apostle at the head was the church in rome where peter was centered. rome is a giant empire if you re a christian you re saying you believe in a man, jesus, who is a king above all kings and not the roman king, you put yourself in opposition to the roman empire. and that s a really dangerous situation for early christians. despite the dangers facing christians in rome, peter holds secret gatherings where he preaches the word of christ. rome is a society 75 to 80% slaves. they re not human, can t marry, can be bought and sold, whipped and raped. so suddenly there is this movement that is saying you re a person with dignity created in the image of god, that makes you worthwhile. so that s part of the power of this christian movement. christ s message strikes a
chord with the mostdown troden of roman society. and peter s meetings become more and more popular. inevitably he catches the eye of one of the cruellest and most sadistic rulers in history. emperor nero. in the summer of 64 a.d., a raging fire burns rome six days, destroying two-thirds of the city. people say that emperor nero started the fire so he could advance his building projects. some of rome needed to catch on fire so he could build the temples and things he wanted to honor himself. rumors that nero started the fire himself began to fly. and he needs a scapegoat. people are already asking a
means rock. and on this rock i will build my church and i will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. and jesus christ said to peter who do you say i am where you re the christ, the son of god. so he became the authenticating voice. peter himself as the one who voiced the confession becomes a symbol of the unwavering faith that jesus is the son of god, which is then the center of the christian church. though the word pope is not used for hundreds of years, the foundation of the sacred office is entwined in peter s legacy. the popes are if if you like the inheriters of the apostlic generation. it s the idea of the papacy being the rock, the source of permanence in the age of anxiety that people know is steady. peter preacheshat jes
and savior dies, he wants to die upside down because he s not worthy to die in the same way that jesus died. peter s death is a devastating loss to the early christian community. but dying in the name of his god, makes him a martyr and secures his legacy as the first true leader of the church, that will one day become the most powerful force on the planet. history names peter the first pope.
after peter s violent death, christians realized they must organize their movement if they have any hope of survival in the face of roman tyranny. they thought rather like the american revolutionaries as one of them said, we all have to hang together or we shall surely all hang the separately. they created an agreement with a set of rules. deep within the private library of the greek patriarch in jerusalem lives the first document that outlines the first cohesive guidelines of christianity. it s called the dedekai. this document presents the