ON ST. PETER, BISHOP OF CRETE.
Cult among the Greeks.
Peter, Bishop of Crete, among the Greeks (S.)
J. P.
The Menaeon of Chifflet has this holy Bishop; as also the Supplement to the printed Menaea, most well known from the preceding days, which announces him in these words: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος ἐπίσκοπος Κρήτης ὁ νέος, τοὺς πόδας ἐκκοπεὶς τελ. On the same day (July 14) holy Peter, the younger Bishop of Crete, his feet being cut off, undergoes martyrdom. From the appended "Sirm." I gather that these were taken from the Synaxarion of Sirmond. Their triumph is applauded with those verses, which from the Greek sound thus in Latin: Ἀπροσκόπως ἔχοντα τὸν θεῖον Πέτρον Ἐζημίωσαν τῶν ποδῶν ἀφαιρέσει. The Saint who gave scandal to no one, Peter, is punished by the cutting off of his feet. So far as I attain the sense of the poet, he seems to allude to that Gospel saying: But if your hand or your foot scandalizes you, cut it off, and cast it from you. Matthew 18. Since the feet of the holy Martyr gave no scandal, it signifies that he was undeservedly mutilated in his feet.