Peter - Petro (English spelling)

The first of Jesus' twelve apostles. The first leader of the church. There are descriptions of him in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, but they are not necessarily historically accurate. The First and Second Epistles of Peter in the New Testament are not his. His original name was Simeon (Simon). He was originally a fisherman in Galilee, but he met Jesus, who was traveling around the area, and joined his flock. Shortly after Jesus' death, he had a kind of visionary experience in which he encountered the resurrected Jesus, and he renewed his faith in Jesus. He took the lead of the other disciples in organizing the Jerusalem church and working hard to evangelize. It is thought that from this time he was given the name Peter (a masculinized form of the Greek word petra, meaning rock, and in Aramaic, Cephas), meaning the rock that was the foundation of the church. As a devoted believer in Jesus, he took a relatively liberal stance toward the law, which led to him being persecuted by the Jewish King Agrippa I. After that, he left the Jerusalem Church and evangelized mainly to Jews in various parts of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. He is said to have ended his activities in Rome, where he was martyred under Emperor Nero. He seems to have been a rather simple person, and there is no evidence that he had a major ideological influence. However, because Jesus made him the rock of the church and bestowed the keys to heaven on him (Matthew 16), he has been considered particularly important among the apostles in the ancient church, especially in the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope of Rome is considered to be his successor.

[Akira Satake]

"Peter: Disciple, Apostle, Martyr" by O. Cullman, translated by Ken Arai (1965, Shinkyo Publishing)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イエスの十二使徒の筆頭。教会の最初の指導者。『新約聖書』の「福音書(ふくいんしょ)」および「使徒行伝(ぎょうでん)」に彼に関する記述があるが、かならずしも史的に厳密ではない。『新約聖書』のなかの「ペテロの第一、第二の手紙」は彼のものではない。彼の元来の名はシメオン（シモン）。初めガリラヤで漁業に従事していたが、同地方を巡回していたイエスに出会い、その群れに加わった。イエスの死後まもなく、一種の幻視体験で復活者イエスに接したことから、イエスに対する信頼を新たにし、他の弟子たちの先頭にたってエルサレム教会を組織し、伝道に励んだ。このときから彼は、教会の土台としての岩という意味で、ペテロ（ギリシア語の岩＝ペトラを男性化した名前。アラム語ではケパ）との呼び名を得たものと思われる。イエスに傾倒していた彼は律法に対して比較的自由な立場をとったため、ユダヤ王アグリッパ1世の迫害にあい、それ以後はエルサレム教会を離れて、ローマ帝国東半の各地で主としてユダヤ人に伝道した。最後はローマで活動し、ネロ皇帝の下で殉教したと伝えられる。彼はどちらかといえば素朴な人物であったらしく、思想的に大きい影響を残した形跡はない。しかし、イエスにより教会の岩とされ、天国の鍵(かぎ)を授けられた（「マタイ伝福音書」16章）という理由から、彼は古代教会以来、ことにローマ・カトリック教会で、使徒たちのなかでも特別に重要視された。ローマ教皇は彼の後継者とされている。

［佐竹　明］

『O・クルマン著、荒井献訳『ペテロ　弟子・使徒・殉教者』（1965・新教出版社）』

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