children of israel didn t have time for the dough to rise before they left egypt in haste. reporter: in the passover the wine refers to. the blood refers to the blood they smeared on the doorposts of the houses, because god passed over the houses. and, the part of the meal, the bread one would be eating would be thin wafers, that of course is how the principle or the practice of wafer and wine has come into communion in christian usage. as the church separated itself from the synagogue, so aspects of jewish observance were lost and all that remained was the communion of eating the bread and drinking the wine in remembrance of jesus life. reporter: the word christian was not used until more than 30 years after jesus died and simply meanings those who believe jesus was christ, the jewish messiah.
christ. st. peter and the first followers of christ would have taken this road, as they brought the new faith to the center of the roman empire. no other road in rome is as closely linked to the life of the early christians. peter, whose life was changed by his encounter with christ, stepped on these stones and saw these tablets, columns and capitals, as he entered rome, the center of the world. jesus told the prince of the apostles, you are peter, and upon this rock, i will build my church. paul was persecuting the first christians when jesus appeared to him. blinding him with his light. paul was on his way to damascus when he had his vision. after years of preaching the gospel, and suffering much persecution, paul joined peter, in the eternal city. author of the book in the footsteps of popes explains how
jesus and god made man. the trinity of god is father, son and spirit that jesus came on earth to live and die for our sins so that he would open up the way to heaven. rabbi gellman for jews? for jews, jesus was a trer rifficly important leader, it doesn t help that god to be a person and secondly that he didn t evil in the world, didn t gather exiles and resurrect the dead. and for some jews, father hartman, christ is the messiah, because his first followers were all jewish. it s true his first followers were jewish. in today s world, they have to make a choice. if they are he jewish, it
paul ended up in rome after his arrest in jerusalem. you cannot kill me here. i am a roman citizen, and he went to home and the emperor was nero and he was a killer, but in the roman way. the roman cannot be crucified, the romans must be beheaded. reporter: the first church here, the constantine basilica was built over peter s tomb, 17 centuries ago, after constantine s conversion. the great roman general, whose victories are evident in the glorious arch near the coliseum had a vision of christ s cross at the battle. his conversion changed the course of history. st. peter was crucified on the vatican hill, not far om the obelisk currently found in st. peter s square. the professor who teaches at the university, recounts the history of that obelisk. the story begins in egypt
but, the types of people who are described, the sites that are mentioned, are in fact sites and people who we go both from archaeology and historical sources. reporter: nazareth this is town where jesus grew up, called his hidden life, because, only one story is told about jesus youth. his encounter at age 12 with learned men at the temp in jerusalem. jesus public life began when he was 30 years old with baptism by john at the jordan river. reporter: this is the sea of galilee, the area around the fresh water lake was settled for centuries before the time of christ. it is here, along these shores, that jesus began his ministry, called his disciples and performed many of his miracles.