Through a Hole in the Floor

The Hole in the Floor
Mamertine Prison

The tour guide told us the story of how the Mamertine Prison in old Rome had been the only place of incarceration during the early days of the church.  Those condemned were brought to this place after being paraded through the Roman Forum where they were ridiculed as enemies of Rome. 

Once at Mamertine, they were beaten and lowered or thrown through a large hole in the floor to a dungeon that lay twelve feet below.  Here they would be chained to a stone column and spend their final days awaiting the judgment of the Caesar, which meant being beheaded for Roman citizens and crucifixion for all others.

According to tradition, this is the prison where Peter and Paul spent their final days.  Through the hole in the floor they were dropped to await condemnation and death.

As God has a way of doing, He wasn’t finished with these Apostles.  Within the walls of this dungeon many scholars believe that Paul penned the 2nd letter to Timothy and Peter wrote his 2nd epistle.

It is also recorded in history that God used Peter to bring two of his jailers, Processus and Martiniaus, to confess Christ as Lord.  Ironically, though lowered through a hole in the floor into condemnation unto death, Peter would miraculously cause water to rise up through a small hole in the dungeon floor so that he might baptize his captors. 

Matthew 28:19; “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

I want to believe that the story about Peter is true and that he lived out his final days in the same way that he had done up to that point: by being a servant of Christ and reaching out to all people with the Good News.  May Peter serve as an inspiration to all of us as we seek to follow Christ’s example of loving God and others in the hope that all people might come to know the love of God available through Jesus Christ.