Acts of Peter and Paul A noncanonical text written perhaps in the sixth or seventh century ad, that portrays Peter and Paul together in ministry and martyrdom. This text was never widely authoritative in the early church period, nor could it have been, based on its late date.

The subject of this text is the apostolic collaboration of Peter and Paul in Rome and their martyrdoms there. It begins with Paul’s journey from Gaudomelete (perhaps referring to the two islands of Gozo and Malta) to Rome. After Paul’s arrival, the text takes the same form as the version of the Passion of Peter and Paul that is also known as Pseudo-Marcellus.

In the text, when Peter learns that Paul has come to Rome, Peter goes to meet him and they cry with joy. Paul then settles a dispute between Jewish and Gentile Christians. In addition, some members of Nero’s household become Christians as a result of Paul’s preaching.

In the longest section of this text, Peter and Paul testify against Simon Magus before Nero. A letter written from Pontius Pilate to the emperor Claudius, expressing Pilate’s belief in Jesus’ divinity, is then produced. But Paul is beheaded anyway, and upon his death, a one-eyed, god-fearing woman named Perpetua has her sight restored.

In the text, Peter is then bound to a cross; he explains that he followed Jesus by coming to Rome and then surrenders his spirit (Lipsius, Acta, 182–216). In one version of the narrative, Nero keeps the corpse of Simon Magus at the imperial palace in Rome for three days, expecting him to rise from the dead (Klauck, Apocryphal Acts, 108).