Apostle Peter

Peter, known in the New Testament as Simon, Simon Peter, or Cephas, was a Galilean Jewish fisherman of the first century who became one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and a principal leader of the earliest Christian community. The Gospel of John identifies Bethsaida as the city of Andrew and Peter; the Synoptic Gospels locate his household in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, a notice that establishes that Peter was married. He fished with his brother Andrew and, according to Luke, with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. The Gospels recount that Jesus called him from his nets and gave him the name Peter (Greek Petros) or Cephas (Aramaic Kepa), meaning rock. With James and John he formed an inner group among the Twelve, present at the raising of Jairus's daughter, at the Transfiguration, and in Gethsemane.

During Jesus' public ministry Peter often acts as spokesman for the disciples. At Caesarea Philippi he confesses Jesus as the Messiah; in Matthew's account Jesus replies that he will build his church on this rock and will give Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, a text that later became foundational for claims of Petrine authority. The same Gospels describe Peter's threefold denial of Jesus during the passion and his subsequent restoration. After the resurrection, Luke-Acts presents Peter as the leading preacher in Jerusalem, addressing the crowd at Pentecost, performing healings, and taking a decisive part in the admission of Gentile converts, especially in the story of the centurion Cornelius. Paul's letter to the Galatians calls Cephas a pillar of the Jerusalem church and records a sharp dispute with him at Antioch over table fellowship with Gentiles. Two New Testament epistles are attributed to Peter; ancient and modern opinion has generally accepted a Petrine connection for 1 Peter more readily than for 2 Peter, which the majority of critical scholars regard as later and pseudepigraphal. The New Testament is silent on the time, place, and manner of Peter's death.

From the late first century onward, Roman and other Christian writers associate Peter with the church in Rome and with martyrdom under Nero. First Clement, a letter from the Roman church commonly dated in the mid-90s, speaks of Peter's many labors and of his final witness, pairing him with Paul. Second-century and later authors, including Ignatius of Antioch, Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius, state that Peter preached in Rome and died there. Origen, as cited by Eusebius, reports the tradition that Peter was crucified head downward at his own request. No contemporary document fixes the year; the death is placed in the reign of Nero (54-68), often in connection with the persecution that followed the fire of Rome in 64. Peter is also remembered as having been, before Rome, a founder and first bishop of the church at Antioch. By the early third century the Roman presbyter Gaius could point to a tropaion, or memorial, of Peter on the Vatican hill. Constantine I erected a basilica over that shrine in the fourth century; the present St. Peter's Basilica occupies the site. Excavations beneath the high altar in the twentieth century revealed a pagan necropolis, a simple second-century shrine, and graffiti invoking Peter, which are consistent with continuous local veneration, though the identification of particular relics remains a matter of tradition and debate.

In Catholic lists of bishops of Rome Peter is counted as the first pope; Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches honor him as chief of the apostles and as first bishop of Antioch. He was never the subject of a formal medieval canonization process; his cult is apostolic and universal. His principal feast, shared with Paul, is 29 June; the Chair of Saint Peter is kept on 22 February in the Roman calendar. Because the New Testament mentions his mother-in-law and Paul refers to Cephas taking a believing wife, his marriage is historically attested; his wife's name is not preserved in early reliable sources. Clement of Alexandria writes that Peter's wife was martyred and that Peter had children, but later stories, such as those attaching him to a daughter Petronilla, are generally regarded as legendary. He is invoked as patron of fishermen and of many trades connected with nets, ships, keys, and metalwork, as patron of the city of Rome and of the papacy, and against fever and ailments of the feet.