the American movie made by Sylvester's
01:10Stallone.
01:20Peter is to the story of Jesus like Rocky is to the people of the world,
01:33American movie made by Sylvester Stallone. Peter is to the story of Jesus like Rocky
01:39is to the people of Philadelphia. In a way, a kind of loser, somebody who is the last
01:45person you'd think of as a hero, and yet this guy emerges by the end of the story as somebody
01:50who represents what Christianity is all about.
01:52The Great Dome of St. Peter's dominates the Rome skyline. Each year, millions come to
02:10the Basilica on the Vatican Hill, said to be built over the grave of the disciple Peter,
02:16the one Jesus named, the rock, on which he would build his church. Some come to share
02:23their devotion, some out of curiosity to the place from which Christianity spread throughout
02:28the world. Peter is believed to be the one chosen by Jesus as his representative on earth.
02:46The one entrusted with the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
02:52Peter was the first pope, the first among all of the bishops, and Peter is thus important
03:00as what we would call the vicar of Christ.
03:08According to tradition, Peter left Jerusalem to join the apostle Paul in the center of the
03:12Roman imperial state. But nowhere in the Bible is there any mention that Peter went to Rome.
03:22And if he did come here, where's the evidence?
03:32The search begins in 312 AD, when two provincial generals, Constantine and Laxentius, were fighting
03:39to become emperor.
03:43Their armies met at the Milvian Bridge just outside Rome itself.
03:52The night before the battle, Constantine saw a vision, a burning cross in the sky with the
03:58first two letters of Christ's name written in Greek.
04:06The next day, Maxentius' army was defeated. As a tribute to his victory, Constantine decided
04:13to build a huge basilica directly over the place Christians believed that Peter was buried.
04:22But it wasn't a simple task. The grave was on the side of a hill.
04:27St. Peter was buried in a cemetery that ran along the southern slope of the Vatican Hill.
04:34And so to build the basilica there, Constantine had to literally cut the top off the Vatican
04:38Hill. And he had to move a million cubic feet of earth to do it.
04:42And so he went to enormous expense and enormous effort, which he would not have done had he not
04:48been absolutely convinced that someone of the import of Peter was buried there.
04:57The strength of Christian tradition is convincing, but not conclusive. There is, however, physical
05:03evidence underground.
05:10The whole of Rome is built on a base of soft volcanic rock, easy to excavate.
05:17Beneath the city streets, miles and miles of catacombs were carved out to make underground
05:22graveyards.
05:28The narrow tunnels and passageways are filled with elaborate mausoleums and vaults for the
05:32rich, and simple niches for the poor.
05:37What we have in the catacombs is a rather inexpensive and convenient way of burying a lot of people
05:43in a very small area. Because if you think of it, cemeteries occupy space. It takes money
05:50to buy that space. And if you can then descend through several levels, and in some catacombs
05:57there are even four levels from the top, you're able to bury a much larger number of people
06:03than would be the case if you're relying upon surface burial.
06:10Beneath the floor of the church of Santa Domitola, archaeologists made an intriguing discovery.
06:19First century frescoes, painted onto wet plaster. Professor Philip Esler believes their value
06:25is more than decorative.
06:30In Rome in the first century, there was a very strong tradition of accurate post-mortem portraiture.
06:37Many Romans wanted to have very correct and meticulously accurate portraits of themselves preserved,
06:43to be located in their tombs after death. If you look at this image of Peter here, which
06:50is basically a square face, fair hair, a big square jaw, with a full beard. It's exactly
06:57the same picture that you'll find on every icon of Peter, from this day, right back to that.
07:08Now, my own view is that this is actually the representation of what Peter looked like.
07:202,000 years of tradition and a first century image strengthens the case for Peter having been in Rome.
07:29But the most compelling evidence was found literally under the Vatican's feet.
07:35In 1939, archaeologists excavating below the floor made an amazing discovery.
07:40They uncovered an underground street lined with magnificent first-century tombs.
07:53Hundreds of years before, Constantine packed them with soil to make a level foundation for his basilica.
08:00Then, at one end, archaeologists uncovered a wall and a grave.
08:04It was directly beneath the altar and had all the hallmarks of the grave of Peter.
