1st Council Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle

On the First Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle Peter Affiliation of the first Council Epistle of St. The Apostle Peter to this very supreme Apostle, sometimes disputed in modern times by Western biblical scholars, is confirmed first of all not only by the indication of the second Council Epistle of the same Apostle (2 Peter 3:1), but also by the unanimous testimony of the early Christian tradition, coming from the Apostolic age itself, and then by internal signs contained in the very content of the epistle. Regarding the evidence of tradition, it is worthy of note that already St. Polycarp of Smyrna, apostolic husband and disciple of St. The Apostle John the Theologian, in his epistle to the Philippians, as Eusebius testifies (Church History IV, 14), “gives some evidence from the first epistle of Petrov,” and this is fully confirmed by the comparison of Polycarp’s epistle to the Philippians with the first Council epistle of the Apostle. Peter (from the latter, St. Polycarp gives: I 8, 13, 21, II 11, 12, 22, 24, III 9, 4, 7). Equally clear evidence in favor of the authenticity of the first letter of St. Peter's are at St. Irenaeus of Lyons, also citing passages from the epistle indicating that they belong to Ap. Peter (Adv. halres. IV, 9, 2, 16, 5), in Evsev. (Church. Ist. V, 8), in Tertullian (“Against the Jews”), in Clement of Alexandria (Strom. IV, 20). In general, Origen and Eusebius call 1 Peter the indisputable genuine επιστολή όμολογουμένη (Church ist. VI, 25). Evidence of the general faith of the ancient Church of the first two centuries in the authenticity of 1 Peter is, finally, the finding of this epistle in the Syriac translation of the 2nd century Peshito. And in all subsequent centuries, the universal Church in the East and West unanimously recognized this message by Peter. About the same affiliation of the message of Ap. Peter is also told by internal signs represented by the very content of the message. The general tone or emphasis of the views of the sacred writer of the epistle, the nature of his theology, moral teaching and exhortation, fully corresponds to the properties and characteristics of the personality of the great supreme Apostle Peter, as it is known from the gospel and apostolic history. Two main characteristic features appear in the spiritual appearance of St. Apostle Peter: 1) a living, concrete way of thinking, inclined, in view of the distinguishing Ap. Peter's fervor, easily turning into a motivation for action, and 2) the constant connection of the Apostle's worldview with the teachings and aspirations of the Old Testament. The first feature of the Apostle Peter appears clearly in the Gospel references to him; (see Luke 5:8; Matthew 14:25–33, 16:16, 22; John 6:68, 69; Mark 9:5; John 13:9; Luke 22:31–33, 57, etc.); the second is certified by his calling as an Apostle of circumcision (Gal. 2:7); both of these features were equally reflected in the speeches of Ap. Peter, set out in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Theology and writings of St. Peter are generally distinguished by the predominance of images and ideas over abstract reasoning. In the Apostle Peter we do not find such sublime metaphysical contemplations as in the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, nor such a subtle elucidation of the logical relationship of Christian ideas and dogmas as in the Apostle Paul. Attention St. Peter dwells primarily on the events of history, mainly Christian, and partly the Old Testament: covering Christianity, mainly as a fact of history, Apostle. Peter is, one might say, a theologian-historian, or, in his own expression, a witness of Christ: he believes his apostolic calling is to be a witness of everything that the Lord Jesus Christ created, and especially of His resurrection. This is said many times in the speeches of the Apostle (Acts 1:22, 11, 32, 3:15, 5:32, 10:39), and the same is stated in his epistles (1 Pet 5:1; 2 Pet 1:16–18). Equally characteristic of the Apostle Peter is the connection between his teaching and the Old Testament. This feature appears very noticeably in the writings of St. Apostle Peter. He illuminates Christianity everywhere mainly from the side of its connection with the Old Testament, since in it the Old Testament predictions and aspirations were realized: it is enough, for example, to compare the place from the speech of the Apostle Peter regarding the healing of the lame Acts 3:18–25 and the words 1 Pet 1:10–12 in order to see that all the judgments and evidence of the apostle proceed from the fact of the Old Testament revelation and everywhere assume Old Testament prophecy, preparation and New Testament fulfillment. In this regard, in the teaching of Ap. Peter, the idea of ​​Divine foreknowledge and predestination occupies a very prominent place (the very word πρόγνωσις, insight, foreknowledge, except for the speeches and epistle of Apostle Peter - Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:2, 20 - is not found anywhere else in the New Testament). Both in his speeches and in the messages of Ap. Peter very often speaks of the pre-ordained nature of one or another New Testament event (Acts 1:16, 2:23–25, 3:18–20, 21, 4:28, 10:41, 42; 1 Pet. 1:1, 20). But unlike Ap. Paul, who fully developed the doctrine of predestination (Rom 8, 9, 11), Apostle. Peter, without giving a theoretical explanation of the idea of ​​​​Divine foreknowledge and predestination, offers the most detailed disclosure about the actual discovery of Divine foreknowledge and predestination in history - about prophecy. The doctrine of prophecy, of the inspiration of prophets by the Holy Spirit, of the revelation of the mysteries of God to them, of their spontaneous penetration into these mysteries, etc., is revealed by Ap. Peter with such completeness and clarity as none of the sacred writers - and this teaching equally found its expression in both epistles and speeches (1 Pet 1:10-12; 2 Pet 1:19-21, 3:2, see Acts 1:16, 2:30-31, 3:18-24, 4:25, 10:43). Finally, a characteristic feature of the epistles, as well as the speeches of the Apostle Peter, is the abundance of direct quotations from the Old Testament. According to the review of the scientist A. Klemen (Der Gebrauch des Alt. Testam. in d. neutest. Schriften. Guitersloh 1895, s 144), “none of the New Testament writings is as rich in references to the Old Testament as 1 Epistle of the Apostle. Peter: for 105 verses of the epistle there are 23 verses of Old Testament quotations.” This is a close coincidence in spirit, direction and main points of teaching between the speeches and messages of St. Peter, as well as between the features of the content and the characteristic personality traits known from the Gospel in the activities of Ap. Peter, gives convincing evidence that the two Council Epistles belong to the same great Supreme Apostle Peter, whose speeches are also recorded in the book of the Acts of St. apostles, precisely in the first part of this book (Acts 1–12). After his speech at the Apostolic Council (Acts 15:7–11), the further activities of St. Peter becomes the property of church traditions, which are not always sufficiently definite (see Thu.-Min. June 29). As for now the original purpose and the first readers of the First Council Epistle of the Ap. Peter, the Apostle writes his letter to the chosen strangers of the dispersion (έκλεκτοις παρεπιδήμοις διασποράς) of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (1 Pet 1:1). Due to the fact that “dispersion”, διασπορα, often means in Scripture (James 1:1; 2 Mac.1:27; Judith 5:19) the totality of Jews living in dispersion, outside Palestine, in pagan countries, many ancient and new interpreters of the letter of St. Apostle Peter believed that it was written to Christians ( έκλεκτοις, chosen) from the Jews. This view was held in ancient times by Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea (Church. Ist. III 4), Epiphanius of Cyprus (Prot. of Heresies, XXVII 6), Blessed Jerome (On Famous Men, Chapter I), Icumenius, Blessed Theophylact in. modern times - Berthold, Gooch, Weiss, Kühl, etc. But this opinion cannot be accepted in all its exclusivity: there are passages in the epistle that can be attributed to linguistic Christians, but not at all to Judeo-Christians. Such, for example, are the words of the Apostle in 1 Peter 1:14, 18, where the reason for the former carnal and sinful life of the readers is έν τή. αγνοία, in ignorance of God and His holy law, and this very past life of theirs is called “the vain (ματαία) life handed down from the fathers”: both are applicable only to the religious and moral of the pagans, and not of the Jews. The same should be said about such passages as 1 Peter 2:10, 3:6, 4:3, 4. Therefore, one should 1) accept a mixed composition of readers - Judeo-Christians and linguistic Christians; 2) by the name “dispersion” we must mean Christians without any distinction of nationality; 3) “elect strangers” are not individual Christians, but entire Christian church communities, as can be seen from the final greeting from the entire Church 1 Peter 5:13–14. If in the list of geographical names of 1 Peter 1:1 there was an indication of the existence in Asia Minor of Judeo-Christian communities founded here earlier and independently of the gospel of St. Paul, and the foundation of these communities was adopted by Apostle. Peter, then all this is not confirmed by the New Testament data, which, on the contrary, is attributed to the first planting of Christianity in the Asia Minor provinces of Ap. Paul (Rom 15:20; Acts 13; cl. Acts 14, etc.). Likewise, church tradition does not report anything definite about the sermon of St. Peter in the places he named 1 Peter 1:1. What prompted Ap. Peter to send a message to the Christians of these provinces? The general purpose of the letter, as can be seen from its contents, is the Apostle’s intention - to confirm the readers of various social positions in the faith and rules of Christian life, to eliminate some internal disorder, to calm in external sorrows, to warn against temptations from false teachers - in a word, to plant in the lives of Asia Minor Christians those true spiritual blessings, the lack of which in the life and behavior of which was noticeable and became known to the Apostle Peter, perhaps through the mediation of those who were with him at that time a zealous colleague of Paul's Silvanus (1 Pet 5:12; 2 Sol 1:1; 2 Cor 1:19). One can only note that both the instructions and especially the warnings of Ap. Peter are more general in nature than the instructions and warnings in Paul's epistles, which is natural in view of the fact that Apostle. Paul was the founder of the churches of Asia Minor and knew more closely the conditions of their life from personal direct experience. The place where the first Council Epistle was written. Peter is Babylon, from where, on behalf of the local Christian community, the Apostle sends greetings to the churches of Asia Minor, to whom he is sending the letter (1 Pet 5:13). But what should be understood here by Babylon, the opinions of interpreters differ. Some (Keil, Neander, Weisog, etc.) see here the famous Babylon on the Euphrates in ancient times. But what speaks against this is that by the time of the Gospel this Babylon lay in ruins, representing one vast desert (έρημος πολλή - Strabo, Geograph. 16, 736), and then even more - the complete absence of evidence from church tradition about the presence of the Apostle. Peter in Mesopotamia and his preaching there. Others (here, Reverend Michael) mean in this case Babylon of Egypt - a small city on the right bank of the Nile, almost opposite Memphis: there was a Christian church here (Thurs.-Min. June 4). But about the stay of Ap. Peter and in Egyptian Babylon, tradition does not say anything; it only considers the Evangelist Mark, a disciple of St. Peter, the founder of the Alexandrian Church (Eusev. Ts. I. II 16). It remains to accept the third opinion, expressed in ancient times by Eusebius (C. I. II 15) and now dominant in science, according to which Babylon (1 Pet 5:13) must be understood in an allegorical sense, namely: to see Rome here (Corneli, Hoffmann, Tsang, Farrar, Harnack, Prof. Bogdashevsky). In addition to Eusebius, among the ancient interpreters, Babylon was understood to mean Rome blessed. Jerome, Blessed Theophylact, Icumenius. The textual tradition also speaks in favor of this understanding: many minuscule codices have the gloss: έγράφη από Ρώριης. If it was pointed out against this that before the writing of the Apocalypse (see Rev. 16:19, 17:5, 18:2), the allegorical name of Rome as Babylon could not have been formed, then in reality such a rapprochement of the former with the latter occurred, according to the testimony of Schettgen (Horae hebr. p. 1050), much