Coordinates: 53°01′44″N 1°28′30″W / 53.029°N 1.475°W / 53.029; -1.475

Belper
Belper  Belper shown within Derbyshire
Population	20,548
OS grid reference	SK351476
Civil parish	Belper
District	Amber Valley
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BELPER
Postcode district	DE56
Dialling code	01773
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
EU Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	Mid Derbyshire
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.

Geography[link]

Belper is situated eight miles north of Derby and is centred in the valley of the River Derwent. The town had population of 20,548 living in 8,790 households according to the 2001 census.^[1]

Nearby places[link]

Neighbouring towns and villages.

	Matlock	Chesterfield	Ripley, Alfreton
	Ashbourne		Heanor
		Belper    East
	Wirksworth	Derby	Ilkeston, Nottingham

History[link]

At the time of the Norman occupation, Belper was part of the land centred on Duffield held by the family of Henry de Ferrers. The Domesday Survey records a manor of "Bradley" which is thought to have stood in an area of town now known as the Coppice. At that time it was probably within the Forest of East Derbyshire which covered the whole of the county east of the Derwent. It was possibly appropriated by William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby at some time after it was disafforested in 1225 and became part of Duffield Frith.^[2]

The town's name is thought to be a corruption of Beaurepaire - meaning beautiful retreat - the name given to a hunting lodge, the first record of which being in a charter of 1231. This would have been the property of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster who died in 1296, the record of his estate mentioning "a capital mansion". The chapel built at that time still exists. Originally consecrated in 1250 as the Chapel of St Thomas, it was rededicated to St John during the reign of King Henry VIII. St John's Chapel is still in use today and is thought to be the oldest building still standing in Belper.

St John's Chapel (originally St. Thomas)

A nailer's workshop in Joseph Street

Strutt's North Mill built in 1803, to replace the original one destroyed by fire

Belpers East mill built 1912.

The coal deposits of Derbyshire are frequently associated with ironstone within the clay substrate. Initially obtained from surface workings, it would later have been mined in shallow bell pits. It is thought that this was important for the de Ferrers family, who were ironmasters in Normandy.^[3] By the reign of Henry VIII Belper had grown to a substantial size. It is recorded that in 1609 fifty-one people died of plague.^[4] However, in a Parliamentary Commissioners' report of 1650 regarding Duffield and its chapelries, Belper is described as "a hamlet appertaining to Duffield".^[5]

From at least the 13th century there were forges in the Belper and Duffield areas and iron-working became a major source of income, particularly nail making. By the end of the eighteenth-century there were around 500 workshops in the town supplying nails to the newly-built textile mills. The workshops were eventually superseded by machinery during the nineteenth-century. Some of the nail-makers houses are still in existence and form part of local tours of the town.

The industrialist Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Richard Arkwright, built a water-powered cotton mill in Belper in the late eighteenth-century: the second in the world at the time. With the expansion of the textile industry Belper became one of the first mill towns. In 1784 Strutt built the North Mill and, across the road, the West Mill. In 1803 the North Mill was burnt down and replaced by an new structure designed to be fireproof. Further extensions followed, culminating in the East Mill in 1913 - a present-day Belper landmark. Although no longer used to manufacture textiles the mill still derives electricity from the river, using turbine-driven generators.

Strutt had previously patented his "Derby Rib" for stockings, and the plentiful supply of cotton encouraged the trade of framework knitting which had been carried on in the town and surrounding villages since the middle of the previous century. Mechanisation arrived about 1850, but by that time the fashion for stockings for men was disappearing. However elaborately patterned stockings, for ladies especially, were coming into vogue, and the output of the Belper "cheveners" was much in demand.

The construction of the North Midland Railway in 1840 brought further prosperity. Belper was the first place in the UK to get gas lighting, at a works erected by the Strutts at Milford. Demand was such that in 1850, the Belper Gas and Coke Company was formed, with a works in the present Goods Road. Electricity followed in 1922 from the Derby and Nottingham Electrical Power Company's works at Spondon. The first telephones came in 1895 from the National Telephone Company. The end of the century also brought the motor car, CH218, owned by Mr. James Bakewell of The Elms being possibly the first.

Belper remained a textile and hosiery centre into the twentieth-century. Meanwhile other companies were developing: iron founding led to the Park Foundry becoming a leader in the solid-fuel central-heating market; Adshead and Ratcliffe had developed Arbolite putty for iron-framed windows; Dalton and Company, which had been producing lubricating oils, developed ways of recovering used engine oil proving useful during the Second World War; in 1938, A.B.Williamson had developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings - the introduction of nylon stockings after the Second World War seemed to make it redundant, but mechanics and fitters had discovered its usefulness in cleaning hands and it is still marketed by Deb Group as Swarfega.

Government[link]

King Street, Belper

Bridge Street looking north. The East Mill can be seen in the background

Before 1983 the town gave its name to the Belper constituency, which from 1945 to 1970 was the seat of George Brown, the deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Economy[link]

Belper's economy was traditionally reliant on manufacturing industry and numerous goods were made in the town. Cotton spinning and textile production were major employers virtually for much of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. The large East Mill and the smaller North Mill are now all that remain of the industry and are preserved as part of the Derwent Valley Mills world heritage site. After the Second World War, J. W. Thornton, the chocolate maker, moved into the town from Sheffield, which helped to alleviate the employment problems arising from the contraction of the earlier industries. In recent years, the company completed a move to a new site a few miles away in Swanwick. Today, the main employment sectors are retail and services although some manufacturing industry remains. The main shopping area is centred around King Street. The town has three supermarkets.

Tesco plans[link]

Tesco have had plans to build a supermarket in Belper since 1998 and later identified the site of the old Thorntons factory on Derwent Street as their preferred location.^[6] The plans include the construction of a new road giving access to the store and acting as a bypass around the town.^[7] These plans have been a topic of debate in the town since they were first announced and a group known as 'B.A.T.S.' (Belper Against Tesco Superstore) was formed in 2007 to protest against them.^[8] A rival group, Belper For Tesco, was set up in support of the development.^[9]

Transport[link]

Road[link]

The A6 is the major through-road of the town and runs parallel to the River Derwent to the west.

Rail[link]

Belper railway station is situated on the Midland Main Line. Regular trains between Derby and Matlock on the Derwent Valley Line are almost the only services to stop there, although one main line service per weekday stops each way and the Friends of the Derwent Valley are campaigning for more.

Buses[link]

The town is served by regular bus services to Derby and surrounding towns and villages as well as longer routes to Manchester and London. The major operator is Trent Barton who operate the bus garage on Bridge Street.

Culture[link]

Churches[link]

The oldest church still used for its original purpose is the Belper Unitarian Church, built in 1788. The present Methodist Church was opened on June 28, 1807 and was originally built to hold 1,400 worshippers.

St Peter's Anglican Church, a prominent landmark in the town, was built in 1824 to replace the smaller 13th-century St John's Chapel which is now used as a town council and heritage chamber. A second Anglican Church, Christ Church, was built in 1850. A local saying calls St Peter's "the low church in the high place" and Christ Church "the high church in the low place" based on their different liturgical traditions.

The town is also home to a Baptist, a spiritualist, a Roman Catholic and a further Methodist church at Openwoodgate, as well as Belper Community Church which meets at the Strutt Centre three times a month.

Sport[link]

Belper Town F.C. play their home games at Christchurch Meadow and are currently in the Northern Premier League Division One South. They are nicknamed The Nailers as a reference to the historical nail manufacturing industry in the town.

Education[link]

Primary schools[link]

There are seven primary schools which feed the single secondary school:

• Holbrook Primary School;
• St Elizabeth's Primary School;
• St John's Primary School;
• Herbert Strutt Primary School;
• Pottery Primary School;
• Long Row Primary School;
• Ambergate Primary School.

Secondary schools[link]

Belper School and Sixth Form Centre has approximately 1,400 pupils aged 11–18. It was originally named "Belper High School" when it was built in 1973, and is adjacent to Belper Leisure Centre. Famous people to have attended the school include Ross Davenport - winner of two swimming gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games - and Alison Hargreaves, holder of a number of mountaineering records.

Herbert Strutt Grammar School buildings (in November 2008)

The Herbert Strutt Grammar School was among the Strutt family's bequests to the town. It became a primary school in 1973 with the opening of Belper High School, and remained in use as such until spring 2008 when it was replaced by a new building on a different site. Notable among its students were the actors Alan Bates and Timothy Dalton.