08:13They discovered that this grave had been covered by the Christians with a series of coins by pilgrims
08:18over the centuries. Over 1,300 coins were discovered on top of this grave.
08:24Beside the grave, archaeologists found human bones. But they belonged to more than one individual.
08:30Then, in 1956, a second investigation raised new hopes that this was Peter's grave after all.
08:41A Roman epigraphist, a specialist in ancient inscriptions by the name of Margarita Guarducci,
08:46was brought in to try and decipher and analyze the graffiti that the Christian pilgrims had left
08:52on the buttressing wall built above Peter's grave. And as she began to analyze this graffiti,
08:57she noticed that there was a small niche called a localist or a burial spot that had been carved into
09:04this wall. And she asked the workmen of the Vatican what originally had sat in this particular localist,
09:09in this burial niche. The workmen at the time said, oh, that had been a set of bones that during the
09:13excavations had simply been cleared away and boxed along with all the other extra bones that had been
09:17discovered during the excavations and was sitting in a storeroom beneath the basilica.
09:21An anthropological examination revealed that these bones were from the first century,
09:28and they came from a single individual.
09:32Traces of earth showed they'd been buried in the ground, not a tomb.
09:36These were the remains of a man in his 60s or his 70s. It was the right age for Peter.
09:43Then a further discovery left little doubt just whose bones these were.
09:47These bones had been wrapped in a cloth made out of purple and gold and placed in this little niche,
09:53this little localist, which was lined with marble. So obviously it was a sign of great respect.
09:58And inside of this niche, above the bones, there was another set of Christian graffiti that had been
10:03written. Two words in Greek, Petrus Eni. Peter is within.
10:08The Catholic Church returned the bones to their original resting place,
10:18beneath the altar at the heart of the basilica in Rome.
10:25The evidence so far suggests that Peter was in Rome, but we don't know why he came here,
10:31or how he came to be named head of the Christian church.
10:34Peter was the fisherman that Jesus found in a poor community in Galilee.
11:04The traditional image of first-century life here is humble fishermen living a hand-to-mouth existence
11:11in a rural backwater. But when archaeologists began to dig in Galilee,
11:19a very different picture of Peter and his community began to emerge.
11:22Galilee was an active hub, trade center, commerce, goods in large quantities were shipped and rapidly over
11:38well-made roads. Fleets of boats on the Sea of Galilee, which is also known as Kinneret Lake. So this was a world of commerce,
11:47a world of cities, as well as a world of agriculture and small towns and villages and hamlets.
11:56So Galilee may not have been a rural backwater at all. In fact, many scholars believe it was much more than that.
12:02They were not in a rustic environment and marginalized from the rest of the world, but in fact were part of a cosmopolitan
12:14that was very much part of the Roman Empire, the Roman Empire in the east. And Galilee and Judea to the south
12:22were regarded by the Romans as the cornerstone of the eastern part of their empire.
12:33Galilee offers further clues about Peter's life.
12:41On the northern shores like the ruins of a fishing village called Capernaum.
12:45In the center is a house, which for centuries has been a Christian place of worship. Historians
12:55are convinced that it was Peter's house.
12:57Why would they venerate a particular house in Capernaum? The evidence would suggest that very early on
13:07they believed it was Peter's house and eventually built a shrine, eventually built a church and
13:12continued to build and expand on the site for centuries. Peter's house tells us a huge amount about
13:19his economic status. The house consisted of a courtyard surrounded by rooms, the largest of which was
13:28eight meters by nine meters. This was a superior house with a floor made of basalt stone.
13:38The gospels say that Peter was married and had children. This house was large enough for a whole family.
13:43This was a house that I would have to regard as middle class. It would accommodate an extended family.
13:53It was a prime piece of property in relationship to the Sea of Galilee. So I don't think Peter was a poor fisherman.
14:03More information about Peter's economic status came to light in 1985, after a severe drought.
14:08As the sea level dropped, it revealed artifacts that had been hidden for thousands of years.
14:21Archaeologists digging at Ginosar on Galilee's northwestern shore found the remains of a first
14:27century boat which had been preserved by silt and mud.
14:30The dimensions were similar to those given in the bible for Peter's boat.
14:43This boat would have required at least 12 people to handle it.
14:49So you couldn't be a poor fisherman from a single family and operate a fishing vessel like this.
14:57It strongly suggests that Peter was part of a fishing industry.
15:03And in fact, two of the disciples acquainted with Peter, that Jesus called the sons of Zebedee,
15:11it says in the gospels that their father had hired servants who were working in the boat.
15:16And that is consistent with the boat that was uncovered 15 years ago.
15:21So why would Peter, a successful businessman with a family,
15:32abandon his way of life to follow a young preacher named Jesus?
15:35The Romans had changed the economic infrastructure.
15:48They had imposed heavy taxes on the Galileans and replaced bartering with a system of credit.
15:54Farmers and fishermen could borrow the money to buy seed and nets,
15:58but if the crops or the catch failed, the debt and the taxes had to be settled first.
16:07This would have been an important issue for Peter.
16:10As a businessman, he'd have had commitments to the people he employed, as well as a family to feed.
16:15So when Jesus delivered his revolutionary message, follow me, perhaps Peter saw in him a new way of life.
16:32First of all, it was not a big movement. It started out very, very small.
16:36Jesus had an immediate circle of followers, namely the 12 disciples, all of whom were married.
16:44So you have 12, 24, plus the kids. So maybe you have an entourage of about 40 or 50 people
16:51meandering around, going around from place to place, and then attracting others. And probably it didn't grow too large.
17:00Galilee was also a historical hotbed of political turmoil.
17:03There had been uprisings against the Roman occupation in the past,
17:09which made the timing of Jesus' arrival just right.
17:15Some theologians, like John Drane, believe that Jesus was a rebel.
17:21Jesus was a maverick. There's no doubt about that.
17:24Maybe to call him a hippie would be going too far, but clearly a person with lots of time on his hands,
17:30but a great vision. And the invitation seems to be to Peter, well, if this really grabs you,
17:38then how about hanging out with me, see what we can do about it, see what we can make of it,
17:44and we'll take it from there.
17:48From the evidence so far, there appears to be nothing remarkable about Peter.
17:52The mystery is why such an ordinary man was chosen by Jesus to be his rock,
17:59and become leader of the early church.
18:01The first step is I want you to really...
18:13Psychologists can help people identify their own personal strengths and weaknesses.
18:18Candice Young has been counselling for the past 15 years.
18:22One of her skills is to assess leadership ability.
18:24One man that says that...
18:26I think that Jesus, being who he is, could see not just the ego of Peter,
18:32his rashness, his emotionality, that's all ego stuff.
18:35But he was able to see the soul, or in psychology what we call the self,
18:39the real person, the strength of character.
18:44Jesus may well have had the gift to see into Peter's true self,
18:48but Peter's leadership qualities would still have had to be apparent to others,
18:52not least the disciples.
19:07The first sign of his leadership potential is revealed in the Gospels in a famous episode,
19:13when Jesus is said to have walked on water.
19:18Peter apparently tried to copy him.
19:22The Gospel writers may have written the story to show that Jesus had divine powers.
19:30The story also gives us an insight into Peter's character.
19:37I think the walking on the water episode really gets Peter's personality.
19:41He's a person who's up for absolutely everything,
19:44which is probably why he said yes to Jesus in the first place,
19:47even though it probably was not a sensible thing to do.
19:52I think the story was a miracle or a metaphor.
19:59Whether the story was a miracle or a metaphor, we cannot tell.
20:03But what the Gospel writers did do was single out Peter as the disciple who was enthusiastic enough to take a risk.
20:11Even though he failed, he was the only one who tried.
20:15Peter's a very complex personality, somebody who is impetuous, he's eager to please.
20:22He is the guy always raising his hand in class saying, I know the answer, I know the answer,
20:27and then the teacher says, no, you got it wrong again.
20:38Peter's enthusiasm appears to be his only attribute.
20:42Hardly the qualification for the leader of a brand new faith.
20:45When Jesus named him the rock on which he would build his church, it must have come as a surprise for the disciples.
21:02One interpretation is that Jesus meant it ironically.
21:09Jesus sets him up and says, you're the kind of person I could build a church on, because he's not perfect and he's a bit wobbly.
21:18Jesus had a great sense of humor as well.
21:22So, as he says, makes all those kinds of statements, I imagine he's got a twinkle in his eye, which you don't get off pages of a book, of course.
21:29You just get the words and he's saying, oh yeah, Peter, you're really a rock, you know, a really reliable guy.
21:37Yes, we all know that. Look at what he did, etc., etc.
21:40But actually, you're the kind of guy who I need to be part of this new way of being.
21:48If Jesus was being ironic, perhaps he saw in Peter an ordinary man, outspoken yet passionate,
21:55unreliable perhaps, but worthy of respect, a man to look up to.
22:02Even so, we should expect to find some evidence in the Gospels that Peter was dependable,
22:07and at the very least understood Jesus' message.
22:09However, in the Gospel of John, there is an incident in the Garden of Gethsemane at the time of Jesus' arrest,
22:24which shows that Peter didn't understand his message.
22:34Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers. And there's Peter with a sword,
22:38and he lops off an ear of the servant of the high priest.
22:43You'd expect by this time he would understand that the man that he's following is a man of peace,
22:49and yet here is Peter with a Roman gladius. It's not just any old sword or a spear,
22:55but a Roman sword in the garden when Jesus apprehended. So Peter got it wrong again.
23:01Not only did Peter misunderstand Jesus' message, there was another essential quality that he appeared
23:09to be lacking, loyalty. Before he was arrested, Jesus had predicted that Peter would disown him
23:17three times before the cock crowed. After Jesus was taken away to be tried, Peter followed him to the
23:25house of the high priest Caiaphas. As he waited in the courtyard, he was asked three times by servants
23:32if he knew Jesus. Three times he denied him.
23:47Peter saw Jesus do amazing things, which only confirmed his faith. But in the end he was afraid,
23:53as most people are. He was conservative. He was afraid he might lose what he had. He might lose his
23:59life. And so when things took a turn for the worse, Jesus is arrested. That wasn't part of the plan,
24:08as far as Peter was concerned. Peter thought, it's all over. Maybe he'd made a mistake. Maybe in
24:16believing in Jesus, he had placed his faith in the wrong person.
24:29Peter doesn't appear to be leadership material.
24:34We might well have reached a dead end in our investigation, if it weren't for one more source.
24:46The New Testament represents only a small proportion of the writings about Jesus.
24:52There were many other texts written by Christians, which were omitted from the New Testament,
24:57because they were considered unsuitable or too controversial by the church.
25:02These are the apocryphal texts.
25:07The word apocrypha means hidden away. By coming up with a group of early Christian writings,
25:16that became the New Testament, they were trying to make a determination of which works were the
25:21most central for determining questions of doctrine.
25:30Dozens of these invaluable texts were discovered in Egypt in 1945, in the desert area of Nag Hammadi.
25:36In the Sophia of Jesus Christ, for example, this text talks not just about twelve male disciples,
25:50but it talks about seven women and twelve male disciples.
26:06And all of them are given the command to go out and preach the gospel, and Mary Magdalene is very prominent among these.
26:12If Mary Magdalene was also a candidate for leadership, that could have fostered rivalry between her and Peter.
26:23A rivalry which could be highly damaging to the movement.
26:29There's even evidence to show that Peter let his pride and personal feelings influence his behavior.
26:34Hardly the behavior of a leader.
26:36Mary's leadership role doesn't go uncontested, as we might well imagine.
26:44She is accused of making things up.
26:49She is accused of doing this for her own sake.
26:53But Peter comes in with, are we supposed to believe that Jesus preferred her to us?
26:58He said to her, we know that the Savior loved you more than other women.
27:02But now it's become apparent that the Savior loved her more than them.
27:07And that's precisely the rub.
27:15The evidence from these apocryphal gospels makes Peter look more like a source of dissent than a great leader.
27:26After Jesus' crucifixion, the disciples were left in a state of total despair.
27:30Instead of being the rock and a source of inspiration, Peter returned home to Galilee.
27:39I think from an emotional point of view, he's absolutely crushed.
27:42And he's essentially gone back to his old job.
27:46He's become a fisherman again.
27:47I mean, Jesus is dead.
27:48It's over.
27:49The hopes are crushed.
27:53Bleed at us.
27:54The Jesus movement began to fall apart.
27:56But then, on the shores of Galilee, something happened.
28:07According to the Gospels, Jesus appeared.
28:10Whether or not it was a vision, it spurred Peter on to take up his role again.
28:24I think, psychologically, it's sound to say that shame also fueled his transformation after the resurrection.
28:33Because when we feel shame, we feel a need to make some repair on that.
28:37So that would kind of fuel that action to really do good as a leader of the church.
28:43To kind of make it up for betraying him.
28:45His mission apparently clear to him.
28:53Peter took up the role of leader of the Jesus movement.
28:58With new confidence, he led the disciples into the streets and preached openly.
29:04The Bible says Peter discovered that he, like Jesus, had the power to heal.
29:08As word spread, people brought the sick and the wounded to lie in his shadow.
29:33Within the Acts of the Apostles, we also have Peter heal people with his shadow or with a handkerchief.
29:50So this tradition of miracle working is something that was very much accepted,
29:54especially for the generation of the Apostles, all through Christian literature.
29:58That was one of the ways the message spread.
30:00Peter was a changed man.
30:06But he had a long way to go before he could prove he was capable of fulfilling the role that Jesus had assigned him.
30:12And his continued authority wasn't guaranteed.
30:15There were other figures contending for the leadership.
30:19The path ahead was fraught with difficulties.
30:21Paul, a radical newcomer to the movement, was a zealous and passionate convert.
30:34He wanted Christianity to spread beyond Israel to the whole of the Mediterranean.
30:38Paul wanted to preach to non-Jews, Gentiles.
30:46Then there was James, the brother of Jesus, who wanted only Jews in the movement.
30:50According to Paul's letters, Peter was the man in the middle, sharing the missionary work with both James and Paul.
31:03But the underlying message in the letters is clear.
31:05The actual leader of the early church was not Peter, as tradition supposes, but James.
31:14What's so interesting is Paul complains that Peter had acted properly toward Gentile Christians,
31:21but when men from James came, Peter felt intimidated and began to be aloof from the Gentile Christians.
31:32That tells me that James exercised the authority and Peter deferred to it.
31:40The split between James and Paul presented Peter with a unique opportunity.
31:45The conflict could easily have destroyed the early church.
31:51Instead of taking sides, Peter journeyed throughout the Mediterranean, preaching to Gentiles and Jews alike.
32:04It was a crucial decision.
32:07The more he travelled, the more his authority in the Christian communities grew.
32:16But the real test of Peter's leadership was to come in Rome, capital of the empire.
32:21The real test of Peter's leadership was to come in Rome.
32:31As the saying from antiquity goes, all roads lead to Rome.
32:36That's true.
32:37Another way of saying it, though, is all roads come out of Rome.
32:41And that was done deliberately.
32:43The Roman legions could march on those roads and get to any part of the empire quickly.
32:48Well, if the Christian gospel took root in Rome and became strong,
32:54and there were many Jewish people at many synagogues in Rome,
32:58this could then become a power base, a platform for the early church to launch out from and spread throughout the Roman Empire.
33:07So it makes good sense to see Peter, Paul, and others desiring to go to Rome and establish the church there.
33:20The apocryphal texts say that Peter took his family to Rome with him, a sign that he intended to stay there for good.
33:27That's corroborated by 1 Corinthians in chapter 9, where Paul mentions that Peter takes his wife around with him.
33:35In fact, Paul says, you know, it's me and Barnabas alone that are really the, you know, the exception to the rule.
33:40It's like all the apostles take their wives with them in the ministry.
33:43There's even evidence in the catacombs that Peter's family were with him in Rome.
33:59One of the frescoes at Santa D'Omatilla shows the figure of a martyr, Petronella, who some believe was Peter's daughter.
34:05We have here a picture of the deceased, a lady called Veneranda, and next to her we have
34:14Santa Petronella, often associated in legend with the daughter of Peter, from whom we have certain records from the second century.
34:22And what is happening in the fresco is that Petronella is actually leading Veneranda into paradise.
34:30Interestingly, the fresco is also illustrated with a satchel of scrolls of the law.
34:40Now, this perhaps suggests the traditional linking of Petronella with St. Peter, because many of the frescoes
34:47of Peter and Paul show the same theme of the scrolls of the law.
34:51To establish himself as leader of Rome's Christian community, Peter had to have credibility.
