SAINT SIMON-PETER,

"Prince of The Apostles"

The Holy, Glorious and All-Laudable Saint Simon-Peter "the Prince of the Apostles" was a devout Jew from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of Jonas and the brother of Saint Andrew "the First-Called Apostle". Saint Peter had first been a fisherman. Christ Jesus, upon meeting Simon Bar Jonah, performed a miracle allowing fish to enter his nets. Christ then called Peter to minister saying "Come, and I will make you a fisher of men". Saint Simon straightway followed Christ, becoming one of His most trusted disciples.

Christ the Lord renamed Simon "Peter" meaning a Stone, telling him "Thou art Simon the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)" (John 1:42), and more famously telling him and the Apostles "Upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it".

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On being raised by the Lord to the dignity of an Apostle and becoming inseparable from him as his zealous disciple, he followed him from the beginning of his preaching of salvation up until the very Passion, when, in the court of Caiaphas the high priest, he denied Him thrice because of his fear of the Jews and of the danger at hand. But again, after many bitter tears, he received complete forgiveness of his transgression. After the Resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit, he preached in Judea and Antioch. He became the first Bishop of Antioch, overseeing the Church for about twelve years, then leaving the See of Antioch to Saint Evodius the Apostle. He would travel throughout Asia, helping to establish the Church of the East (which would later be called the Assyrian Church of the East). Finally, saint Peter would go to Rome, where he would help guide the Church there. He would be regarded as a Bishop in Rome, and is considered its "1st Pope of Rome" by most of the Christian world. His wife would be martyed right before him, and he was crucified upside down by Nero, and thus he ascended to the eternal habitations about the year 66 or 68 ad, leaving two Catholic General Epistles to the Church of Christ, known as I Peter and II Peter. He is also generally regarded as being the primary source for the material recorded in the Gospel of Mark, as well as sending Saint Mark the Apostle to plant the Church of Alexandria.