For a number of years from 1979, the innovative Rowen House School provided education on democratic principles. Also, during the 1970s and 1980s, Belper was the site of an experimental three-tier education system, comprising a number of primary schools (age 5–9 years), feeding into two main secondary schools (age 9–13 years), pupils from both then usually attended a single American-style high school (age 13–18 years). In the mid-1980s, this scheme was abandoned, and the current two-tier system adopted. At the same time, one of the two secondary schools, Parks Secondary School, was closed down and the buildings, which were in a poor state of repair, demolished. In recent years, the site of the former Parks Secondary School has been used for a new school.

International links[link]

Belper is twinned with Pawtucket, Rhode Island after Samuel Slater - an apprentice of Jedediah Strutt - went there and founded the American cotton spinning industry.

Belper made international news in 2001 after rejecting a gift of a large fibreglass Mr. Potato Head model from Pawtucket, as some residents considered it "hideous".^[10]

Famous residents[link]

• George Brown, Baron George-Brown Labour politician, Foreign Secretary 1965–7, represented Belper from 1945 until 1970, but never actually lived here.^{[citation needed]} He kept a flat in Swadlincote at the opposite end of the constituency.
• Timothy Dalton, actor, the fourth James Bond, was raised here^[11]
• Ross Davenport, swimmer
• Monica Edwards, children's writer, was born here in 1912^[12]
• Penelope Mortimer, novelist and wife of John Mortimer, author of The Pumpkin Eater, was the daughter of the vicar of St Peter's church
• John Lawton, novelist, author of Black Out and Blue Rondo, was born here
• Suzy Kendall, first wife of Dudley Moore, actress in British and Italian films
• Will Hay, comedian and actor, lived in Belper while performing locally in the 1920s
• Tracy Shaw, actress, played Maxine Peacock (1995–2003) in Coronation Street
• Alan Bates and Graham Haberfield, actors, both attended Strutts school
• Samuel Slater, "father of the American industrial revolution", grew up on Chevin Road^[13] and apprenticed at Milford^[14]
• Bombardier Charles Stone who was awarded the VC was born, and is buried, here^[15]
• Jedediah Strutt, inventor, opened his first mill in Belper (1777)^[16]
• Frank Swettenham, colonial ruler of Malaya, author, was born here^[17] in 1850
• Audley Bowdler Williamson, inventor of Swarfega and founder of Deb Ltd., still based in Belper
• Admiral Sir Trevor Alan Soar, the current Commander in Chief Fleet of the Royal Navy, was born in Belper.
• Ron Webster, professional footballer, born here in 1943. A full back, Webster played 455 league games for Derby County between 1960 and 1978.

See also[link]

• Former Parliament constituency of Belper
• Belper Town F.C.

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2009)

• Naylor, P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris

External links[link]

• Belper Town Council
• Belper Today - newspaper
• Derwent Valley Mills
• Site specific to the North Mill
• BBC: Historical account of the Belper nailers
• Belper School and Sixth Form Centre
• Belper Historical Research Website
• Belper Hockey Club
• Belper Rugby Club
• Belper Town Football Club
• Belper Sub Aqua Club
• Belper Forum
• Belper Musical Theatre
• Belper Bicycle Club
• Thisisderbyshire.co.uk/belper

Philip G. "Phil" Hare (born February 21, 1949) is the former U.S. Representative for Illinois's 17th congressional district, serving from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in Illinois' share of the Quad Cities area and includes Rock Island, Moline, Quincy, Decatur, Galesburg and part of Springfield.

Early life, education, and early political career[link]

Hare was born in Galesburg but was raised in Rock Island. He graduated from Alleman High School in 1967. The son of a machinist, Hare went to work at Seaford Clothing Factory in Rock Island where he stayed for 13 years. He received his A.A. degree at Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois. While working there Hare served as a union leader and was President of the UNITE HERE Local 617. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1969 to 1975.^[1]

Hare began his political career in 1980 when he ran as an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention in support of the presidential candidacy of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. He was one of six candidates running for alternate delegate but the three Kennedy delegates were defeated by the three candidates supporting President Jimmy Carter of Georgia.

Working for Lane Evans[link]

In 1982 Hare left his union position to help his friend Lane Evans, who was running for the U.S. House of Representatives in an attempt to unseat 16-year incumbent Republican Tom Railsback. Hare first met Evans in 1976 when the two were volunteers in U.S. Senator Fred R. Harris's campaign for president. However, Railsback was upset by conservative State Senator Kenneth McMillan in the Republican primary. Evans defeated McMillan in November, and appointed Hare as district director.

For the next 24 years Hare worked as an aide to Evans, assisting the congressman primarily on constituent issues and labor problems. In the last few years of Evans' time in Congress, Hare attended several speaking engagements and even debated Evans' opponents in 2002 and 2004 because of the congressman's Parkinson's disease, which often prevented Evans from participating in the engagements.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Elections[link]

2006

In March 2006, Evans decided to retire and shortly afterwards, Hare announced his candidacy to succeed Evans. In a special Democratic caucus of precinct committee members from across the 17th Congressional District, Hare received the endorsement of his former boss and prevailed over the four other candidates to replace Evans as the Democratic nominee. Hare defeated his Republican opponent, Andrea Zinga, with 57% of the vote in the November election.

2008

Hare ran unopposed in 2008.

2010

Hare was challenged by Republican nominee Bobby Schilling and Green Party nominee Roger K. Davis. The race was rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, CQ Politics, and the New York Times.^[2][3][4] By October, RealClearPolitics rated it "Leans Republican".^[5]

In the November 2 election, Schilling defeated Hare 53%-42%. Hare lost his home county, normally solidly Democratic Rock Island County, by 9 percentage points.

Tenure[link]

Hare's voting record was decidedly liberal, mirroring that of his boss, Evans. Hare is also a founding member of the LGBT Equality Caucus^[6][7] and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which Evans was a founding member.

Health care

Hare has been an advocate for health care reform since becoming Congressman on Memorial Day, May 29, 2006.^[8] During the summer of 2009, Hare took a hard line stance on a public health insurance option, saying, "I will not support any plan that does not contain a robust public option because, a plan without a public option is sort of like a car without a motor. It may look good on the outside, but in the end it will get you nowhere."^[9] After many local health care town halls and public polling, Hare has since backed off of his support of the public option. Hare is quoted as saying that, he ultimately supports a public option but that "It [the public option] is not a deal breaker."^[10]

Labor

Hare is a supporter of organized labor, including the living wage and the Employee Free Choice Act.^[11]

Abortion

Hare has consistently supported access to and funding for contraception, as well as keeping most methods of abortion legal.^[12] He has received the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice America.^[13]

Controversies

At an April 2010 town hall meeting, Hare stated on camera, "I don't worry about the Constitution on this to be honest," in relation to Congressional health-care reform efforts.^[14] The cameraman, who was affiliated with the St. Louis Tea Party, was heard to say "jackpot, brother!" after Hare said this, to which Hare responded, "Oh, please." Hare's communications director, Tim Schlittner, later explained that Hare's quote was "taken out of context" and he meant that "he is not worried about this health care law being ruled unconstitutional."^[15] However in the same interview, Hare said, "I believe it (the Constitution) says 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'" When it was pointed out to him that was actually from the Declaration of Independence, Hare said, "It doesn't matter to me."^[16]

Phil Hare has been accused of distorting his military service. Mr. Hare, who served in the Army Reserves in the United States during the Vietnam War, claims to be a Vietnam veteran even though, legally, he is not. By federal law Hare's military service does not make of him a "veteran" of the Vietnam War because he had never served in Vietnam. When challenged about his military record by an actual Vietnam vet, Mr. Hare demanded to know the identity of the man. When the vet refused to give his name Mr. Hare reportedly told an aide to follow the man to his car and get his license plate number so he could find out who the man was. According to the vet, "As Mr. Hare was turning to walk away form me he paused, and turning back to my direction, he glared at me intently, and while leaning forward pointed his finger at me, and in a threatening and intimidating manner said, "I'll find out who you are!" Given the nature of Illinois politics, and Mr. Hare's reputation as a mean politician, I felt intimidated by the power of Mr. Hare's office and what he might do." ^[17]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment

Election history[link]

• Nomination of precinct committeepersons U.S. House 2006
  • Phil Hare — 17,011 — 64%
  • John M. Sullivan — 7,530 — 28%
  • Mark Schwiebert — 1,370 — 5%
  • Michael Boland — 612 — 2%
  • Rob Mellon — 98 — 0%
• Election of November 7, 2006 for U.S. House Dist. 17
  • Phil Hare (D) — 114,638 — 57%
  • Andrea Zinga (R) — 85,734 — 43%
• Election of November 4, 2008 for U.S. House Dist. 17
  • Phil Hare (D) —- 220,961—99.77%
  • Mark E. Lioen—517—0.23%

Personal life[link]

Hare and his wife Beckie currently live in Rock Island and have two grown children, Amy and Louis.

Hare appeared on the March 15, 2007 episode of The Colbert Report in the show's "Better Know a District" series.^[18]

References[link]

1. ^ Tibbetts, Ed (2010-06-14). "Rep. Phil Hare in battle over one word: Veteran". Quad City Times. http://qctimes.com/news/local/article_082aad62-7756-11df-98c0-001cc4c002e0.html. Retrieved 2010-10-20. "U.S. Rep. Phil Hare’s use of the word “veteran” to describe his military service has angered some local military veterans who say he’s improperly taking on the title." 
2. ^ Illinois 17th District Profile (NYT)
3. ^ CQ Politics IL-17
4. ^ Cook Political Report Upgrades IL-17 to Toss Up
5. ^ RealClearPolitics IL-17
6. ^ "LGBT Equality Caucus | House Members Form LGBT Equality Caucus". Lgbt.tammybaldwin.house.gov. 2008-06-04. http://lgbt.tammybaldwin.house.gov/samplePress.shtml. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
7. ^ "LGBT Equality Caucus | Home". Lgbt.tammybaldwin.house.gov. http://lgbt.tammybaldwin.house.gov/membership.shtml. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
8. ^ "IL District 17 - Democratic Candidate Appointment Race - May 29, 2006". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=281866. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
9. ^ “”. "Phil Hare Takes the Pledge". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aObq0Tbu71k. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
10. ^ "Hare talks health care at annual luncheon". saukvalley.com. 2009-10-06. http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2009/10/06/48605195/index.xml. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
11. ^ "Congressman Phil Hare : Hare News Clips : Dispatch-Argus: Hare will take prominent role in debate on pro-unions bill". Hare.house.gov. 2007-03-01. http://hare.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=8&sectiontree=5,8&itemid=438. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
12. ^ "Phil Hare on the Issues". Ontheissues.org. http://www.ontheissues.org/IL/Phil_Hare_Abortion.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
13. ^ "Winning Pro-Choice Candidates". Prochoiceamerica.org. http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/pro-choice-winners.html. Retrieved 2010-07-12. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ Congressman: 'I Don’t Worry About the Constitution' on Health Care Overhaul. FoxNews.com. April 2, 2010.
15. ^ "Hare Communications Director Issues Statement on Constitution Comment in Quincy". hare.house.gov. April 2, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
16. ^ [1] YouTube
17. ^ http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/publius-forum/2010/06/ill-congressman-hare-puffing-military-record-and-intimidating-voters.html "Warner Todd Huston, Publius Forum, june 8, 2010"
18. ^ "Better Know a District - Illinois' 17th - Phil Hare | March 15, 2007 - Ayaan Hirsi Ali". ColbertNation.com. 2007-03-15. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/83813/march-15-2007/better-know-a-district---illinois--17th---phil-hare. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 

External links[link]

• U.S. Congressman Phil Hare official U.S. House site
• Friends of Phil Hare official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch

Saint Peter the Apostle
Painting of Saint Peter by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the saint as Pope (1611-1612).
Prince of the Apostles, First Pope, Martyr, Preacher
Born	ca. 1 BC[citation needed] Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Roman Empire
Died	possibly AD 67 Rome,Italia,Roman Empire by crucifixion
Honored in	Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, Islam (honoured)[1]
Major shrine	St. Peter's Basilica
Feast	main feast (with Paul of Tarsus) 29 June (Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Lutheranism) Chair of St Peter in Rome 18 January (Pre-1960 Roman Calendar) Confession of St Peter 18 January (Anglicanism) Chair of St Peter 22 February (Roman Catholic Church) St Peter in Chains 1 August (pre-1960 Roman Calendar)
Attributes	Keys of Heaven, pallium, Papal vestments, Rooster, man crucified head downwards, vested as an Apostle, holding a book or scroll. Iconographically, he is depicted with a bushy white beard and white hair
Patronage	See St. Peter's Patronage
Influences	Jesus
Major work(s)	1 Peter 2 Peter

Saint Peter medieval mosaic from Chora Church

Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader and one of the twelve apostles of Jesus who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and who is venerated as a saint. The son of John or of Jonah, he was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis. His brother Andrew was also an apostle. Peter is venerated in multiple churches and is regarded as the first Pope by the Catholic Church. After working to establish the church of Antioch, presiding for seven years as the leader of the city's Christian community,^[2] he preached to scattered communities of believers, Jews, Hebrew Christians and the gentiles, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor and Bithynia.^{[citation needed]} He then went to Rome, where in the second year of Claudius, it is claimed, he overthrew Simon Magus and held the Sacerdotal Chair for 25 years.^{[citation needed]} He is said to have been put to death at the hand of Emperor Nero.

Peter wrote two General epistles. The Gospel of Mark is also ascribed to him (as Mark was his disciple and interpreter). On the other hand, several books bearing his name—the Acts of Peter, Gospel of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Revelation of Peter, and Judgement of Peter—are rejected by the Catholic Church as Apocryphal.^[3][4][5]

According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples. Originally a fisherman, he was assigned a leadership role by Jesus and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few Apostles, such as the Transfiguration.^[6] Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean "rock." According to the New Testament, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah ^[7], was part of Jesus' inner circle ^[8], walked on water ^[9], witnessed Jesus' tranfiguration, denied Jesus ^[10], was restored by Jesus ^[11], and preached on the day of Pentecost ^[12].

Peter is said to have been crucified under Emperor Nero, the cross being upside down at his own request since he saw himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus Christ. Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter's mortal bones and remains are contained in the underground Confessio of the St. Peter's Basilica, a site where Pope Paul VI announced the excavation discovery of a First-century A.D. Roman cemetery in 1968. Since 1969, a life-size statue of Saint Peter is crowned every year in St. Peter's Basilica with a Papal Tiara, Ring of the Fisherman, and papal vestments every June 29th, commemorating the Holy Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

Names and etymologies[link]

His original name was Shimon or Simeon, Simon in modern English. He was later given the name Peter, a name derived from "Petrus" which is a masculinized form of the feminine Latin word petra (f) which means rock (cf. petroleum). For what concerns Greek, the same idea holds: "Πέτρος (Petros)" is derived from πέτρα (petra). The Latin word "petra" is a loanword from Greek.

The English and German "Peter", the French "Pierre", the Italian "Pietro", the Spanish and Portuguese "Pedro", and the Russian "Piotr" are derived from "Petrus". The pun with "rock" also works in Italian (pietra (f)), French (pierre (f)) and Portuguese (pedra (f)).

On the other hand, the Syriac or Aramaic word for "rock" is "cephas", which became Greek: Πέτρος, also meaning "rock".^[13][14] He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas (Greek: Κηφᾶς) and Kepha (Hebrew: כיפא‎). Both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock. ^[15]

New Testament account[link]

Ruins of ancient Capernaum on north side of the Sea of Galilee. An Orthodox church is built on top of traditional site of Apostle Peter's house.

Peter's life story relies on the four Canonical Gospels, The Book of Acts, New Testament Letters, Non-Canonical Gospel According to the Hebrews and other Early Church accounts of his life and death. In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus' ministry. It was during his first meeting with Jesus that Jesus named him Peter. Peter was to become the first Apostle ordained by Jesus in the early church.^[6]

Peter ran a fishing business in Bethsaida.^[Jn. 1:44] He was named Simon, son of Jonah or John.^[16] The synoptic gospels all recount how Peter's mother-in-law was healed by Jesus at their home in Capernaum^{[Matt. 8:14–17] [Mk. 1:29–31] [Lk. 4:38]} which, coupled with 1Cor 9:5, clearly depict Peter as married or a widower.

In the Synoptic Gospels, Peter (then Simon) was a fisherman along with his brother Andrew and the sons of Zebedee, James and John. The Gospel of John also depicts Peter fishing, even after the resurrection of Jesus, in the story of the Catch of 153 fish.

