The Apostle 'Peter', also known as 'Saint Peter,' 'Shimon "Keipha" Ben-Yonah/Bar-Yonah', 'Simon Peter', 'Cephas' and 'Keipha'—original name '
Shimon' or '
Simeon' (
Acts )—was one of the
Twelve Apostles whom
Jesus chose as his original
disciples. His life is prominently featured in the
New Testament Gospels and the
Acts of the Apostles. Peter was a
Galilean fisherman assigned a leadership role by Jesus (; ). Many within the
early Church, such as St.
Irenaeus[1], allege, assert, or argue for his primacy among the apostles.
The ancient
Christian Churches,
Roman Catholic Church,
Eastern Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox and
Anglican Communion, consider Simon Peter a
saint and associate him with the foundation of the
Church in Rome, even if they differ on the significance of this and of the
Pope in present-day
Christianity.
Some who recognize his office as
Bishop of Antioch and, later, as
Bishop of Rome or
Pope, hold that his
episcopacy held a primacy only of honour, as a first among equals. Some propose that his primacy was not intended to pass to his successors. Still others view Peter as not having held the office of
bishop or overseer, on the grounds that this office was a development of later Christianity. Some
Protestants do not use the title of "saint" in reference to him.
The
Roman Martyrology assigns
29 June as the
feast day of both Peter and
Paul, without thereby declaring that to be the day of their deaths. St.
Augustine of Hippo says 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." The ''
Annuario Pontificio'' gives the year of Peter's death as A.D.
64 or A.D.
67. Some scholars believe that he died on
October 13 A.D.
64. It is traditionally believed that the
Roman authorities sentenced him to death by
crucifixion. According to a tradition recorded or perhaps initiated in the
apocryphal Acts of Peter, he was crucified head down. Tradition also locates his burial place where the
Basilica of Saint Peter was later built, directly beneath the Basilica's high altar. In art, he is often depicted holding the keys to the
kingdom of heaven (interpreted by Roman Catholics as the sign of his primacy over the Church), a reference to
Matthew .
New Testament account
Peter's life story relies on the
New Testament, since there are few other first-century accounts of his life and death.
Background
According to the Gospel of John, Peter was born in
Bethsaida (). His father's name is given as 'Jonah' (, )—although some manuscripts of John give his father's name as ''John''. The
synoptic gospels all recount how Peter's mother-in-law
was healed by Jesus at their home in
Capernaum (); ; )—implying that Peter was married.
According to the
synoptic gospels, before becoming a disciple of Jesus, Simon (that is, Peter whose name was in fact originally Simon) was a fisherman along with his brother
Andrew. The
Gospel of John also depicts Peter fishing, but only after the resurrection in the story of the
Catch of 153 fish.
Ruins of ancient
Capernaum on north side of the
Sea of Galilee. An Orthodox church is built on top of traditional site of Saint Peter's house.
Calling by Jesus
Matthew and Mark report that while fishing in the
Lake of Gennesaret, Simon and his brother
Andrew were called by Jesus to be his followers, with the words, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (; ).
In Luke's account Simon is the owner of a boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of Lake Gennesaret (). 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 ().
The Gospel of John gives a slightly different account (). Andrew, we are told, was originally a disciple of
John the Baptist. Along with one other disciple, Andrew heard John the Baptist describe Jesus as the "
Lamb of God," whereupon he followed Jesus. He then went and fetched his brother Simon, said, "We have found the
Messiah," and brought him to Jesus. Jesus then gave Simon the name "Cephas," meaning 'rock', in
Aramaic.'Petros', a masculine form of the feminine 'petra' (rock) is the Greek equivalent of this. It had 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.
Position among the apostles
Peter is always mentioned first in the lists of the Twelve. He is also frequently mentioned in the Gospels as forming with
James the Elder and
John a special group within the Twelve Apostles, present at incidents, such as the
Transfiguration of Jesus, that the others were not party to.
