Martyrdom of Peter’s Wife
- samshmn
- Dec 16, 2025
- 2 min read
According to Clement of Alexandria, there was a tradition which stated that Peter’s wife was martyred as the blessed Apostle looked and encouraged her:
They say, accordingly, that the blessed Peter, on seeing his wife led to death, rejoiced on account of her call and conveyance home, and called very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, “Remember the Lord.” Such was the marriage of the blessed and their perfect disposition towards those dearest to them.
Thus also the apostle says, “that he who marries should be as though he married not,” and deem his marriage free of inordinate affection, and inseparable from love to the Lord; to which the true husband exhorted his wife to cling on her departure out of this life to the Lord. (The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book VII)
Eusebius cites this tradition from Clement approvingly, adding the fact that Peter also had children:
1. Clement, indeed, whose words we have just quoted, after the above-mentioned facts gives a statement, on account of those who rejected marriage, of the apostles that had wives. Or will they, says he, reject even the apostles? For Peter and Philip begot children; and Philip also gave his daughters in marriage. And Paul does not hesitate, in one of his epistles, to greet his wife, whom he did not take about with him, that he might not be inconvenienced in his ministry.
2. And since we have mentioned this subject it is not improper to subjoin another account which is given by the same author and which is worth reading. In the seventh book of his Stromata he writes as follows:
They say, accordingly, that when the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, ‘Remember the Lord.’ Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them. This account being in keeping with the subject in hand, I have related here in its proper place. (Church History, Book III; emphasis mine)
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