14. Благовестнические труды апостола Петра

The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians speaks about the division of apostolic labors, namely, that he was entrusted with the gospel of the word of God for the uncircumcised, i.e., the Gentiles, and the Apostle Peter for the circumcised, i.e., the Jews. Because of this primacy in the gospel of the Gospel, they are honored in the Church with the title of the supreme ones. Unfortunately, we do not have such detailed information about the life and works of the Apostle Peter as we do about the life and works of the other supreme apostle. After the Apostle Peter founded the Church among Jews and Gentiles, he suffered persecution from the Jewish king Herod Agrippa. At the beginning of his reign, Herod Agrippa ordered the capture of the apostle and by killing him he hoped to especially please the Jews, but had to postpone his plan until the end of the Easter holiday. The Apostle was imprisoned in the innermost compartment of the prison, and sixteen soldiers were assigned to guard him. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Church earnestly prayed to God for him, and on the eve of his execution, believers gathered for general church prayer in the house of Mary, mother of Mark (later Petrov’s disciple and evangelist). That night Peter, bound in chains, slept between two soldiers; the rest of the warriors stood at the triple doors of the dungeon. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and light shone around the prison. The angel awakened Peter. And the chains fell from his hands. At the command of the angel, Peter stood up, got dressed, put on his shoes, walked with him through all the doors of the prison, saw the guards standing, and only then was he convinced that all this was not a vision, but reality, when the angel led him to Mary’s house and here he became invisible. After the Apostolic Council, the Apostle Peter was, as is already known from legend, in Antioch and ordained the first bishop Euodius here. Then he preached in the regions of Asia Minor (Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia and Asia) to Jews and proselytes, to whom he later wrote his epistle. After this he preached to the Jews living in Egypt and ordained Mark as the first bishop for the Church of Alexandria. There is no doubt that the Apostle Peter preached in Rome, but was not here, as some think, a bishop 29. In Rome, the holy apostle suffered martyrdom from Nero in the guise of Simon the Magus, whom Nero patronized. There is a legend that when, at the request of Roman Christians, the Apostle Peter wanted to leave Rome, he saw the Lord Jesus at the gates of the city, carrying a cross, and to the question: “Where, Lord, are you going?” - I heard: “I’m going to suffer for the second time in Rome.” Peter took this as admonition from above and betrayed himself to his persecutors. On the eve of his death, his wife was killed before his eyes. In her last minutes, he addressed her with the following touching words: “Wife, remember the Teacher.” Peter was crucified on the cross, at his own request, upside down, because he considered himself unworthy to die the way Christ the Savior died. The Apostle Peter wrote two conciliar letters 30. – Saint Irenaeus (Bishop of Lyons, who lived in the 2nd century) writes that the Church of Rome was founded by the apostles Peter and Paul, and that they appointed Bishop Linus to govern it; Linus's successor was Anacletus, and the third bishop was Clement, who also saw the apostles. The first two, according to tradition, were ordained by the Apostle Paul, and Clement was ordained by the Apostle Peter. – In the first, he taught us to endure temptations with courage, to act in accordance with the high calling of a Christian and to justify our faith with good deeds; he gives instructions to Christian wives, husbands, shepherds and flocks. The second epistle is, as it were, the dying testament of the apostle. He warns believers against false teachers. In addition, the Apostle Peter left clear traces of his participation in the Gospel, which, at the request of the Roman Christians, was written by his colleague, the Apostle Mark. It is attributed to him, by the way, that this Gospel is silent about the praise that the great apostle received for confessing the Lord as Christ, the Son of the living God, and some details of his threefold denial of the Lord are clarified. The ancients called the Gospel of Mark together with the Gospel of Peter. You might be interested in: