Saint Peter

===Syriac Orthodox Church===
[[File:Antonio de Bellis - La liberazione di San Pietro.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|''Saint Peter and the angel'', early 1640s, by [[Antonio de Bellis]] ]] 
The Fathers of the Syriac Orthodox Church tried to give a theological interpretation to the primacy of Apostle Peter. They were fully convinced of the unique office of Peter in the primitive Christian community. [[Ephrem the Syrian|Ephrem]], [[Aphrahat]] and [[Maruthas]] who were supposed to have been the best exponents of the early [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac tradition]] unequivocally acknowledge the office of Peter.

The Syriac Fathers, following the rabbinic tradition, call Jesus "Kepha" for they see "rock" in the Old Testament as a messianic Symbol (yet the Old Maronite Syriacs of Lebanon still refer to Saint Peter as "Saint Simon the Generous" or Simon Karam"). When Christ gave his own name "Kepha" to Simon he was giving him participation in the person and office of Christ. Christ who is the Kepha and shepherd made Simon the chief shepherd in his place and gave him the very name Kepha and said that on Kepha he would build the Church. [[Aphrahat]] shared the common Syriac tradition. For him Kepha is in fact another name of Jesus, and Simon was given the right to share the name. The person who receives somebody else's name also obtains the rights of the person who bestows the name. Aphrahat makes the stone taken from Jordan a type of Peter. He wrote: "Jesus [Joshua] son of Nun set up the stones for a witness in Israel; Jesus our Saviour called Simon Kepha Sarirto and set him as the faithful witness among nations."

Again, he wrote in his commentary on [[Deuteronomy]] that [[Moses]] brought forth water from "rock" (Kepha) for the people and Jesus sent Simon Kepha to carry his teachings among nations. God accepted him and made him the foundation of the Church and called him Kepha. When he speaks about the transfiguration of Christ he calls him [[Simon Peter]], the foundation of the Church. Ephrem also shared the same view. The Armenian version of [[De Virginitate]] records that [[Peter the rock]] shunned honour. A ''mimro'' of Efrem found in Holy Week Liturgy points to the importance of Peter.

Both [[Aphrahat]] and [[Ephrem the Syrian|Ephrem]] represent the authentic tradition of the Syrian Church. The different orders of liturgies used for sanctification of Church buildings, marriage, ordination, ''et cetera'', reveal that the primacy of Peter is a part of living faith of the Church.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.syrianchurch.org/Articles/PrimacyofStPeter.htm |title="Primacy of St. Peter" – by Dr. Thomas Athanasius |publisher=Syrianchurch.org |access-date=12 September 2010 |archive-date=17 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617144615/http://www.syrianchurch.org/Articles/PrimacyofStPeter.htm }}</ref>