earlier, being caused by the analogy between the ancient oppression of the Jews by Chaldeans and later - from the Romans. And the fact that in the concluding greetings of Paul’s letters written from Rome (to the Philippians, Colossians, Timothy, Philemon) the latter is not called Babylon does not exclude the possibility of such word usage in St. Peter, who is generally characterized by allegory (for example, the word διασπορα in 1 Peter 1:1 has a spiritual, figurative meaning). Thus, the place where the 1st Conciliar Epistle of St. Apostle was written. Peter was Rome. It is difficult to accurately determine the time of writing the message. Many ancient church writers (St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, Dionysius of Corinth, St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian, Origen, Canon Muratorium) testify to the presence of St. Peter in Rome, but all of them do not date his arrival in Rome even with approximate accuracy, but mostly speak about the martyrdom of the chief apostles, again without an exact dating of this event. Therefore, the question of the time of origin of the message in question must be resolved on the basis of New Testament data. The letter presupposes the dispensation of St. Ap. Paul of the churches of Asia Minor, which took place, as is known, on the third great evangelistic journey of the Apostle of the Gentiles, around 56–57. according to R. X.; therefore, earlier than this date, the first Council Epistle of St. Peter could not have been written. Then, not without reason, signs of similarity with Paul's letters to the Romans and Ephesians were pointed out (cf., for example, 1 Pet. 1:14 and Rom. 12:2; 1 Pet. 2:13, 14 and Rom. 13:1-6; 1 Pet. 3:9 and Rom. 12:17, as well as: 1 Pet. 2:4 and Eph. 2:20–22; 1 Pet 1:10–11 and Eph 2:5, 10, etc.), but the first appeared no earlier than 53, and the second no earlier than 61. The relatively late appearance of the epistle in question is also supported by the already mentioned, known from the epistle (1 Peter 5:12), its presence under Ap. Petre Silouan, companion of Ap. Pavel. Based on all this, it can be considered probable that the letter was written after the missionary activity of Ap. Paul's relationship with the churches of Asia Minor ceased when he was sent from Caesarea as a prisoner to Rome to be judged by Caesar (Acts 26:1). It was then that it was natural for Ap. Peter to send a message to the churches of Asia Minor, who have lost their great evangelist, and to give them instruction in faith and piety and encouragement in the sorrows of life. Thus, the probable time of writing of the message is the period between 62–64 AD. (shortly after the first epistle, shortly before his martyrdom, the Apostle wrote his second epistle). Due to the peculiarities of his personal spiritual life, as well as the special purpose of the epistle, the Apostle Peter most of all and repeatedly teaches his readers the Christian hope in God and the Lord Jesus Christ and for salvation in Him. Just as the Apostle James is a preacher of truth, and the Evangelist John is a preacher of the love of Christ, so is Apostle. Peter is par excellence the Apostle of Christian hope. Isagogical and interpretative literature about the Epistles of St. Peter in the West is very significant, such as, for example, the works of Hofmann, Wesinger Kuhl, Usten, Sieffert and others. In Russian bibliological literature there is no special scholarly monograph on the epistles of St. Ap. Petra. But very valuable isagogical-exegetical information about the subject is contained in the works of 1) prof. prot. D. I. Bogdashevsky. Message of St. Ap. Paul to the Ephesians. Kyiv 1904 and 2) prof. O. I. Mishenko. Speeches of Saint Apostle Peter in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Kyiv 1907. The brochure of Bishop George also deserves full attention. Explanation of the most difficult passages of the first letter of St. Apostle Peter. 1902. The closest thing to the explanation of the messages of St. Peter, as well as other Council Epistles, is the classic work of Rev. Ep. Michael “The Intelligent Apostle”, book. 2nd Ed. Kyiv. 1906. The “Public Explanations” of the Council Epistles of Archimander also have a certain significance. († Archbishop) Nikanora. Kazan. 1889. You might be interested in: