By AD28 it is known that he was married and lived in the town of Capernaum on the north shore of the sea of Galilee and was the proprietor of a boat along with his younger brother Andrew and working in partnership with Zebedee the father of disciples James & John.

One day Andrew came to Simon and announced with great excitement "we have found the Messiah". According to St John's Gospel, Simon bar Jonah met Jesus of Nazareth in Bethany (Betharbara) who declared: "You are Simon son of John; your name shall be 'cephas'." Cephas is the Greek transliteration of an Aramic word meaning rock. Petros from which we get the English "Peter" is a translation.

Peter left fishing to follow Jesus around a year later in AD29. It was after the arrest of John the Baptist and the events detailed in Luke when Jesus bade them to fish and their nets became full with no natural explanation that Peter fell at Jesus' feet crying "Leave me, Lord. I am a sinful man" (Lk.5:8). Jesus' reply in Lk. 5:10: "Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men" sealed his future.

The following day Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law at their home in Capernaum. Immediately the house became the centre for Jesus' preaching and St Mark records that "they brought him all who were ill, and those possessed by demons."

Peter is recognized as the first of the Disciples to understand the divinity of Jesus in Mt. 16:16 "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God!" Jesus replied: "Blest are you, Simon of Jonah! No mere man has revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. I for my part declare to you, you are the Rock and on this rock I will build my Church." (Mt 16: 17-19)

The Transfiguration on Mount Tabor where Peter witnessed Jesus speaking with Elijah & Moses (Mk 9:2-4) and the subsequent appearance of God as a voice in a cloud declaring "This is my Son, my beloved. Listen to Him" (Mk 9:7-8), is seen as one of the most moving of Peter's life. Of this experience he wrote many years later, "Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star arises in your hearts."

The Bible records the most famous of Peter's acts, confirming Jesus' prophecy that he would deny him thrice before dawn at the Last Supper, "I give you my assurance, this very night before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times" (Mk. 14:29). Although Peter replied in Mk14 30:31: "Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you" he subsequently denied being a disciple of Jesus twice and then a third time to an accuser saying, " I do not even know the man you are talking about" (Mk. 14:71). A cock then crowed announcing the dawn and fulfilling the prophecy.

Before Jesus' Ascension he gave Peter three occasions to atone asking him: "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" His reply was "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you". Jesus asked twice more allowing Peter a symbolic reaffirmation of his faith and his leadership over the Christian community.

Jesus' final words to Peter before his Ascension were to prepare him for the manner in which he would die: "I tell you solemnly: as a young man you fastened your belt and went about as you pleased; but when you are older you will strech out your hands and another will tie you fast and carry you off against your will." (Jn. 21:18)

Peter subsequently stayed in Jerusalem for the next 10 years preaching and worshipping with other followers of Jesus. Luke records that his preaching was accompanied by miracles and healings: in the town of Joppa he is meant to have raised from the dead a woman and also healed a paralysed man in the town of Lydda. These acts brought him to the attention of the Sanhedrin (a form of state government within the Roman Empire) who administered civil and criminal law in the regions. They tried to warn Peter and his disciples off preaching and practicing miracles. Peter paid no attention and carried on his ministry causing him to be arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin again, who by this time were baying for blood and called for his crucifixion. Internal politics downgraded this to a flogging which had no effect whatsoever as Peter and the 12 are said to have returned to preaching the following day.

As the church developed in Jerusalem so did the politics and Peter attempted to moderate between the two factions that had developed: the Jewish christians and the Hellenistic Christians (mainly converted pagans and gentiles).

Roman and Jewish politics outside the church were far more dangerous and resulted in AD42 or AD43 in Peter being arrested yet again on the orders of the new governer Agrippa. Once more divine intervention saved him and he escaped the city and is known to have preached throughout Asia Minor, Corinth and Antioch where he stayed for seven years. Some scholars also argue that he also preached in Gaul and even Britain.

Finally he ended up in Rome where he began to convert the local Jewish population, until disaster struck on July 19 AD64 when Rome burned. The Emperor Nero needed scapegoats and Christianity was denounced as a "deadly superstition." Peter, aware that he would soon die, penned his universal epistle to prepare his followers for suffering, writing that they should be patient until "the God of all grace who called you to His everlasting glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish those who have suffered a little while."

Tacitus writes of Nero's fury in persecuting the Christians: "First Nero had self-acknowledged Christians arrested. Then, on their information, large numbers of others were condemned. Their deaths were made farcical. Dressed in wild animal's skins, they were torn to pieces by dogs, or crucified, or made into torches to be ignited after dark as substitutes for daylight."

Both Peter and his wife were arrested and tradition holds that he was kept for nine months in the Tullian Keep, chained to a column. The historian Eusebius maintains that the date of his crucifixion was June 29 AD67. Peter requested that he be crucified upside down, nobody really knows the reason why.

Peter is represented by a bunch of keys because Christ gave him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. He is also represented by a Cock because he went out and wept bitterly on hearing the cock crowing.

According to tradition, Peter is buried in the Church of St Peter in Rome.

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