Rome (early Christian)

Rome (early Christian). An early but not well-grounded tradition asserts that St Peter reached Rome in AD 42. When the Epistle to the Romans was written (c.AD 58), a large Christian community already existed at Rome. St Paul arrived between AD 59 and 61, and many scholars hold that his ‘Captivity Epistles’, as well as Mk., Lk., Acts, and 1 Pet., were written in Rome. The burning of the city under Nero (AD 64) was the pretext for a general persecution of the Christians. Ancient tradition held that both Peter and Paul were martyred at Rome in the 60s.

The early bishops of Rome were all Greek-speaking and mostly administrators rather than theologians. Victor I (189–98) was the first Latin-speaking Pope, and his action in the Quartodeciman Controversy reflects the growing importance of the see. A serious schism was caused by St Hippolytus's dispute with Callistus I (217–22) on disciplinary and dogmatic matters. During the persecution of Decius (249–51) Fabian (236–50) was martyred and the see kept vacant for 13 months. Another rigorist schism, led by Novatian, took place under Cornelius (251–3). Persecution broke out again under the Emp. Valerian (253–60), and in 258 Sixtus II and all his deacons were martyred.

By this date the Roman Church was highly organized. Under Cornelius there were 46 presbyters, seven deacons, and numerous lesser ministers. The property of the Church included private houses in the city for worship and burial-places outside the walls (catacombs). The administration of the property and the relief of the poor fell to the deacons, each of whom had a district and staff under him.

In the persecution which broke out under Diocletian in 303, the Church's property was confiscated and a number of Christians fell away. With the accession of the Emp. Maxentius in 306, persecution in the W. ceased, and the next two Popes had to face opposition from the lapsed who wanted to be readmitted to communion with little or no penance. Under Bp. Miltiades (311–4) the Church's property was restored and full toleration granted.

Between the mid-4th and late-5th cent. the authority of the bishops, or Popes, of Rome steadily increased. They consistently intervened on the orthodox side in the theological disputes of the time. Julius I (337–52) and Liberius (352–66) upheld the Nicene faith against the Arians, Damasus I (366–84) condemned Apollinarianism, Innocent I (402–17) Pelagianism, and Celestine I (422–32) Nestorianism, while the ‘Tome’ of Leo I (440–61) assisted the defeat of Eutychianism at the Council of Chalcedon (451). The Council of Sardica (343) and the legislation of the Emps. Gratian (375–83) and Theodosius (379–95) firmly established the Roman see as a court of appeal.

Rome declined in political significance when the capital of the Empire was moved to Constantinople (330). In the 5th cent. Italy was invaded and Rome was sacked twice before it came under the authority of barbarian rulers in 476. The partial conquest of Italy by the Lombards, some of whom were pagan and the rest Arian, and the decline of the Byzantine power led the Popes, notably Gregory I (590–604), to assume political authority in Rome. In the 7th cent. relations between the Papacy and the Byzantine Emperors, who were the nominal overlords of Rome, deteriorated. The beginnings of the temporal power of the Papacy may be seen in the Donation of Sutri to ‘St Peter’ (729) by the Lombard King Liutprand, but the growth of Lombard power caused Stephen II (III) in 753 to appeal to the Frankish King Pepin. The Frankish intervention led to the destruction of the Lombard kingdom, to the restoration of the Roman Duchy and the Exarchate of Ravenna not to the Byzantine Emperor but to the Papacy, and in 800 to the coronation in Rome by Leo III of Charlemagne as Roman Emperor.

See also PATRIMONY OF ST PETER; also LATERAN BASILICA; ST PETER'S, ROME; SANTA MARIA MAGGIORE; and ST PAUL'S OUTSIDE THE WALLS.