Saint Peter

For other uses, seeSaint Peter (disambiguation).

PopeSaint Peter the Apostle
Bishop of Rome Bishop of Antioch
Saint Peter(c. 1610–1612) byPeter Paul Rubens,depicting Peter, vested in thepallium,and holding theKeys of Heaven
See	Firstbishop of Rome(pope), according toCatholicandEastern Christiantradition Firstbishop of Antioch,according toEastern ChristianandCatholictradition
Papacy began	AD 30
Papacy ended	Between AD 64 and 68
Successor	Bishop ofRome(according to tradition):Linus Bishop ofAntioch(according to tradition):Evodius
Orders
Ordination	byJesus Christ,AD 30
Personal details
Born	Simeon Bethsaida,Golan Heights,Judaea,Roman Empire
Died	Between AD 64 and 68 Vatican Hill,Rome,Italia,Roman Empire
Parents	John (or Jonah; Jona)
Spouse	Yes, name unknown
Occupation	Fisherman,clergyman
Sainthood
Feast day	Main feast:Feast of Saints Peter and Paul(withPaul the Apostle) 29 June (Catholic Church,Eastern Orthodox Church,Oriental Orthodoxy,Anglicanism,Lutheranism) 18 January: Confession of Saint Peter (Anglicanism) 22 February:Chair of Saint Peter(Catholic Church)
Venerated in	AllChristian denominationsthat veneratesaintsand in Islam
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Attributes	Keys of Heaven,Red Martyr,pallium,papal vestments,rooster, man crucified upside down, vested as an Apostle, holding a book or scroll,Cross of Saint Peter
Patronage	Patronage list
Shrines	St. Peter's BasilicaChurch of St. Peter

Saint Peter(died AD 64–68),also known asPeter the Apostle,Simon Peter,Simeon,Simon,orCephas,was one of theTwelve ApostlesofJesus Christand one of the first leaders of theearly Christian Church.He appears repeatedly and prominently inall four New Testament gospelsas well as theActs of the Apostles.Catholictradition accredits Peter as the firstbishop of Rome‍—orpope‍—and also as the firstbishop of Antioch.

According toChristian tradition,Peter wascrucifiedinRomeunder EmperorNero.The ancient Christian churches allveneratePeter as a majorsaintand as the founder of theChurch of Antiochand theChurch of Rome,but they differ in their attitudes regarding theauthority of his successors.According toCatholic teaching,Jesus promised Peter aspecial positionin the Church.In theNew Testament,the name "Simon Peter" is found 19 times. He is the brother ofSaint Andrew,and they both werefishermen.TheGospel of Markin particular was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peter's preaching and eyewitness memories. He is also mentioned, under either the name Peter or Cephas, inPaul'sFirst Letter to the Corinthiansand theEpistle to the Galatians.The New Testament also includes twogeneral epistles,First PeterandSecond Peter,that are traditionally attributed to him, but modern scholarshipgenerally rejects the Petrine authorship of both.Nevertheless, Evangelicals and Catholics have always affirmed Peter's authorship, and recently, evangelical scholars have revived the claim of Petrine authorship of these epistles.

Based on contemporary historical data, Peter's papacy is estimated to have spanned from AD 30 to his death, which would make him thelongest-reigning pope,at anywhere from 34 to 38 years; however, this has never been verified.

Saint Irenaeus(c. 130– c. 202 AD) explains the Apostle Peter, hisSee,and his successors in book III ofAdversus Haereses(Against Heresies).In the book, Irenaeus wrote that Peter and Paul founded and organised the Church in Rome.

Sources suggest that at first, the termsepiscoposandpresbyteroswere used interchangeably,with the consensus among scholars being that by the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters, whose duties of office overlapped or were indistinguishable from one another.Protestantand secular historians generally agree that there was probably "no single 'monarchical' bishop in Rome before the middle of the 2nd century...and likely later."Outside of the New Testament, severalapocryphalbooks were later attributed to him, in particular theActs of Peter,Gospel of Peter,Preaching of Peter,Apocalypse of Peter,andJudgment of Peter,although scholars believe these works to bepseudepigrapha.

Names and etymologies

St Peter,portrait byRembrandt(1632)

The New Testament presents Peter's original name as Simon (/ˈsaɪmən/;Σίμων,SimōninGreek). In only two passages,his name is instead spelled "Simeon"(Συμεώνin Greek). The variation possibly reflects "the well-known custom among Jews at the time of giving the name of a famous patriarch or personage of theOld Testamentto a male child [i.e.,Simeon] along with a similar sounding Greek/Roman name [in this case, Simon] ".

He was later given byJesusthe nameCephas(/ˈsiːfəs/), from theAramaicכֵּיפָא,Kepha,'rock/stone'. In translations of the Bible from the originalGreek,his name is maintained asCephasin nine occurrences in theNew Testament,whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament) he is calledΠέτρος,Petros,from the Greek and Latin word for a rock or stone (petra)to which the masculine ending was added, rendered into English asPeter.

The precise meaning of the Aramaic word is disputed, some saying that its usual meaning is "rock" or "crag", others saying that it means rather "stone" and, particularly in its application by Jesus to Simon, like a "jewel", but most scholars agree that as a proper name, it denotes a rough or tough character...Both meanings, "stone" (jewel or hewn stone) and "rock", are indicated in dictionaries of AramaicandSyriac.

Catholic theologianRudolf Peschargues that the Aramaic word would mean "precious stone" to designate a distinguishing person.This cannot be sufficiently proven from Aramaic, however, since the use of the Aramaic rootkpas a personal name has not been proven and there are hardly any known examples of the word being used to mean "precious stone".

The combined nameΣίμων Πέτρος(Símon Pétros,Simon Peter) appears 19 times in theNew Testament.In someSyriacdocuments he is called, in English translation, Simon Cephas.

Biographical information

The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew,1603/1606,Caravaggio

Sources

The sources used to reconstruct the life of Peter can be divided in three groups:

• theNew Testamentwritings, such as thePauline Epistles(wherePaul the Apostlecalls him "Cephas" and "Peter" ), thePetrine Epistles(traditionally attributed to him, but their authorship is disputed), theCanonical Gospelsand theActs of the Apostles;
• theNew Testament apocryphaattributed to him, such as theGospel of Peter,thePreaching of Peter,theActs of Peter,theActs of Peter and Andrew,theActs of Peter and the Twelve,theActs of Peter and Paul,theLetter of Peter to Philip,the Letter of Peter to James the Just, theApocalypse of Peterand theCoptic Apocalypse of Peter.Scholars agree that these are latepseudepigraphawith little historical value, though they may contain some historical kernel;
• the writing of the Apostolic Fathers and the Church Fathers, such asPapias of Hierapolis,Pope Clement I,Polycarp,Ignatius of AntiochandIreneus.

In theNew Testament,he is among the firstof the disciples called during Jesus' ministry. Peter became the first listedapostleordained by Jesus in the early Church.

Accounts

St. Peter's Church, Capernaumon north side of theSea of Galilee;a Franciscan church is built upon the traditional site of Apostle Peter's house.

Peter was a Jewish fisherman inBethsaida(John 1:44).He was named Simon, the son of a man named Jonah or John.The threeSynoptic Gospelsrecount how Peter's mother-in-lawwas healed by Jesusat their home inCapernaum(Matthew 8:14–17,Mark 1:29–31,Luke 4:38);this passage clearly depicts Peter as being married or widowed.1 Corinthians 9:5has also been taken to imply that he was married.

The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew(from theMaestà),c. 1308–1311

In the Synoptic Gospels, Peter (then Simon) was a fisherman along with his brother,Andrew,and the sons ofZebedee,JamesandJohn.TheGospel of Johnalso depicts Peter fishing, even after the resurrection of Jesus, in the story of theCatch of 153 fish.In Matthew and Mark, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to be "fishers of men"(Matthew 4:18–19,Mark 1:16–17).

In theConfession of Peterhe proclaims Jesus to be theChrist(Jewish Messiah), as described in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 16:13–20,Mark 8:27–30and Luke 9:18–21.It is there, in the area ofCaesarea Philippi,that he receives from Jesus the name Cephas (AramaicKepha), or Peter (GreekPetros).

InLuke,Simon Peter owns theboatthat Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore ofLake Gennesaret(Luke 5:3).Jesus then amazes Simon and his companions James and John (Andrew is not mentioned) by telling them to lower their nets, whereupon they catch a huge number of fish. Immediately after this, they follow Him (Luke 5:4–11).TheGospel of Johngives a comparable account of "The First Disciples" (John 1:35–42).In John, the readers are told that it was two disciples ofJohn the Baptist(Andrew and an unnamed disciple) who heard John the Baptist announce Jesus as the "Lamb of God"and then followed Jesus. Andrew then went to his brother Simon, saying," We have found theMessiah",and then brought Simon to Jesus, who immediately, at the first sight of him, named him as" Cephas "(John 1:42).

Apostle Peter striking theHigh Priests' servantMalchuswith a sword in theGarden of Gethsemane,byGiuseppe Cesari,c. 1597

Three of the four gospels—Matthew, Mark and John—recount the story ofJesus walking on water.Matthew additionally describes Peter walking on water for a moment but beginning to sink when his faith wavers (Matthew 14:28–31).

At the beginning of theLast Supper,Jesus washed His disciples' feet. Peter initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet, but when Jesus told him: "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me", Peter replied: "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head" (John 13:2–11).Thewashing of feetis often repeated in theservice of worshiponMaundy Thursdayby someChristian denominations.

The threeSynoptic Gospelsall mention that, when Jesus was arrested, one of his companions cut off the ear of a servant of theHigh Priest of Israel(Matthew 26:51,Mark 14:47,Luke 22:50).The Gospel of John also includes this event and names Peter as the swordsman andMalchusas the victim (John 18:10).Luke adds that Jesus touched the ear and miraculously healed it (Luke 22:49–51).This healing of the servant's ear is the last of the37 miracles attributed to Jesusin the Bible.

Simon Peter was twicearraigned,with John, before theSanhedrinand directly defied them (Acts 4:7–22,Acts 5:18–42).Peter takes a missionary journey toLydda,JoppaandCaesarea(Acts 9:32–Acts 10:2).At Joppa, Peter had avisiongiven him from God which allowed for the eating of previously unclean animals, leading the early believers to the decision to evangelise theGentiles(Acts 10).Simon Peter applied the message of the vision on clean animals to the gentiles and follows his meeting withCornelius the Centurionby claiming that "God shows no partiality".

According to theActs of the Apostles,Peter and John were sent from Jerusalem toSamaria(Acts 8:14).Peter/Cephas is mentioned briefly in the opening chapter of one of thePauline epistles,Epistle to the Galatians,which mentions a trip byPaul the ApostletoJerusalemwhere he meets Peter (Galatians 1:18).Peter features again in Galatians, fourteen years later, when Paul (now withBarnabasandTitus) returned to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:7–9).When Peter came toAntioch,Paul opposed Peter to his face "because he [Peter] was in the wrong" (Galatians 2:11).

Apostle Peter Released from Prison,Jacopo di Cione,1370–1371 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Acts 12narrates how Peter, who was in Jerusalem, was put into prison byAgrippa I(AD 42–44) but wasrescued by an angel.After his liberation Peter left Jerusalem to go to "another place" (Acts 12:1–18).Concerning Peter's subsequent activity there is no further connected information from the extant sources, although there are short notices of certain individual episodes of his later life.

Peter's wife

Synoptic Gospels mention that Peter had a mother-in-law at the time he joined Jesus, and this mother-in-law was healed by Him.However, the Gospels give no information about his wife.Clement of Alexandriaclaimed his wife was executed for her faith by the Roman authorities but does not specify any date or location.Another opinion states that Peter's wife was no longer alive at the time he met Jesus, so he was a widower.

First leader of the early Church

Main articles:Jewish ChristianandEarly Christianity

The Gospels and Acts portray Peter as the most prominent apostle, though he denied Jesus three times during the events of the crucifixion. According to the Christian tradition, Peter was the first disciple to whom Jesus appeared, balancing Peter's denial and restoring his position. Peter is regarded as the first leader of the early Church,though he was soon eclipsed in this leadership byJames the Just, "the brother of the Lord".Because Peter was the first to whom Jesus appeared, the leadership of Peter forms the basis of the Apostolic succession and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter,and he is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built.

Position among the apostles

St. Peter Preaching the Gospel in the CatacombsbyJan Styka

Peter is always listed first among theTwelve Apostlesin theGospelsand in theBook of Acts.Along withJames the ElderandJohnhe formed an informaltriumviratewithin the Twelve Apostles. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry, theRaising of Jairus' daughter,Transfiguration of JesusandAgony in the Garden of Gethsemane.Peter often confesses his faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

Peter is often depicted in the gospels as spokesman of all the Apostles.John Vidmar,a Catholic scholar, writes: "Catholic scholars agree that Peter had an authority that superseded that of the other apostles. Peter is their spokesman at several events, he conducts the election of Matthias, his opinion in the debate over converting Gentiles was crucial, etc."

The author of theActs of the Apostlesportrays Peter as the central figure within the early Christian community.

Denial of Jesus by Peter

The tears of Saint Peter,byEl Greco,late 16th century

Main article:Denial of Peter

The Denial of Saint Peter,byCaravaggio,c. 1610

All four canonical gospels recount that, during theLast Supper,Jesus foretold that Peter would deny him three times before the following cockcrow ( "before the cock crows twice" in Mark's account). The three Synoptics and John describe the three denials as follows:

1. A denial when a female servant of the high priest spots Simon Peter, saying that he had been with Jesus. According to Mark (but not in all manuscripts), "the rooster crowed". Only Luke and John mention a fire by which Peter was warming himself among other people: according to Luke, Peter was "sitting"; according to John, he was "standing".
2. A denial when Simon Peter had gone out to the gateway, away from the firelight, but the same servant girl (perMark) or another servant girl (perMatthew) or a man (perLukeand alsoJohn,for whom, though, this is the third denial) told the bystanders he was a follower of Jesus. According to John, "the rooster crowed". The Gospel of John places the second denial while Peter was still warming himself at the fire and gives as the occasion of the third denial a claim by someone to have seen him in the garden ofGethsemanewhenJesus was arrested.
3. A denial came when Peter's Galilean accent was taken as proof that he was indeed a disciple of Jesus. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, "the rooster crowed". Matthew adds that it was hisaccentthat gave him away as coming from Galilee. Luke deviates slightly from this by stating that, rather than a crowd accusing Simon Peter, it was a third individual. John does not mention the Galilean accent.

In the Gospel of Luke is a record of Christ telling Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." In a reminiscentscene in John's epilogue, Peter affirms three times that he loves Jesus.

Resurrection appearances

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on theSea of Galilee

Paul'sFirst Epistle to the Corinthianscontains a list ofresurrection appearances of Jesus,the first of which is an appearance to Peter.Here, Paul apparently follows an early tradition that Peter was the first to see the risen Christ,which, however, did not seem to have survived to the time when the gospels were written.

In John's gospel, Peter is the first person to enter theempty tomb,although the women and thebeloved disciplesee it before him.In Luke's account, the women's report of the empty tomb is dismissed by the apostles, and Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself, running to the tomb. After seeing the graveclothes, he goes home, apparently without informing the other disciples.

In thefinal chapterof the Gospel of John, Peter, in one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus,three times affirmed his love for Jesus,balancing his threefold denial, and Jesus reconfirmed Peter's position. The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on theSea of Galileeis seen as the traditional site where Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and, according to Catholic tradition, established Peter's supreme jurisdiction over the Christian church.

Leader of the early Church

The Liberation of St. Peterfrom prison by an angel, byGiovanni Lanfranco,1620–21

Peter was considered along withJames the JustandJohn the Apostleas the threePillars of the Church.Legitimised by Jesus' appearance, Peter assumed leadership of the group of early followers, forming the Jerusalemekklēsiamentioned by Paul.He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord."According to Lüdemann, this was due to the discussions about thestrictness of adherenceto the Jewish Law, when the more conservative faction of James the Justtook the overhand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.According to Methodist historianJames D. G. Dunn,this was not a "usurpation of power", but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities.The early Church historian Eusebius (c. AD 325) recordsClement of Alexandria(c. AD 190) as saying:

For they say that Peter andJames(the Greater) andJohnafter the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but choseJames the Justbishop of Jerusalem.

Dunn proposes that Peter was a "bridge-man" between the opposing views of Paul andJames the Just[italics original]:

ForPeter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man(pontifex maximus!)who did more than any other to hold together the diversity offirst-century Christianity.James the brother of Jesus and Paul, the two other most prominent leading figures in first-century Christianity, were too much identified with their respective "brands" of Christianity, at least in the eyes of Christians at the opposite ends of this particular spectrum.

— Dunn 2001,p. 577, Ch. 32

Paul affirms that Peter had the special charge of being apostle to the Jews, just as he, Paul, was apostle to the Gentiles. Some argueJames the Justwasbishop of Jerusalemwhilst Peter wasbishop of Romeand that this position at times gave James privilege in some (but not all) situations.

"Rock" dialogue

In a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples (Matthew 16:13–19), Jesus asks, "Who do people say that theSon of Manis? "The disciples give various answers. When he asks," Who doyousay that I am? ", Simon Peter answers," You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. "Jesus then declares:

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Cephas (Peter) (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

A common view of Peter is provided by Jesuit FatherDaniel J. Harrington,who suggests that Peter was an unlikely symbol of stability. While he was one of the first disciples called and was the spokesman for the group, Peter is also the exemplar of "little faith". InMatthew 14,Peter will soon have Jesus say to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?", and he will eventually deny Jesus three times. Thus, in light of the Easter event, Peter became an exemplar of the forgiven sinner.Outside the Catholic Church, opinions vary as to the interpretation of this passage with respect to what authority and responsibility, if any, Jesus was giving to Peter.