In Matthew and Mark, Jesus called Simon and his brother Andrew to be "fishers of men."^{[Matt. 4:18–19] [Mk. 1:16–17]}

Part of a series on
Saint Peter
In the New Testament
Confession · Denial · Vision Liberation · Incident at Antioch Epistles: 1 Peter · 2 Peter
Other
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In Luke, Simon Peter owns the boat that Jesus uses to preach to the multitudes who were pressing on him at the shore of Lake Gennesaret.^[Lk. 5:3] Jesus then amazes Simon and his companions James and John (Andrew is not mentioned) by telling them to lower their nets, whereupon they catch a huge number of fish. Immediately after this, they follow him.^{[Lk. 5:4–11]}

The Gospel of John gives a comparable account of "The First Disciples."^{[Jn. 1:35–42]} In John, we are told that it was two disciples of John the Baptist (Andrew and an unnamed disciple) who heard John the Baptist announce Jesus as the "Lamb of God" and then followed Jesus. Andrew then went and fetched his brother Simon, saying, "We have found the Messiah," and then brought Simon to Jesus.

The "Rock" dialogue[link]

In a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples (Matthew 16:13-20), Jesus asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples give various answers. When he asks, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." In turn, Jesus declares Peter to be "blessed" for having recognized Jesus' true identity and attributes this recognition to a divine revelation. Then Jesus addresses Simon by what seems to have been the nickname "Peter" (Cephas in Aramaic, Petros [rock] in Greek) and says, "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it."

A common exegetical interpretation of Peter is provided by Daniel Harrington who suggests that Peter was an unlikely symbol of stability. While he was one of the first disciples called and served as the spokesman for the group, Peter is also the exemplar of "little faith" in Matthew 14, will soon have Jesus say to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" and will eventually deny Jesus three times. In light of the Easter event, then, Peter became an exemplar of the forgiven sinner.^[17] A great variance of opinions exists as to the interpretation of this passage with respect to what authority and responsibility, if any, Jesus was giving to Peter.

Petros had not previously been used as a name, but in the Greek-speaking world it became a popular Christian name, after the tradition of Peter's prominence in the early Christian church had been established.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church this passage is interpreted as not implying a special prominence to the person of Peter, but to Peter's position as representative of the Apostles. The word used for "rock" (petra) grammatically refers to "a small detachment of the massive ledge",^[18] not to a massive boulder. Thus, Orthodox Sacred Tradition understands Jesus' words as referring to the Apostolic Faith.

The great majority of Western scholars concur with the interpretation that the "rock" was Peter, not Jesus himself or Peter's faith.^[19]

Position among the apostles[link]

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the Sea of Galilee. Traditional site where Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and, according to Catholic tradition, established Peter's supreme jurisdiction over the Christian church.

Peter is listed first among the Twelve Apostles in the canonical gospels^[20] and in the Book of Acts (Acts 1:13). He is also 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. He often confesses his faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

Peter is often depicted in the Gospels as spokesman of all the Apostles. Catholics refer to him as chief of the Apostles,^[21] as do the Eastern Orthodox^[22] and the Oriental Orthodox.^[23][24] In Coptic Orthodox Church Liturgy, he is once referred to as “Prominent” or "head" among the Apostles, a title shared with St. Paul in the text (The Fraction of Fast and Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria). Some, including the Orthodox Churches, believe this is not the same as saying that the other Apostles were under Peter's orders. In contrast, Jewish Christians are said to have argued that James the Just was the leader of the group.^[25] Some argue James was the Patriarch of Jerusalem and that this position at times gave him privilege in some (but not all) situations. The early Church historian Eusebius (c. AD 325) records Clement of Alexandria (c. AD 190) as saying,

"For they say that Peter and James and John after the ascension of our Saviour, as if also preferred by our Lord, strove not after honor, but chose James the Just bishop of Jerusalem."^[26]

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

Walking on water[link]

Three of the four canonical Gospels—Matthew, Mark and John—recount the story of Jesus walking on water. Matthew additionally describes Peter walking on water for a moment, but beginning to sink when his faith wavered.^{[Matt. 14:28–31]}

Washing of feet[link]

At the beginning of the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples' feet. Peter initially refused to let Jesus wash his feet, but 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".^{[Jn. 13:2-11]} The washing of feet is often repeated in the service of worship on Maundy Thursday by some Christian denominations.

Arrest of Jesus[link]

Apostle Peter striking Malchus with a sword in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The three synoptic Gospels all mention that, when Jesus was arrested, one of his companions cut off the ear of a servant of the High Priest.^[27] The Gospel of John also includes this event and names Peter as the swordsman and Malchus as the victim.^[Jn. 18:10] Luke adds that Jesus touched the ear and miraculously healed it.^[Lk. 22:50]

Denial of Jesus by Peter[link]

All four canonical gospels recount that, during the Last Supper, Jesus foretold that Peter would deny him three times before the following cockcrow ("before the cock crows twice" in Mark's account).

The three Synoptics and John 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. According to Mark (but not in all manuscripts), "the rooster crowed." Only Luke and John mention a fire by which Peter was warming himself among other people: according to Luke, Peter was "sitting"; according to John, he was "standing."
2. A denial when Simon Peter had gone out to the gateway, away from the firelight, but the same servant girl (Mark) or another servant girl (Matthew) or a man (Luke and also John, for whom, though, this is the third denial) told the bystanders he was a follower of Jesus. According to John, "the rooster crowed."
3. A denial came when Peter's Galilean accent was taken as proof that he was indeed a disciple of Jesus. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, "the rooster crowed." John, though, does not mention the Galilean accent.

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.

St. Peter Denying Christ, by Gustave Doré

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.

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.

In a reminiscent^[28] scene in John's epilogue, Peter affirms three times that he loves Jesus.

Empty tomb[link]

In John's gospel, Peter is the first person to enter the empty tomb, although the women and the beloved disciple see it before him.^{[Jn. 20:1–9]} In Luke's account, the women's report of the empty tomb is dismissed by the apostles, and Peter is the only one who goes to check for himself. In fact, he runs to the tomb. After seeing the graveclothes he goes home, apparently without informing the other disciples.^{[Lk. 24:1–12]}

Resurrection appearances[link]

Statue of St. Peter on the south door of St Mary's Church in Aylesbury, United Kingdom

Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians^[29] contains a list of resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first of which is an appearance to Peter.^[30] Here Paul apparently follows an early tradition that Peter was the first to see the risen Christ,^[6] which however did not seem to have survived to the time when the Gospels were written.^[31]

In the final chapter of the Gospel of John, Peter, in one of the resurrection appearances of Jesus, three times affirmed his love for Jesus, balancing his threefold denial, and Jesus reconfirmed Peter's position.^{[Jn. 21:15–17]} Some^[who?] scholars hypothesize that it was added later to bolster Peter's status.^[32]

Role in the early church[link]

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] [5:18–42]} He undertook a missionary journey to Lydda, Joppa and Caesarea,^{[9:32–10:2]} becoming instrumental in the decision to evangelise the Gentiles.^[10]

About halfway through, the Acts of the Apostles turns its attention away from Peter and to the activities of Paul, and the Bible is mostly silent on what occurred to Peter afterwards.

John Vidmar writes:

"Both Catholic and Protestant scholars agree that Peter had an authority that superseded that of the other apostles. Peter is their spokesman at several events, he conducts the election of Matthias, his opinion in the debate over converting Gentiles was crucial, etc.^[33]

Rescue from prison[link]

Acts 12 tells how Peter was put into prison by King Herod, but was rescued by an angel.

Council of Jerusalem[link]

At the council of Jerusalem (c. 50), the early Church, Paul and the leaders of the Jerusalem church met and decided to embrace Gentile converts. Acts portrays Peter as successfully opposing the Christian Pharisees who insisted on circumcision.^[34]

Epistles[link]

Peter/Cephas is mentioned briefly in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, which mentions a trip by Paul to Jerusalem where he meets Peter (Galatians 1:18), and a trip by Cephas to Antioch^{[Gal. 2:11-14]} where Paul rebuked him for treating Gentile converts as inferior to Jewish Christian (see the Incident at Antioch). Galatians is accepted as authentic by almost all scholars, so these are the earliest mentions of Peter to be written.

Church tradition ascribes the epistles First and Second Peter to Apostle Peter, as does the text of Second Peter itself. First Peter implies the author is in "Babylon," which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome^[34] (1 Peter 5:13). Although, Babylon was an important fortress city in Egypt, just north of today's Cairo and this fact is combined with the "greetings from Marc" (1 Peter 5:13), who is regarded as founder of the Church of Alexandria (Egypt); thus other scholars put the First Peter epistle to be written in Egypt. Some^[who?] scholars regard First Peter as not authored by him, and there is still considerable debate about the Petrine authorship of Second Peter. However the Greek in both books is similar, and the early Church was adamantly opposed to pseudographical authorship.^{[34][page needed]}

Accounts outside the New Testament[link]

In Catholic tradition, Peter is said to have founded the church in Rome with Paul, served as its bishop, authored two epistles, and then met martyrdom there along with Paul.^[6]

Antioch and Corinth[link]

Later accounts expand on the brief Biblical mention of his visit to Antioch. The Liber Pontificalis (9th century) mentions 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.^[35] Claims of direct blood lineage from Simon Peter among the old population of Antioch existed in the 1st century and continue to exist today, notably by certain Semaan families of modern-day Syria and Lebanon. Historians have furnished other evidence of Peter's sojourn in Antioch.^[36] Subsequent tradition held that Peter had been the first Patriarch of Antioch.

Peter might have visited Corinth, as a party of "Cephas" existed there.^[6]

Eusebius of Caesarea (Eusebius Caesariensis, ca 260-ca 340), in his "Historia Ecclesiastica", while naming some of the Seventy Disciples of Jesus, says: "... and the history by Clement (of Alexandria, c.150 - c. 215), in the fifth (chapter) of Hypotyposeis; in which Cefas, the one mentioned by Paul (in the citation): «when Cefas came to Antioch, I confronted him face to face» (Galatians 2:11), it is said he was one of the Seventy Disciples, having the same name with Peter the Apostle".^[37]

Death[link]

In the epilogue^[34] of the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God,^{[Jn. 21:18–19]}saying "…when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and take you where you do not want to go." This is interpreted by some as a reference to Peter's crucifixion.^[28]

According to the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Peter labored in Rome during the last portion of his life, and there ended his life by martyrdom.^[21] The death of St. Peter is attested to by Tertullian at the end of the 2nd century, and by Origen in Eusebius, Church History III.1. Origen says: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer."^[21] This is why an upside down cross is generally accepted as a symbol of Peter, who would not have considered himself worthy enough to die the same way as his Savior.^[38]

Status[link]

St. Clement of Rome identifies Peter and Paul as the outstanding heroes of the faith.^[6] Papias reported that the Gospel of Mark was based on Peter's memoirs, a tradition still accepted by some scholars today.^[6]

Martyrdom[link]

Caravaggio's depiction of the crucifixion of Apostle Peter.

The mention in the New Testament of the death of Peter says that Jesus indicated its form by saying: "You will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."^[39] Early church tradition (as indicated below) says Peter probably died by crucifixion (with arms outstretched) at the time of the Great Fire of Rome of the year 64. Margherita Guarducci, who led the research leading to the rediscovery of Peter’s tomb in its last stages (1963–1968), concludes Peter died on 13 October AD 64 during the festivities on the occasion of the “dies imperii” of Emperor Nero. This took place three months after the disastrous fire that destroyed Rome for which the emperor wished to blame the Christians. This “dies imperii” (regnal day anniversary) was an important one, exactly ten years after Nero ascended to the throne, and it was ‘as usual’ accompanied by much bloodshed. Traditionally, Roman authorities sentenced him to death by crucifixion. According to 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.

Clement of Rome, in his Letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 5), written c. 80–98, speaks of Peter's martyrdom in the following terms: "Let us take the noble examples of our own generation. Through jealousy and envy the greatest and most just pillars of the Church were persecuted, and came even unto death… Peter, through unjust envy, endured not one or two but many labours, and at last, having delivered his testimony, departed unto the place of glory due to him."

The apocryphal Acts of Peter is also thought to be the source for the tradition about the famous phrase "Quo vadis, Domine?" (or "Pou Hupageis, Kurie?" which means, "Where are you going, Master?"). According to the story, Peter, fleeing Rome to avoid execution, asked the question of a vision of Jesus, to which Jesus allegedly responded that he was "going to Rome to be crucified again." On hearing this, Peter decided to return to the city to accept martyrdom. This story is commemorated in an Annibale Carracci painting. The Church of Quo Vadis, near the Catacombs of Saint 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.

The ancient historian Josephus describes how Roman soldiers would amuse themselves by crucifying criminals in different positions, and it is likely that this would have been known to the author of the Acts of Peter. The position attributed to Peter's crucifixion is thus plausible, either as having happened historically or as being an invention by the author of the Acts of Peter. Death, after crucifixion head down, is unlikely to be caused by suffocation, the usual cause of death in ordinary crucifixion^{[citation needed]}.

A medieval tradition^{[citation needed]} was that the Mamertine Prison in Rome is the place where Peter was imprisoned before his execution.

In 1950, human bones were found buried underneath the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. The bones have been claimed by many to have been those of Peter.^[40] An attempt to contradict these claims was made in 1953 by the excavation of what some believe to be St Peter's tomb in Jerusalem.^[41] However along with supposed tomb of Peter bearing his previous name Simon, tombs bearing the names of Jesus, Mary, James, John, and the rest of the apostles were also found at the same excavation—though all these names were very common among Jews at the time.

In the 1960s, some previously discarded debris from the excavations beneath St Peter's Basilica were re-examined, and the bones of a male person were identified. A forensic examination found them to be a male of about 61 years of age from the 1st century. This caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce them most likely to be the relics of Apostle Peter.^[42]

Further doubt on finding bones in Rome is cast by Pope Vitalian's letter to King Oswy of the Britons (CE 665), offering him the remains (then called relics) of the apostle Peter and Paul, along with those of the Holy Martyrs Laurentius, John, Gregory and Pancratius as a reward for the emergence of British faith.^[43]

Connection to Rome[link]

St. Peter's Basilica, believed to be the burial site of St. Peter, seen from the River Tiber. The iconic dome dominates the skyline of Rome.

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, believed to be the burial site of St. Paul.

The See of Rome is traditionally said to be founded by Peter and Paul, see also Primacy of Simon Peter, who had invested it with apostolic authority. The New Testament says nothing directly about Peter's connection to Rome, but an early Catholic tradition supports such a connection.^[6]

That Peter was bishop of Rome is corroborated by both positive and negative evidence.^[44] However, some historians have challenged this traditional view of Peter's role in the early Roman Church.^{[45][46][47][48][49]} Still, most Catholic and Protestant scholars,^[50] and many scholars in general,^[51] conclude that Peter was indeed martyred in Rome under Nero. In 2009 Otto Zwierlein (de) concluded in a critical study that "there is not a single piece of reliable literary evidence (and no archaeological evidence either) that Peter ever was in Rome."^[52][53]

1 Clement, a document that has been dated from the 90s to the 120s, is one of the earliest sources adduced in support of Peter's stay in Rome, but questions have been raised about the text's authenticity and whether it has any knowledge about Peter's life beyond what is contained in the New Testament Acts.^[52] The Letter to the Romans attributed to St. Ignatius of Antioch implies that Peter and Paul had special authority over the Roman church,^[6] telling the Roman Christians: "I do not command you, as Peter and Paul did" (ch. 4). However, the authenticity of this document and its traditional dating to c. 105–10 have also been questioned, and it may date from the final decades of the 2nd century.^[52]

Later in the 2nd century, Irenaeus of Lyons believed that Peter and Paul had been the founders of the Church in Rome and had appointed Linus as succeeding bishop.^[54] In Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter III, paragraphs 2–3), Irenaeus wrote:

Since, however, it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.

The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles. In the time of this Clement, no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles…

Tertullian also writes: "But if you are near Italy, you have Rome, where authority is at hand for us too. What a happy church that is, on which the apostles poured out their whole doctrine with their blood; where Peter had a passion like that of the Lord, where Paul was crowned with the death of John (the Baptist, by being beheaded)." Dionysius of Corinth also serves as a late 2nd-century witness to the tradition.^[6] He wrote: "You (Pope Soter) have also, by your very admonition, brought together the planting that was made by Peter and Paul at Rome and at Corinth; for both of them alike planted in our Corinth and taught us; and both alike, teaching similarly in Italy, suffered martyrdom at the same time".^[55] Later tradition, first found in Saint Jerome, attributes to Peter a 25-year episcopate (or apostolate) in Rome.^[6]

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there was a Christian community at Rome before either Peter or Paul arrived there:

Even on the Day of Pentecost, "Roman strangers" (advenœ Romani, Acts 2:10) were present at Jerusalem, and they surely must have carried the good news to their fellow-citizens at Rome… according to the pseudo-Clementine Epistles, St. Barnabas was the first to preach the Gospel in the Eternal City.^[56]

Paul's Epistle to the Romans 16 (c. 58) attests to a large Christian community already there,^[57] although he does not mention Peter.

