Saint Peter prepared to carry the top of Christ's ceremonial staff (7)
I believe the answer is:
sceptre
'ceremonial staff' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'saint peter prepared to carry the top of christ's' is the wordplay.
'saint' becomes 's' (**).
'prepared' is an anagram indicator.
'to carry' is an insertion indicator.
'the top of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'christs' is 'c'.
'peter' anagrammed gives 'eptre'.
's'+'eptre'='septre'
'septre' going around 'c' is 'SCEPTRE'.
(Other definitions for sceptre that I've seen before include "Monarch's ceremonial staff" , "Respect (anag) -- symbol of ruler's authority" , "Official staff" , "Part of the royal regalia" , "Emblem of royalty" .)