Peter is also often depicted in the Gospels as spokesman of all the apostles, and as one to whom Jesus gave special authority. In contrast,
Jewish Christians are said to have argued that
James the Just was the leader of the group.
[2] Some argue James was the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and that this position at times gave him privilege in some (but not all) situations.
Washing of feet
According to John, Peter initially refused to allow Jesus to
wash his feet. When Jesus responded "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" ().
Walking on water
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Peter (alone out of all the disciples) was able to
walk on water after seeing Jesus do the same thing (
Matthew 14:22–32). (Mark and John also mention Jesus walking on water, but do not mention Peter doing so).
Arrest of Jesus
According to John, Peter cut off the
ear of a servant of the high priest with a
sword at the time of the
arrest of Jesus.() John names the servant as
Malchus. The
synoptic gospels also mention this incident, but do not specifically identify Peter as the swordsman or Malchus as the victim. According to Matthew, Luke and John, Jesus rebuked this act of violence, Luke adding the detail that Jesus touched the ear and healed it.
Denial of Jesus
All four canonical gospels recount that, during the
Last Supper, Jesus foretold that Peter would deny association with him three times that same night. In Matthew's account, this is reported as:
''Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."''[3]
and that Peter did in fact do so, while Jesus was on trial before the high priest. The three Synoptics describe the three denials as follows:
#A denial when a female servant of the high priest spots Simon Peter, saying that he had been with Jesus.
#A denial when Simon Peter had gone out to the gateway, away from the firelight, but the same servant girl or another told the bystanders he was a follower of Jesus.
#A denial came when recognition of Peter as a Galilean was taken as proof that he was indeed a disciple of Jesus. Matthew adds that it was his
accent that 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.
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 of
Gethsemane when
Jesus was arrested.
Since Peter does not reappear in
Matthew's gospel after his denial of Jesus, a small but notable number of scholars have suggested the theory that Matthew might have viewed Peter as an
apostate, and was actually criticising Peter and the groups that looked to him as founder. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus prediction of Peter's denial is coupled with a prediction that all the apostles ("you," plural) would be "sifted like wheat," but that it would be Peter's task ("you," singular), when he had turned again, to strengthen his brethren.
Empty tomb
In John's gospel, Peter is the first person to enter the
empty tomb, although the women and the
beloved disciple see 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. After seeing the graveclothes he goes home, apparently without informing the other disciples ().
Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the
Sea of Galilee. 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.
Resurrection appearances
Paul's
First Epistle to the Corinthians contains a list of
resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first of which is an appearance to "Cephas" (Peter).
[4] An appearance to "Simon" is also reported in .
In the
final chapter of 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 (). Almost all Christians consider the final chapter of the Gospel of John to be canonical, though some scholars hypothesize that it was added later to bolster Peter's status.
Role in the early church
The author of the
Acts of the Apostles portrays Peter as an extremely important figure within the early Christian community, with Peter delivering a significant speech during
Pentecost. According to the same book, Peter took the lead in selecting a replacement for
Judas Iscariot (). He was twice arraigned, with John, before the
Sanhedrin and directly defied them (, ). He undertook a missionary journey to
Lydda,
Joppa and
Caesarea (), becoming instrumental in the decision to evangelise the
Gentiles (). He was present at the
Council of Jerusalem, where Paul further argued the case for accepting Gentiles into the Christian community without
circumcision.
About halfway through, the
Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is fairly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards. A fleeting mention of Peter being in
Antioch is made in the
Epistle to the Galatians () where Paul confronted him, and historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.
[5] Subsequent tradition held that Peter had been the first
Patriarch of Antioch. Some scholars also interpret Paul's brief mention of Peter in
1 Corinthians as evidence that Peter had visited
Corinth (). may imply that he wrote that epistle in Babylon, Egypt, Rome or Jerusalem.
[6]
Death
Verses 18-19 in the last chapter of the Gospel of John have been interpreted as referring to Peter's martyrdom by
crucifixion, though without reference to its location: "'…when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and take you where you do not want to go.' Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God" ().