Non-canonical sayings of Peter[link]

Two sayings are attributed to Peter in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas. In the first, Peter compares Jesus to a "just messenger."^[58] In the second, Peter asks Jesus to "make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life,"^[59] although the verse containing the latter is regarded by most scholars as a dubious, later addition.^{[citation needed]}

In the Apocalypse of Peter, Peter holds a dialogue with Jesus about the parable of the fig tree and the fate of sinners.^[60]

In the Gospel of Mary, whose text is largely fragmented, Peter appears to be jealous of "Mary" (probably Mary Magdalene). He says to the other disciples, "Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?"^[61] In reply to this, Levi says "Peter, you have always been hot tempered."^[62]

Other noncanonical texts that attribute sayings to Peter include the Secret Book of James and the Acts of Peter.

Denial of Jesus[link]

In the Fayyum Fragment of the end of the 3rd century, Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before a cock crows (on the following morning). The account is similar to that of the canonical gospels, especially the Gospel of Mark, either an abbreviation of the account in the Synoptics or a source text on which they were based.

Post-Jesus[link]

The fragmentary Gospel of Peter, attributed to Peter, contains an account of the death of Jesus differing significantly from the canonical gospels. It contains little information about Peter himself, except that after the discovery of the empty tomb, "I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our fishing nets and went to the sea." ^[63]

19th century[link]

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, recorded in multiple revelations that Peter appeared to him and Oliver Cowdery in 1829 in order to bestow the apostleship and keys of the kingdom as part of a restoration of priesthood authority.^[64][65]

Religious interpretations[link]

Catholic Church[link]

Peter
Papacy began	AD 30
Papacy ended	AD 64
Predecessor	New creation (First Pope)
Successor	Linus
Personal details
Birth name	Simon/Simeon bar Jona
Born	Bethsaida
Died	c. AD 64 City of Rome, Present day Italy

According to Catholic belief, Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and chief pastor of the whole Catholic Church—the Vicar of Christ upon Earth.^[66] Although Peter never bore the title of "Pope", or "Vicar of Christ", the Catholic Church believes him to be the first Pope.^[67] Therefore, they consider every pope to be Peter's successor and the rightful superior of all other bishops.

The Catholic Church's recognition of Peter as head of its church on Earth (with Christ being its heavenly head) is based on its interpretation of two passages from the Canonical Gospels of the New Testament; as well as Sacred Tradition. The first passage is John 21:15-17 which is: "Feed my lambs, feed my lambs, feed my sheep" (within the Greek it is Ποίμαινε i.e., to feed and rule [as a Shepherd]., v. 16 while Βόσκε i.e., to feed., for v.15 & v. 17)^[68]—which is seen by Catholics as Christ promising the spiritual supremacy to Peter. The Catholic Encyclopedia sees in this passage Jesus "charging [Peter] with the superintendency of all his sheep, without exception; and consequently of his whole flock, that is, of his own church”.^[66] The second passage is Matthew 16:17-20:

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven".

Christ spoke here in the Syriac tongue, hence:

also I say I to you that you are Keepa (Cephah) and on this Keepa (Cephah) I will build my Church and the gates of Sheol not will subdue it.

Thou art a rock, and upon this rock: or, Thou art Peter, and upon this peter will I build my Church:

Pétrus (Πέτρος) and pétra (πέτρᾳ) are the Greek equivalent to the Syriac Cephah (ܟ݁ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐ) which means "rock", and there is no difference at all between Pétrus and pétra.

To better understand what Christ meant, St. Basil elaborates:^[69]

Though Peter be a rock, yet he is not a rock as Christ is. For Christ is the true unmoveable rock of himself, Peter is unmoveable by Christ the rock. For Jesus doth communicate and impart his dignities, not voiding himself of them, but holding them to himself, bestoweth them also upon others. He is the light, and yet 2. You are the light: he is the Priest, and yet he 3. maketh Priests: he is the rock, and he made a rock.

In reference to Peter's occupation before becoming an Apostle, the popes wear the Fisherman's Ring, which bears an image of the saint casting his nets from a fishing boat. The keys used as a symbol of the pope's authority refer to the "keys of the kingdom of Heaven" promised to Peter.^{[Matt. 16:18–19]} The terminology of this "commission" of Peter is unmistakably parallel to the commissioning of Eliakim ben Hilkiah in Isaiah 22:15–23. Peter is often depicted in both Western and Eastern Christian art holding a key or a set of keys.

Though the authenticity of this account has been challenged, the general consensus is that these are Jesus' words.^[70]

Feast days[link]

Looking down into the confessio near the tomb of Apostle Peter, Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome.

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."

This is also the feast of both Apostles in the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In the Roman Rite, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter is celebrated on 22 February, and the anniversary of the dedication of the two papal basilicas of Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's outside the Walls is held on 18 November.

Before Pope John XXIII's revision in 1960, the Roman Calendar also included on 18 January another feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (denominated the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome, while the February feast was then called that of the Chair of Saint Peter at Antioch), and on 1 August the feast of Saint Peter in Chains.

St. Peter's Basilica[link]

In the early 4th century, the Emperor Constantine I decided to honour Peter with a large basilica. Because the precise location of Peter's burial was so firmly fixed in the belief of the Christians of Rome, the church to house the basilica had to be erected on a site that was not convenient to construction. The slope of the Vatican Hill had to be excavated, even though the church could much more easily have been built on level ground only slightly to the south. There were also moral and legal issues, such as demolishing a cemetery to make room for the building. The focal point of the Basilica, both in its original form and in its later complete reconstruction, is the altar located over what is said to be the point of Peter's burial.

Protestants and other views[link]

A major debate between Catholics and Protestants centers on Matthew 16:18 where Jesus tells Peter: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church..." Catholics interpret the verse as saying that Jesus would build his church on Peter, the apostle. The traditional Catholic interpretation has been that Jesus told Peter (Rock) that he would build his Church on this Rock (Peter), and that Peter was made the shepherd of the apostolic flock^{[Jn 21:15-19]}—hence their assertion of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff.

Meaning of "Rock"[link]

In the original Greek the word translated as "Peter" is Πέτρος (Petros) and that translated as "rock" is πέτρα (petra), two words that, while not identical, give an impression of one of many times when Jesus used a play on words. Furthermore, since Jesus presumably spoke to Peter in their native Aramaic language, he would have used kepha in both instances.^[71] The Peshitta Text and the Old Syriac text use the word "kepha" for both "Peter" and "rock" in Matthew 16:18.^[72] John 1:42 says Jesus called Simon "Cephas", as does Paul in some letters. He was instructed by Christ to strengthen his brethren, i.e., the apostles.^{[Lk 22:31-32]} Peter also had a leadership role in the early Christian church at Jerusalem according to The Acts of the Apostles chapters 1–2, 10–11, and 15.

Early Catholic Latin and Greek writers (such as St. John Chrysostom) considered the "foundation rock" as applying to both Peter personally and his confession of faith (or the faith of his confession) symbolically, as well as seeing Christ's promise to apply more generally to his twelve apostles and the Church at large.^[73] This "double meaning" interpretation is present in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church.^[74]

Protestant counter-claims to the Catholic interpretation are largely based on the difference between the Greek words translated "Rock" in the Matthean passage. In classical Attic Greek petros generally meant "pebble," while petra meant "boulder" or "cliff." Accordingly, taking Peter's name to mean "pebble," they argue that the "rock" in question cannot have been Peter, but something else, either Jesus himself, or the faith in Jesus that Peter had just professed. However, the New Testament was written in Koiné Greek, not Attic Greek, and some authorities say no significant difference existed between the meanings of petros and petra.

Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter, by Pietro Perugino (1481–82)

However, even though the feminine noun petra is translated as rock in the phrase "on this rock I will build my church," the word petra (πέτρα in Greek) is also used at 1 Cor. 10:4 in describing Jesus Christ, which reads: "They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."