35:04If the people believed he could cure the sick, that would make his job easier.
35:11Claims to have a connection to divinity had to be backed up, because such claims were so numerous.
35:17You had to deliver the goods, you had to do the deeds, in addition to preaching the message.
35:25But Peter's bid to establish a Christian church in Rome was challenged by a magician,
35:30who, through mass hypnosis or sleight of hand, persuaded the crowds that he too had supernatural powers.
35:36In the interim, a figure known from other sources, named Simon Magus, arrives in Rome.
35:48And Simon Magus makes some astounding claims, but he's very convincing.
35:53He claims to be a divinity himself.
35:56And he proves his claim by flying through midair, unassisted.
36:01This turns many of the new Christians away from the faith, and they start to follow Simon instead,
36:09because they're completely convinced by his demonstration of divine power.
36:13It's this situation to which Peter is called.
36:20Simon Magus is the arch-enemy of Peter. It's kind of like the Joker to Batman.
36:24And Simon Magus kind of steps into the void and becomes the new leader.
36:29And other than just a small handful of faithful Christians, the whole church goes over to Simon Magus.
36:37The apocryphal acts of Peter say that after a series of confrontations, Peter and Simon Magus end up in a duel.
36:44The acts describe the final scene, where Simon Magus tricks the crowd into believing he is levitating above the Roman skyline.
37:10Peter has to stop him.
37:14Peter sees that Simon is actually being held aloft by demons.
37:19And so Peter's response to this is to make a prayer against the demons in the name of Jesus Christ.
37:25The demons become afraid.
37:27They drop Simon Magus.
37:29He falls on the ground and breaks his leg in four pieces.
37:32And then he goes off to get medical attention, and the doctor botches the job and he dies.
37:38And that's how Peter disposes of Simon Magus.
37:45It's impossible, 2,000 years later, to determine exactly what the duel entailed.
37:50But we do know from other 1st century sources, like the writings of Eusebius and Irenaeus, that Simon Magus really did exist.
38:01As for the magic, this was very much a part of the fabric of 1st century belief and practice.
38:06Well, Jesus is presented as doing things like this, too.
38:10Jesus walks on the waters, kind of levitation, Jesus exercises spirits, Jesus raises people from the dead, Jesus cures cripples and paralytics and so on.
38:23These are all part of magic in those days.
38:29So, I mean, I don't accept that Jesus' character did these things.
38:33But clearly Simon Magus was pretending to do things like that.
38:36That's why he's called the magician.
38:41There is no independent confirmation of Peter's victory over Simon Magus.
38:46But there are signs he is likely to have been victorious.
38:50We know from another 2nd century historian, Tertullian, that Peter began to baptize his converts in the Tiber River, in the heart of Rome.
38:58When Tertullian is describing the practice of baptism, he says that normally it is conducted in living water, that is in flowing water.
39:10As he says, John baptized in the Jordan and Peter baptized in the Tiber.
39:19So, clearly as far as Tertullian is concerned, and I think it's historically true,
39:24that Peter was remembered for having baptized in the Tiber River.
39:31But success came at a price.
39:34Peter's teachings challenged Roman morality.
39:37The more pagans he converted to Christianity, the more he jeopardized his chances of staying alive.
39:54Peter's doctrines of strict Jewish practice dictated that sex for pleasure was a sin.
40:05It was even frowned on within marriage, and then only permissible for procreation.
40:12The acts of Peter have this position on marriage and sexual relations, that they simply shouldn't happen.
40:19And that's what gets Peter into trouble, that he preaches to the wives of powerful men to
40:25desist from having relations with their husbands.
40:27They're of course supposed to remain married, but not engage in conjugal relationships.
40:36Not surprisingly, Peter upset two Roman senators.
40:40They had him incarcerated in the Tullian prison on the Mamatine Hill, along with his old friend Paul.
40:48But according to tradition, faith had a hand in their release.
41:03When Paul and Peter were locked up together, they managed to convert two of their guards,
41:10and a number of others, whom they baptized in the prison using water from a fountain,
41:16which, so the tradition says, had miraculously appeared in its floor.
41:20Now, whether that tradition is historically accurate or not is one question, but clearly,
41:27it does fit very nicely into what I take to be historically correct, and that is that when
41:32Peter was in Rome, he baptized converts.
