Saint Peter Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Eastern Orthodox=== [[File:Icon c 1500 Peter.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|left|Icon of Saint Peter, c 1500]] The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] regards Apostle Peter, together with Apostle Paul, as "Preeminent Apostles". Another title used for Peter is ''Coryphaeus'', which could be translated as "Choir-director", or lead singer.<ref>[[John Meyendorff]], et al. (1963), ''The Primacy of Peter in the Orthodox Church'' ([[St. Vladimir's Seminary]] Press, Crestwood NY, {{ISBN|978-0-88141-125-6}})</ref> The church recognises Apostle Peter's leadership role in the [[early church]], especially in the very early days at Jerusalem, but does not consider him to have had any "princely" role over his fellow Apostles. The New Testament is not seen by the Orthodox as supporting any extraordinary authority for Peter with regard to faith or morals. The Orthodox also hold that Peter did not act as leader at the [[Council of Jerusalem]], but as merely one of a number who spoke. The final decision regarding the non-necessity of [[circumcision]] (and certain prohibitions) was spelled out by [[James, brother of Jesus]] (though Catholics hold James merely reiterated and fleshed out what Peter had said, regarding the latter's earlier divine revelation regarding the inclusion of Gentiles). Eastern and Oriental Orthodox do not recognise the Bishop of Rome as the successor of St. Peter but the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople]] sends a delegation each year to Rome to participate in the celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. In the [[declaration of Ravenna|Ravenna Document]] of 13 October 2007, the representatives of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] agreed that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St. Ignatius of Antioch ("To the Romans", Prologue), occupied the first place in the ''taxis'', and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the ''protos'' among the patriarchs, if the Papacy unites with the Orthodox Church. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as ''protos'', a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium." With regard to Jesus' words to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", the Orthodox hold Christ is referring to the confession of faith, ''not'' the person of Peter as that upon which he will build the church. This is allegedly shown by the fact that the original Septuagint uses the feminine demonstrative pronoun when he says, "upon this rock" (ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ); whereas, grammatically, if he had been referring to Peter, he would allegedly have used the masculine.<ref>Holy Apostles Convent (1999) ''The Orthodox New Testament'', Vol. I: The Holy Gospels (Dormition Skete, Buena Vista CO, {{ISBN|0-944359-13-2}}) p. 105</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page