Although Matthew 16 is used as a primary proof-text for the Catholic doctrine of Papal supremacy, Protestant scholars say that prior to the Reformation of the 16th century, Matthew 16 was very rarely used to support papal claims. Their position is that most of the early and medieval Church interpreted the 'rock' as being a reference either to Christ or to Peter's faith, not Peter himself. They understand Jesus' remark to have been his affirmation of Peter's testimony that Jesus was the Son of God.^[75]

Other theologically conservative Christians, including Confessional Lutherans, also rebut comments made by Karl Keating and D.A. Carson who claim that there is no distinction between the words petros and petra in Koine Greek. The Lutheran theologians state that the dictionaries of Koine/NT Greek, including the authoritative^[76] Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich Lexicon, indeed list both words and the passages that give different meanings for each. The Lutheran theologians further note that:

We honor Peter and in fact some of our churches are named after him, but he was not the first pope, nor was he Roman Catholic. If you read his first letter, you will see that he did not teach a Roman hierarchy, but that all Christians are royal priests. The same keys given to Peter in Matthew 16 are given to the whole church of believers in Matthew 18^[77]

Partial Protestant support[link]

Partial support for the Catholic position comes from one of Protestantism's most distinguished Church historians, Oscar Cullmann, a Lutheran theologian. He disagrees with Luther and the Protestant reformers who held that by "rock" Christ did not mean Peter, but meant either himself or the faith of His followers. He believes the meaning of the original Aramaic is very clear: that "Kepha" was the Aramaic word for "rock", and that it was also the name by which Christ called Peter.^[78]

Yet, Cullmann sharply rejects the Catholic claim that Peter began the papal succession. He writes: "In the life of Peter there is no starting point for a chain of succession to the leadership of the church at large." While he believes the Matthew text is entirely valid and is in no way spurious, he says it cannot be used as "warrant of the papal succession."^[78]

Cullmann concludes that while Peter was the original head of the apostles, Peter was not the founder of any visible church succession.^[78]

There are other Protestant scholars who also partially defend the historical Catholic position about "Rock."^[79] Taking a somewhat different approach from Cullman, they point out that the Gospel of Matthew was not written in the classical Attic form of Greek, but in the Hellenistic Koine dialect in which there is no distinction in meaning between petros and petra. Moreover, even in Attic Greek, in which the regular meaning of petros was a smallish "stone," there are instances of its use to refer to larger rocks, as in Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus v. 1595, where petros refers to a boulder used as a landmark, obviously something more than a pebble. In any case, a petros/petra distinction is irrelevant considering the Aramaic language in which the phrase might well have been spoken. In Greek, of any period, the feminine noun petra could not be used as the given name of a male, which may explain the use of Petros as the Greek word with which to translate Aramaic Kepha.^[71]

Yet, still other Protestant scholars believe that Jesus in fact did mean to single out Peter as the very rock which he will build upon, but that the passage does nothing to indicate a continued succession of Peter's implied position. They assert that Matthew uses the demonstrative pronoun taute, which allegedly means "this very" or this same, when he refers to the rock on which Jesus' church will be built. He also uses the Greek word for "and", kai. It is alleged that when a demonstrative pronoun is used with kai, the pronoun refers back to the preceding noun. The second rock Jesus refers to must then be the same rock as the first one; and if Peter is the first rock he must also be the second.^[80]

Eastern Orthodox[link]

Icon of St. Peter (15th century, Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg).

The Eastern Orthodox Church regards Apostle Peter, together with Apostle Paul, as "Preeminent Apostles". Another title used for Peter is Coryphaeus, which could be translated as "Choir-director", or lead singer.^[81] The church recognizes Apostle Peter's leadership role in the early church, especially in the very early days at Jerusalem, but does not consider him to have had any "princely" role over his fellow Apostles.

The New Testament is not seen by the Orthodox as supporting any extraordinary authority for Peter with regard to faith or morals. The Orthodox also hold that 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 (and certain prohibitions) was spelled out by James, the Brother of the Lord (though Catholics hold James merely reiterated and fleshed out what Peter had said, regarding the latter's earlier divine revelation regarding the inclusion of Gentiles).

Eastern and Oriental Orthodox do not recognize the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople sends a delegation each year to Rome to participate in the celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. In the Ravenna Document of 13 October 2007, the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church agreed that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St. Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs, if the Papacy unites with the Orthodox Church. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium."

With regard to Jesus' words to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", the Orthodox hold Christ is referring to the confession of faith, not the person of Peter as that upon which he will build the church. This is allegedly shown by the fact that the original Greek uses the feminine demonstrative pronoun when he says "upon this rock" (ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ); whereas, grammatically, if he had been referring to Peter, he would allegedly have used the masculine.^[82] This "gender distinction" argument is also held by some Protestants.

Feast days[link]

In the Orthodox Daily Office every Thursday throughout the year is dedicated to the Holy Apostles, including St. Peter. There are also two feast days in the year which are dedicated to him:

• June 29, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul—This is a major feast day and is preceded by a period of Lenten fasting known as the Apostles' Fast
• January 16, Veneration of the Precious Chains of the Holy and All-Glorious Apostle Peter—commemorating both the chains which Acts 12:1-11 says miraculously fell from him, and the chains in which he was held before his martyrdom by Nero.

Syriac Orthodox Church[link]

The Fathers of the Syriac Orthodox Church tried to give a theological interpretation to the primacy of Apostle Peter. They were fully convinced of the unique office of Peter in the primitive Christian community. Ephrem, Aphrahat and Marutha who were supposed to be the best exponents of the early Syriac tradition unequivocally acknowledge the office of Peter.

The Syriac Fathers following the rabbinic tradition call Jesus “Kepha” for they see “rock” in the Old Testament as a messianic Symbol. When Christ gave his own name “Kepha” to Simon he was giving him participation in the person and office of Christ. Christ who is the Kepha and shepherd made Simon the chief shepherd in his place and gave him the very name Kepha and said that on Kepha he would build the Church. Aphrahat shared the common Syriac tradition. For him Kepha is in fact another name of Jesus, and Simon was given the right to share the name. The person who receives somebody else’s name also obtains the rights of the person who bestows the name. Aphrahat makes the stone taken from Jordan a type of Peter. He says 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.

Again he says in his commentary on Deuteronomy that Moses brought forth water from “rock” (Kepha) for the people and Jesus sent Simon Kepha to carry his teachings among nations. Our Lord accepted him and made him the foundation of the Church and called him Kepha. When he speaks about transfiguration of Christ he calls him Simon Peter, the foundation of the Church. Ephrem also shared the same view. In Armenian version of De Virginitate records Peter the Rock shunned honour Who was the head of the Apostles. In a mimro of Efrem found in Holy Week Liturgy points to the importance of Peter.

Both Aphrahat and Ephrem represent the authentic tradition of the Syrian Church. The different orders of liturgies used for sanctification of Church building, marriage, ordination etc. reveal that the primacy of Peter is a part of living faith of the Church.^[83]

New Apostolic Church[link]

The New Apostolic Church, who believes in the re-established Apostle ministry, sees Peter as the first Chief Apostle.

Latter Day Saint movement[link]

Bronze statue on the LDS Church's Temple Square (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) depicting Peter, James, and John conferring the Melchizedek priesthood in 1829 on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church or "Mormons") along with other sects of the Latter Day Saint movement believe that Peter was the first leader of the early Christian church, but reject papal succession. In interpreting Matthew 16:13–19 the LDS Church has stated, "The things of God are known only by the power of his Spirit."^[84], and "That which the world calls Mormonism is based upon the rock of revelation"^[85], and "And how could it be otherwise?" asked Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve. In his April 1981 general conference address, he identified the rock of which the Savior spoke as the rock of revelation. "There is no other foundation upon which the Lord could build His Church and kingdom. . . ."Revelation: Pure, perfect, personal revelation - this is the rock! ^[86] Latter-day saints believe that Peter, James, and John came from heaven and conferred the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1829, near Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania as part of the restoration of priesthood authority.^[87]

Islamic literature[link]

Muslims accept Jesus as a prophet of Islam. The Qur'an also speaks of Jesus's disciples but does not mention their names, instead referring to them as "helpers to the work of God".^[88] Muslim exegesis and Qur'an commentary, however, names them and includes Peter amongst the disciples.^[1] An old tradition, which involves the legend of Habib the Carpenter, mentions that Peter was one of the three disciples sent to Antioch to preach to the people there.^[89]

Shia Muslims see a parallel in the figure of Peter to Ali at Muhammad's time. They look upon Ali as being the vicegerent, with Muhammad being the prophet; likewise, they see Peter as the vicegerent, behind Jesus the prophet and Masih. Peter's role as the first proper leader of the church is also seen by Shia's to be a parallel to their belief in Ali as the first caliph after Muhammad.^[90]

Judaism[link]

Saint Peter statue, Israel

A 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai.