41:41Peter may have been released by his converted guards,
41:44but even though he was free again, his troubles were far from over.
41:47Peter and Paul picked a bad time to be in Rome in the 60s. This is when Nero, the last of the Julian Caesars,
41:59was in his worst time of insanity. And he was fearing conspiracies against his life. He was absolutely
42:07crazy. And he used Christians as scapegoats, especially when rumors were floating about that
42:14he was the cause of the fire that burned down one half of the city of Rome. So he blamed the Christians.
42:25Nero began an unprecedented and horrific campaign of persecution.
42:29The acts of Peter tell of his terrible dilemma. He could stay in the city with his fellow
42:48Christians and die, or leave to fight another day. A situation not unlike the one he faced on
42:55the night of Jesus' arrest in the high priest's courtyard. Now, with those instincts for self-preservation
43:02surfacing again, Peter made a tactical decision to leave the city. Perhaps he reasoned that he would
43:09be of more use to the church alive than dead.
43:11Along the Appian Way is the Quo Vadis church. It's dedicated to an account in the act of Peter,
43:28which gives us a valuable insight into how Peter finally assumed leadership of the early church.
43:32These are the ancient flagstones of the Via Appia. About four miles down here, we get to the gates of Rome.
43:44If you wanted to get out of Rome in a hurry, this was a good road to take.
43:50Peter donned a disguise and then walked along this road to make his escape from the city.
43:56And as he was walking along this road, somewhere around this spot, the tradition says that he met
44:06the Lord coming from this direction into Rome. And when he came to Jesus, he said, Quo Vadis Domine,
44:14where are you going, Lord? And Jesus said to him, I'm going into Rome to be crucified again.
44:20So Peter turned around, made his way back into the city through the gates and going back in to face his awful death.
44:33No one can tell whether it was the vision of Jesus or guilt that changed Peter's mind.
44:38But all the apocryphal sources agree that Peter turned back.
44:42This decision to return to Rome is perhaps one of the clearest signs yet that Peter had become a leader
44:48who could inspire others through his actions.
44:54But his own execution wasn't the only death he would have to contend with.
45:01From his first decision to follow Jesus in Galilee, Peter's wife had stood by him.
45:11Now, on his return to Rome,
45:12Peter watched as she and more of his friends were taken away to be killed.
45:35Some theologians like Andrea Molinari think that she was more than just a wife.
45:39We know that Peter's wife was actually taken away to be martyred. And on the way to her martyrdom,
45:47Peter encourages her to remember the Lord. And I find that interesting. You don't readily
45:52martyr a woman who's in the background doing dishes. I think that Peter's wife actually
45:57participates in the ministry. After all, she has a story to tell, at least one story to tell. Her mother
46:04was miraculously healed by Jesus. And in addition to that, she's seen the change that's gone about in her husband.
46:18The last chapter in the Acts of Peter tells of his arrest and the final test of his leadership.
46:23Would he choose Caesar and freedom? Or Jesus and certain death?
46:31This time, Peter did not fail his master as he had years before. He asked to be put to death in a way
46:41that did not equate him with Jesus.
46:46Whether it was at his own request or an elaborate variation of the barbaric execution, we cannot tell.
46:52But he was crucified upside down in Nero's circus, in the capital of the greatest empire the world had ever seen.
47:15There is no historical proof that Peter was crucified upside down.
47:18But the excavations under the Vatican did reveal evidence consistent with the apocryphal claim.
47:27When the bones were examined, pathologists found pieces from every part of the body, except for the feet.
47:38Christian tradition, of course, had had that Peter had been crucified and crucified upside down,
47:43because he didn't feel worthy enough to be crucified the way Christ was.
47:46A number of scholars hypothesized that perhaps if Peter was crucified upside down,
47:51they may have simply cut him off of the feet.
48:04Peter's death gave the Christian movement the strength to survive Nero's reign of terror,
48:09which ended with his suicide four years later.
48:11But another two centuries would pass before Constantine became emperor,
48:17and Christianity blossomed and spread throughout the world.
48:21Then the mission that Jesus had entrusted to Peter, the simple fisherman from Galilee,
48:26was finally fulfilled.
48:28MUSIC PLAYS
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