[Mad Dawg]

I know one can’t prove a negative, but to suggest that the early congregations had not heard of Rome or a congregation in Rome seems kind of a stretch to me. I just don’t believe it and I don’t see what would lead one to think so.

[Cronos]

I know one can’t prove a negative, but to suggest that the early congregations had not heard of Rome or a congregation in Rome seems kind of a stretch to me. I just don’t believe it and I don’t see what would lead one to think so

It's plainly wrong. The only Church that can claim to have been completely separate was The Church of the East -- and that too, only post Shapur's persecution and also only in the extreme North-Eastern provinces of that Church (in the conversion of the Naiman tribe of Mongols for example), not in Persia, India etc. which were always aware of Rome (and conversely Rome was aware of them) -- you err in thinking that the ancient world especially the world bordered by the Atlantic, the Sahara, Siberia and the eastern Himalayas were not in pretty good communication.