St. Peter's Syriac Orthodox Church of Canada

St. Peter – son of Jonah was a native of Bethsida on the shore of Galilee. Settled in Capernaum, together with his brother Andrew he earned his living "fishing", until the Lord called him from being a "fisherman" to become a "fisher of men". Thenceforth he was called Kepha, (Aramaic word for "rock", Petra or Petrus in Latin) and when he later declared his faith in Jesus as "the Christ, the son of living God" the Lord spontaneously declared him "Blessed" , stating univocally : "upon this rock I will build my Church". After the resurrection of Jesus, Peter was among the first to whom the Lord appeared; it was he who presided over the election of Mathias, preached the first public sermon at Pentecost, addressed the Sanhedrin, received the Jewish and later the first pagan into the church; he performed the first public miracle, and spoke the decisive word at the first council of the church. St. Peter was a man of action. He was crucified on Vatican Hill, during the reign of Emperor Nero (c.67), but upside down in difference to his feeling of unworthiness at dying in the position in which he Lord had been crucified. On 29th June (C.268) the body was brought at St. Sebastian`s catacomb, Rome and thenceforth his feast is celebrated on 29th June all over the world.