page_title: Liberation of Peter
section_title: Biblical narrative
hierarchical_section_title: Liberation of Peter / Biblical narrative
caption_attribution_description: English: Apostle Peter Released from Prison, Jacopo di Cione, 1370-1371 (Philadelphia Museum of Art), tempera and tooled gold on panel, from a series of panels depicting the life of St. Peter, high altarpiece of the now-destroyed Florentine Church of San Pier Maggiore
context_page_description: The liberation of the apostle Peter is an event described in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 in which the apostle Peter is rescued from prison by an angel. Although described in a short textual passage, the tale has given rise to theological discussions and has been the subject of a number of artworks.
context_section_description: Acts 12:3–19 says that Peter was put into prison by King Herod, but the night before his trial an angel appeared to him, and told him to leave. Peter's chains fell off, and he followed the angel out of prison, thinking it was a vision (verse 9). The prison doors opened of their own accord, and the angel led Peter into the city.
  When the angel suddenly left him, Peter came to himself and returned to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. A servant girl called Rhoda came to answer the door, and when she heard Peter's voice she was so overjoyed that she rushed to tell the others, and forgot to open the door for Peter (verse 14). Eventually Peter is let in and describes "how the Lord had brought him out of prison" (verse 17). When his escape is discovered, Herod orders the guards put to death.
caption: Apostle Peter Released from Prison, Jacopo di Cione, 1370-1371 (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image ExifOffset": "38", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "373", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "280"}