ACC ~ John 21 v19

THE REWARD OF FAITHFUL PASTORS

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The Lord did not hand over his little flock to its pastor until he had received genuine pledges. He received the threefold [confession] that [Simon] had professed as trustworthy pledges for the three [denials]. Therefore, when his Master said [to him], “Do you love me?” our Lord was wanting to receive from him his true love so that, after having given the pledge of his love, [Simon] might receive [Jesus’] sheep as a flock. When [the Lord] saw that his mouth was confessing and that his tears were a seal, he gave him the reward reserved for pastors, namely, death, since this is the crown of victory of the pastors and their shepherds. [The Lord] was not able to give Simon the allotted portion of death until he had received from him [the pledge of] his love. For in the same way our Lord would not have given his life for his little flock if it had not been on account of his love for it. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 9.5. [1]

[1] ECTD 156-57**.

JESUS PROPHESIED PETER’S MARTYRDOM

AUGUSTINE: Peter accomplished later on by the grace of God what he had previously been unable to do by self-reliance. You see, after the Lord had entrusted him with his, not Peter’s sheep, to feed them, not for himself but for the Lord, he told him about his future martyrdom, which he had forfeited the first time because he had been in much too much of a hurry. “When you are older,” he said, “someone else will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go. He said this, though, to signify by what death he was going to glorify the Lord.” It came about that Peter arrived at his martyrdom, having washed away his denial with his tears. What had been promised him by the Savior could not be taken away from him by the tempter. SERMON 285.3. [1]

[1] WSA 3 8:97.

THE HISTORY OF PETER RECORDED

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: [Nero] publicly announced himself as the first among God’s chief enemies and so was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself [1] and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero. [2] This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day. It is confirmed likewise by Caius, a member of the church, who arose under Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus, [3] the leader of the Phrygian heresy, [4] speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid: “But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican [5] or to the Ostian way, you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church.” And that they both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans in the following words: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in the same way in Italy and suffered martyrdom at the same time.” [6] I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 2.25.5-8. [7]

[1] See Clement of Rome To the Corinthians 5.

[2] Ibid.

[3] This Proclus probably introduced Montanism into Rome at the beginning of the third century. According to Pseudo-Tertullian (Against All Heresies 7), he was a leader of one division of the Montanists, the other division being composed of followers of Aeschines. He is probably to be identified with the Proculus noster, classed by Tertullian, in Against Valentinus 5, with Justin Martyr, Miltiades and Irenaeus as a successful opponent of heresy.

[4] The sect of the Montanists. It was called the “Phrygian heresy” from the fact that it took its rise in Phrygia.

[5] According to an ancient tradition, Peter was crucified upon the hill of Janiculum, near the Vatican, where the church of San Pietro in Montorio now stands. A more probable tradition makes the scene of execution the Vatican hill itself, where Nero’s circus was and where the persecution took place. In the fourth century the remains of Peter were transferred from the Catacombs of San Sebastiano (where they are said to have been interred in 258) to the Basilica of St. Peter, which occupied the sight of the present basilica on the Vatican.

[6] Gk kata ton auton kairon. The kata allows some margin in time and does not necessarily imply the same day. Dionysius is the first one to connect the deaths of Peter and Paul chronologically, but later it became quite the custom. One tradition put their deaths on the same day, one year apart (Augustine and Prudentius, e.g., are said to support this tradition). Jerome (On the Lives of Illustrious Men 1) is the first to state explicitly that they suffered on the same day. Eusebius puts their martyrdom in 67, Jerome in 68. The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the death of Peter on June 29 and that of Paul on June 30 but has no fixed tradition as to the year of the death of either of them. See notes in NPNF 2 1:129-30 for this and the previous notes.

[7] NPNF 2 1:129-30**. See also Tertullian Scorpiace 15 (ANF 3:648).

CHRIST DIES FOR PETER FIRST, NOT VICE VERSA

AUGUSTINE: Such was the end reached by that denier and lover—elated by his presumption, prostrated by his denial, cleansed by his weeping, approved by his confession, crowned by his suffering. This was the end he reached, to die with a perfected love for the name of him with whom by a perverted forwardness he had promised to die. After he was strengthened by Christ’s resurrection, Peter would do what in his weakness he had promised prematurely. For the necessary order was that Christ should first die for Peter’s salvation and then that Peter should die for the preaching of Christ. The boldness thus begun by human temerity was an utter inversion of the order that had been instituted by the Truth. Peter thought he was going to lay down his life for Christ [1] —the one to be delivered on behalf of the deliverer—seeing that Christ had come to lay down his life for all his own, including Peter, which, you see, was now done. From here on out, a true strength of heart (because it was graciously given) may be assumed for incurring death itself for the name of the Lord and not a false one presumptuously usurped through an erroneous estimate of ourselves. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 123.4. [2]

[1] See Jn 13:37.

[2] NPNF 1 7:445*.

CALLED TO ATTAIN THE PRIZE

AUGUSTINE: He said, “Follow me,” but not in the same way as when he had previously called the disciples. Then too, certainly, he said, “Follow me.” [1] But then it was to school he was summoning them; now it is to the prize giving. SERMON 147.3. [2]

[1] Mk 1:17.

[2] WSA 3 4:449.

PETER WILL GLORIFY GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: Christ told Peter not that he would die, but that he would “glorify God.” In this way, we learn that suffering for Christ is both an honor and glory for the sufferer. “And when he had spoken this, he said,”Follow Me.” Here again Jesus alludes to his tender carefulness, and to Peter’s being very closely attached to himself. If anyone should ask, “How then did James assume the see at Jerusalem?” I reply that Christ appointed Peter, not as Bishop of this see, but as Doctor of the whole world. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 88.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:332**.