Saint Peter the Apostle AD 2025

Peter means “rock”. Apostle Peter might have resembled a rock in terms of his appearance: we don’t know anything about it directly, but since he was a professional fisherman and leaves a rather strong impression in the accounts of the Gospels and the Book of Acts, we can assume that he was a big and strong man.

This may have been his biggest stumbling block in following Jesus: His own self was the “rock” on which he stumbled and fell many times. For example, when he thought he had to rebuke Jesus, who had predicted His suffering and death, and lead Him back to the “right path,” so that Jesus had to admonish him with terrifying severity: “Get behind me, Satan!” And of course, when Peter had promised to die with Jesus, but was afraid of a maid and denied Jesus three times.

Peter had to learn that if He relied on himself, he would be nothing more than “flesh and blood”, a weak and sinful man, who could do nothing but fall down and pray in despair, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Uneducated as he was, Peter was neither a speaker nor a writer – until the moment he was ready to forsake his own self and build himself on the only true Rock, which is Jesus Christ. After that, he was no longer inspired by his own flesh and blood, but by the Holy Ghost, who gave him the words to preach and the courage to stand firm as a true rock until the end of his life. He was able to do this because he had finally realized that Jesus is the only one who has the words of eternal life.