63 Facts About Saint Peter

Saint Peter, known as Peter the Apostle, Peter the Rock, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and one of the first leaders of the early Church.

Saint Peter appears repeatedly and prominently in all four gospels as well as the Acts of the Apostles.

Saint Peter is the brother of Saint Andrew, and both were fishermen.

Saint Peter is mentioned, under either the name Peter or Cephas, in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatians.

Saint Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early Church.

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In Luke, Simon Saint Peter owns the boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of Lake Gennesaret.

Matthew additionally describes Saint Peter walking on water for a moment but beginning to sink when his faith wavers.

Saint 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", Saint Peter replied: "Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head".

Simon Saint Peter was twice arraigned, with John, before the Sanhedrin and directly defied them.

Simon Saint Peter applied the message of the vision on clean animals to the gentiles and follows his meeting with Cornelius the Centurion by claiming that "God shows no partiality".

Acts 12 narrates how Saint Peter, who was in Jerusalem, was put into prison by Agrippa I, but was rescued by an angel.

Saint Peter is regarded as the first leader of the early Church, though he was eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord".

Saint Peter is always listed first among the Twelve Apostles in the gospels and in the Book of Acts.

Saint Peter is frequently mentioned in the gospels as forming with James the Elder and John a special group within the Twelve Apostles, present at incidents at which the others were not present, such as at the Transfiguration of Jesus, at the raising of Jairus' daughter and at the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Saint Peter is often depicted in the gospels as spokesman of all the Apostles.

John Vidmar, a Catholic scholar, writes: "Catholic scholars agree that Saint Peter had an authority that superseded that of the other apostles.

Saint Peter is their spokesman at several events, he conducts the election of Matthias, his opinion in the debate over converting Gentiles was crucial, etc.

In John's gospel, Saint 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 Saint Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself, running to the tomb.

Saint Peter was considered along with James the Just and John the Apostle as pillars of the Church.

Saint Peter was eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord.

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

Saint Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity.

Paul affirms that Saint Peter had the special charge of being apostle to the Jews, just as he, Paul, was apostle to the Gentiles.

Some argue James the Just was bishop of Jerusalem whilst Saint Peter was bishop of Rome and that this position at times gave James privilege in some situations.

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Common view of Peter is provided by Jesuit Father Daniel J Harrington, who suggests that Peter was an unlikely symbol of stability.

The Liber Pontificalis mentions Saint 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.

Saint Peter'storians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.

One is that Saint Peter had a group of 12 to 16 followers, whom the Clementine writings name.

However, it is said that the institution of the papacy is not dependent on the idea that Saint Peter was Bishop of Rome or even on his ever having been in Rome.

Lactantius, in his book called Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, written around 318, noted that "and while Nero reigned, the Apostle Saint 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.

Eusebius of Caesarea relates that when Saint Peter confronts Simon Magus at Judea (mentioned in Acts 8), Simon Magus flees to Rome, where the Romans began to regard him as a god.

Early Church tradition says that Saint Peter probably died by crucifixion at the time of the Great Fire of Rome in the year 64.

Tradition locates his burial place where the Basilica of Saint Peter was later built, directly beneath the Basilica's high altar.

The Church of Quo Vadis, near the Catacombs of Saint Peter Callistus, contains a stone in which Jesus' footprints from this event are supposedly preserved, though this was apparently an ex-voto from a pilgrim, and indeed a copy of the original housed in the Basilica of St Sebastian.

Origen in his Commentary on the Book of Genesis III, quoted by Eusebius of Caesaria in his Ecclesiastical History (III, 1), said: "Saint Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer.

Jerome wrote that "at Nero's hands Saint 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.

The skull of Saint Peter is claimed to reside in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran since at least the ninth century, alongside the skull of Saint Paul.

The majority of Saint Peter's remains, however, are still preserved in Rome, under the high altar of St Peter's Basilica.

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 Saint Peter's stay in Rome, but Zwierlein questions the text's authenticity and whether it has any knowledge about Saint Peter's life beyond what is contained in the New Testament Acts of the Apostles.

However, Saint Peter never bore the title of "Pope" or "Vicar of Christ" in the sense the Catholic Church considers Saint Peter the first Pope.

Saint Peter 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.

Saint Peter is often depicted in both Western and Eastern Christian art holding a key or a set of keys.

Saint Peter was instructed by Christ to strengthen his brethren, i e, the apostles.

Saint Peter greets some fifty people in Rome by name, but not Peter whom he knew.

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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 Saint Peter, but meant either himself or the faith of His followers.

Saint Peter believes the meaning of the original Aramaic is very clear: that "Kepha" was the Aramaic word for "rock", and that it was the name by which Christ called Peter.

Saint Peter writes: "In the life of Peter there is no starting point for a chain of succession to the leadership of the church at large.

Forty-four said, Saint Peter's faith is the rock, The remainder looked upon the whole body of believers as the rock.

The Orthodox hold that Saint Peter did not act as leader at the Council of Jerusalem, but as merely one of a number who spoke.

The final decision regarding the non-necessity of circumcision was spelled out by James, the Brother of the Lord (though Catholics hold James merely reiterated and fleshed out what Saint Peter had said, regarding the latter's earlier divine revelation regarding the inclusion of Gentiles).

Saint Peter wrote: "Jesus 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.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Peter was the first leader of the early Christian church after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, recorded in multiple revelations that the resurrected Saint Peter appeared to him and Oliver Cowdery in 1829, near Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in order to bestow the apostleship and keys of the kingdom as part of a restoration of priesthood authority.

An old tradition, which involves the legend of Habib the Carpenter, mentions that Saint Peter was one of the three disciples sent to Antioch to preach to the people there.

Saint Peter appears in the writings of Baha'u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith, often referred to as The Rock:.

Daniel B Wallace 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".

Two Epistles attributed to St Saint Peter differ in style, character, and the construction of the words, which proves that according to the exigencies of the moment St Saint Peter made use of different interpreters.

Jerome says that Saint 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.

Fragmentary Gospel of Saint Peter contains an account of the death of Jesus differing significantly from the canonical gospels.

In traditional iconography, Saint Peter has been shown very consistently since early Christian art as an oldish, thick-set man with a "slightly combative" face and a short beard, and usually white hair, sometimes balding.

Narrative images of Saint Peter include several scenes from the Life of Christ where he is mentioned in the gospels, and he is often identifiable in scenes where his presence is not specifically mentioned.

Saint Peter Attempting to Walk on Water, by Francois Boucher, 1766.