The Acts fall into two groups, commonly distin- guished as ' Gnostic ' t and ' Catholic' Neither of these groups as they now stand constitutes a per- fect unit, yet each has its own distinctive traits. The Gnostic Acts is unique in removing St. Paul from Rome before Peter arrives. St. Paul is directed in a vision to leave the city and go to Spain. Thereupon Simon Magus appears at Rome, calling himself ' the great power of God,' and win- ning to himself many Christians through his magical practices. At this point Peter, having completed his assigned task of working for twelve years among Jews only, is Divinely instructed to visit Rome. On his arrival he immediately attacks Simon and wins back the Christians who had been seduced. Peter and Simon vie with each other in the performance of miracles, but Peter is the more successful, and Simon, in attempting to fly to heaven, is brought down by Peter's prayer and dies from the eii'ects of the fall. Nero and his friend Albinus become oflfended with Peter, who is informed of their evil designs and prepares to leave the city ; but outside the gate he meets Jesus, who, when asked whither He is going ('Domine, quo vadis?'), replies that He is on His way to Rome to be crucified. At this Peter returns and gladly submits to crucifixion, requesting that he be nailed to the cross head downwards. Mar- cellus, formerly a disciple of St. Paul and then of Simon, having been won back to Christianity by Peter, takes care of the Apostle's body ; but Peter appears to him in a vision and says, ' Let the dead be buried by their own dead ' — an intimation that Marcellus is to await the return of St. Paul to Rome. The Catholic Acts has a similar content,
* For a more exhaustive digcussion of this whole mass of later tradition see R. A. Lipsius, Die apokri/phen Apostel- geschicbten uiid A poUtilleffendca, vol. ii. pt. i. [Brunswick, 1887] 1-423 ; F. H. Chase, art. 'Peter (Simon)' in HUB, vol. iii. pp 767-779; P. W. Schmiedel, art. 'Simon Peter' in EBi iv. 4689-4627.
f That they are really Gnostic is maintained by Lipsius (op. cit. p. 258 ff.) and T. Zahn {Geschichte des neldest. Kaiwns, ii. [Leipzig, 1890] 832 ff.) ; while .\. Harnack (Chronolntfie dpr alt- chnstlichen lAtteraUtr, Leipzij^, 1897. i. 549 ff.), C. Erhes (in ZKIi xxii. (1901) 163 ff.), and C. Schmidt (in rj/ xxiv. 1 [1903]) believe them to be actually Catholic.
yet with some remarkable difl'erences. St. Paul arrives at Rome while Peter is still there, and is besought by the Christians to resist Peter, who is teaching believers to do away with the Law of Moses. The two apostles greet one another with joy, and the disputes between Jewish and Gentile Christians are settled by St. Paul, both apostles working together in harmony. Then the two — though Peter is the chief spokesman — encounter Simon Magus, who, as in the Gno.stic Acts, dies from a fall while attempting to fly to heaven. Nero imprisons them for the h.-irm they have dune his friend Simon, and finally Peter Is crucified, whUe St. Paul is beheaded on the same day (29th June).
The Clementines * contain two different versions of the same original romance, the chief point of which is the persistent conflict between Peter and Simon Magus. The scene of the conflict is Syria, and it is not certain that the original form of the legend made any reference whatsoever to Rome. But in their present form both versions vaguely intimate that the final scene of the conflict is Rome. The Homilies are distinctly anti-Pauline, Simon being in fact merely a mask for St. Paul, who is thus brought into complete subjection to Peter. In the Recognitions, on the other hand, the con- flict is not so sharp, criticism being directed more particularly against the pre-Christian activities of St. Paul. See art. Simon Magus.
These legendary materials have not been sum- marized because of their intrinsic historical value, for in this particular they are now admitted by scholars to be in the main quite unreliable. Their importance consists in the use which has been made of their tendency as a key to the reconstruc- tion of the history of the Apostolic Age, and particularly to the solution of the much-debated problem of Peter's Roman residence, which is the next question to claim our attention.
According to traditional Roman Catholic opinion, when Jesus commissioned Peter to be the corner- stone of the Church and the guardian of the keys (Mt lO"'"*), He virtually designated him bishop of Rome, the first Pope.t Several Protestant scholars also, while not estimating so highly Peter's ecclesi- a.stical significance, are of the opinion that he finally visited Rome and suffered martyrdom there under Nero. This opinion is thought to be sup- ported by a number of early witnesses. The earliest notice is in Clement of Rome, who admon- ishes the Corinthians to follow the examples of the good apostles: 'There was Peter, who by reason of unrighteous jealousy endured not one nor two but many labours, and thus having borne his testimony went to his appointed place of glory ' . (Ep. ad Cor. i. 5). In the next chapter St. Paul's martyrdom is also mentioned along « ith ' a vast multitude of the elect, who through many indig- nities and tortures, being the victims of jealousy, set a brave example among us.' Clement is com- monly supposed to have written his epistle about the year 95, and one may easily infer that he was thinking of Peter and St. Paul as having suffered martyrdom at Rome during Nero's persecution. Ignatius, early in the 2nd cent., says the Romans had been enjoined by Peter and St. Paul (Rom. 4), which would seem to presuppose Peter's presence in Rome at one time, since nothing is known of any epistle addressed to the Romans by Peter.