Apostles Peter

Simon, known in the New Testament as Peter (Greek Petros) and Cephas (from Aramaic kepha, meaning rock), was a Jewish fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee and the brother of the apostle Andrew. The Gospels also associate him with Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, where they describe a household and the healing of his mother-in-law, which indicates that he was married. He and Andrew were among the first disciples called by Jesus of Nazareth; the Synoptic accounts place that call in the setting of their work as fishermen. Jesus is said to have given Simon the name Peter. In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah and Son of the living God and receives the saying about the rock and the keys of the kingdom of heaven, a passage that later became foundational for claims of Petrine primacy. The Gospels consistently portray him as a leading and often impulsive member of the Twelve: present at the Transfiguration, walking on the water in Matthew's account, rebuked after resisting the prediction of the Passion, and, during Jesus' arrest and trial, denying him three times.

After the crucifixion, the New Testament presents Peter as a primary witness of the resurrection. The Gospel of John concludes with a scene in which the risen Jesus restores Peter with a threefold charge to feed and tend the flock. The Acts of the Apostles depicts him as the chief public spokesman of the Jerusalem community in its earliest period: preaching at Pentecost, performing signs, defending the mission before the Sanhedrin, and, in the narrative of Cornelius the centurion, authorizing the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles. Paul's letter to the Galatians names Cephas as one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church, records a meeting in which Peter, James, and John recognized Paul's mission to the Gentiles, and describes a later dispute at Antioch over whether Jewish and Gentile believers should share table fellowship. First Corinthians alludes to Peter's itinerant mission and to his being accompanied by a believing wife. The New Testament writings do not record the time, place, or manner of Peter's death, nor do they give a year of birth.

Christian tradition from the late first and second centuries locates Peter's later ministry and martyrdom in Rome. The First Letter of Clement, written from Rome toward the end of the first century, refers to Peter's endurance of many labors and to his martyrdom, without specifying the city. By the later second century, writers such as Irenaeus of Lyons present Peter and Paul as founders of the Roman church, and the tradition of Peter's crucifixion in Rome under Nero became standard. Later sources add that he was crucified head downward at his own request. The persecution of Christians in Rome after the fire of 64, described by Tacitus, provides the usual historical setting, though ancient Christian authors differ on the exact year, some favoring a date near 64 and others, following Eusebius and Jerome, a date around 67 or 68. No contemporary Roman document names Peter. Catholic tradition regards him as the first bishop of Rome and therefore the first pope. The church of Antioch likewise claims him as its founding apostle and first bishop, and he stands at the head of the patriarchal lists of that see in Orthodox tradition.

From at least the second century a memorial to Peter stood on the Vatican hill, across the Tiber from the city, in an area of tombs near the circus associated with Nero. Constantine built a basilica over this shrine in the fourth century; the present Saint Peter's Basilica occupies the same site. Excavations beneath the high altar in the twentieth century uncovered a complex of early Christian and pagan burials and a second-century tropaion, consistent with the ancient claim that Peter was buried there, though identification of particular remains remains a matter of interpretation rather than certainty. Peter has been venerated throughout the Christian world from antiquity. His principal feast, shared with the apostle Paul, is kept on 29 June in both East and West; other commemorations include the Chair of Saint Peter. He is invoked as patron of fishermen and related maritime trades, of locksmiths and clockmakers, of cobblers, of the papacy, and of the city of Rome, among many other occupations, places, and causes. No reliable source records the year of his birth.