In theEastern Orthodox Churchthis passage is interpreted as not implying a special prominence to the person of Peter, but to Peter's position as representative of the Apostles. The word used for "rock" (petra) grammatically refers to "a small detachment of the massive ledge",not to a massive boulder. Thus, OrthodoxSacred Traditionunderstands Jesus' words as referring to the apostolic faith.

Saint Peter in TearsbyBartolomé Esteban Murillo(1617–1682)

Petroshad not previously been used as a name, but in the Greek-speaking world it became a popular Christian name, after the tradition of Peter's prominence in the early Christian church had been established.

Apostolic succession

Main article:Apostolic succession

The leadership of Peter forms the basis of the Apostolic succession and the institutional power of orthodoxy, as the heirs of Peter,and is described as "the rock" on which the church will be built. Catholics refer to him as chief of the Apostles,as do theEastern Orthodoxand theOriental Orthodox.In Coptic Orthodox Church liturgy, he is once referred to as "prominent" or "head" among the Apostles, a title shared with Paul in the text (The Fraction of Fast and Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria). Some, including the Orthodox Churches, believe this is not the same as saying that the other Apostles were under Peter's orders.

Antioch and Corinth

Antioch

Main article:Incident at Antioch

According to the Epistle to the Galatians (2:11), Peter went to Antioch where Paul rebuked him for following the conservative line regarding the conversion of Gentiles, having meals separate from Gentiles.Subsequent tradition held that Peter had been the firstPatriarch of Antioch.According to the writings of Origenand Eusebius in hisChurch History (III, 36)Peter had founded the church of Antioch.

Later accounts expand on the brief biblical mention of his visit toAntioch.TheLiber Pontificalis(9th century) mentions Peter as having served as bishop of Antioch for seven years, and having potentially left his family in the Greek city before his journey to Rome.Claims of direct blood lineage from Simon Peter among the old population of Antioch existed in the 1st century and continue to exist today, notably by certainSemaanfamilies of modern-day Syria and Lebanon. Historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.

TheClementine literature,a group of related works written in the fourth century but believed to contain materials from earlier centuries, relates information about Peter that may come from earlier traditions. One is that Peter had a group of 12 to 16 followers, whom the Clementine writings name.Another is that it provides an itinerary of Peter's route fromCaesarea Maritimato Antioch, where he debated his adversarySimon Magus;during this journey he ordainedZacchaeusas the first bishop of Caesarea and Maro as the first bishop ofTripolis.Historian Fred Lapham suggests the route recorded in the Clementine writings may have been taken from an earlier document mentioned byEpiphanius of Salamisin hisPanarioncalled "The Itinerary of Peter".

Corinth

Peter may have visitedCorinth,and maybe there existed a party of "Cephas".First Corinthianssuggests that perhaps Peter visited the city of Corinth, located in Greece, during their missions.

Dionysius, bishop of Corinth,in his Epistle to the Roman Church underPope Soter(A.D. 165–174), declares that Peter and Paul founded the Church of Rome and the Church of Corinth, and they have lived in Corinth for some time, and finally in Italy where they found death:

You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time.

Connection to Rome

The Apostles Peter and Paul, detail of cupola fresco byCorreggio(1520–1524)

Papacy

Main article:Primacy of Peter

Saint Peter portrayed as a Pope in theNuremberg Chronicle

The Catholic Church speaks of the pope, the bishop of Rome, as the successor of Saint Peter. This is often interpreted to imply that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome. However, it is also said that the institution of the papacy is not dependent on the idea that Peter was Bishop of Rome or even on his ever having been in Rome.

According to book III, chapter 3 ofAgainst Heresies(180 AD) byIrenaeus of Lyons,Linuswas named as Peter's successor and is recognised by the Catholic church as the second Bishop of Rome (pope), followed byAnacletus,Clement of Rome,Evaristus,Alexander,Sixtus,Telesphorus,Hyginus,Pius,Anicetus,SoterandEleutherius.

In his bookChurch History,Eusebiusnotes that Linus succeeded Peter as the bishop of the Church in Rome.

As to the rest of his followers, Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul; but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to Timothy as his companion at Rome, was Peter's successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown.

— Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, Book III, Chapter 4

According toTertullian's bookPrescription against Heretics,it is stated that Clement was ordained by Peter as the bishop of Rome.

...as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.

— Tertullian, Prescription against Heretics, Chapter 32

St. Clementof Rome identifies Peter and Paul as the outstanding heroes of the faith.

Coming to Rome

New Testament accounts

There is no obvious biblical evidence that Peter was ever in Rome, but the first epistle of Peter does mention that "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son."Most scholars agree that the city alluded to in this verse is Rome, for which Babylon was a common nickname in Jewish and Christian literature at the time, albeit mostly after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD (after Peter's death).

Paul'sEpistle to the Romans,written about AD 57,greets some fifty people in Rome by name,but not Peterwhom he knew.There is also no mention of Peter in Rome later during Paul's two-year stay there in Acts 28, about AD 60–62. With regards to the latter, Acts 28 does not specifically mention any of Paul's visitors.

Church Fathers

The writings of the 1st century Church FatherIgnatius of Antioch(c. 35 – c. 107) refer to Peter and Paul giving admonitions to the Romans, indicating Peter's presence in Rome.

Irenaeus of Lyons(c. 130 – c. 202) wrote in the2nd centurythat Peter and Paul had been the founders of the Church in Rome and had appointedLinusas succeeding bishop.

Clement of Alexandria(c. 150 – c. 215) states that "Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome(A.D. 190)."

According toOrigen(184–253)andEusebius,Peter "after having first founded the church at Antioch, went away to Rome preaching the Gospel, and he also, after [presiding over] the church in Antioch, presided over that of Rome until his death".After presiding over the church in Antioch for a while, Peter would have been succeeded byEvodiusand thereafter byIgnatius,who was a disciple ofJohn the Apostle.

Lactantius,in his book calledOf the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died,written around 318, noted that "and while Nero reigned, the Apostle Peter came to Rome, and, through the power of God committed unto him, wrought certain miracles, and, by turning many to the true religion, built up a faithful and stedfast temple unto the Lord."

Simon Magus

Eusebiusof Caesarea (260/265–339/340) relates that when Peter confrontsSimon Magusat Judea (mentioned in Acts 8), Simon Magus flees to Rome, where the Romans began to regard him as a god. According to Eusebius, his luck did not last long, since God sent Peter to Rome, and Simon was quenched and immediately destroyed.

According toJerome(327–420): "Peter went to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero."

An apocryphal work, theActus Vercellenses(7th century), a Latin text preserved in only one manuscript copy published widely in translation under the title Acts of Peter, sets Peter's confrontation with Simon Magus in Rome.

Death and burial

Crucifixion at Rome

Domine quo vadis?(1602) byAnnibale Carracci

In the epilogueof the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God, saying: "But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go."This is interpreted by some as a reference to Peter's crucifixion.Unitarian theologian Donald Fay Robinson has suggested that the incident inActs 12:1–17,where Peter is "released by an angel" and goes to "another place", really represents an idealised account of his death, which may have occurred in a Jerusalem prison as early as AD 44.

Early Church tradition says that Peter died bycrucifixion(with arms outstretched) at the time of theGreat Fire of Romein the year 64. This probably took place three months after the disastrous fire that destroyed Rome for which the emperorNerowished to blame the Christians. This "dies imperii"(regnal day anniversary) was an important one, exactly ten years after Nero ascended to the throne, and it was" as usual "accompanied by much bloodshed. Traditionally,Romanauthorities sentenced him to death bycrucifixionatVatican Hill.In accordance with theapocryphalActs of Peter,he wascrucified head down.Tradition also locates his burial place where theBasilica of Saint Peterwas later built, directly beneath the Basilica's high altar.

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter(1601) byCaravaggio

Pope Clement I(d. 99), in hisLetter to the Corinthians(Chapter 5), written c. 80–98, speaks of Peter's martyrdom in the following terms: "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death.…Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him."

The apocryphal Acts of Peter (2nd cent.) (VercelliActs XXXV)is the source for the tradition about the famous Latin phrase "Quo vadis, Domine?"(in Greek:Κύριε, ποῦ ὑπάγεις "Kyrie, pou hypageis?"), which means "Where are you going, Lord?". According to the story, Peter, fleeing Rome to avoid execution meets the risen Jesus. In the Latin translation, Peter asks Jesus, "Quo vadis?" He replies, "Romam eo iterum crucifigi "( "I am going to Rome to be crucified again" ). Peter then gains the courage to continue his ministry and returns to the city, where he is martyred. This story is commemorated in anAnnibale Carraccipainting. TheChurch of Quo Vadis,near theCatacombsofSaint Callistus,contains a stone in which Jesus' footprints from this event are supposedly preserved, though this was apparently anex-votofrom apilgrim,and indeed a copy of the original housed in theBasilica of St Sebastian.

The death of Peter is attested to byTertullian(c. 155 – c. 240) at the end of the 2nd century in hisPrescription Against Heretics,noting that Peter endured a passion like his Lord's: "How happy is that church... where Peter endured a passion like that of the Lord, where Paul was crowned in a death like John's".The statement implies that Peter was killed like Jesus (by crucifixion) and Paul was killed like John (by beheading). It gives the impression that Peter also died in Rome since Paul also died there.In his workScorpiace 15,he also speaks of Peter's crucifixion: "The budding faith Nero first made bloody in Rome. There Peter was girded by another, since he was bound to the cross."

