Peter

The Apostle Peter, also known as Saint Peter, Shimon "Keipha" Ben-Yonah/Bar-Yonah, Simon Peter, Cephas and Keipha—original name Shimon or Simeon (Hebrew: שמעון‎) ( (Acts 15:14)—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 (Matthew 16:18; John 21:15–16). Many within the early Church, such as St. Irenaeus, assert his primacy among the apostles.

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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 honor, as a first among equals. Some propose that his primacy was not intended to pass to his successors.

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 16:19

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" (John 13:7–9).

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, but he later fell in because he lost faith. Jesus caught him and scolded him for losing faith. (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 18:10) 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

St Peter Denying Christ, by Gustave Doré 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[3] crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."[4] 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:

1. A denial when a female servant of the high priest spots Simon Peter, saying that he had been with Jesus.

2. 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.

3. 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.



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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.

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 open-air sermon during Pentecost. According to the same book, Peter took the lead in selecting a replacement for Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:15). He was twice arraigned, with John, before the Sanhedrin and directly defied them (Acts 4:7–22, Acts 5:18–42). He undertook a missionary journey to Lydda, Joppa and Caesarea (Acts 9:32–10:2), becoming instrumental in the decision to evangelise the Gentiles (Acts 10). 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 (Galatians 2:11) where Paul confronted him, and historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.[6] 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 (1 Corinthians 1:12). 1 Peter 5:13 may imply that he wrote that epistle in Babylon, Egypt, Rome or Jerusalem.[7]

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" (John 21:18–19)

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