IN CHURCH HISTORY. 31 



understanding of our Lord's words to him, eleva 

 ted him to a position of unapproachable suprem- 

 acy among the Apostles. 



It is a matter of some doubt, however, whether 

 St. Peter was ever in Rome, and it is highly probable 

 that the first Christian Church established in that 

 city was made up of Greeks, and not of Latins. If 

 he really did visit Rome, his stay there could have 

 been but of short duration. Tradition tells us that 

 he was crucified there, head downwards, after the 

 great conflagration of Rome, unde r Nero, the Ro- 

 mans having been persuaded, falsely so, of course, 

 that the Christians had fired their city. 



Sf. John, probably lived longest of any of the 

 Apostles. His work seems to have been mainly in 

 Asia Minor, and particularly at Ephesus. When 

 the persecution under the Roman emperor broke 

 out, he was banished to Patmos, where he stayed a 

 year or two. It was there that the Book of the Re- 

 velation was written. He is the author of three 

 Epistles, which have been preserved to us, and one 

 of the four Gospels. As Bishop of Ephesus he 

 continued until very far advanced in years to 

 exercise the duties of hrs office, and it is said of him 

 that when too feeble to deliver long discourses, he 

 would be carried to the place of worship, and would 

 repeat the words : " Little children, love one 

 another." Love, it is well said, was the centre of 

 his theology and the sum of his life. 



