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Medieval Europe

Early Popes

There were Christians in Rome at least by 49 AD. St. Paul preached there 61-63 AD and was executed there in 67 AD. St. Peter, by tradition, also preached and died there around the same time. So the city could claim an ancient Christian lineage.

There is no evidence this early of a bishop in Rome. Those who governed the Christian churches were called audio gifepiscopos or presbyter (both Greek words -- the early Church was strongest in Greek lands), and those words were never applied to Peter or Paul.

The first lists of bishops of Rome that we have date from 160-185 AD they make St. Paul and St. Peter the founders of the church of Rome. Not long after, we have documents that claim that Peter was the first bishop of Rome. These same documents claim that Peter made Linus his successor by a laying on of hands—a transferral of spiritual powers.

The first bishop to claim primacy (in writing, anyway) was Stephen I (254-257). The timing is significant, for it falls during the worst of the tumults of the third century. There were several persecutions during this century and they hit the Church of Rome hard. Pope audio gifXystus II (257-258), along with most of the members of the church of Rome, was martyred by the emperor Valentinian. Pope audio gifMarcellinus (296-304) apostasized during the persecutions of Diocletian.

But then came the miracle of Constantine's conversion, and suddenly the church at Rome was saved. And yet, Constantine created an even more serious threat by removing the capitol to Byzantium.

It can be no accident that Pope Damasus I (366-384) was first to claim that Rome's primacy rested solely on Peter, and was the first pope to refer to the Roman church as "the Apostolic See". The prestige of the city itself was no longer sufficient; but in the doctrine of apostolic succesion the popes had an unassailable position.