Peter’s Denials.

(Mat. 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:55-62; John 18:16-18, 25-27).

All four Evangelists narrate on Peter’s denials, although some differences in their narrations immediately strike the eye. At any rate, these differences have no bearing on the substance of the act: the Evangelists only complement and explain one another, so that through the juxtaposition of their testimony, a precise and full history of this event can be constructed.

During the Lord’s trials, first by Annas and then by Caiaphas, Peter was located in one and the same inner courtyard of the high priest’s dwelling. The doorkeeper at the request of Saint John, who was known to the high priest brought him there. The fact that it was one and the same courtyard of the high priest’s dwelling, where Annas and Caiapha resided in separate sectors, removes the seeming contradictions posed in the narratives of on the one hand, Evangelist John, and on the other, the first three Evangelists. Saint John presents Peter’s denials as beginning and finishing in Annas’s courtyard, while the other three Evangelists, not even mentioning Christ’s interrogation by Annas, narrate as though the whole three denials took place in Caiapha’s courtyard. Obviously, it was one and the same courtyard shared by the two high priests. According to Saint John, when through Saint John’s help (who knew the high priests), Peter was led into the courtyard, the servant girl spoke to him: “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” “I am not” replied Peter, and stood closer to the open fire that was lit due to the cold and inclement weather.

However, the servant girl didn’t leave him alone. According to Saint Mark (14:67), peering into his face, illuminated by the fire, she emphatically declared: “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth,” and went on to say to the bystanders: “This man was also with Him (Luke 22:36). Peter continued his denial, saying: “Woman, I do not know Him” (Luke 22:57), “I neither know nor understand what you are saying (Mark 14:68 and Mat. 26:70). This is how the first denial was effected, beginning at the gate and finishing at the fire. As Saint Mark narrates, that Peter, wishing to divest himself of this persistent servant girl, walked away from the fire to the front of the court-yard, at the threshold of the gates so that if need be he could flee. Considerable time passed. Noticing him again, the same servant girl (Mark 14:69) began to speak to those standing next to him: “This is one of them.” She was joined by another servant girl (Mat. 26:71), also saying: “This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.” Yet another turned to Peter with: “You also are of them” (Luke 22:58). Once again, Peter changed his position and drew closer to the fire, only to be confronted by some (John 18:25) who started saying: “You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying “No!” This was the second denial, and on the basis of John’s verses 24 and 25, chapter 18, it occurred at the same time as Jesus was being led from Annas to Caiaphas. After the second denial, a period of one hour elapsed (Luke 22:59).

Sunrise was approaching, and with it the “crowing of the rooster” (Mark 13:35). The Lord’s trial by high priest Caiaphas was coming to a close. One of the servants (a relative of Malchus whose ear was severed by Peter) asked of Peter: “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” (John 18:26), while another added: “Surely this fellow also was with Him, for he is a Galilean” (Luke 22:59). This was followed by many saying: “Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it” (Mark 14:70), “For your speech betrays you” (Mat.26:73). Fear overcame Peter and “he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know this Man of whom you speak. A second time a rooster crowed,” narrates Saint Mark, undoubtedly the words taken from Peter himself (Mark 14:71-72).

According to Saint Mark’s testimony, when the rooster crowed the first time after the first denial (verse 68), “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So Peter went out and wept bitterly.” The third denial occurred under similar circumstances, which evidently coincided with the moment when the Lord — already condemned and subjected to humiliation and beatings — was led out into the courtyard from Caiaphas’ home. Here, under guard, the Lord had to wait for dawn (Luke 63-65) and a new, official assembly of the Sanhedrin, which would hand down a formal sentence. A rooster’s crow and the Lord’s glance — cast at him — evoked a searing and bitter remorse in Peter’s soul: he flees to the outside from the scene of his downfall, and weeps bitterly over it.