Origen(184–253) in hisCommentary on the Book of Genesis III,quoted byEusebiusin hisEcclesiastical History(III, 1),said: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer."TheCross of St. Peterinverts theLatin crossbased on this refusal, and on his claim of being unworthy to die the same way as his Saviour.

Peter of Alexandria(d. 311), who wasbishop of Alexandriaand died around AD 311, wrote an epistleon Penance,in which he says: "Peter, the first of the apostles, having been often apprehended and thrown into prison, and treated with ignominy, was last of all crucified at Rome."

Jerome(327–420) wrote that "at Nero's hands Peter received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord."

According to Jerome and Eusebius, Peter died in the year AD 67–68, twenty-five years after his arrival in Rome in AD 42.Some modern scholars argue for a date between the years AD 64–68.TheLiber Pontificalisalso gives him a tenure of 25 years, and adds that he died in the 38th year after the death of Jesus, which, reckoning from AD 30, also gives AD 67–68. However, it also explicitly states thatPope Linussuccedded him in the year AD 56, which is the result of mixing two contradictory traditions.

Burial

Looking down into theconfessionear the tomb of Apostle Peter,St. Peter's Basilica,Rome

Catholic tradition holds that Peter's inverted crucifixion occurred in the gardens of Nero, with the burial inSaint Peter's tombnearby.

Caiusin hisDisputation Against Proclus(A.D. 198), preserved in part by Eusebius, relates this of the places in which the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul were deposited: "I can point out the trophies of the apostles. For if you are willing to go to theVaticanor to theOstian Way,you will find the trophies of those who founded this Church. "

According toJerome,in his workDe Viris Illustribus(A.D. 392), "Peter was buried at Rome in the Vatican near the triumphal way where he is venerated by the whole world."TheLiber Pontificalisstates that he was buried on June 29th(the corruptedLiberian Cataloguegives it as the date of his death).Some authors have argued that the date was deliberately chosen to replace an old Roman festival, but this seems unlikely.

In the early 4th century, theEmperor Constantine Idecided to honour Peter witha large basilica.Because the precise location of Peter's burial was so firmly fixed in the belief of the Christians of Rome, the church to house the basilica had to be erected on a site that was not convenient to construction. The slope of theVatican Hillhad to be excavated, even though the church could much more easily have been built on level ground only slightly to the south.There were also moral and legal issues, such as demolishing a cemetery to make room for the building. The focal point of the Basilica, both in its original form and in its later complete reconstruction, is the altar located over what is said to be the point of Peter's burial.

St. Peter's Basilica,believed to be theburial site of St. Peter,seen from theRiver Tiber

Relics

According to a letter quoted byBede,Pope Vitaliansent a cross containing filings said to be from Peter's chains to the queen ofOswy,Anglo-SaxonKing ofNorthumbriain 665, as well as unspecified relics of the saint to the king.The skull of Saint Peter is claimed to reside in theArchbasilica of Saint John Lateransince at least the ninth century, alongside the skull of Saint Paul.

In 1950, human bones were found buried underneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. The bones have been claimed by many to have been those of Peter.An attempt to contradict these claims was made in 1953 by the excavation of what some believe to beSaint Peter's tombin Jerusalem.However along with this supposed tomb in Jerusalem bearing his previous name Simon (but not Peter), tombs bearing the names of Jesus, Mary, James, John, and the rest of the apostles were also found at the same excavation—though all these names were very common among Jews at the time.

In the 1960s, items from the excavations beneathSt Peter's Basilicawere re-examined, and the bones of a male person were identified. A forensic examination found them to be a male of about 61 years of age from the 1st century. This caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce them most likely to be the relics of Apostle Peter.On 24 November 2013,Pope Francispresented part of the relics, consisting of bone fragments, for the first time in public during a Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Square.On 2 July 2019, it was announced that Pope Francis had transferred nine of these bone fragments within a bronze reliquary to Orthodox Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew of Constantinople.Bartholomew, who serves as head of the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, described the gesture as "brave and bold."Pope Francis has said his decision was born "out of prayer" and intended as a sign of the ongoing work towards communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.The majority of Saint Peter's remains, however, are still preserved in Rome, under the high altar of St. Peter's Basilica.

Scholarly views

Some church historians consider Peter and Paul to have beenmartyredunder the reign of Nero,around AD 65 after the Great Fire of Rome.Currently, most Catholic scholars,and many scholars in general,hold the view that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero.

While accepting that Peter came to Rome and was martyred there, there is no historical evidence that he held episcopal office there.According to two studies published by the German philologistOtto Zwierleinin 2009and 2013 respectively,"there is not a single piece of reliable literary evidence (and no archaeological evidence either) that Peter ever was in Rome."Timothy Barneshas criticised Zwierlein's views as "a nadir in historical criticism".

Clement of Rome's First Letter,a document that has been dated from the 90s to the 120s, is one of the earliest sources adduced in support of Peter's stay in Rome, but Zwierlein questions the text's authenticity and whether it has any knowledge about Peter's life beyond what is contained in the New TestamentActs of the Apostles.The letter also does not mention any particular place, only saying: "Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him" (ch. 5).

A letter to the Romans attributed toIgnatius of Antiochmight imply that Peter and Paul had special authority over the Roman church,telling the Roman Christians: "I do not command you, as Peter and Paul did" (ch. 4), although Zwierlein says he could be simply referring to the Epistles of the Apostles, or their mission work in the city, not a special authority given or bestowed. Zwierlein questions the authenticity of this document and its traditional dating to c. 105–10, saying it may date from the final decades of the 2nd century instead of from the beginning.

The ancient historianJosephusdescribes how Roman soldiers would amuse themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions,and it is likely that this would have been known to the author of theActs of Peter.The position attributed to Peter's crucifixion is thus plausible, either as having happened historically or as being an invention by the author of theActs of Peter.Death, after crucifixion head down, is unlikely to be caused bysuffocation,the usual "cause of death in ordinary crucifixion".

Peter's vision of a sheet with animals,Domenico Fetti,1619

Rome as Babylon

Church tradition ascribes the epistlesFirstandSecond Peterto the Apostle Peter, as does the text of Second Peter itself, an attribution rejected by scholarship. First Petersays the author is in "Babylon", which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome.Early Church tradition reports that Peter wrote from Rome. Eusebius of Caesarea states:

Clement of Alexandriain the sixth [book] of the Hypotyposeis cites the story, and the bishop of Hierapolis namedPapiasjoins him in testifying that Peter mentions Mark in the first epistle, which they say he composed in Rome herself, and that he indicates this, calling the city more figuratively Babylon by these: "She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings and so does my son Mark. (1 Pet 5:13)"

If the reference is to Rome, it is the only biblical reference to Peter being there. Many scholars regard both First and Second Peter as not having been authored by him, partly because other parts of theActs of the Apostlesseem to describe Peter as an illiterate fisherman.

Most Biblical scholarsbelieve that "Babylon" is a metaphor for the paganRoman Empireat the time it persecuted Christians, before theEdict of Milanin 313: perhaps specifically referencing some aspect of Rome's rule (brutality, greed,paganism). Although most scholars recognise that Babylon is a metaphor for Rome, some also claim that Babylon represents more than the Roman city of the first century. According to Lutheran scholar on Revelation Craig R. Koester "the whore [of Babylon] is Rome, yet more than Rome".It "is the Roman imperial world, which in turn represents the world alienated from God".

At that time in history, the ancient city of Babylon was no longer of any importance. E.g.,Strabowrote, "The greater part of Babylon is so deserted that one would not hesitate to say... the Great City is a great desert."

Another theory is that "Babylon" refers to theBabylon in Egyptthat was an importantfortress cityin Egypt, just north of today's Cairo and this, combined with the "greetings from Mark" (1 Peter 5:13), who may beMark the Evangelist,regarded as the founder of theChurch of Alexandria(Egypt), has led some scholars to regard the First Peter epistle as having been written in Egypt.

Feast days

Main article:Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

See also:St Peter's Eve

Peter the Apostle, detail of the mosaic in theBasilica of San Vitale,Ravenna,6th century

TheRoman Martyrologyassigns 29 June as thefeast dayof both Peter andPaul,without thereby declaring that to be the day of their deaths.Augustine of Hipposays in his Sermon 295: "One day is assigned for the celebration of the martyrdom of the two apostles. But those two were one. Although their martyrdom occurred on different days, they were one."

This is also the feast of bothApostlesin the calendar of theEastern Orthodox Church.

In theRoman Rite,the feast of theChair of Saint Peteris celebrated on 22 February, and the anniversary of the dedication of the twoPapal BasilicasofSaint Peter'sandSaint Paul outside the Wallsis held on 18 November.

BeforePope John XXIII's revision in 1960, the Roman Calendar also included on 18 January another feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (denominated the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome, while the February feast was then called that of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch), and on 1 August the feast ofSaint Peter in Chains.

