IV.

Traditional Status

Peter undoubtedly had great influence in the church at its beginning, being consistently named first in the lists of the Twelve. The earliest image of him is, however, that of a remarkable missionary (fisherman), not that of an administrator. He was seen to have been entrusted not with authority, as such, but with a special vocation to preach the gospel (see Galatians 2:7). In time the image of the missionary was shifted to that of the pastor (shepherd), as can be seen from the two New Testament epistles that bear Peter's name, and from the appendix to John's Gospel (see John 21).

When the bishop of Rome came to be regarded as the bishop of the most prominent church in Christendom, the picture of Peter as a caring pastor was combined with the tradition of his martyr's death in Rome to serve as the basis of a theory of apostolic succession, according to which each Roman bishop was regarded as the successor to Peter, to whom Jesus had entrusted the keys to the kingdom of God (see Matthew 16:19). Beginning in the 11th century, the Eastern churches (see Orthodox Church) rejected the authority of the Roman bishop (pope), and opposition to the theory of papal succession and authority was a foundation stone of the Protestant Reformation. The feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle is celebrated in the West on February 22, and that of St. Peter and St. Paul on June 29.