48. Слово в день первоверховных Апостолов Петра и Павла 264

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections). We celebrate the Supreme Apostles: let us delve into the spirit and power of this celebration. Under the name of “the supreme Apostles” the Church unites Peter and Paul. That this distinctive name befits Saint Peter is not difficult to verify from the Gospel history. In any assembly, even of equal people, someone usually has some primacy, either by election and appointment, for order, or by the superiority of his abilities and special presence of spirit: and in many 265 cases when the Gospel history presents Peter in the assembly of the Apostles, his name takes precedence in the order of the names of the Apostles, and his person takes precedence among the Apostles, either in word or in action. When, for example, Saint Matthew wants to draw up a list of those elected to the rank of Apostle; he writes: “The names of the twelve Apostles are this: the first is Simon, who is called Peter” (Matt. 10:2); - and then names the other Apostles. When the Divine Teacher Himself, after some time of teaching, tests His chosen disciples in the main subject of His teaching, and asks: “Who do you say Me to be?” - Peter warns all God-wise with the answer: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”; and for this the first one not only boasts, but is also pleased: “blessed art thou Simone”; He is the first to say: “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:15–18), although not exclusively to him, because the Church “is built on the foundation of the Apostle and Prophet, which is the cornerstone of Jesus Christ himself” (Eph. 2:20); he is the first to receive the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power to knit and decide (Matt. 16:19), although, after this, the same power was granted to all the Apostles (Matt. 18:18) 266. And in that time of trouble, when, with the defeat of the Shepherd, the sheep of the flock were scattered, when its very pillars were shaken, the very foundation stones were removed from their places, because Satan asked, in order to sow them like wheat; - What then is the Peter stone? - True, he also could not resist, even more miserably than others he was cast down: but at the same time he had the advantage of being raised to his former place by the special prayer of Christ, and he was given the opportunity to establish the brethren 268. “I,” he was told, “pray for you, so that your faith does not fail; and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32). Truly, when the resurrection of the Lord was revealed to the Myrrh-Bearers first of all; this did not confirm the Apostles in this belief: “and it appeared before them as if their words were lies” (Luke 24:11). But when the Risen One appeared to Peter, the other Apostles, before the common appearance to all of them, already said with firmness: “Truly the Lord has risen and appeared to Simon” (Luke 24:34). Finally, should the void left in the face of the Apostle through the fall of Judas be filled? – Peter is the first to notice this, and the first to care about this. Should the preaching of the Gospel begin solemnly immediately after the descent of the Holy Spirit? - “Peter stood with the one ten,” the first of them “raised his voice” (Acts 2:14). Should the Christian Church be founded among the pagans, as well as among the Jews? – Peter baptizes Cornelius; and not for the first time, the word of Christ 269, much complicated by interpretation, is simply explained by events: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church.” But the clearer 270 thus the primacy of Saint Peter among the Apostles: the more it requires study 271 that the Church and Saint Paul joins him under the common title of the Supreme Apostles for both - Paul, very little, apparently, united with Peter in the Apostleship. It is known that the Lord first chose twelve Apostles, and then seventy others. Twelve, in comparison with seventy, can all be called supreme Apostles. But it is also known that Saint Paul was not one of these. When they studied the science of the Apostleship from the Divine Teacher for several years: then, probably, Paul continued to study from the Jewish teacher of the law Gamaliel. When they, by the incarnate Wisdom of God, were solemnly promoted to teachers of all nations: “Go and teach all languages” (Matthew 28:19): Paul still remained only a disciple of Gamaliel. When they waited with one accord, and all together received the Holy Spirit, and became His immediate instruments and the supreme dispensers of His gifts on earth: and then Paul was not among them. When they began to build and spread the Church of Christ: Paul was still her persecutor and destroyer. How did it happen that someone so far behind, apparently lagging behind the host of the supreme Apostles, now receives from the Church an honor that is not only equal to the supreme ones, but also superior, together with the first supreme one of them? Let's see if there is a way to bring these two men closer together, and to understand the thought of the Church, which unites them in this celebration. There is no need to explain at length or prove that the Apostleship of Paul is as majestic and Divine in its origin as the Apostleship of Peter and the other Apostles. Suffice it to say that He who called Peter and others to the Apostleship during His sojourn on earth, Himself called Paul to the same thing, bowing to him from the open heavens. “Paul is an apostle, neither of man nor by man, but Jesus Christ and God the Father,” or as he also puts it, “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:1, 12). If he is great who from deep ignorance in a short time ascends to high and Divine wisdom: is he less great who, out of mortal enmity against Divine truth, suddenly transforms into love for it, also, like death, strong? Yesterday a fisherman; and now the first and only Theologian: “Thou art,” says, “Christ the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) 272: behold the greatness of Peter! Yesterday the persecutor of Christ, and now the Apostle of Christ; - “persecute us sometimes,” say the faithful, “now he preaches the faith, but sometimes destroys” (Gal. 1:23): - this is the greatness of Paul! If the supremacy of the spirit of Petrov over the other Apostles is visible in the fact that he once affirmed his brethren, who wavered in the faith: is not the supremacy of the spirit of Paul over Peter himself when Paul noticed the temptation that was unnoticed by Peter, coming to the Church, due to his removal from the Gentile believers, to please the Jewish believers, and corrected Petrov’s actions in this case? “When,” he says, “Peter came to Antioch, his face was opposed, for he was disgraceful” (Gal. 2:11). If the Apostolic Act of 273 Peter is primarily great in that, both among Jews and among Gentiles, he lays the first foundations of the Church of Christ; through him especially, as through the most powerful instrument of grace, the Apostolic Council acts from Jerusalem not only on all the Churches of Palestine, but also on many others: is not the area of Paul’s Apostleship even more extensive, stretching from Jerusalem and Syria to Macedonia, to Greece, to Illyricum, from Antioch to Rome, and, perhaps, to Spain, moreover, in such a way that he is also greater partly “he did not build on someone else’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20), but preached where the name of Christ had not been pronounced before him? Look how these world conquerors, without troops and without weapons, divide the nations among themselves, without yielding to each other, not in who should own the universe more, but who will suffer more for the salvation of the universe: “I was confident,” says Paul, “of the gospel of the uncircumcision,” that is, of the Gentiles, “as Peter was circumcised” (Gal. 2:7), that is, of the Jews. Since at the time of this, not dividing, but connecting division, there was nothing in the universe except “circumcision” and “uncircumcision,” except Jews and pagans: then Peter and Paul divided it among themselves without a trace, and therefore in the whole world there is no one to challenge them for the dignity of the supreme ones. However, even then, since there really is a certain primacy of the Apostles in the superiority of gifts, the height of virtues and the vastness of exploits, one can also ask: why is the primacy of the preachers of the faith so solemnly proclaimed, who believed and taught others to place their triumph not in supremacy, but in humility, and primacy in serving others? – In order to answer this, let us remember the parable of Christ: “a hail cannot be hidden on top of a standing mountain” (Matthew 5:14). A city on top of a mountain here means an exalted soul, filled and adorned with perfections and virtues: just as in other cases the Word of God calls a God-loving and pious soul the abode of God, or the house of God. Like a city standing on the top of a mountain, no matter how modest its buildings are, it is nevertheless visible from afar: so a soul that has rejected the world and the flesh with the passions and lusts that drag it down, is close to the heavenly Powers, ascended to the mountain of the Law of God, dwelling in God with purity, faith and love, and has become the abode of the grace of God 274, no matter how humble its word, no matter how her actions are humble, and in her humility she reveals her sublimity, and with modesty she cannot hide her inner glory from eyes that are somewhat purified. And just as travelers, seeing a city on a mountain, stop themselves at a certain elevation, from where it is more convenient to see it, point it out to each other, notice its special elevations, talk about its beauties, enjoying the