The tradition of some of the ancient Fathers that Peter was the founder of the church in Rome, is inconsistent with the statements given in the Acts of the Apostles. Irenæus (Hæres. III. 1) says, that “Matthew wrote his gospel, while Peter and Paul were in Rome preaching the gospel and founding the church there.” And Eusebius (Chron. ad ann. 2 Claudii) says, “Peter, having founded the church at Antioch, departed for Rome, preaching the gospel.” Both these statements are incorrect. Peter did not found the church at Antioch, nor did he and Paul preach together at Rome. That Peter was not at Rome prior to Paul’s visit, appears from the entire silence of this epistle on the subject; and from no mention being made of the fact in any of the letters written from Rome by Paul during his imprisonment. The tradition that Peter ever was at Rome, rests on very uncertain authority. It is first mentioned by Dionysius of Corinth, in the latter half of the second century, and from that time it seems to have been generally received. The account is in itself improbable, as Peter’s field of labour was in the East, about Babylon; and as the statement of Dionysius is full of inaccuracies.
