About the Holy Twelve Apostles

It is very significant that today this fishing net, in which we catch the fish of words, has been filled with prey by the visitation of the Holy Spirit. After all, it was the wisdom of the Word that made the foolish wise and opened the mouths of the slow-tongued with tongues of fire, because it was at her command that they left their former craft for a more exalted one. “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) - that’s what they were told. The Lord said: follow Me, and everything immediately changed for the better. Twelve fighters were chosen and none of them remained uncrowned. The same grace assisted them all and made the victory of each of them glorious. Only the unfortunate Judas broke free from this anchor, showing the Lamb to the wolves with a kiss and betraying the Lord, whose blood had redeemed the world, for thirty pieces of silver. But you, oh blessed and glorious apostolic squad, by grace were “all in all” (Eph. 1:23); not with a cane, but with a word, you wisely captured the herds of people. You are the unshakable pillars of the right faith, the rock of the Church, the scepters of the kingdom, the vigilant leaders of this flock in particular, the free healers of ailing humanity and the compassionate guarantors of our repentance before God. You are like animated anvils: when you are struck, you admonish those who strike you. Here Peter instructs Rome; there Paul preaches the gospel to the world. Andrew admonishes the wise men of Hellas; Simon brings the barbarians to God, Thomas makes the Ethiopians white with baptism. Judea honors the seat of Jacob, Alexandria on the Nile falls to the throne of Mark. Luke and Matthew write the gospel, John the seer is as if alive, and after his death he does not leave Ephesus in his care. Bartholomew teaches the Lycaonians abstinence, Philip miraculously saves Hierapolis. Everyone never ceases to do good to everyone, everywhere. Their very ashes are immortal in their tombs. Now they are servants, and then they will sit as judges of the world. With the touch of one, the lame man gained the ability to walk; another met a paralytic and was ordered to carry a bed; another calls the dead - and they immediately obey him; that one shadow drives away diseases; Demons tremble at this name, and his headbands bring healing. And it is not surprising: after all, they are disciples of the One whose garment, when a bleeding woman secretly touched it, immediately dried up the red sea of ​​her blood. Let us return, however, to the supreme apostles and remember this prophetic voice: “how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together” (Ps. 133:1). And since Peter was the first to hire himself into the vineyard of the Lord, let our word be dedicated to him first. Peter is the firstborn sheep from the flock of the Good Shepherd. From the lake he ascended to heaven; left the sailors and was honored to talk with angels; left the boat and received control of the ship of the Church, accepted the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the power to bind and decide. Quick to respond, he is unshakable in faith. It was he, an ardent companion of the Teacher in everything, who proclaimed this confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). Ready to die with the Lord, he relentlessly followed the divine Prisoner to the court of Caiaphas. His very renunciation is worthy of apology, but his repentance is worthy of surprise; even more: his renunciation is not so much blameworthy as his repentance. And his fall was to our benefit: with quick repentance and tears he atoned for his sin, and after this fleeting hesitation he became forever the unshakable foundation of the faithful. After all, if, beloved listener, you consider how favorable that time was for timidity, you will not at all find that Peter is very deserving of accusation. The sun darkened, the sky shook, the earth shook, the stones disintegrated - from the intolerance of the insult inflicted on the Creator: these are the circumstances under which Peter wavered, this is when the supreme apostle denied. And amazingly: he immediately found an accuser for himself with the wordless messenger of the day according to the word of the Lord: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matthew 26:34). But he was the first to renounce, he was the first to run to the tomb, he was the first to see the Life-Giver risen from the dead, having learned from Mary what the angel sitting on the tomb did not dare to tell him. Here next to Peter is Paul, the wise universal orator. He was a wolf and became a lamb, he was a thorn and became a grape; from an enemy he became a friend, from a chaff he became bread; was a Jew - and remained a Jew, but they had Saul, who breathed threats and murder, but with us he became Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ; the blasphemer became a theologian, the persecutor became an evangelist, the tormentor became a helmsman, the traitor became an associate. Together with Peter, he found himself a tomb in Rome, but with him he did not despise Shechem; in the image of Benjamin to take Joseph, and in the image of Thecla the father of children and mentor. Blind before Damascus - and in every city the eye of preaching, called from heaven - and caught up into heaven, he contemplated paradise before leaving here and already during the struggle he received the crown of victory, moreover, deserved by him, as he himself says. What exactly does it say? “Which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day” (2 Tim. 4:8). Such is Paul - the first of the latter, of the "fiends" (1 Cor. 15:8) - "a perfect man" (Eph. 4:13), and a pleasant persecutor, and a sweet persecuted, a Roman and a Pharisee, who by faith was all things to all. Christ, who predicted Peter's suffering, also told Paul that it was fitting for him to suffer for His name (Acts 9:16). It pleased the Lord that both supreme apostles, who preached one faith, who accomplished one movement, through their suffering - one nailed to the cross, the other beheaded - were true witnesses of the One who suffered, was buried and rose again, as he predicted, and returned to the bosom of the Father, from which he never departed. And this is what the Lord himself says to them through the prophet: “go around” this new “Zion and go around it” (Ps. 47:13), that is: save, strengthen, protect with your prayers, and then, if in anger I want to shake the universe, then, seeing your incorruptible tomb and the wounds that you voluntarily accepted for Me, I will overcome the anger with compassion and accept your intercession for him in advance. After all, when I see the priesthood and the kingdom crying, I immediately bow to pity and compassion, I immediately remember these words of mine: “I will guard this city... for the sake of David my servant” and my holy Aaron (2 Kings 19:34). As if united in faith and covering their dignity with voluntary humility, their very attire testifying to the humility of their souls, they brought before Me many thousands of disciples, pleasing Me and asking Me for propitiation for the world. But I myself said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find” (Matthew 7:7). To him be glory and power, now and ever, unto ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria.