Glorious and all-validated chief apostles Peter and Paul (67)

Chief Apostles Peter and Paul

July 12, prayerful memory of the holy glorious and all-praised supreme apostles Peter and Paul!

The holy apostles Peter and Paul are called supreme, because they worked in the work of preaching the gospel more than all the other apostles, and therefore a special celebration was established for them.

the Apostle Peter was called Simon and, together with his brother Andrew, was a fisherman. They came from the small town of Bethsaida of Galilee. Andrew was the first to believe in Christ and, coming home, said to Simon: “We have found the Messiah.” Simon himself went to see Christ. Jesus Christ, seeing Simon, named him Cephas, or Peter, which means stone, as a sign of the firmness of faith, and from that time he became a disciple of Christ.

The Apostle Peter was a simple man and received no education. He was married to the niece of the Apostle Barnabas, daughter of Aristobulus, one of the 70 apostles.

The Apostle Peter had a lively, passionate character, and therefore, when asked any questions from Jesus Christ, he always answered first.

He was one of the three beloved disciples of Jesus Christ and therefore was present at especially important events in the life of the Savior - for example, at the Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane before suffering. At the Last Supper, Jesus Christ, through John the Theologian, pointed out the traitor to him. Here, at the supper, the Apostle Peter promised to stand for his Teacher until death, but the Lord predicted his renunciation, and he renounced, but made amends for his renunciation with repentance, and the Lord returned his apostolic title to him.

The Apostle Peter was the first to begin preaching about Jesus Christ on the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit and with his preaching he converted about 3 thousand people to Christ. He was the first to begin to baptize pagans, performing baptism, by inspiration from above, over the centurion Cornelius and his family. He acted at the Apostolic Council.

The ruler of Palestine, Herod Agrippa, imprisoned the Apostle Peter and wanted to kill him, but an angel brought the apostle out of prison at night. The supreme apostle preached in many places not only in Asia, but also in Europe and Africa. He wrote two Epistles on Christian faith and life.

He ended his life in Rome, where he converted many courtiers to Christ. When Emperor Nero launched a persecution against Christians, the Apostle Peter wanted to leave Rome, but at the gates of the city he met the Lord coming into the city. Jesus, to Peter’s question: “Where are you going, Lord?” answered: “To Rome, to be crucified again.” Then Peter realized that the time had come for him to glorify God with his death, and he returned back to Rome.

Nero condemned him to death on the cross. The apostle asked to be crucified head down, because he considered himself unworthy to die on the cross the way the Lord Himself died. This was in 67 A.D.

The Apostle Paul was first called Saul and was born in Tarsus. He was a very gifted man, received an excellent education at the school of the famous Jewish scientist Gamaliel and had Roman citizenship. Since he was a zealot for Jewish law, he considered Christianity a heresy harmful to the Jewish religion, and persecuted Christians.

To fight Christians, he once went to the Syrian city of Damascus. Here, on the way to Damascus, the Lord enlightened him and converted him to the Christian faith. Suddenly an extraordinary light from heaven illuminated him, and a voice was heard: Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me?” “Who are you, Lord, and what will you command me to do?” - Saul asked and heard the words: “I am Jesus, whom you persecute; go to the city, and there you will be told what to do.” At the same time, Saul became blind. In Damascus, the Lord commanded Ananias, one of the seventy disciples, to heal and baptize him. From that time on, Saul became the most zealous disciple of Christ, traveled through different countries preaching and converted countless pagans to Christ, which is why he was called the apostle of the pagans. More than once he was persecuted and beaten with sticks and stones, was in chains and in prison. Worked many miracles. He wrote 14 epistles on the Christian faith and life to Christians of different nations, for example, to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Jews, etc., and to various persons, for example, to the apostles Timothy, Titus, etc.

The Apostle Paul ended his life, like the Apostle Peter, in Rome in the same year 67 A.D. They wanted to crucify him, but when they found out that he was a Roman citizen, they cut off his head instead of the shameful execution of the cross. The bodies of the holy apostles Peter and Paul rest in Rome: St. Peter in the Vatican Cathedral, and St. Paul in a country church; the heads of both of them are kept in the Lateran Cathedral, in the canopy above the throne.

And with holy prayers, grant, Lord, salvation to our souls!

• Kathist to the holy supreme apostles Peter and Paul

• Day of the Apostles Peter and Paul. Poetry

• Three lessons from the two apostles - a sermon

Holiday date

In fact, the day of these apostles is celebrated on June 29th. However, due to the thirteen-day lag of the Julian calendar, according to the civil Gregorian style, the day of Peter and Paul falls on July 12. In the Catholic Church, by the way, which adheres to the Gregorian style in its tradition, these two husbands are honored on the 29th day of June. To be completely honest, the situation is the same in most Orthodox autocephalous churches, which some time ago synchronized the church calendar and the civil one. The Russian Orthodox Church in this sense is an exception, along with the Jerusalem, Georgian, Serbian and Polish churches. All of them, as well as the monastic republic of Athos and a number of individual parishes and monasteries around the world, continue to build their liturgical life and celebrate church holidays according to the Julian calendar.

Election of Simon as Chief of the Apostles

The Gospel describes how this happened. It all started with the fact that various rumors began to circulate about Jesus among the masses, stemming from people’s attempts to figure out who he was. Some believed that he was a new prophet. Others said he was just a scammer. Still others even went so far as to claim that underneath Jesus was hidden the prophet Elijah, who many centuries ago was taken, according to biblical legends, to heaven alive, that is, along with his body. And so Jesus himself decided to ask his disciples what they thought about this. The apostles, when answering, only retold what other people thought. And only zealous and ardent Peter, on behalf of all the apostles, declared to his teacher that he confessed him as Christ, the son of the Living God. In response to this, Christ promised that Simon would become the rock on which the Christian church would be built. And also that the keys to heaven and hell will be given into the hands of Simon, as well as the power to forgive and forgive sins and to carry out judgment. It was then that Simon, by the way, became Peter, because “Peter” in Greek means “stone.” And until that day this word was not used as a proper name. In view of all this, this apostle began to be called the supreme apostle in the church tradition. And that is why the icon of Peter and Paul depicts Peter with the keys in his hands. After the death of Christ, Simon led the church and the council of apostles. But here Catholics and Orthodox look at his role and degree of power differently. If the Catholic Church considers this apostle and his successors on the throne (the Roman Popes) to be the real vicars of Christ on earth, then in the Orthodox tradition the supreme apostle is assigned the role of first among equals, and the supreme power is assigned to the Ecumenical Council.

Veneration of the Apostles

The personalities of these two apostles are widely revered in the church environment. With the exception of Protestants, they are revered by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Peter and Paul personify the feat of preaching and martyrdom at the same time. And their authority is higher than any other saint, with the exception of Our Lady. The ideas of the supreme apostolic authority found their expression in church worship. In addition, they are vividly described by the akathist to Peter and Paul. The latter, however, is not part of the official temple cult. But the akathist to Peter and Paul is often read by believers at home, and especially on July 12th.

First Epistle to the Corinthians by St. Apostle. Pavel

Chapter 13

1. If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, then I am a sounding gossamer, or a sounding cymbal. 2. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing. 3. And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does not profit me at all. 4. Love is patient and kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, it is not proud. 5. does not act outrageously, does not seek his own, is not irritated, does not think evil, 6. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7. covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8. Love never fails, although prophecy will cease, and tongues will be silent, and knowledge will be abolished.

The first conciliar letter of St. Apostle. Petra

Chapter 3

1. Also, you, wives, obey your husbands, so that those of them who do not obey the word will be won without a word by the lives of their wives, 2. when they see your pure, God-fearing lives. 3. Let your adornment be not the outward braiding of your hair, not gold jewelry or finery in clothing, 4. but the hidden person of the heart in the incorruptible beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God... 7. You too, husbands, treat your wives wisely , as with the weakest vessel, showing honor to them, as joint heirs of a grace-filled life, so that there is no obstacle to your prayers.

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Death of Peter

The Apostle Peter arrived in Rome somewhere around the year 67 and began there to convert local Jews and pagans to Christianity. The rising wave of resistance ultimately led to the fact that Emperor Nero decided to execute the apostle. The ruler's order was carried out on June 29. According to widespread legend, the Apostle Paul was killed on the same day. The cruel tyrant hardly had any idea what kind of triumph these two executions would guarantee. However, they were executed in more than one place and in different ways. The fact is that, despite his enormous authority in the then marginal movement known as Christianity, Peter, in the face of the law, was an ordinary Jewish peasant. Therefore, he was executed as a criminal from the common people, that is, by crucifixion. True, it must be said that they crucified him of his own free will, not as usual, but upside down. By this he wanted to emphasize that he was not worthy to die like Jesus Christ, because when he was tried in the courtyard of the high priest, Peter denied him three times.

Paul the Scribe

The Apostle Paul writes a letter to the Corinthians.
Medieval book miniature. Russia Paul, or, more precisely, Saul (as he was called before turning to Christ), on the contrary, was from the then elite. He was born in the Hellenistic city of Tarsus, the capital of the province of Cilicia, and was from the tribe of Benjamin, like King Saul, after whom he was named.

IN AND. Surikov. The Apostle Paul explains the dogmas of faith in the presence of King Agrippa, his sister Berenice and the proconsul Festus. 1875

At the same time, he was a Roman citizen by birth - a rare privilege for provincials, which gave him many special rights (for example, to demand a trial personally from the emperor, which he later used to get to Rome at public expense). Paulus, that is, "small", is a Roman name - he probably had it from the very beginning, but only after converting to Christianity did he begin to use it instead of his former name Saul.

Head of the Apostle Paul. Detail of the fresco "The Last Judgment". Vladimir, 16th century

He received his education in Jerusalem, from the most authoritative theologian of that time, Gamaliel. Saul was one of the Pharisees - zealots of the Law, who strove to exactly fulfill all its requirements and all the “traditions of the elders.” Although Christ denounced the Pharisees (for snobbery and literalism), we know several examples when it was the Pharisees who became His devoted disciples, so Saul-Paul was not alone in this.

Temple in Sestroretsk

In 2009, the Church of Peter and Paul, built in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, was solemnly consecrated. Sestroretsk is a small resort town near the Northern capital. At the beginning of the 18th century, a wooden church was built here in honor of the supreme apostles. Over time, it was replaced by a stone temple, which became an outstanding achievement of architecture. However, during the years of the atheism it was destroyed, and only with the advent of democratic reforms did its restoration begin.

Rebuilt and consecrated, the Church of Peter and Paul (Sestroretsk) is a memorial monument to Russian submariners. The fact is that it was built on the very spot where in ancient times the Russian genius-nugget, peasant Efim Nikonov, demonstrated his invention to Tsar Peter I - the first submarine. This has been preserved in the memory of today's sailors, and an entire memorial to the heroes of the Russian submarine fleet has been created on the territory of the temple.

Fisherman from Lake Gennesaret

We know about the holy Apostle Peter that he came from the city of Bethsaida, located in the north of Lake Gennesaret. His father Jonah came from the tribe of Naphtali. Before meeting Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter was called Simon. He lived in Capernaum with his wife and mother-in-law. Simon was a simple and modest fisherman. Together with his brother Andrew, the future Apostle Andrew the First-Called, he earned his bread with hard work, did not think about the mysteries of the universe, and all his interests were reduced to the concerns of the current day.

At the very beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus, calling both brothers to Himself, gave Simon a new name - Peter, which translated means “stone”. The words spoken by Jesus that on this “rock” He would build a church inaccessible to hell testify to the special role that He destined for this man. And Peter from the very beginning wholeheartedly believed his Teacher. There was no room for doubt in his simple and open soul. Leaving everything that connected him with his former life, he, without hesitation, followed Christ.