'Scuze me...
Date: 1/30/2009
From:
Jeff Geerling 
Seen my Bible?
It's funny... because Saint Peter (who is supposedly not depicted in this picture (see comment by Anonymous below)) is holding a Bible (I would presume it's a Bible, since it has a cross and all...). Saint Peter, as I hope you know, was one of Jesus' twelve hand-picked Apostles, and could not have ever held a complete Bible in his hands.
But Peter did have a hand in the making of the Bible. In fact, Peter was a key figure in the Early Church, as he was the first Pope—the first leader of the universal Church!
Jesus made Peter the first Pope ("Father") when he gave Peter the Keys to the Kingdom, in Matthew 16:18-19:
"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven" (NAB).
perhaps it was a copy of the Old Testament! (the LXX?) but even then, it should be in manuscript form rather than like a modern binded book...
Are you sure this isn't St. Jerome?
There is a chance it may be, however, I don't know if that's definite or not; but the resource within which this image was found had the picture labeled "St. Peter," and had a few other apostles' images.
Actually, the saint is St John the Evangelist and Theologian, not Apostle Peter. Peter is shown in icons with a fuller head of hair, and a rounded, short beard, not a flowing, pointy one. In Orthodox iconography, it is standard to show apostles holding a Gospel book, representing their mission to "go out to all nations ...". Similarly, bishop-saints and priest-saints are, as spiritual descendants of the Apostles, also shown holding the Gospel.
@ Anonymous: Thanks for the clarification - I'm editing the post to reflect this!