In the OrthodoxDaily Officeevery Thursday throughout the year is dedicated to the Holy Apostles, including St. Peter. There are also threefeast daysin the year which are dedicated to him:

• 16 January,Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter— commemorating both the chains which Acts 12:1–11 says miraculously fell from him, and the chains in which he was held before hismartyrdombyNero.
• 29 June,Feast of Saints Peter and Paul— This is a major feast day and is preceded by a period of Lenten fasting known as theApostles' Fast.
• 30 June, Synaxis of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Twelve Apostles — commemorating ofTwelve Apostles.

Peter isremembered(withPaul) in theChurch of Englandwith aFestivalon 29 June, Peter the Apostle may be celebrated alone, without Paul, on 29 June.

Primacy of Peter

Main article:Primacy of Peter

Christians of different theological backgrounds are in disagreement as to the exact significance of Peter's ministry. For instance:

• Catholics view Peter as the first pope. The Catholic Church asserts that Peter's ministry, conferred upon him by Jesus of Nazareth in the gospels, lays down the theological foundation for the pope's exercise of pastoral authority over the Church.
• Eastern Orthodox also believe that Peter's ministry points to an underlying theology wherein a special primacy ought to be granted to Peter's successors above other Church leaders but see this as merely a "primacy of honor", rather than the right to exercise pastoral authority.
• Protestant denominations assert that Peter's apostolic work in Rome does not imply a connection between him and the papacy.

Similarly, historians of various backgrounds also offer differing interpretations of the Apostle's presence in Rome.

Catholic Church

Main articles:Primacy of Simon PeterandPapal primacy

Statue of St. Peter inSt. Peter's Squareat the Vatican

According to Catholic belief, Simon Peter was distinguished by Jesus to hold thefirst place of honor and authority.Also in Catholic belief, Peter was, as the first Bishop of Rome, the firstPope.Furthermore, they consider every Pope to be Peter's successor and the rightful superior of all otherbishops.However, Peter never bore the title of "Pope" or "Vicar of Christ".

The Catholic Church's recognition of Peter as head ofits church on earth(with Christ being itsheavenlyhead) is based on its interpretation of passages from thecanonical gospelsof theNew Testament,as well assacred tradition.

John 21:15–17

The first passage is John 21:15–17 which is: "Feed my lambs... Tend my sheep... feed my sheep"(within the Greek it is Ποίμαινε i.e., to feed and rule [as a Shepherd] v. 16, while Βόσκε i.e., to feed for v.15 & v. 17)—which is seen by Catholics as Christ promising the spiritual supremacy to Peter. TheCatholic Encyclopediaof 1913 sees in this passage Jesus "charging [Peter] with the superintendency of all his sheep, without exception; and consequently of his whole flock, that is, of his own church".

Matthew 10:2

In this passage, the evangelist writes, "first, Simon called Peter..." The Greek word for "first" (protos), derived from the ancient Greek πρῶτος, can mean primacy in foundation, not just in a numerical sense.

Matthew 16:18

Another passage is Matthew 16:18:

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

— Matthew 16:18–19 (NIV)

Etymology

In the story of thecalling of the disciples,Jesus addresses Simon Peter with the Greek term Κηφᾶς (Cephas), a Hellenised form of Aramaicܟ݁ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐ(keepa), which means "rock",a term that before was not used as a proper name:

:ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωάννου, σὺ κληθήσῃΚηφᾶςὃ ἑρμηνεύεται Πέτρος.

Having looked at him, Jesus said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be calledCephas,"which meansPetros( "rock" ).

—  John 1:42

Jesus later alludes to this nickname after Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah:

:κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶΠέτρος[Petros] καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇπέτρᾳ[petra] οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς.

I also say to you now that you arePeter,and on thisrockI will build my Church, and the gates ofHadeswill not prevail against it.

— Matthew 16:18

ThePeshittaSyriacversion renders Jesus' words intoAramaicas follows:

:ܐܳܦ݂ ܐܶܢܳܐ ܐܳܡܰܪ ܐ݈ܢܳܐ ܠܳܟ݂ ܕ݁ܰܐܢ݈ܬ݁ ܗ݈ܽܘܟ݁ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐܘܥܰܠ ܗܳܕ݂ܶܐܟ݁ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐܐܶܒ݂ܢܶܝܗ ܠܥܺܕ݈݁ܬ݁ܝ ܘܬ݂ܰܪܥܶܐ ܕ݁ܰܫܝܽܘܠ ܠܳܐ ܢܶܚܣܢܽܘܢܳܗ܂

Also I say to you that you areKeepa,and on thiskeepaI will build my Church, and the gates ofSheolnot will subdue it.

—  Matthew 16:18

Paul of Tarsuslater uses the appellation Cephas in reference to Peter.

Interpretation of Matthew 16:18

Statue of Saint Peter in theArchbasilica of Saint John LateranbyPierre-Étienne Monnot.Peter holds the Keys of Heaven.

To better understand what Christ meant, St. Basil elaborates:

Though Peter be a rock, yet he is not a rock as Christ is. For Christ is the true unmoveable rock of himself, Peter is unmoveable by Christ the rock. For Jesus doth communicate and impart his dignities, not voiding himself of them, but holding them to himself, bestoweth them also upon others. He is the light, and yet you are the light: he is the Priest, and yet he maketh Priests: he is the rock, and he made a rock.

— Basil li. De poenit. cƒ. Matt. v. 14; Luke 22:19

In reference to Peter's occupation before becoming an Apostle, the popes wear theFisherman's Ring,which bears an image of the saint casting his nets from a fishing boat. The keys used as a symbol of the pope's authority refer to the "keys of the kingdom of Heaven" promised to Peter.The terminology of this "commission" of Peter is unmistakably parallel to the commissioning of Eliakim ben Hilkiah in Isaiah 22:15–23.Peter is often depicted in both Western and Eastern Christian art holding akeyor a set of keys.

In the originalGreekthe word translated as "Peter" isΠέτρος(Petros) and that translated as "rock" isπέτρα(petra), two words that, while not identical, give an impression of one of many times when Jesus used a play on words. Furthermore, since Jesus presumably spoke to Peter in their nativeAramaic language,he would have usedkephain both instances.The Peshitta Textandthe Old Syriac textsuse the word "kepha" for both "Peter" and "rock" in Matthew 16:18.John 1:42 says Jesus called Simon "Cephas", as Paul calls him in some letters.He was instructed by Christ to strengthen his brethren, i.e., the apostles.Peter also had a leadership role in the early Christian church at Jerusalem according to The Acts of the Apostles chapters 1–2, 10–11, and 15.

Early Catholic Latin and Greek writers (such as St.John Chrysostom) considered the "foundation rock" as applying to both Peter personally and his confession of faith (or the faith of his confession) symbolically, as well as seeing Christ's promise to apply more generally to his twelve apostles and the Church at large.This "double meaning" interpretation is present in the currentCatechism of the Catholic Church.

Protestant arguments against the Catholic interpretation are largely based on the difference between the Greek words translated "Rock" in the Matthean passage. They often claim that in classicalAttic Greekpetros(masculine) generally meant "pebble", whilepetra(feminine) meant "boulder" or "cliff", and accordingly, taking Peter's name to mean "pebble", they argue that the "rock" in question cannot have been Peter, but something else, either Jesus himself, or the faith in Jesus that Peter had just professed.These popular-level writings are disputed in similar popular-level Catholic writings.

The New Testament was written inKoiné Greek,not Attic Greek, and some authorities say no significant difference existed between the meanings ofpetrosandpetra.So far from meaning a pebble was the wordpetrosthatApollonius Rhodius,a writer of Koiné Greek of the third century B.C., used it to refer to "a huge roundboulder,a terrible quoit ofAresEnyalius;four stalwart youths could not have raised it from the ground even a little ".

Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter,byPietro Perugino(1481–82)

The feminine nounpetra(πέτρα in Greek), translated asrockin the phrase "on this rock I will build my church", is also used at 1 Cor. 10:4 in describing Jesus Christ, which reads: "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

Although Matthew 16 is used as a primary proof-text for the Catholic doctrine of Papal supremacy, some Protestant scholars say that prior to the Reformation of the 16th century, Matthew 16 was very rarely used to support papal claims, despite it being well documented as being used in the 3rd century by Stephen of Rome against Cyprian of Carriage in a "passionate disagreement" about baptism and in the 4th century by Pope Damasus as a claim to primacy as a lesson of the Arian Controversy for stricter discipline and centralised control.Their position is that most of the early and medieval Church interpreted the "rock" as being a reference either to Christ or to Peter's faith, not Peter himself. They understand Jesus' remark to have been his affirmation of Peter's testimony that Jesus was the Son of God.

Despite this claim, many Fathers saw a connection between Matthew 16:18 and the primacy of Peter and his office, such asTertullian,writing: "The Lord said to Peter, 'On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven' [Matt. 16:18–19]....Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys, not to the Church."

Epistles of Paul

Paul'sEpistle to the Romans,written about AD 57.greets some fifty people in Rome by name,but not Peterwhom he knew.There is also no mention of Peter in Rome later during Paul's two-year stay there inActs 28,about AD 60–62. Some Church historians consider Peter and Paul to have beenmartyredunder the reign of Nero,around AD 64 or 68.

Protestant rejection of Catholic claims

Other theologically conservative Christians, includingConfessional Lutherans,also rebut comments made by Karl Keating and D.A. Carson who claim that there is no distinction between the wordspetrosandpetrain Koine Greek. The Lutheran theologians state that the dictionaries ofKoine/NT Greek,including the authoritativeBauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon,indeed list both words and the passages that give different meanings for each. The Lutheran theologians further note that:

We honor Peter and in fact some of our churches are named after him, but he was not the first pope, nor was he Roman Catholic. If you read his first letter, you will see that he did not teach a Roman hierarchy, but that all Christians are royal priests. The same keys given to Peter in Matthew 16 are given to the whole church of believers in Matthew 18.

Saint PeterbyDirck van Baburen(c. 1615–1620)

Oscar Cullmann,a Lutheran theologian and distinguished Church historian, disagrees with Luther and the Protestant reformers who held that by "rock" Christ did not mean Peter, but meant either himself or the faith of His followers. He believes the meaning of the original Aramaic is very clear: that "Kepha" was the Aramaic word for "rock", and that it was also the name by which Christ called Peter.

Yet, Cullmann sharply rejects the Catholic claim that Peter began the papal succession. He writes: "In the life of Peter there is no starting point for a chain of succession to the leadership of the church at large." While he believes the Matthew text is entirely valid and is in no way spurious, he says it cannot be used as "warrant of the papal succession."Cullmann concludes that while Peterwasthe original head of the apostles, Peter was not the founder of any visible church succession.

There are other Protestant scholars who also partially defend the historical Catholic position about "Rock."Taking a somewhat different approach from Cullman, they point out that the Gospel of Matthew was not written in the classical Attic form of Greek, but in the HellenisticKoine dialectin which there is no distinction in meaning betweenpetrosandpetra.Moreover, even in Attic Greek, in which the regular meaning ofpetroswas a smallish "stone", there are instances of its use to refer to larger rocks, as inSophocles,Oedipus at Colonusv. 1595, wherepetrosrefers to a boulder used as a landmark, obviously something more than a pebble. In any case, apetros/petradistinction is irrelevant considering the Aramaic language in which the phrase might well have been spoken. In Greek, of any period, the feminine nounpetracould not be used as the given name of a male, which may explain the use ofPetrosas the Greek word with which to translate AramaicKepha.

Yet, still other Protestant scholars believe that Jesus in factdidmean to single out Peter as the very rock which he will build upon, but that the passage does nothing to indicate a continued succession of Peter's implied position. They assert that Matthew uses the demonstrative pronountaute,which allegedly means "this very" or "this same", when he refers to the rock on which Jesus' church will be built. He also uses the Greek word for "and",kai.It is alleged that when a demonstrative pronoun is used withkai,the pronoun refers back to the preceding noun. The second rock Jesus refers to must then be the same rock as the first one; and if Peter is the first rock, he must also be the second.

Unlike Oscar Cullmann,Confessional Lutheransand many other Protestant apologists agree that it's meaningless to elaborate the meaning of "Rock" by looking at the Aramaic language. While the Jews spoke mostly Aramaic at home, in public they usually spoke Greek. The few Aramaic words spoken by Jesus in public were unusual, which is why they are noted as such. And most importantly the New Testament was revealed in Koine Greek,notAramaic.

Lutheran historians even report that the Catholic church itself did not, at least unanimously, regard Peter as the rock until the 1870s:

Rome's rule for explaining the Scriptures and determining doctrine is theCreedofPius IV.This Creed binds Rome to explain the Scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers. In the year 1870 when the Fathers gathered and the pope declared his infallibility, the cardinals were not in agreement on Matthew 16, 18. They had five different interpretations. Seventeen insisted, Peter is the rock. Sixteen held that Christ is the rock. Eight were emphatic that the whole apostolic college is the rock. Forty-four said, Peter's faith is the rock, The remainder looked upon the whole body of believers as the rock. – And yet Rome taught and still teaches that Peter is the rock.

Eastern Orthodox

Icon of Saint Peter, c 1500

TheEastern Orthodox Churchregards Apostle Peter, together with Apostle Paul, as "Preeminent Apostles". Another title used for Peter isCoryphaeus,which could be translated as "Choir-director", or lead singer.The church recognises Apostle Peter's leadership role in theearly church,especially in the very early days at Jerusalem, but does not consider him to have had any "princely" role over his fellow Apostles.

The New Testament is not seen by the Orthodox as supporting any extraordinary authority for Peter with regard to faith or morals. The Orthodox also hold that Peter did not act as leader at theCouncil of Jerusalem,but as merely one of a number who spoke. The final decision regarding the non-necessity ofcircumcision(and certain prohibitions) was spelled out byJames, brother of Jesus(though Catholics hold James merely reiterated and fleshed out what Peter had said, regarding the latter's earlier divine revelation regarding the inclusion of Gentiles).

Eastern and Oriental Orthodox do not recognise the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter but theEcumenical Patriarch of Constantinoplesends a delegation each year to Rome to participate in the celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. In theRavenna Documentof 13 October 2007, the representatives of theEastern Orthodox Churchagreed that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St. Ignatius of Antioch (" To the Romans ", Prologue), occupied the first place in thetaxis,and that the bishop of Rome was therefore theprotosamong the patriarchs, if the Papacy unites with the Orthodox Church. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome asprotos,a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium. "

With regard to Jesus' words to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", the Orthodox hold Christ is referring to the confession of faith,notthe person of Peter as that upon which he will build the church. This is allegedly shown by the fact that the original Septuagint uses the feminine demonstrative pronoun when he says, "upon this rock" (ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ); whereas, grammatically, if he had been referring to Peter, he would allegedly have used the masculine.

Syriac Orthodox Church

Saint Peter and the angel,early 1640s, byAntonio de Bellis

The Fathers of the Syriac Orthodox Church tried to give a theological interpretation to the primacy of Apostle Peter. They were fully convinced of the unique office of Peter in the primitive Christian community.Ephrem,AphrahatandMaruthaswho were supposed to have been the best exponents of the earlySyriac traditionunequivocally acknowledge the office of Peter.

The Syriac Fathers, following the rabbinic tradition, call Jesus "Kepha" for they see "rock" in the Old Testament as a messianic Symbol (yet the Old Maronite Syriacs of Lebanon still refer to Saint Peter as "Saint Simon the Generous" or Simon Karam "). When Christ gave his own name" Kepha "to Simon he was giving him participation in the person and office of Christ. Christ who is the Kepha and shepherd made Simon the chief shepherd in his place and gave him the very name Kepha and said that on Kepha he would build the Church.Aphrahatshared the common Syriac tradition. For him Kepha is in fact another name of Jesus, and Simon was given the right to share the name. The person who receives somebody else's name also obtains the rights of the person who bestows the name. Aphrahat makes the stone taken from Jordan a type of Peter. He wrote: "Jesus [Joshua] son of Nun set up the stones for a witness in Israel; Jesus our Saviour called Simon Kepha Sarirto and set him as the faithful witness among nations."

Again, he wrote in his commentary onDeuteronomythatMosesbrought forth water from "rock" (Kepha) for the people and Jesus sent Simon Kepha to carry his teachings among nations. God accepted him and made him the foundation of the Church and called him Kepha. When he speaks about the transfiguration of Christ he calls himSimon Peter,the foundation of the Church. Ephrem also shared the same view. The Armenian version ofDe Virginitaterecords thatPeter the rockshunned honour. Amimroof Efrem found in Holy Week Liturgy points to the importance of Peter.

BothAphrahatandEphremrepresent the authentic tradition of the Syrian Church. The different orders of liturgies used for sanctification of Church buildings, marriage, ordination,et cetera,reveal that the primacy of Peter is a part of living faith of the Church.

New Apostolic Church

TheNew Apostolic Church,which believes in the re-established Apostle ministry, sees Peter as the firstChief Apostle.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Saint PeterbyVasco Fernandes,1506

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsteaches that Peter was the first leader of the early Christian church after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While the Church accepts apostolic succession from Peter, it rejects papal successors as illegitimate.Joseph Smith,the founder ofMormonism,recorded in multiple revelations that the resurrected Peter appeared to him andOliver Cowderyin 1829, nearHarmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania,in order to bestow the apostleship and keys of the kingdom as part of arestoration of priesthood authority.

In interpretingMatthew 16:13–19,Latter-day Saint leaderBruce R. McConkiestated, "The things of God are known only by the power of his Spirit,"and "that which the world calls Mormonism is based upon the rock of revelation."In his April 1981general conferenceaddress, McConkie identified the rock of which Jesus spoke as the rock of revelation: "There is no other foundation upon which the Lord could build His Church and kingdom....Revelation: Pure, perfect, personal revelation—this is the rock!"

Non-Christian views

Judaism

Main article:Saint Peter and Judaism

According to an old Jewish tradition, Simon Peter joined the early Christians at the decision of the rabbis. Worried that early Christianity's similarity to Judaism would lead people to mistake it for a branch of Judaism, he was chosen to join them. As he moved up in rank, he would be able to lead them into forming their own, distinct belief system. Despite this, he was said to remain a practicing Jew, and is ascribed with the authorship of the Nishmas prayer.

Islam

Main article:Peter in Islam

MuslimsconsiderJesusaprophetof God. TheQur'analso speaks of Jesus's disciples but does not mention their names, instead referring to them as "helpers to theprophet of God".Muslim exegesis and Qur'an commentary, however, names them and includes Peter among the disciples.An old tradition, which involves the legend ofHabib the Carpenter,mentions that Peter was one of the three disciples sent toAntiochto preach to the people there.

TwelverShiaMuslimssee a parallel in the figure of Peter toAliatMuhammad's time. They look upon Ali as being thevicegerent,withMuhammadbeing theprophet;likewise, they see Peter as the vicegerent, behindJesusthe prophet andMasih.Peter's role as the first proper leader of the church is also seen by Shias to be a parallel to their belief in Ali as the firstcaliphafter Muhammad.

Bahá'í Faith

In theBahá'í Faith"the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is upheld and defended."Bahá'ís understand Peter's station as The Rock upon which the church of God would be founded to mean that Peter's belief in Christ as the Son of the living God would serve as the foundation for Christianity, and that upon this belief would the foundation of the church of God, understood as the Law of God, be established.Peter appears in the writings ofBahá'u'lláh,the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, often referred to as The Rock:

O followers of all religions! We behold you wandering distraught in the wilderness of error. Ye are the fish of this Ocean; wherefore do ye withhold yourselves from that which sustaineth you? Lo, it surgeth before your faces. Hasten unto it from every clime. This is the day whereon the Rock (Peter) crieth out and shouteth, and celebrateth the praise of its Lord, the All-Possessing, the Most High, saying: "Lo! The Father is come, and that which ye were promised in the Kingdom is fulfilled!"

— Bahá'u'lláh,The Summons of the Lord of Hosts

Ossetian mythology

His name with a prefixdan(related to river names) was applied toDonbettyr,theOsettiangod of waters, patron of fish and fishermen.

Andean traditional medicine

San Pedro cactus(Echinopsis pachanoi)has a long history of being used inAndeantraditional medicine.The common name "San Pedro cactus" – Saint Peter cactus, is attributed to the belief that as St Peter holds the keys to heaven, the effects of the cactus allow users "to reach heaven while still on earth." In 2022, the Peruvian Ministry of Culture declared the traditional use of San Pedro cactus in northern Peru ascultural heritage.

Writings

Traditionally, two canonical epistles (1and2 Peter) and several apocryphal works have been attributed to Peter.

New Testament

St PeterbyFrancesco del Cossa,1473

Epistles

Main article:Authorship of the Petrine epistles

TheNew Testamentincludes two letters (epistles) ascribed to Peter. Both demonstrate a high quality of cultured and urban Greek, at odds with the linguistic skill that would ordinarily be expected of anAramaic-speaking fisherman, who would have learned Greek as a second or third language. The textual features of these two epistles are such that a majority of scholars doubt that they were written by the same hand. Some scholars argue that theological differences imply different sources and point to the lack of references to 2 Peter among the early Church Fathers.

Daniel B. Wallace(who maintains that Peter was the author) writes that, for many scholars, "the issue of authorship is already settled, at least negatively: the apostle Peter did not write this letter" and that "the vast bulk of NT scholars adopts this perspective without much discussion". However, he later states, "Although a very strong case has been made against Petrine authorship of 2 Peter, we believe it is deficient....Taken together, these external and internal arguments strongly suggest the traditional view, viz., that Peter was indeed the author of the second epistle which bears his name."

Of the two epistles, thefirst epistleis considered the earlier. A number of scholars have argued that the textual discrepancies with what would be expected of the biblical Peter are due to it having been written with the help of a secretary or as anamanuensis.

Jeromeexplains:

The two Epistles attributed to St. Peter differ in style, character, and the construction of the words, which proves that according to the exigencies of the moment St. Peter made use of different interpreters.(Epistle 120 – To Hedibia)

Some have seen a reference to the use of a secretary in the sentence: "By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand".However New Testament scholarBart D. Ehrmanin his 2011 bookForgedstates that "scholars now widely recognise that when the author indicates that he wrote the book 'through Silvanus', he is indicating not the name of his secretary, but the person who was carrying his letter to the recipients."The letter refers to Roman persecution of Christians, apparently of an official nature. The Roman historianTacitusand the biographerSuetoniusdo both record that Nero persecuted Christians, and Tacitus dates this to immediately after the fire that burned Rome in 64. Christian tradition, for example Eusebius of Caesarea (Historybook 2, 24.1), has maintained that Peter was killed in Nero's persecution, and thus had to assume that the Roman persecution alluded to in First Peter must be this Neronian persecution.On the other hand, many modern scholars argue that First Peter refers to the persecution of Christians in Asia Minor during the reign of the emperorDomitian(81–96), as the letter is explicitly addressed to Jewish Christians from that region:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Those scholars who believe that the epistle dates from the time of Domitian argue that Nero's persecution of Christians was confined to the city of Rome itself and did not extend to the Asian provinces mentioned in 1 Pet 1:1–2.

TheSecond Epistle of Peter,on the other hand, appears to have been copied, in part, from theEpistle of Jude,and some modern scholars date its composition as late asc.150. Some scholars argue the opposite, that the Epistle of Jude copied Second Peter, while others contend an early date for Jude and thus observe that an early date is not incompatible with the text.Many scholars have noted the similarities between theapocryphalSecond Epistle of Clement(2nd century) and Second Peter. Second Peter may be earlier than 150; there are a few possible references to it that date back to the 1st century or early 2nd century, e.g.,1 Clementwritten inc.AD 96, and the later church historian Eusebius wrote thatOrigenhad made reference to the epistle before 250.

Jerome says that Peter "wrote two epistles which are called Catholic, the second of which, on account of its difference from the first in style, is considered by many not to be by him" (De Viris Illustribus1).But he himself received the epistle, and explained the difference in style, character, and structure of words by the assumption that Peter used different interpreters in the composition of the two epistles;and from his time onward the epistle was generally regarded as a part of the New Testament.

Even in early times there was controversy over its authorship, and Second Peter was often not included in thebiblical canon;it was only in the 4th century that it gained a firm foothold in the New Testament, in a series of synods. In the East theSyriac Orthodox Churchstill did not admit it into the canon until the 6th century.

Mark

Traditionally, theGospel of Markwas said to have been written by a person namedJohn Mark,and that this person was an assistant to Peter; hence its content was traditionally seen as the closest to Peter's viewpoint. According to Eusebius'Ecclesiastical History,Papiasrecorded this belief fromJohn the Presbyter:

Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a normal or chronological narrative of the Lord's sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictional into the statements.

Clement of Alexandria in the fragments of his workHypotyposes(A.D. 190) preserved and cited by the historian Eusebius in hisChurch History(VI, 14: 6) writes that:

As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested thatMark,who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out. And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it.

Also, Irenaeus wrote about this tradition:

After their (Peter and Paul's) passing, Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, transmitted to us in writing the things preached by Peter.

Based on these quotes, and on the Christian tradition, the information in Mark's gospel about Peter would be based on eyewitness material.The gospel itself isanonymous,and the above passages are the oldest surviving written testimony to its authorship.

Pseudepigrapha and apocrypha

Thekeyas symbol of St. Peter

There are also a number of otherapocryphalwritings which have been either attributed to or written about Peter. These include:

• Gospel of Peter,a partiallyDoceticnarrative that has survived in part
• Acts of Peter
• Acts of Peter and Andrew
• Acts of Peter and Paul
• Acts of Peter and the Twelve
• Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
• ALetter of Peter to Philip,which was preserved in theNag Hammadi library
• Apocalypse of Peter,which was considered as genuine by many Christians as late as the 4th century
• Preaching of Peter,a 2nd century writing, only fragments survived.
• The Epistula Petri, the introductory letter ascribed to the Apostle Peter that appears at the beginning of at least one version of theClementine literature

Non-canonical sayings of Peter

Miraculous catch of fish,byAelbrecht Bouts

Two sayings are attributed to Peter in theGnosticGospel of Thomas.In the first, Peter compares Jesus to a "just messenger".In the second, Peter asks Jesus to "make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life."In theApocalypse of Peter,Peter holds a dialogue with Jesus about theparable of the fig treeand the fate ofsinners.In theGospel of Mary,whose text is largely fragmented, Peter appears to be jealous of "Mary" (probablyMary Magdalene). He says to the other disciples, "Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?"In reply to this, Levi says, "Peter, you have always been hot tempered."Other noncanonical texts that attribute sayings to Peter include theSecret Book of Jamesand theActs of Peter.

In theFayyum Fragment,which dates to the end of the 3rd century, Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before acockcrows on the following morning. The account is similar to that of the canonical gospels, especially theGospel of Mark.It is unclear whether the fragment is an abridged version of the accounts in thesynoptic gospels,or a source text on which they were based, perhaps the apocryphal Gospel of Peter.

