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| SS. Petrus dan Paulus |
Banyak orang-orang Protestan dan Ortodoks menyatakan bahwa St. Paulus adalah yang pertama kali tiba di Roma dan yang pertama kali juga mengajarkan doktrin iman di sana. Tetapi beberapa fakta dari Para Bapa Gereja dan sejarah sendiri menunjukkan hal lain, yaitu bahwa St. Petrus adalah yang pertama kali tiba di Roma dan mengajarkan doktrin iman di sana. Mari kita sejenak membaca artikel ini.
Kapan St. Paulus tiba di Roma?
Tulisan dari agapebiblestudy.com menyebutkan demikian:
“Paul was still imprisoned in Caesarea when Felix was recalled to Rome and Porcius Festus was appointed procurator of Judea by the Emperor Nero in 60 AD (Kis 24:27). Appearing before Festus and his distinguished visitors, Paul preached the Gospel to the Roman governor, to King Agrippa II to and his sister Bernice (Acts 25-26). Fearing the Jews were going to demand he be returned for trial in Jerusalem, Paul appealed to Caesar, his right as a Roman citizen. Festus granted the request and Paul was send to Rome in 60 AD.”
Dan dari situs biblestudy.org disebutkan:
"In the Autumn of 60 A.D. Paul, along with other prisoners, boards a boat for Rome. Paul's travel to Rome is considered to be his fourth missionary journey. The prisoners are escorted on their journey to Rome by a Roman Centurion named Julius (Acts 27:1-2). After stopping in several cities along the way, Paul and company make their way to the Isle of Crete (Acts 27:7). Although Paul warns Julius not to sail the Mediterranean during a dangerous time of the year (September to October), the Centurion disregards his advice and sets sail from Crete (Acts 27:9-12). The ship encounters a fierce storm along the way and is shipwrecked near the island of Malta (Acts 27:14 - 28:1). All those on the ship either swim or grab boards from the wreck and successfully make their way to the island. After staying three months Paul and company set sail again for Rome. He eventually arrives in the Italian port city of Puteoli (Acts 28:13), where he stays for one week with Christians in the area. Paul is then taken to Rome via the well-known Appian Way Road (Acts 28:14-16)."
Hal ini membuktikan bahwa St. Paulus baru tiba di Roma sekitar tahun 60 M.
Kapan St. Petrus tiba di Roma?
Sejarahwan Gereja, Eusebius dari Caesarea menyebutkan bahwa:
"[In the second] year of the two hundredth and fifth Olympiad [A.D. 42]: The apostle Peter, after he has established the church in Antioch, is sent to Rome, where he remains as a bishop of that city, preaching the gospel for twenty-five years" (The Chronicle [A.D. 303]).
St. Hieronimus juga menyebutkan bahwa:
"Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion . . . pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord" (Lives of Illustrious Men 1 [A.D. 396]).
Sedangkan, St. Optatus dari Milevis menyatakan demikian:
"You cannot deny that you are aware that in the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head—that is why he is also called Cephas [‘Rock’]—of all the apostles; the one chair in which unity is maintained by all" (The Schism of the Donatists 2:2 [A.D. 367]).
Dari sumber-sumber di atas, dapat kita ketahui bahwa St. Petrus tiba di Roma pada tahun 42 M dan menjadi Uskup di Roma selama 25 tahun sampai pada wafatnya sebagai martir pada tahun 67 M pada masa pemerintahan Kaisar Nero.
Satu hal lain, St. Petrus menulis surat pertamanya dari Roma (yang kala itu dijuluki sebagai Babilonia).
“Dari Petrus, rasul Yesus Kristus, kepada orang-orang pendatang…. Dengan perantaraan Silwanus, yang kuanggap sebagai seorang saudara yang dapat dipercayai, aku menulis dengan singkat kepada kamu untuk menasihati dan meyakinkan kamu,… Salam kepada kamu sekalian dari kawanmu yang terpilih yang di Babilon, dan juga dari Markus, anakku." (1 Pet 1:1, 5:12-13)
Babilon di sini merupakan sebutan bagi kota Roma. Sebab Roma telah menganiaya Gereja, sebagaimana Babilon telah menganiaya umat Allah di jaman PL (2 Raj 24). Umat Yahudi saat itu menyebut kota Roma sebagai Babilon, karena melihat kesamaan ciri- ciri antara Babilon [kota dunia yang tak bermoral, sombong, tak ber-Tuhan] yang disebut oleh para nabi (Yes 13; 43:14; Yer 50:29; 51:1-58) dengan kota Roma pada saat itu. [dikutip dari katolisitas.org]
St. Papias (60-130), murid St. Yohanes Penulis Injil, berkesaksian seperti yang dikutip oleh Eusebius dari Caesarea :
And they say that Peter when he had learned, through a revelation of the Spirit, of that which had been done, was pleased with the zeal of the men, and that the work obtained the sanction of his authority for the purpose of being used in the churches. Clement in the eighth book of his Hypotyposes gives this account, and with him agrees the bishop of Hierapolis named Papias. And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son." -Ecclesiastical History 2.15.1-2
Dengan membandingkan waktu tibanya kedua rasul ini, kita dapat menyatakan bahwa St. Petruslah yang tiba lebih dahulu dan mendirikan Tahta Apostolik Roma. Dari Roma, St. Petrus menulis surat pertamanya.
Bapa Gereja Theodoret dari Cyrus (393-457), seperti yang dikutip oleh Uskup Agung Kenrick dari Baltimore, memberi komentar demikian terhadap surat dari St. Paulus kepada umat di Roma:
Theodoret, commenting on the passage of St. Paul, in which he expresses, his desire to confirm the Romans in the faith, observes : "Because the great Peter was the first to instruct them in the evangelical doctrine, he necessarily said ' to confirm you ;' for he says : I do not mean to propose to you a new doctrine, but to confirm that which has been already delivered, and to water the trees that have been planted. " (Theodoret of Cyrus, Com. in c. 1, ad Rom) [1]
St. Paulus sendiri menyatakan hal demikian dalam surat kepada umat di Roma 15:20.
Rom 15:20 Dan dalam pemberitaan itu aku menganggap sebagai kehormatanku, bahwa aku tidak melakukannya di tempat-tempat, di mana nama Kristus telah dikenal orang, supaya aku jangan membangun di atas dasar, yang telah diletakkan orang lain.
Dari berbagai sumber di atas, dapat disimpulkan bahwa ketika St. Paulus datang, telah ada Tahta Apostolik di Roma. Tahta Apostolik di Roma itu sendiri didirikan oleh St. Petrus jauh sebelum St. Paulus tiba di Roma. Dengan demikian St. Petrus-lah yang lebih dahulu tiba di Roma daripada St. Paulus.
[1] Archbishop Kenrick of Baltimore, The Primacy Of The Apostolic See Vindicated p. 81.
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