Saint Peter
apostle of Jesus Christ
Saint Peter (born Simon bar Jonah; c. 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, 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, but they differ in their attitudes regarding the authority of his successors. According to Catholic teaching, Jesus promised Peter a special position in the church. 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.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Saint Peter” as apostle of Jesus Christ. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as apostle of Jesus Christ. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q33923. VIAF identifies the subject as 13581141. The Library of Congress control number is n79022118. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saint Peter” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.