Accounts outside the New Testament
Sayings of Peter
Two sayings are attributed to Peter in the
Gospel of Thomas. In the first, Peter compares Jesus to a "just messenger."
[7] In the second, Peter asks Jesus to "make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life."
[8]
In the
Apocalypse of Peter, Peter holds a dialogue with Jesus about the
parable of the fig tree and the fate of
sinners.
[9]
In the
Gospel of Mary, Peter appears to be jealous of "Mary" (probably
Mary 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?"
[10] In reply to this,
Levi says "Peter, you have always been hot tempered."
[11]
Other noncanonical texts that attribute sayings to Peter include the
Secret Book of James and the
Acts of Peter.
Denial of Jesus
In the
Fayyum Fragment Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him in an account similar to that of the canonical gospels, especially the
Gospel of Mark.
After the death of Jesus
The fragmentary
Gospel of Peter, attributed to Peter, contains 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 the
empty tomb, "I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our fishing nets and went to the sea"
[12].
Death of Peter
Caravaggio's depiction of the crucifixion of Saint Peter.
The early writings indicated in the following paragraphs witness to the tradition that Peter, probably at the time of the
Great Fire of Rome of the year 64, for which the
Emperor Nero blamed the Christians, met martyrdom in Rome.
Clement of Rome, in his ''Letter 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."
Saint
Ignatius of Antioch, in his ''Letter to the Romans'' (Ch. 4) of ''c.''
105-
110, tells the Roman Christians: "I do not command you, as Peter and Paul did."
Dionysius of Corinth wrote: "You [Pope Soter] have also, by your very admonition, brought together the planting that was made by Peter and Paul at Rome and at Corinth; for both of them alike planted in our Corinth and taught us; and both alike, teaching similarly in Italy, suffered martyrdom at the same time" (Letter to Pope Soter [A.D. 170], in Eusebius, History of the Church 2:25:8).
St.
Irenaeus of Lyon (a disciple of
St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who was himself a disciple of the Apostle
St. John, which puts Irenaeus not far from the authentic teachings of the Apostles) in ''c.''
175-
185 wrote in ''
Against Heresies'' (Book III, Chapter III, paragraphs 2–3):
Since, however, it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.''
The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles…''
Tertullian also writes: "But if you are near Italy, you have Rome, where authority is at hand for us too. What a happy church that is, on which the apostles poured out their whole doctrine with their blood; where Peter had a passion like that of the Lord, where Paul was crowned with the death of John [the Baptist, by being beheaded]"
Traditions originating in or recorded in the
apocryphal
Acts of Peter, say that the Romans crucified Peter upside down at his request, due to his wishing not to be equated with Jesus.
Acts of Peter is also thought to be the source for the tradition about the famous phrase "
Quo Vadis" (Where are you going?), a question that, according to this tradition, Peter, fleeing Rome to avoid execution, asked a vision of Jesus, and to which Jesus responded that he was "going to Rome, to be crucified again," causing Peter to decide to return to the city and accept martyrdom. This story is commemorated in an
Annibale Carracci painting. The
Church of Quo Vadis, near the
Catacombs of
Saint Callistus, contains a stone in which Jesus' footprints from this event are supposedly preserved, though this was actually apparently an ''
ex-voto'' from a
pilgrim, and indeed a copy of the original, housed in the
Basilica of St Sebastian.
The ancient historian
Josephus describes 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 the ''Acts 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 the ''Acts of Peter''. Death, after crucifixion head down, is unlikely to be caused by
suffocation, the usual cause of death in ordinary crucifixion.
A
medieval misconception was that the
Mamertine Prison in Rome is the place where Peter was imprisoned before his execution.
Recently, these traditional views concerning Peter's death have come into question, because of a 1953 excavation of what some believe to be Peter's Tomb in Jerusalem.
[13] This discovery seems to clarify Paul's confrontation in Antioch (ca 51 AD) with "Cephas" (Galatians 2:1–8), as being Peter. Also there is an apocryphal text entitled "Martyrdom of Paul," in which Peter is absent from Paul's death at Rome, stating Paul's only companions to be Luke and Titus (2 Timothy, Paul says "only Luke is with me.") As excavations and research continue, they may shed light upon seeming contradictions between oral and written tradition. On the other hand, other archaeological sources, and Christian sources, contend that the tomb of St. Peter is in Rome as has been believed by most Christians for thousands of years. The question is hardly settled.
[14]
Children
Late legends said that Peter had a daughter, who was sometimes identified with the virgin martyr
Petronilla.
[15] At one point Peter refers to
Mark as his son, although this is generally considered to not be literal.
Religious interpretations
Roman Catholic Church
Main articles: Primacy of Simon Peter,
Primacy of the Roman Pontiff
In Catholic tradition, Peter's leadership role among the Apostles, referred to above lies at the root of the leadership role of the
pope among the
bishops of the Church. The pope is seen as the successor of Peter as
bishop of Rome by all the ancient Christian Churches.
Protestants question this belief on the grounds of lack of contemporary evidence, and though the quotations given above from writers like Clement, Ignatius and Tertullian show that by the end of the first century the tradition that Peter went to Rome and was martyred there was already well established, there is no mention of Peter founding the church in Rome or holding office there. The first Epistle of Peter ends with "The church that is in
Babylon, chosen together with you, salutes you, and so does my son, Mark." (1 Pet 5:13). Though the word "Babylon" refers literally to a city in
Mesopotamia, could be used cryptically to indicate Rome, as some argue the term is used in
Revelation ; ; , and in the works of various Jewish seers. "Babylon" could also simply be a reference to the present age, so the reference to a specific place is not conclusive.
In reference to Peter's occupation before becoming an Apostle, the popes wear the
Fisherman'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 and .
Peter is therefore often depicted in both Western and Eastern Christian art holding a key or a set of keys.
In the same passage of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells Peter: "You are ''Peter'', and on this ''rock'' I will build my Church." In the original
Greek the word translated as "Peter" is ''Î ÎÏ„Ïος'' (Petros) and that translated as "rock" is ''Ï€ÎÏ„Ïα'' (petra), two words that, while not identical, give an impression of a play on words. Furthermore, since Jesus presumably spoke to Peter in their native
Aramaic language, he would have used ''kepha'' in both instances.
[http://www.catholic.com/library/Peter_the_Rock.asp] The Peshitta Text and the Old Syriac text use the word "kepha" for both "Peter" and "rock" in Matthew 16:18.
[16] John 1:42 says Jesus called Simon "Cephas", as does Paul in some letters. The traditional Catholic interpretation has therefore been that Jesus told Peter (Rock) that he would build his Church on this Peter (Rock). Many Protestants agree with this interpretation, but dispute the doctrine of
Apostolic Succession, thus questioning the authority of the popes without questioning the authority of Peter himself.
Some Protestant scholars disagree with this interpretation on the basis of the difference between the Greek words. In classical Attic Greek ''petros'' generally meant "pebble," while ''petra'' meant "boulder" or "cliff." 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. In appealing to the doctrine of
Biblical inerrancy, these scholars claim that speculation regarding the original language/word choice of the event recorded in Matthew is irrelevant because the account in Greek is without error, and thus there must be significance to the different words chosen by the author.
