The Holy and Glorious Apostles Peter and Paul
Categories: hymns, feast-days, spiritual-writings
Date: 28 June 2007 22:11:09
Today [June 29], we commemorate the Feast of the Holy and Glorious Apostles Peter and Paul.
Troparion - Tone 4:
First-enthroned of the apostles,
teachers of the universe:
Entreat the Master of all
to grant peace to the world,
and to our souls great mercy!
Kontakion - Tone 2:
O Lord, You have taken up to eternal rest
and to the enjoyment of Your blessings
the two divinely-inspired preachers, the leaders of the Apostles,
for You have accepted their labours and deaths as a sweet-smelling sacrifice,
for You alone know what lies in the hearts of men.
Kontakion - Tone 2:
Today Christ the Rock glorifies with highest honour
The rock of Faith and leader of the Apostles,
Together with Paul and the company of the twelve,
Whose memory we celebrate with eagerness of faith,
Giving glory to the one who gave glory to them!
The Apostles Peter and Paul are the Patron Saints of the Patriarchate of Antioch, the patriarchate our Archdiocese is with. St Peter served as Antioch's first Bishop and St Paul, together with St Barnabas, preached there.
The icon above is one of my favourites; it shows the reconciliation, and the unity and he love, of Ss Peter and Paul for each other, and for the Church: even though they had a major disagreement with regard to circumcision (Galatians 2:11-14), they were reconciled: an important lesson for us all.
The Orthodox Church of America has a sermon by St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, on the occasion of this feast here, which details their struggles and their lives; as St Augustine concludes:
And so, brethren, celebrating now the memory of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, remembering their venerable sufferings, we esteem their true faith and holy life, we esteem the innocence of their sufferings and pure confession. Loving in them the sublime quality and imitating them by great exploits, "in which to be likened to them" (2 Thess 3:5-9), and we shall attain to that eternal bliss which is prepared for all the saints. The path of our life before was more grievous, thornier, harder, but "we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses" (Heb 12:1), having passed by along it, made now for us easier, and lighter, and more readily passable. First there passed along it "the author and finisher of our faith," our Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Heb 12:2); His daring Apostles followed after Him; then the martyrs, children, women, virgins and a great multitude of witnesses. Who acted in them and helped them on this path? He Who said, "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Tonight, God willing, I'll go to Ss Peter and Paul parish at Rooty Hill for Vespers.