Saint Peter (1 to 68)

In the Gospel of John it is related that when Peter refused to have his feet washed by Jesus, who washed his disciples' feet (because he felt unworthy), Jesus answered him "Unless I wash you, you will not inherit in me." Peter then answered Jesus, "Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and head!" (John 13: 6-9).

In Matthew's Gospel, it is told that Peter was walking on water when he saw Jesus walking on the water, but because he was afraid, he drowned and was helped by Jesus. (Matthew 14: 22-32). The Gospel of Mark also tells of Jesus walking on water but it does not describe Peter walking on the water.

Peter was the first to confess his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20). Peter was also present and spoke in the stories more often than the other apostles, for example in the Christ Transfiguration, the incident Peter rebuked Jesus saying that He would be crucified, the story of Peter and the collector of the Temple tax, the story of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane, the story of Jesus and the fig tree, and so on.

Jesus warned Peter that after He was arrested, Peter would deny Him three times, "I say to you, behold, tonight, before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times." (Matthew 26:34) Before and after Jesus said that, Peter still insisted that he was the most faithful disciple.

In the end, it is told that exactly as Jesus said, Peter had denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed.

Peter still did not do much after Jesus' ascension to Heaven. Peter and the other disciples were still living in the city of Jerusalem, gathered to persevere and pray with about one hundred and twenty people, until the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out like tongues of fire. After that incident, Peter gave a sermon which eventually led to three thousand people being baptized.

Peter and John heal a paralyzed man at the gate of the Temple in Jerusalem, causing a great commotion. Both were arrested and brought before the Religious Court (Sanhedrin) but were released and continued to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. With John, Peter went to Samaria and began an outpouring of the Holy Spirit for those who believed there. Peter was given the gift of healing many sick people and raising Dorcas from the dead.

Gentiles, apart from Samaritans, had started hearing the gospel from the time of Jesus Christ's life, but the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did not actually take place when Peter visited the home of Cornelius, a Roman officer, in Caesarea. This happened after Peter had a miraculous vision with the message that "" What is declared lawful by God, thou shalt not declare haram. "Based on this incident the Gospel began to be revealed for all nations and confirmed at the Jerusalem Council.

After the apostle James, John's brother, was executed by Herod Antipas, Peter was miraculously released from prison by an angel. He gave a message through John Mark's family that the leadership of the church in Jerusalem would be taken by James, the brother of Jesus Christ, then he left Jerusalem and went outside Judea. Peter briefly attended the Jerusalem Council, but then his whereabouts are no longer recorded except in his first letter he implies he was in Babylon.

While not yet called pope, Peter had become head of the Council of Apostles in Jerusalem in the year 50, although at the Jerusalem Council the chairperson was James, the brother of Jesus Christ.

According to church tradition, Peter later left and lived in Rome. Rome was the center of the entire Roman Empire. There, Peter converted many people. According to Jerome's account, Peter arrived in Rome in the second year of the emperor Claudius to remove Simon Magus, and served there for 25 years until his death in Emperor Nero's 14th year.

According to the tradition recorded by Jerome, Peter died by being crucified upside down, that is, head down, feet up in Rome during Nero's reign after refusing to be crucified with his head up because he felt unworthy to die in the same position as Jesus.

Peter is buried in what is now just below the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. This tradition is recorded in the "Acts of Peter" (Greek apocryphal text from the 2nd century) and as a separate account "The Death of the Martyrdom of Peter" ("Martyrdom of Peter") is contained in three Greek manuscripts, one Coptic text, and in Syriac, Ethiopian, Arabic, Armenian and Slavic versions. Hence, it is suggested that this account has an ancient source.