What kind of a man was Peter?

Peter was Jesus' right-hand man, the disciple he could rely on to pull the others into line when needed.

Peter was a born leader - energetic, confident, ready for whatever came his way. But careful too of the men around him, and loyal to the man he loved most, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus saw Peter's worth. Saw all the faults as well, and accepted Peter as he was, knowing his heart was good.

Peter was an ordinary fisherman in Galilee, leading an ordinary life, but something quite out of the ordinary happened to him. He met a charismatic preacher called Jesus of Nazareth, and it changed everything.

His parents had named him Simon or Simeon, but Jesus gave him a new name, a sort of nickname - Peter, which means 'rock'. His nickname was not too far from the modern name 'Rocky', and it sent the same sort of message: Peter was a solid no-nonsense man, a man you could trust.

From the start, he seems to have been the spokesman for the other disciples, the man who stood out from the group. In any list of disciples, Peter is always mentioned first, which seems to show he was Jesus' right-hand man.

Peter's denial did not destroy Jesus' trust in him. On the morning of the Resurrection, Peter was the first 'MAN' Jesus appeared to.

Peter seems to have left Jerusalem and traveled to Rome. There is nothing written in Acts about his residence in Rome, but there is a tradition that he died there, martyred by Nero on an inverted cross when he protested that he was not worthy to die in the way that Jesus had.