Christ gives Peter the key to the Kingdom of Heaven, by Pietro Perugino
Counter-arguments are presented not only by Catholic
apologists like Karl Keating
but also by scholars of other Christian churches, such as the Evangelical Christian D. A. Carson in ''The Expositor's Bible Commentary'' (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984). They point out that the Gospel of Matthew was written, not in the classical Attic form of Greek, but in the Hellenistic
Koine dialect, in which there is no distinction in meaning between ''petros'' and ''petra''. Moreover, even in Attic Greek, in which the regular meaning of ''petros'' was a smallish "stone," there are instances of its use to refer to larger rocks, as in
Sophocles, ''
Oedipus at Colonus'' v. 1595, where ''petros'' refers to a boulder used as a landmark, obviously something more than a pebble. In any case, a ''petros''/''petra'' distinction is irrelevant considering the Aramaic language in which the phrase might well have been spoken. In Greek, of any period, the feminine noun ''petra'' could not be used as the given name of a male, which may explain the use of ''Petros'' as the Greek word with which to translate Aramaic ''Kepha''.
When, in the early fourth century, the
Emperor Constantine I decided to honour Peter with a large
basilica, the precise location of Peter's burial was so firmly fixed in the belief of the Christians of Rome that the building had to be erected on a site that involved considerable difficulties, both physical (excavating the slope of the Vatican Hill, while the great church could much more easily have been built on level ground only slightly to the south) and moral and legal (demolishing a cemetery). The focal point of
St. Peter's Basilica, both in its original form and in its later complete reconstruction, is the altar placed over what is held to be the exact place where Peter was buried.
Feast days
★
January 16, Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter in the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
★
January 18, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Rome (see below for explanation)
★
March 19,
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch (see below for explanation)
★
June 29,
Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
★
August 1,
St. Peter in Chains Roman calendar prior to 1965
★
November 18,
Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul
The
Catholic Encyclopedia states that from very early times in the history of the Christian community in Rome, January 18 was the date on which celebrated the memory of the day St. Peter held his first service with Christians in Rome
[1]. This feast was suppressed as part of the simplification of the calendar in the 1960s.
Seventh-Day Adventist
Seventh Day Adventists contend that the idea of Peter being the first Pope is based on a misinterpretation. Evidence is as follows:
"''Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:''"
In this passage, the Greek word for rock is 'petra', which means a large foundation type rock on which a house would be built. The foundation symbolizes the sayings of Jesus.
This controversial discussion between Jesus and Peter is found in .
Jesus asks his disciples what people were saying about him, and when he asked their personal opinion, Peter said: "''Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God''." Jesus answering, said: "''And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church''"
The Greek word for Peter is 'petros', which they interpret as a small stone, such as are used in the construction of buildings, such as a church. A 'petros' is a stone that can be moved around ''in contrast'' to an immovable foundation stone (petra). The word, 'petra', is again used here in the phrase: "upon this rock."
This contrast points out that Peter was in need of a firm foundation to gain a sense of stability, as Peter was noted for his great zeal, but instability:
# In Peter went out to walk on water, but then sank because of doubt.
# In and Peter dramatically swears that he will not deny his Lord even on pain of death, but he denied Jesus with cursing and swearing.
# , , , are a few examples of Peter being the first to answer.
# Peter jumping into the water to meet his Lord.
The 'statement': "''Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God''" represents the
testimony of Jesus, which is the 'foundation' of the Christian faith. This is the stone foundation (petra) upon which Jesus built His church. Not Peter, but the 'testimony' that Peter gave.
Peter's acts are recorded in all of the
gospels, and the
book of Acts, and his writings were included in the bible, and are used by Christians today. In this sense Peter was used in the building of the Lord's church, as a small stone (petros) would be used.
Furthermore, the idea of making a single man the whole foundation of the church would go against the principle taught in although in Jesus clearly tells "The Beloved Disciple" to feed and tend his sheep, and the ability to ''loose'' and ''bind'' is given to every disciple of Christ. ()
New Apostolic Church
The
New Apostolic Church, who believes in the re-established Apostle ministry, sees Peter as the first
Chief Apostle.
Latter Day Saint movement
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church or "
Mormons") along with other sects of the
Latter Day Saint movement believe that Peter was the first leader of the early Christian church, but reject papal succession. In interpreting Matt. 16: 13–19 the church has stated, "The words then addressed to him, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,' have been made the foundation of the papal claims. But it is the Godhead of Christ, which Peter had just confessed, that is the true keystone of the Church."