According to Jewish folklore (Toledot Yeshu narrative), St. Peter (Shimeon Kepha Ha-Tzadik) had a pristine reputation as a greatly learned and holy man.

Writings[link]

Traditionally, two canonical epistles (1 and 2 Peter) and several apocryphal works have been attributed to Peter.

New Testament[link]

The New Testament includes two letters (epistles) ascribed to Peter. Both demonstrate a high quality of cultured and urban Greek, at odds with the linguistic skill that would ordinarily be expected of an Aramaic-speaking fisherman, who would have learned Greek as a second or third language. However, the author of the first epistle explicitly claims to be using a secretary (see below), and this explanation would allow for discrepancies in style without entailing a different source. The textual features of these two epistles are such that a majority of scholars doubt that they were written by the same hand. This means at the most that Peter could not have authored both, or at the least that he used a different secretary for each letter. Some scholars argue that theological differences imply different sources, and point to the lack of references to 2 Peter among the early Church Fathers.

Of the two epistles, the first epistle is considered the earlier. A number of scholars have argued that the textual discrepancies with what would be expected of the biblical Peter are due to it having been written with the help of a secretary or as an amanuensis. Indeed in the first epistle the use of a secretary is clearly described: "By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand".^{[1 Pet. 5:12]} Thus, in regards to at least the first epistle, the claims that Peter would have written Greek poorly seem irrelevant. The references to persecution of Christians, which only began under Nero, cause most scholars to date the text to at least the year 80, which would require Peter to have survived to an age that was, at that time, extremely old, and almost never reached, particularly by common fishermen. However, the Roman historian Tacitus and the biographer Suetonius both record that Nero's persecution of Christians began immediately after the fire that burned Rome in 64. Such a date, which is in accord with Christian tradition, especially Eusebius (History book 2, 24.1), would not have Peter at an improbable age upon his death. On the other hand, many scholars consider this in reference to the persecution of Christians in Asia Minor during the reign of the emperor Domitian (81–96).

In the salutation of the First Epistle of Peter, the writer refers to the diaspora, which did not occur until 136: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

The Second Epistle of Peter, on the other hand, appears to have been copied, in part, from the Epistle of Jude, and some modern scholars date its composition as late as c. 150. Some scholars argue the opposite, that the Epistle of Jude copied 2 Peter, while others contend an early date for Jude and thus observe that an early date is not incompatible with the text. Many scholars have noted the similarities between the apocryphal Second Epistle of Clement (2nd century) and 2 Peter. Second Peter may be earlier than 150, there are a few possible references to it that date back to the 1st century or early 2nd century, e.g., 1 Clement written in c. AD 96, and the later church historian Eusebius claimed that Origen had made reference to the epistle before 250. Even in early times there was controversy over its authorship, and 2 Peter was often not included in the Biblical Canon; it was only in the 4th century that it gained a firm foothold in the New Testament, in a series of synods. In the east the Syrian Orthodox Church still did not admit it into the canon until the 6th century.

Traditionally, the Gospel of Mark was said to have been written by a person named John Mark, and that this person was an assistant to Peter, hence its content was traditionally seen as the closest to Peter's viewpoint. According to Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, Papias recorded this belief from John the Presbyter:

Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a normal or chronological narrative of the Lord's sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictional into the statements^[91]

Also Irenaeus wrote about this tradition:

After their (Peter and Paul's) passing, Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, transmitted to us in writing the things preached by Peter.^[92]

Based on these quotes, and on the Christian tradition, the information in Mark's Gospel about St. Peter would be based on eyewitness material. It should be noted, however, that some scholars (for differing reasons) dispute the attribution of the Gospel of Mark to its traditional author. The gospel itself is anonymous, and the above passages are the oldest surviving written testimony to its authorship.

Pseudepigrapha and apocrypha[link]

The key as symbol of St. Peter

There are also a number of other apocryphal writings, not recognized by the Church, that have been either attributed to or written about St. Peter. They were from antiquity regarded as pseudepigrapha.^{[citation needed]} These include:

• Gospel of Peter, a partially Docetic narrative that has survived in part
• Acts of Peter
• Acts of Peter and Andrew
• Acts of Peter and Paul
• Acts of Peter and the Twelve
• Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter
• A Letter of Peter to Philip, which was preserved in the Nag Hammadi library
• Apocalypse of Peter, which was considered as genuine by many Christians as late as the 4th century
• The Epistula Petri, the introductory letter ascribed to Apostle Peter that appears at the beginning of at least one version of the Clementine literature

Iconography[link]

In traditional iconography, 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. He thus contrasts with Saint Paul who is bald except at the sides, with a longer beard and often black hair, and thinner in the face. One exception to this is in Anglo-Saxon art, where he typically lacks a beard. Both Peter and Paul are shown thus as early as the 4th century Catacombs of Marcellinus and Peter in Rome.^[93] Later in the Middle Ages his attribute is one or two large keys in his hand or hanging from his belt, first seen in the early 8th century.^[94] More than many medieval attributes, this continued to be depicted in the Renaissance and afterwards. By the 15th century Peter is more likely to be bald on the top of his head in the Western church, but he continues to have a good head of hair in Orthodox icons.

The depiction of Saint Peter as literally the keeper of the gates of heaven, popular with modern cartoonists (see next section) is not found in traditional religious art, but Peter usually heads groups of saints flanking God in heaven, on the right hand side (viewer's left) of God. Narrative images of 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. Usually he stands nearest to Christ. In particular, depictions of the Arrest of Christ usually include Peter cutting off the ear of one of the soldiers. Scenes without Jesus include his distinctive martyrdom, his rescue from prison, and sometimes his trial. In the Counter-Reformation scenes of Peter hearing the cock crow for the third time became popular, as a representation of repentance and hence the Catholic sacrament of Confession or Repentance.

Popular culture[link]

Over the years "St. Peter" has evolved into a stock character that is now widely used in jokes, cartoons, comedies, dramas, and plays. Such caricatures almost all play upon Peter's role as the "keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven" in Matthew 16:19, on the basis of which he is often depicted as an elderly, bearded man who sits at the pearly gates that serve as heaven's main entrance, often portrayed as a sort of hotel-style doorman / bouncer who personally interviews prospective entrants into Heaven, often seated behind a desk, or standing at a lectern. He usually has a big book in which the names of the saved are written.

Patronage[link]

Saint Peter is the patron saint of the following categories^{[citation needed]}

Relief sculpture of St. Peter at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey

Holy relics[link]

Pius XII ordered archaeological excavations under St Peter's Basilica in Rome to determine whether the tomb of St Peter was there. At the conclusion of the Holy Year in 1950 he confirmed that the tomb of Peter had been found underneath the basilica^[95]

Pope Vitalian sent filings from Apostle Peter's chains to Oswy, King of Northumbria in the 7th century.^[96]

Peter's remains continue to be subject of investigation, but his tomb is located under Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, which was announced by Pope Pius XII on Christmas Day in 1950 after years of painstaking research.^[95]

Revisionist views[link]

Many Protestant scholars accept the traditional story of Peter's martyrdom in Rome. Some Protestants, however, have rejected Peter's martyrdom as a later invention, arguing that evidence of Peter exists only in Biblical accounts.

It has also been claimed that there was a serious division between Peter's Jewish Christian party and Paul's Hellenizing party, seen in e.g. the Incident at Antioch, which later Christian accounts have downplayed.^[97]

Another revisionist view was developed by supporters of the Christ myth theory, which holds that the figure of Peter is largely a development from some mythological doorkeeper figures. According to Arthur Drews and G. A. Wells, if there was a historical Peter, then all that is known about him is the brief mentions in Galatians.^[98][99]

See also[link]

• Peter and Paul
• Quo Vadis
• Saint Peter and Islam
• Saint Peter and Judaism
• Saint Peter's Square
• Saint Peter's tomb
• San Pietro in Vincoli
• St. Peter's Basilica
• Sword of Saint Peter
• The Big Fisherman