There are five memorial days which claim notice. (i.) June 29. The origin of the observance of this day as a festival of St. Peter and St. Paul has been pointed out above, and it has been shown that
robably as early as Jerome, certainly before the
Mart. Hieronymianum, compiled early in the 7th cent., the day was regarded as the anniversary of the death of the apostles. In the Gelasian Sacra- mentary there are three sets of ‘Orationes et Preces’ for the festival: ‘In natali 5. Petri pro- prie,’ ‘In natali apostolorum Petri et Pauli,’ ‘In natali S. Pauli proprie.’ When in the Gregorian Sacramentary a further step was taken, and the ‘natalis S. Pauli’ was transferred to the next day, June 29 became the memorial day of St. Peter alone. This common festival of the two apostles passed into the Greek Church, though it is un- certain at what date, and has a place also in the Coptic, Ethiopic, Syrian, and Armenian calendars. A Syriac Martyrology of the year 412, published
PETER (SIMON)
by Wright in the Journal of Sacred Literature for Oct. 1865, Jan. 1866, places this festival on Dec. 28. (ii.) Feb. 22. In the Liberian Depositio Martyrum there is the entry: ‘viii Kal. Mart. natale Petri de catedra.’ In the Martyr. Hierony- mianum the corresponding notice is ‘ viii K]. Mart. cathedra Petri in Antiochia.’ (iii.) Jan. 18. In the same Martyrologium we have ‘xv Kal. Feb. dedicatio cathedre S. Petri apostoli qui [qua] mo Rome sedit.’ (iv.) Aug. 1. The Roman artyrologium has ‘Kal. Aug. Rome ad uincula catenas S. Petri osculandas,’ or, according to some MSS, ‘Kal. Aug. Rome dedicatio prime ecclesiz ab. Petro constructz [et consecrate)].’ Since the church S. Petri ad uincula was probably built under Sixtus m1. (432-440), the origin of the festi- val may be as early as the time of this pope. The original reference of the festival was to the miracle recorded in Ac 127, The corresponding festival in the Greek Church was on Jan. 16, in the Armenian Church on Jan. 29, For further information see Sinker’s article in Dict. Chr. Antig. ii. p. 1623 ff.; Lipsius, Die. Apokr. Apostelg. τι. i. p. 404 ff.
The Acts of Peter.—These Acts are collected and edited by Lipsius (1891) in the first vol. of the Acta Apost. Apocrypha, edited by himself and Bonnet.
(1) The Gnostic Acts. —(i.) The documents. These are: (a) Martyrium b. Petri Ap. a Lino ep. conscriptum. This martyrium is contained in several S. The name of Linus is found only in the title. (δ) Actus Petri cum Simone. The sole authority for this text is the Codex Vercel- lensis, a 7th cent. MS. (c) μαρτύριον τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποσ- τόλου Πέτρου. This document corresponds with the closing portion of the Actus (xxx-end). The authorities for this text are a 9th cent. MS at Patmos, and a MS of later date at Mt. Athos. There exist also a Slavonic and an A®thiopic ver- sion (the latter is translated in Malan’s Con/licts of the Holy Apostles), and some fragments of a
ahidic version. It appears certain that the two first-named Latin texts are independent, and rest ultimately on a common Greek text. The Sie cates xe lem of the relation of these texts is dis
by Lipsius, eer Apostely: IL. i. p. 109 ff. ;
Zahn, Ges. Kan. ii. i :
(ii.) Substance. The following is a brief sum- mary of the story. (a) Paul in obedience to a vision de m Rome on his journey to
Spain. (δ) Simon Magus arrives in Rome and [ΒΕ sadherents. The brethren are distressed that
‘aul has left them, and that they have no leader to help them against Simon. Just at this time, however, the twelve years after the Ascension being past, Christ appears to Peter in a vision and bids him go to Rome. (c) Peter arrives in Rome. After preaching to the brethren, at their request he goes from the synagogue to the ome of Maroellus (formerly a disciple of St. Paul), where Simon is. At this point there ensues the episode of the speaking dog which takes Peter's message to Simon. Marcellus, who had been so much under Simon’s influence that he had erected in his honour a statue with the inscription Simoni suueni deo, repents. In course of time it is arranged that there should be a public encounter between Peter and Simon in the Forum. Peter’s power of truly raising the dead proves him to be superior to Simon. [At this stage in the story the Athos MS begins]. Simon undertakes to fly to heaven. This he attempts to do before a great crowd in the Via Sacra.* Under the influence, however, of Peter’s prayers he falls and breaks his thigh. He is pein by the crowd, leaves Rome, and shortly afterwards dies at Terracina. (d) [At this point
* The origin of this tradition is probably to be found in the Rory told by Suetonius (Nero 12).
PETER (SIMON) 773
the Linus-Martyrium and the Patmos MS begin]. The prefect Agrippa [note that the minister of Augustus is transferred to Nero’s reign) has four concubines, who are persuaded by Peter to refuse Agrippa any further intercourse. Xanthippe simi- larly withdraws from her husband Albinus, a friend of the emperor's [in the Acta Xanthippe (James, Apocr. Anecdota p. 58 ff.) the husband’s name is Probus]. Albinus, therefore, and Agrippa make common cause against Peter. (e) At the request of Xanthippe and the brethren, Peter consents to leave Rome. As he is passing through the gate of the city he sees Christ entering. The well-known conversation between the Lord and the apostle takes place (see below), and he returns to the city knowing that the Lord would suffer in him. St. Peter is brought before Agrippa, who con- demns him to be crucified. When te is brought near the cross he addresses it in mystic language —6 ὄνομα σταυροῦ, μυστήριον ἀπόκρυφον K.7.d. 8 asks that he may be fixed to it head down- wards, and in mystical language he explains the significance of that position.* At the burial, Marcellus acts the part of Joseph of Arimathza. Peter, however, appears to him in a vision and reminds him of the Lord’s saying, ‘ Let the dead be buried by their own dead.’ So Marcellus awaits Paul’s return to Rome. The romance ends with a notice of Nero first determining to persecute the converts of Peter and afterwards being restrained by a vision (one text says ‘of Peter,’ another ‘of an angel,’ another of ‘a certain one’) of one who chastised him, and warned him to ‘ refrain his hands from the servants of Christ.’