[17] As part of the restoration, Peter, James and John came from heaven and conferred the keys of the
Melchizedek Priesthood upon
Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery in
1829, near
Harmony, Pennsylvania.
[18]
Writings
New Testament
The
New Testament includes 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 an
Aramaic-speaking fisherman, who would have learned Greek as a second or third language. However, the author of the first epistle explicitly claims to be using a secretary (see below), and this explanation would allow for discrepancies in style without entailing a different source. The textual features of these two epistles are such that a majority of scholars doubt that they were written by the same hand. This means at the most that Peter could not have authored both, or at the least that he used a different secretary for each letter. Some scholars argue that theological differences imply different sources, and point to the lack of references to 2 Peter among the early Church Fathers.
Of the two epistles, the
first epistle is considered the earlier, and hence more likely to be genuine. 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 an
amanuensis. Indeed in the first epistle the use of a secretary is clearly described: "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" (1 Peter 5:15). Thus, in regards to at least the first epistle, the claims that Peter would have written Greek poorly seem irrelevant. The references to
persecution of Christians, which only began under
Nero, cause most scholars to date the text to at least
80, which would require Peter to have survived to an age that was, at that time, extremely old, and almost never reached, particularly by common fishermen. However, the Roman historian Tacitus and the biographer Suetonius both record that Nero's persecution of Christians began immediately after the fire that burned Rome in 64. Such a date, which is in accord with Christian tradition, especially Eusebius (''History'' book 2, 24.1), would not have Peter at an improbable age upon his death. On the other hand, many scholars consider this in reference to the persecution of Christians in Asia Minor during the reign of the emperor
Domitian (
81-
96).
The
Second Epistle of Peter, on the other hand, appears to have been copied, in part, from the
Epistle of Jude, and some modern scholars date its composition as late as ''c.''
150. Some scholars argue the opposite, that the Epistle of Jude copied 2 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 the
apocryphal second pseudo-
Epistle of Clement (2nd century) and 2 Peter. Second Peter may be earlier than 150, there are a few possible references to it that date back to the first century or early second century, eg
1 Clement written in ''c'' 96 AD, and the later church historian
Eusebius claimed that
Origen had made reference to the epistle before 250. Even in early times there was controversy over its authorship, and 2 Peter was often not included in the
Biblical 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 the
Syriac Church still did not admit it into the canon until the 6th century.
Traditionally, the
Gospel of Mark was said to have been written by a person named ''John 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's ''Ecclesiastical History'',
Papias recorded this belief from
John 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''.—Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 3.39.14–16
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.'' (Irenaeus, ''Against Heresies'', III. 1.2.; quoted by Eusebius in ''Ecclesiastical History'', book 5, 7.6)
Based on these quotes, and on the Christian tradition, the information in Mark's Gospel about St. Peter would be based on eyewitness material. It should be
observed, however, that some scholars (for differing reasons) dispute the attribution of the Gospel of Mark to its traditional author. The gospel itself is
anonymous, and the above passages are the oldest surviving written testimony to its authorship.
Jewish Folklore
According to Jewish folklore (Toledot Yeshu narrative), St. Peter (Shimeon Kepha Ha-Tzadik) has a pristine reputation as a greatly learned and holy man who established the Sunday Sabbath for
God-Fearers (converted from among Gnostic heretics known as the watchers) instead of Saturday, Noel (as a new year feast but not as Christmas) instead of
Hanukkah, the Feast of the Cross instead of
Rosh Hashana, Pascha instead of
Pesach, remembering The Feast of The Jews instead of
Sukkot, and the
Ascension for them instead of
Shavuot. R.
Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg, who led Germany's 12th-century
Chasidei Ashkenaz, considered him to be a ''Tzaddik'' (a Jewish saint or spiritual Master among
Hasidim) (
Sefer Hasidim). The Tosaphist
Rabbeinu Tam wrote that he was "a devout and learned Jew who dedicated his life to guiding gentiles along the proper path". Tam also passed on the traditions that St Peter was the author of the Sabbath and feast-day ''
Nishmat'' prayer, which has no other traditional author, and also that he authored a prayer for
Yom Kippur in order to prove his commitment to Judaism despite his work amongst Gentiles (
R. J.D.Eisenstein). Legends about Peter and his activities are also mentioned in other medieval works, such as the Mahzor Vitri.
Pseudepigrapha and apocrypha
There are also a number of other
apocryphal writings that have been either attributed to or written about St. Peter. They were from antiquity regarded as
pseudepigrapha. These include:
★
Gospel of Peter, a
Docetic narrative that has survived in part
★ ''
Acts of St Peter''
★ A
Letter of St Peter to Philip, which was preserved in the
Nag Hammadi library
★
Apocalypse of St.Peter, which was considered as genuine by many Christians as late as the fourth century
★ The Epistula Petri, the introductory letter ascribed to St Peter that appears at the beginning of at least one version of the
Clementine literature
Popular culture
Over the years "St. Peter" has evolved into a
stock character that is now widely used in
jokes,
cartoons,
comedies,
dramas, and
plays. Such caricatures almost all play upon Peter's role as the "keeper of the keys of the
kingdom of heaven" in Matthew 16:19
[2], on the basis of which he is often depicted as an elderly, bearded man who sits at the
pearly gates that serve as heaven's main entrance, and acting as a sort of hotel-style
doorman /
bouncer who personally interviews prospective entrants into Heaven, often from behind a desk.
Patronage
In Roman Catholic religious doctrine and tradition, Saint Peter is the
patron saint of the following categories
Notes
1. Irenaeus, ''Adversus Haereses'' 3:3:20.
2. http://cbi.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/5/1/73.pdf
3. Matthew 26:34
4. 1 Corithians 15:3–7
5. This is provided in Downey, ''A History of Antioch'', pp. 583–586. This evidence is accepted by M. Lapidge, among others, see Bischoff and Lapidge, ''Biblical Commentaries from the Canterbury School'' (Cambridge, 1994) p. 16. Lastly, see Finegan, ''The Archaeology of the New Testament'', pp. 63–71.
6. Peter's location in 1 Peter 5:13 is much debated. "Babylon" could literally be Mesopotamian Babylon or Babylon, Egypt. Many believe "Babylon" is code for another city, as in Revelation 17–18, which may refer to Babylon as Rome or Jerusalem.
7. Gospel of Thomas 13
8. Gospel of Thomas 114
9. Apocalypse of Peter
10. Gospel of Mary 9:4
11. http://www.gnosis.org/library/marygosp.htm Gospel of Mary 9:6
12. Gospel of Peter 14:3
13. Finegan, ''The Archeology of the New Testament'', pp. 368–370. A more popular account of this tomb.
14. Walsh, ''The Bones of St. Peter: A 1st Full Account of the Search for the Apostle's Body'' A more popular account of the traditional tomb
15. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11781b.htm
16. http://www.peshitta.org/pdf/Mattich16.pdf
17. LDS Bible Dictionary—Peter
18. Doctrine & Covenants 27: 12–13
See also
★
New Apostolic Church
★
St Peter's Basilica
★
St Peter's Square
★ ''
The Big Fisherman''
★
San Pietro in Vincoli
★
Saint Peter's tomb
★
Saint Peter (disambiguation)
★
Quo Vadis
External links
★
stpetersbasilica.org Books on Peter in Rome
★
Etymology of Peter
★
The Jewish St Peter
★
Jewish Encyclopedia: Simon Cephas
★
Catholic Encyclopedia: St Peter, Prince of the Apostles
★
Catholic Encyclopedia: Epistles of St Peter
★
Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter Orthodox
icon and
synaxarion
العربية
ä¸å›½
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€
Italiano
日本語
Português
РуÑÑкий
Español
