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Home , Apostle, Saint Peter

Her Roots are Stong and Firm Peter the (Synexarium 5 Abib) Who is St. Peter? + He was one of the 12 disciples of + Town of Birth: Bethesda + Occupation: fisherman . + : his brother called Andrew who introduced the Lord to him, and he was a fisherman too

The Rock

When Simon met Jesus for the first time Jesus changed his from Simon to Peter. Peter is a Greek word which means rock How Peter Followed Jesus o One day, at the Lake of Gennesaret Jesus saw two boats and fishermen were washing their empty nets.  They had worked all night and caught nothing.  Jesus got into one of the boats , which was Peter’s and taught the multitudes from the boat  After Jesus finished teaching, He asked Peter to enter to the deep water and cast his nets for a catch  It was daytime, and every good fisherman knew that is best at night time and near the shore not in the deep.  obeyed Jesus and said: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” ( :5)  When he had done this, he caught a great number of fish  Peter worshiped Jesus and told Him with humbleness : “Depart from me, for a sinful man, O Lord!”  Jesus said to him: “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men”.  From this time onwards, Peter left everything and followed Him. Peter Declares That Jesus is the Son of God

o One day, Jesus wanted to teach His disciples a very important lesson about faith. Jesus asked His disciples: “Who do men say that I, the , am?! The disiples ansawer: “Some say , some , and others or one of the ”. He said to them, : “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said,: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him: “Blessed are you …” Memory Verse

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My . And the gates of shall not prevail against it” (:18 )

Jesus made it clear to all: that Church will be built upon this Rock which is the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God just like Peter declared it in front of everyone. And that the Lord Jesus keeps and protects His church from any harm. Peter Denies Jesus and Jesus Forgives him: • During the trial of our Lord Jesus, peter denies Jesus THREE times. • Peter regretted what he had done, and offered , • Jesus accepted his repentance (God loves us all and accepts us even when we make mistakes)

Jesus appeared to the disciples after the at the Sea of Tiberias Jesus asked Peter the same question 3 times, “Do you love Me?” Peter answered "Yes Lord, You know that I love you" And every time, Jesus said to him “Tend My sheep” ➢ as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus confirmed Peter’s love for Him three times Jesus wanted to make sure that Peter knows that He loves him and He accepted his repentance and forgave him. The Descend of the Holy Spirit the First Church was established After the , when the Holy Spirit came on the disciples on the day of the What happened when the disiples filed with the Holy Spirit? ❑ They got a special power from God ❑ St. Peter stood up and began preaching to the people ❑ When people heard St. Peter’s speech, they start asked him “What shall we do?” ❑ Saint Peter told them: " Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of ; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (:38) ❑ they rejoiced and accepted the Word ❑ On that day three thousand people were baptized. ❑ began to spread and many people entered the faith. Many miracles took place with the power of God What miracles did Peter perform? 1- Healing Anianus, the crippled 2- Raising Tabitha from the death. who offered much help to the widows and the needy. Where did Saint Peter preach: Jewish villages (Judea, Galilee and )

Peter Preaches to the : As the Good News spread in the Land of Judea, God, also opened the way for the Gentiles (Not ) and declared this fact to Saint Peter in a vision. St. Peter's vision: One day, when St. Peter was in Joppa in the house, he went to the top of the house to pray. he felt hungry and while he was waiting for food to get ready, he fell asleep. he saw open and a big sheet knotted from its four corners coming down with all kinds of four-footed animals in it. animals, beasts, birds, …etc. he heard a voice telling him “rise, peter; kill and eat”. peter was originally a jew. a jewish person would eat only certain animals that God allowed them to eat. so peter refused and said: “not so, lord! for i have never eaten anything common or unclean.” This was repeated three times in a row. Then the voice from answered him back and said: “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” And then, the sheet was taken up to heaven again. What did St. Peter's vision mean?

 After Saint Peter woke up from his nap, he was wondering what this vision means!  While he was thinking, a Centurion (a leader of 100 soldiers) named Cornelius, a , sent 3 men to Joppa, to the house where Saint Peter was staying.  At the same moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to Saint Peter and told him: “Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.  ”God wanted to send Saint Peter to the Gentiles to preach to them the Good News  St. Peter went to Cornelius and preached to him and his entire household about our Lord Jesus Christ. While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word. They all entered the faith and St. Peter baptized them. Peter is Crucified:  As the number of believers became larger, persecution increased as well. Saint Peter was put in jail!  The whole Church was praying for him. God answered Their prayer and sent Saint Peter an to take him out of Jail.  Saint Peter continued to preach and teach the people about Christ whom he learned from His teaching and Words.  Saint Peter was a faithful shepherd to his sheep and because of Saint Peter, many people believed in the Lord Christ, got baptized and became Christian.  Saint Peter wrote 2 in the to confirm the believers and continued to preach until the day he was crucified  He was crucified upside-down.  Our Coptic Church celebrates Saint Peter martyrdom on the 5th day of the month of Abib. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=SVx_G8yB19I