Truth about Catholic Pope under the inverted cross (Peter)
[ Bible Probe ]Posted by Bible Probe on September 02, 2006 at 22:34:23:
The inverted cross nearby a Roman Catholic Pope is the sign of the Fisherman, Peter, who was crucified upside down. This use by the Roman Catholic Pope goes back in ancient history to the 1st century. This valid Christian use of the inverted cross, pre-dates contemporary thinking that an upside down cross is always associated with Satanism, similar to a black mass. It is in fact, old Christian symbol for the Martyrdom of St. Peter. The inverted cross has no meaning at all to religious Satanists.
The Bishop of Rome (Pope) is the successor to Peter. That is a fact of history. Linus was the Second Bishop (Catholic) of Rome after Peter. Linus was also mentioned in II Timothy 4:21. Catholic popes and their succession can be traced all the way back to Peter via Linus. History documents that some popes were bad, and some downright intolerable, as Protestants found out before and after the Reformation. But most were good. Regardless, being a good or bad pope doesn't alter the fact of succession.
The passage by Irenaeus (Adv. haereses, III, iii, 3) reads:
"After the Holy Apostles (Peter and Paul) had founded and set the Church in order (in Rome) they gave over the exercise of the Episcopal office to Linus. The same Linus is mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy. His successor was Anacletus."
THIS IS THE STORY OF THE INVERTED CROSS
That photo above is one of several such photos taken during Pope John Paul II's trip to Israel. A special class of anti-Catholic propagandists, apparently loves these photos, seeing nothing more than a Satanic Symbol…the Inverted Cross. Proof, they claim, that the Pope really is the "anti-Christ". They are wrong.
There is another meaning for the Inverted Cross, one that is thoroughly Christian.
That inverted (upside down cross) shows that St. Peter being crucified upside down is an ancient tradition associated with the Papacy. If anyone other than the Pope of the Catholic Church was near one--yes, suspect satanic.
"The Alexandrian scholar Origen (d. 256) is the first to report that St. Peter 'was crucified head downward, for he had asked that he might suffer in this way' (Eusebius, History, III, 1)."
Eusebius of Caesarea (born about 260 A.D.; died before 341 A.D. wrote a History of the Church. Here's Eusebius' Church History, III, 1 from Eusebius himself!
"Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head-downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer in this way…. These facts are related by Origen in the third volume of his Commentary on Genesis."
[Here's a second link to Eusebius' Church History, III, 1, from the Protestant site Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Scroll down or just click on Chapter 1. For those who distrust "Catholic" sources. J ]
The Catholic Encyclopedia article, St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, confirms the traditional belief that St. Peter was crucified head downwards on an inverted cross:
"Concerning the manner of Peter's death, we possess a tradition--attested to by Tertullian at the end of the second century (see above) and by Origen (in Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", II, i)--that he suffered crucifixion. Origen says: 'Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer'. As the place of execution may be accepted with great probability the Neronian Gardens on the Vatican, since there, according to Tacitus, were enacted in general the gruesome scenes of the Neronian (Nero) persecution; and in this district, in the vicinity of the Via Cornelia and at the foot of the Vatican Hills, the Prince of the Apostles found his burial place."
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