Saint Peter

ordained_by = Jesus Christ birth_name = Shimon bar Yonah birth_date = birth_place = Bethsaida, Herodian tetrarchy, Roman Empire death_date = Between 64 and 68 AD (aged 63–67) death_place = Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire parents = Jonah (or Jona; John) spouse = Unidentified wife occupation = Fisherman, clergyman, Bishop of Rome and Antioch (Catholic and Eastern Christian tradition) feast_day = venerated = All Christian denominations that venerate saints saint_title = Saint Peter the Apostle canonized_date = Pre-Congregation attributes = Keys of Heaven, Red Martyr, pallium, papal vestments, rooster, man crucified upside down, vested as an Apostle, holding a book or scroll, Cross of Saint Peter patronage = Patronage list shrine = St. Peter's Basilica Church of St. Peter

Saint Peter (born Simon bar Jonah; – AD 64/68), or Cephas was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repeatedly and prominently in all four New Testament gospels, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Catholic and Orthodox tradition treats Peter as the first bishop of Rome – or pope – and also as the first bishop of Antioch. According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero.

The ancient Christian churches venerate Peter as a major saint and the founder of the Church of Antioch and the Church of Rome, In the New Testament, the name "Simon Peter" is found 19 times. He is the brother of Andrew, and they both were fishermen. The Gospel of Mark, in particular, is traditionally thought to show the influence of Peter's preaching and eyewitness accounts. He is also mentioned as Peter or Cephas in Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians and the Epistle to the Galatians. The New Testament also includes two general epistles, First Peter and Second Peter, which are traditionally attributed to him, but modern scholarship generally rejects the Petrine authorship of both.

Outside of the New Testament, several apocryphal books were later attributed to him, in particular the Acts of Peter, Gospel of Peter, the Preaching of Peter, Apocalypse of Peter, and Judgment of Peter, although scholars believe these works to be pseudepigrapha.

Although the New Testament does not explicitly identify Peter as the first bishop of Rome or detail his journey there, early Church Fathers and historians, including Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, and Eusebius attest that Peter spent his closing years in Rome, and along with Paul founded the Church in Rome and conferred the episcopal office upon Linus. These accounts also maintain that Peter was martyred in Rome, traditionally on Vatican Hill during Nero's reign. The late second-century writer Caius further testified that the monuments of Peter were located at the Vatican.

Names and etymologies

The New Testament presents Peter's original name as Simon (; in Greek). In only two passages, his name is instead spelled "Simeon" ( in Greek). The variation possibly reflects "the well-known custom among Jews at the time of giving the name of a famous patriarch or personage of the Old Testament to a male child [i.e., Simeon], along with a similar-sounding Greek/Roman name [in this case, Simon]".

He was later given by Jesus the name Cephas , from the Aramaic . In translations of the Bible from the original Greek, his name is maintained as Cephas in nine occurrences in the New Testament, whereas in the vast majority of mentions (156 occurrences in the New Testament), he is called , a masculinized form derived from the root of (petra), adapted to serve as a masculine proper name.

The precise meaning of the Aramaic word is disputed, some saying that the usual meaning is "rock" or "crag", others saying that it means rather "stone" and, particularly in its application by Jesus to Simon, like a "jewel", but most scholars agree that as a proper name, it denotes a rough or tough character. Both meanings, "stone" (jewel or hewn stone) and "rock", are indicated in dictionaries of Aramaic and Syriac.

Catholic theologian Rudolf Pesch argues that the Aramaic word would mean "precious stone" to designate a distinguished person. This cannot be sufficiently proven from Aramaic, however, since the use of the Aramaic root as a personal name has not been proven, and there are hardly any known examples of the word being used to mean "precious stone".

The combined name (Símon Pétros, Simon Peter) appears 19 times in the New Testament. In some Syriac documents, he is called, in English translation, Simon Cephas.

Biographical information