Paul the Apostle by J. Albert Harrill

Author:J. Albert Harrill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2012-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

“The Martyrdom of Paul” (ca. 190)

If the book of Acts strongly hints that Paul will die as a martyr in Rome (see later discussion), neither Acts nor any other book of the New Testament narrates his actual death, which left later Christian imagination to invent such stories. The earliest account, also the one most influential on church tradition, is The Martyrdom of Paul (ca. 190; see Appendix 3) included within the apocryphal Acts of Paul. Advancing a tradition that Paul died as a martyr in the city of Rome, the work made up episodes for Paul's final days in order to fill in this significant gap in the apostle's biography. The work enjoyed great popularity in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, influencing Christian art. Rome's great fire under Nero (64 C.E.), a later artistic theme, does not appear in this particular story, however. Apparently, even at the end of the second century, early Christian imagination had not yet connected the epic horror of that Roman catastrophe to the legend of Paul's martyrdom.

The drama of the Martyrdom follows the same narrative pattern that we found in the canonical book of Acts: Paul proves through a series of travails to be more noble and Roman than the imperial leaders he encounters. The theme begins with Paul renting a barn outside Rome as space for his expanding Roman mission. The fame of Paul's preaching in this barn attracts a throng of Roman visitors wishing to hear the apostle preach. The newly converted faithful include a great many household slaves of the emperor; it is they who will bring Paul and Nero together. The emperor's cupbearer Patroclus sits on a high window in the barn in order to listen to Paul, over the crowd, but he unfortunately falls to his death (cf. Acts 20:9–12 for a parallel scene). Upon hearing the news of his favorite's death, Nero laments greatly. But Paul raises Patroclus from the dead – a show of the apostle's power over Satan – and the slave returns to Nero and reports his eager enlistment as a soldier in the new faith and its coming Kingdom. News of an advancing “kingdom” and its soldiers frightens Nero into arresting all Christians in the city for summary execution, without trial – in violation of Roman law, the text emphasizes.

The roundup of Christians brings Paul in chains before Nero, whose interrogation apparently confirms the emperor's suspicions about the apostle's recruitment of Romans in a new army to destroy Rome and its empire. When the enraged Nero has Paul beheaded, a punishment reserved for Roman citizens, milk rather than blood gushes out of the apostle's neck. Later in the day and now raised from the dead, Paul arrives in the imperial court with his head reattached to continue his previous rebuke of Nero. The postmortem Paul reproaches the emperor for executing prisoners without any trials – a crime not only against divine law but also against Roman law. An admonished Nero obeys Paul's command to free the remaining prisoners, including high-ranking guards and slaves of the imperial household.

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