In their
book, The See of Peter, James
Shotwell and Louise Loomis discuss the Martyrdom
of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, a document dating from the fourth to
fifth century and one that “represent the orthodox response to the first
Judaistic or Gnostic accounts of the labors and death of the apostle Peter” (James
T. Shotwell and Louise Rope Loomis, The
See of Peter [New York: Octagon Books, 1965, 168). In verse 39 of the Latin
text, we read of Nero’s questioning of Peter:
Nero said: “What say you, Peter”? He answered
and said, “All that Paul has said is true. For during many years I have
received letters from our bishops, who are in all the Roman world, and the
bishops of almost every city have written me of his deeds and words . . . “
(Ibid., 174)
Interestingly,
this is a later interpolation to the text in an attempt to bolster claims to
Petrine Primacy, and as a result, the primacy of the See of Rome:
This sentence is in the Latin version but not
in the Greek. The Roman translator aims to make Peter out as already the head
and center of an established system of bishoprics, covering “all the Roman
world.” As the head, he vouches for Paul. (Ibid., 174 n. 115)