The fragmentaryGospel of Petercontains an account of the death of Jesus differing significantly from the canonical gospels. It contains little information about Peter himself, except that after the discovery of theempty tomb,"I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our fishing nets and went to the sea."

Iconography

Saint Peter sinking on waterbyEero Järnefelt(1892)

The earliest portrait of Peter dates back to the 4th century and was located in 2010.In traditionaliconography,Peter has been shown very consistently sinceearly Christian artas an oldish, thick-set man with a "slightly combative" face and a short beard, and usually white hair, sometimes balding. He thus contrasts withPaul the Apostlewho is bald except at the sides, with a longer beard and often black hair, and thinner in the face. One exception to this is inAnglo-Saxon art,where he typically lacks a beard. Both Peter and Paul are shown thus as early as the 4th centuryCatacombs of Marcellinus and Peterin Rome.Later in the Middle Ages hisattributeis one or two large keys in his hand or hanging from his belt, first seen in the early 8th century.More than many medieval attributes, this continued to be depicted in the Renaissance and afterwards. By the 15th century Peter is more likely to be bald on the top of his head in the Western church, but he continues to have a good head of hair in Orthodox icons.

The depiction of Saint Peter as literally the keeper of thegates of heaven,popular with modern cartoonists, is not found in traditional religious art, but Peter usually heads groups of saints flanking God in heaven, on the right side (viewer's left) of God. Narrative images of Peter include several scenes from theLife of Christwhere he is mentioned in the gospels, and he is often identifiable in scenes where his presence is not specifically mentioned. Usually, he stands nearest to Christ. In particular, depictions of theArrest of Christusually include Peter cutting off the ear of one of the soldiers. Scenes without Jesus include his distinctive martyrdom, his rescue from prison, and sometimes his trial. In theCounter-Reformationscenes of Peter hearing the cock crow for the third time became popular, as a representation ofrepentanceand hence the CatholicsacramentofConfessionor Reconciliation.

Patronage

Medieval mosaic of Saint Peter in theChora Church,Istanbul

Icon of Saint Peter and Paul

St. Peter, holding a key and a book, depicted in a medieval Welsh manuscript, 1390–1400

Workers
Bakers Bridge builders Butchers Fishermen Harvesters	Cordwainers Horologists Locksmiths Cobblers	Netmakers Shipwrights Stationers
Called for aid in
Frenzy Foot problems	Fever	Longevity
Institutions
ThePapacy ThePatriarchate of Antioch Berchtesgaden Provostry Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore	Exeter College, Oxford Universalist Church	Peterhouse, Cambridge,UK St Peter's College, Oxford,UK St Peter's College, Auckland,New Zealand St Peter's College, Radley,UK St Peter's School, York,UK Saint Peter's University, New Jersey,US St Peter's College,Adelaide, Australia
Churches and Cathedrals
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter,Vatican City Bath Abbey York Minster List of churches dedicated to St Peter
Locations
Apalit Barotac Viejo Birżebbuġa Bremen Calatrava Calauag Calbayog Chartres Chimbote Cologne Davao Dunajská Streda Évora Hinton on the Green IlovikiSveti Petar Jackson Köpenick	Las Vegas Leuven Leiden Lessines Loboc Maralal Marquette Moissac Naumburg Obermarsberg Peterborough Philadelphia Póvoa de Varzim Poznań Providence Pubnico	Regensburg Rio Grande do Sul Rome St. Petersburg, Florida Saint Petersburg,Russia Saint Pierre and Miquelon San Pedro, Laguna San Pedro Soloma Scranton Seixal Municipality Sunderland Sintra Sint-Pieters-Rode Siuntio Tielt Toa Baja Trier Umbria Worms

Revisionist views

L. Michael Whitesuggests that there was a serious division between Peter'sJewish Christianparty and Paul's Hellenizing party, seen in e.g. theIncident at Antioch,which later Christian accounts have downplayed.

Another revisionist view was developed by supporters of theChrist myth theory,which holds that the figure of Peter is largely a development from some mythological doorkeeper figures. According toArthur DrewsandG. A. Wells,if there was a historical Peter, then all that is known about him is the brief mentions in Galatians.

In art

• Depictions of Saint Peter
• 
  Saint Peter Attempting to Walk on Water,byFrançois Boucher,1766
• 
  The Release of St. PeterbyBernardo Strozzi,1635
• 
  Jesus gives Peter the keys to HeavenbyPeter Paul Rubens,1614
• 
  Peter Enthroned, byArnolfo di Cambio(13th-century statue inSt Peter's Basilica,Rome)
• 
  The Miraculous Draught of Fishes,byRaphael,1515
• 
  Jesus calling Simon Peter and AndrewbyDuccio di Buoninsegna,1308–1311
• 
  An apparition of the Apostle Peter to Saint PeterNolasco, byFrancisco Zurbarán,1629
• 
  Alessandro Turchi,Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison,1640–1645
• 
  Fresco byPietro Peruginoin theSistine Chapel,1480–1482
• 
  Statue of Saint Peter byHermann Schievelbeinat the roof ofHelsinki Cathedral
• 
  Statue of Saint Peter (c. 1510–1520) at theV&A
• 
  Saint Peter in the coat of arms ofLieto

In music

• Rolland de Lassus,Les Larmes de Saint Pierre,21 spiritual madrigals (1594).
• Marc-Antoine Charpentier,Le Reniement de Saint PierreH.424, for soloists, chorus and continuo (date unknown).

In film and television

• Simon Peter is portrayed byRoyal Danoin the 1961 American filmKing of Kings.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byGary Raymondin the 1965 American filmThe Greatest Story Ever Told.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byJames Farentinoin the 1977 British-Italian miniseriesJesus of Nazerth.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byNiko Nitaiin the 1979 American filmJesus.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byPio Galliniin the 1988 Italian filmThe Kiss of Judas.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byVictor Argoin the 1988 filmThe Last Temptation of Christ.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byGerrit Schoonhovenin the 1993 filmThe Visual Bible: Matthew.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byLuca Zingarettiin the 1999 Italian-American miniseriesJesus.
• Simon Peter is voiced byKen Stottin the 2000 British animated filmThe Miracle Maker.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byDaniel Kashin the 2003 filmThe Gospel of John.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byFrancesco De Vitoin the 2004Icon ProductionsfilmThe Passion of the Christ.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byDarwin Shawin the 2013History Channelmini seriesThe Bible.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byAdam Levyin the 2015NBCdramaA.D. The Bible Continues.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byAlexis Rodneyin the 2015National GeographicfilmKilling Jesus.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byChiwetel Ejioforin the 2018IFCfilmMary Magdalene.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byPetrônio Gontijoin the 2018RecordTVtelenovelaJesus.
• Simon Peter is portrayed byJohn Hopkinsin the 2019History ChannelseriesJesus: His Life.
• Simon Peter is portrayed by Shahar Isaac in the 2019Angel StudiosseriesThe Chosen.

See also

• Apocalypse of Simeon Kepha
• List of Catholic saints
• List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
• List of popes
• Saint Peter and Islam
• Saint Peter and Judaism
• Saint Peter's Square
• Saint Peter's tomb
• San Pietro in Vincoli
• St. Peter's Basilica
• Sword of Saint Peter

Sources

• Bockmuehl, Markus N. A. (2010).The Remembered Peter: In Ancient Reception and Modern Debate.Mohr Siebeck.
• Dunn, James D. G (2001). "Has the Canon a Continuing Function". In Lee Martin McDonald; James A. Sanders (eds.).The Canon Debate.Baker.ISBN978-1-4412-4163-4.
• Hitchcock, Susan Tyler;Tutu, Mpho;Esposito, John L. (2004).Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, where Pilgrims Walk.National Geographic.ISBN978-0-7922-7317-2.
• Jobes, Karen (2005).Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: 1 Peter.Baker Academic.
• Kruger, Michael J. (1999). "The Authenticity of 2 Peter".Journal of Evangelical Society.42(4): 645–671.
• Lüdemann, Gerd; Özen, Alf (1996).De opstanding van Jezus. Een historische benadering (Was mit Jesus wirklich geschah. Die Auferstehung historisch betrachtet / The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry).The Have/Averbode.ISBN978-9-02594-665-4.
• Pagels, Elaine (2005).De Gnostische Evangelien (The Gnostic Gospels).Servire.

External links

• Church Fathers on the Peter's PrimacyArchived11 July 2012 at theWayback Machine
• Church Fathers on Peter's SuccessorsArchived26 June 2018 at theWayback Machine
• The Life & Miracles of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles
• Etymology of Peter(archived 17 June 2005)
• The Jewish St Peter(archived 28 September 2007)
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Simon Cephas
• Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle PeterOrthodoxiconandsynaxarion
• The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leader of the Apostles, Petericon and synaxarion
• The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leader of the Apostles, Peter & Paulsermon of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
• Catholic response to Protestant claims that Peter never visited Rome(archived 13 October 2007)
• stpetersbasilica.orgBooks on St. Peter's Basilica in Rome