majestic spectacle, and sometimes directing their path with it, and being encouraged to reach what is visible in the distance: so the God-wise Fathers and our leaders on the path of salvation, stop us at a certain point in time, so that, like two majestic cities, show us the great souls of Peter and Paul; they notice to us the predominant sublimity of their perfections and virtues; give pure souls the opportunity to enjoy the contemplation of the two high abodes of the Holy Spirit, or the one high grace of the Apostleship, dwelling in two bodily abodes; encourage those being purified 275, if possible, although from afar, to examine this spiritual spectacle and, according to it, direct and accelerate their path to salvation by zealous imitation of the observed deeds and virtues; and in order to cleanse those who have not been cleansed from the dust of worldly vanities with some preliminary cleansing, and to elevate them from the rot of the flesh, for the most convenient viewing of spiritual heights with a smart eye, they tried, as it were, to elevate us to some kind of spiritual elevation through the path of fasting, which preceded this day. I will not say anything to pure and exalted contemplatives, so as not to prevent them from enjoying what they now see on the mountain of God, at the height of the Church of Christ. Let us also become good, perhaps barely emerging in spirit from the flesh and the world; Let us take advantage of the high spiritual spectacle that the Church now presents and points out to us. – If you are still attached to the world, to worldly acquisitions or pleasures, to worldly knowledge, to worldly honor: look at Peter, who left everything to follow Christ; look at Paul, who, apparently, both the not entirely worldly knowledge of the Jewish lawyer and the Pharisee, and the glory of this knowledge, counted for skills in order to acquire saving violence and reproach of Christ. If you cannot leave your possessions, at least leave covetousness and stinginess. If you cannot yet love reproach, at least reject curiosity. Otherwise, what kind of disciple of the Apostles are you? Which son of the Apostolic Church? – If you are a sinner who knows your iniquity; and your sin, being taken out before you, does not give rest to your conscience: although you stand low in this case, you also look at the high Apostles. And wasn’t the Supreme Commander Peter, for a time, a 276 renouncer of Christ? And wasn’t the supreme supreme Paul once a persecutor of the Church? But tears of repentance and the deeply fallen Peter were restored to the Supreme Apostleship: and Paul’s repentance, not yet begun, but foreseen, was accepted by the arms of the Savior of sinners extended from heaven: why are you despondent, sinner, and burdening yourself with despair? Take up the cross of repentance and hope, and fly to the heights of grace. Enough of this as an example of how we, humbled in the Church 277, can consider the lofty perfections of the Apostles, and by thinking about them feed our souls and animate our lives. This is the true feast of the Apostles. The blessing of the Holy Apostles and the Holy Apostolic Church rests on those celebrating in this way. Amen. According to Jew. collection is listed as spoken in the Trinity St. Sergius Lavra. According to Jew. collection: in all... According to Jew. collection: the first is placed at the foundation of the building of the Church of Christ, the first receives the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power to bind and decide, extending from earth to heaven. According to Jew. collection: when the cornerstone of the Church became a stone of temptation, and at the same time the most... According to Jew. collection: although he could not resist, although he was deeply overthrown by the weak hand of a slave; however, he had the advantage that through the prayer of Christ the first was raised to his former place, for the establishment of others. According to Jew. collection: the word of Christ is fulfilled over him... According to Jew. collection: more obvious... According to Jew. collection: the more surprising it may seem... According to Jew. collection further follows: what none of the scribes understood, that the Prophets themselves almost comprehended by some kind of fortune-telling - According to Jew. collection: power... According to Jew. collection: soul, world and flesh with passions and lusts that drag them down, rejected, ascended to the mountain of the Law of God, drawn close to the heavenly Powers by purity, dwelling in God by faith and love and inhabited by the grace of God,... According to Jew. collection: requiring cleansing,... According to Jew. collection: renegade... According to Jew. collection: In order not to burden those listening with the continuation of the word, this is enough for an example, as we, who are humiliated in the Church, can... You might be interested in: