Well, welcome back to another episode of Five Minutes in Church History. We are continuing

our world tour. We were in Cambridge, Ephesus, great cities. Now we are going to the eternal

city, Rome. Rome is steeped in mythology. Its origin story is mythology. Rome in tradition has it

that the city founded in 750 was the result of the twins nursed by a wolf,

Romulus later killing Remus, and so there you have it, Rome. Well, let's move ahead to the first

century. Of course, this is the city where Paul and Peter were. Paul wrote his prison epistles

during his first Roman imprisonment, and then he wrote his final epistles, that beautiful letter

to Second Timothy and his final words during his second imprisonment, and it is the recipient,

that is, the city is the recipient of Paul's magnum opus, the epistle to the Romans.

And of course, we have Peter there as well, and tradition has it that under Nero, both Paul and

Peter were martyred there in Rome. Very key in the pages of the New Testament, very key in the

first century, but let's move on to the second century. Ignatius of Antioch is said to be

martyred there, and some hold that he was actually martyred in the Colosseum. Typically,

this was a place where the gladiators would battle each other, or they would battle the wild beasts,

but there were Christians who were martyred there. It was truly blood sport for the Romans.

Well, what are some notable moments among so many notable moments of Rome through the centuries?

Here are five. First is the catacombs. These are those subterranean burial grounds just outside

of the city walls along the Apian way. This, of course, was the site of many burials of Christians,

and it was also a meeting place for some of the Christians during the times of persecution.

And in these catacombs, we have all sorts of evidence of the Christian presence there

through the paintings. One painting you will see again and again throughout these catacombs

is a painting that looks like the Lord's Supper, but if you look closely, they're only seven.

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