Posted on 10/16/2011 11:28:22 AM PDT by marbren
Radio Replies Second Volume - St. Peter in Rome
St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome
WAS ST. PETER IN ROME?
St. Peter and Rome
Did the Apostle Peter Ever Visit Rome?
Simon Magus and the Primacy of Peter
The Catholic Church anciently claimed Peter was the first pope, and that papal succession originated with him. It was claimed Peter had an “episcopacy” of 25 years in the imperial city — starting with his arrival in 42 A.D. and ending with his death in 67 A.D.
Jerome states:
Simon Peter...prince of the apostles, after an episcopacy of the Antiochean church, and after preaching to the dispersion of those of the circumcision, who had believed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, in the 2ND YEAR OF CLAUDIUS journeys to Rome to combat Simon Magus, and THERE FOR 25 YEARS he occupied the sacerdotal chair until the last year of Nero, that is the 14th.
We have already mentioned briefly some of the problems with this statement, and have shown that Peter evangelized many different areas (Britain included) during the interval between his first and last visits to Rome.
To whom, then, does this 25-year episcopacy belong? None other than Simon Magus! The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge hits the nail right on the head when it says: “The 25 year episcopate of Peter at Rome is evidently due to the statement of Justin Martyr REGARDING THE LABORS OF SIMON MAGUS AT ROME” (Funk & Wagnall Co., N.Y. & London. 1910).
Let's pick up the story in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History:
The enemy of men's salvation planned to capture the capital [Rome] IN ADVANCE, and sent there Simon...and by aiding the fellow's tricky sorcery won over to error many of the inhabitants of Rome....There was a certain Simon, a Samaritan, from the village called Gittho, who in the TIME OF CLAUDIUS CAESAR worked miracles by magic through the art of demons possessing him; he was reckoned as a god in Rome, your capital city....(Page 137).
Further, on page 143, Eusebius gives us some more detail:
The aforesaid sorcerer [Simon Magus]...when he had been detected in his crimes in Judaea by the apostle Peter, at once undertook a great journey across the sea, and went off in flight from east to west....He came to the city of the Romans...[and] in short time he achieved such success that he was honoured as a god....CLOSE AFTER HIM, in the SAME reign of Claudius the provider of the universe...guided to Rome...Peter....
Since the apostle Peter arrived in Rome in 44 A.D. (AFTER Simon Magus’ flight to the imperial city) the date of 42 A.D. must refer to Magus’ arrival at Rome. This is verified by a number of sources. Ivor C. Fletcher states: “Eusebius relates that after visiting Antioch, AROUND A.D. 42, and being resisted by Peter (Galatians 2:11), Simon Magus WENT TO ROME” (The Incredible History of God's True Church, p. 117).
This confusion in dating is broached by C. De Lisle Shortt who says: “The statement which asserts that St. Peter was at Rome so early as the year 42 suggests most perplexing difficulties; it entails the necessity of PUSHING BACK THE DATE of the imprisonment of St. Peter by Herod....” It is quite obvious, then, that the date 42 refers to Simon Magus’ arrival in Rome — with Peter arriving two years later in 44 A.D.
Simon Magus made an immediate impact on the city of Rome. It is recorded that shortly after his arrival an attempted revolt by Camillus Scribonianus (the governor of Dalmatia) was put down by the army which remained loyal to Emperor Claudius. The success in putting down this revolt was ascribed to SIMON MAGUS’ ARRIVAL IN ROME and the subsequent beguiling of the populace by his “magical” powers.
In her book Sacred and Legendary Art, author Anna Jameson states: “The magician [Simon Magus], vanquished by a superior power, flung his books into the Dead Sea, broke his wand, and fled to Rome, where he became a GREAT FAVORITE OF THE EMPEROR CLAUDIUS AND AFTERWARDS OF NERO. Peter, bent on counteracting the wicked sorceries of Simon, FOLLOWED HIM TO ROME” (Page 209).
Anna Jameson continues:
There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century a Simon, a Samaritan, a PRETENDER to divine authority and supernatural powers; who, for a time, had many followers; who stood in a CERTAIN RELATIONSHIP to Christianity; and who may have held some opinions more or less similar to those entertained by the most famous HERETICS of the early ages, the GNOSTICS. Irenaeus calls this Simon the FATHER OF ALL HERESIES. “All those,” he says, “who in any way CORRUPT THE TRUTH or mar the preaching of the [true] church, are disciples and successors of Simon, the Samaritan magician.”
Simon became so well known in Rome that he was eventually honored as a god. THIS is the man the Catholic Church is founded upon — NOT the apostle Peter!!
Notice what Hasting’s Dictionary of the Apostolic Church says: “The author or FIRST REPRESENTATIVE [POPE] of this baptized heathenism...is Simon Magus, who unquestionably ADULTERATED Christianity with PAGAN IDEAS AND PRACTICES, with the aid and with the sanction of Christianity (so called) to set up A RIVAL UNIVERSAL (OR CATHOLIC) RELIGION” (Vol. 2, pp. 514, 566).
Statue of Simon Magus in St. Peter's at Rome
This amalgam of paganism and Christianity mentioned above, was a result of Simon Magus witnessing the preaching of Philip and Peter in Samaria. He soon saw the awesome potential of Christianity as a TOOL for his own advancement. When Peter returned to Rome (just prior to his death) he “found the minds of the people strangely bewitched and hardened AGAINST the embracing of the Christian religion by the subtleties and magic arts of Simon Magus....” (Cave). By the middle of the second century, when Justin Martyr wrote his Apology (152 A.D.) “the sect of the Simonians appears to have been FORMIDABLE, for he speaks four times of their founder, Simon....” (Dictionary of Christian Biography, vol. 4, p. 682).
As the end of the 2nd century approached, the true Church of God in Rome had all but disappeared; and a LARGE COUNTERFEIT, UNIVERSAL CHURCH was firmly in place with a successive line of bishops or “popes” tracing their office back to — NOT PETER — but Simon Magus! The Catholic Church was founded on the PRIMACY OF SIMON MAGUS! Any church (Worldwide Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God included) that believes in the primacy of Peter and apostolic succession is knowingly (or unknowingly) following the system planted in Rome by SIMON THE MAGICIAN!
The approximately 25 years between Peter's first and last visit to Rome were spent in evangelizing all corners of the Roman Empire. The man who spent 25 years in the “sacerdotal chair” was the magician from Samaria — SIMON MAGUS!
So this article says the first pope was Simon Magus not Simon Peter? I do not know but, Thank God, God knows.
This video is interesting. It says the first pope was Simon Magus not Simon Peter. I do not know, but Thank God, God knows.
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