Word for the Day of Peter and Paul

On this day, the Holy Church piously remembers the suffering of the holy, glorious and all-praised apostles Peter and Paul. Saint Peter, the most zealous follower of Jesus Christ, for his high confession of His Divinity: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” was honored to hear from the Savior the answer: “Blessed art thou, Simone... I say unto thee, that thou art Peter (Petrus), and on this rock (petra) will I build my Church” (Matthew 16:16-18). On “this stone” (petra), on what you said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” on this confession of yours I will build My Church. For “thou art Peter”: from the “stone” (petra) Peter (Petrus), and not from Peter (Petrus) “stone” (petra), just as the Christian is from Christ, and not from the Christian Christ. Do you want to know from what “stone” (petra) the Apostle Peter (Petrus) was so named? “Listen to the Apostle Paul: “I do not want you not to be led, brethren,” says the Apostle of Christ, “as our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea: and all were baptized in Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And all the same eat spiritual food, and all the same eat spiritual beer: I drink from the spiritual stone that follows: the stone is Christ” (1 Cor. 10: 1-4). This is the “Stone” Peter came from! Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the last days of His earthly life, in the days of His service to the human race, chose twelve Apostles from among His disciples to preach the Word of God. Among them, the Apostle Peter, for his fiery zeal, was honored to occupy first place (Matthew 10:2) and to be, as it were, a representative person of the entire Church. That is why it was said to him, especially after confession: “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and if you bind on earth, it will be bound in Heaven; and if you loose on earth, it will be loosed in Heaven” (Matthew 16:19). For these “keys” and the right to “knit and decide” were received not by one person, but by the One Universal Church. And that the Church really received this right, and not just one person exclusively, then pay attention to another place in Scripture, where the Lord says the same thing to all His Apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and after that: “Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven them: and whose sins you hold, they hold on” (John 20:22-23); or: “If you bind a tree on earth, it will be bound in Heaven; and if you loose a tree on earth, it will be loose in Heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Thus, the Church binds, the Church resolves; The Church, founded on the cornerstone - Jesus Christ Himself (Eph. 2:20), binds and resolves. Let both those who are bound and those who are freed be afraid: those who are freed, so as not to fall into the same thing again; bound so as not to remain forever in the same state. For “everyone is burdened with the captivity of his sins,” says the Wise One (Proverbs 5:22); and except for the Holy Church, permission cannot be obtained anywhere. And after His Resurrection, the Lord entrusts the Apostle Peter with shepherding His spiritual flock, not because among the disciples only Peter was left to shepherd the flock of Christ, but Christ turns mainly to Peter because Peter was the first among the Apostles and, as it were, the representative of the Church; Moreover, turning in this case to Peter alone, as the Supreme Apostle, Christ thereby approves of the unity of the Church. Simone Ionin, - the Lord said to Peter, - do you love Me? And the Apostle answered: Yes, Lord: know that I love You; and the second time he was asked in the same way, and the second time he answered the same; Having been asked for the third time, seeing that they did not seem to believe him, he was saddened. But how could He who knew his heart not believe him? And therefore, after this Peter answered: “Lord, You weigh everything; You know how much I love you. And Jesus said to him all three times: Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). In addition, the Savior’s threefold appeal to Peter and Peter’s threefold confession before his Lord also had a special purpose beneficial for the Apostle. The one who was given the keys of the Kingdom and the right to knit and decide, himself bound himself three times with fear and cowardice (Matthew 26:69-75), and the Lord resolves him three times with His appeal and his confession of strong love. And all the Apostles and their successors were assigned to shepherd the verbal flock of Christ. “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock,” the Apostle Paul appeals to the church elders, “in whom the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which we have acquired with His Blood” (Acts 20:28); and the Apostle Peter to the elders: “Shepherd the flock of God in you, visiting not through need, but willingly, and according to God: lower than the unrighteous, but diligently: not as having a parable, but be an example to the flock. And when I appear to the Chief Shepherd, you will receive an unfading crown of glory" (1 Pet. 5:2-4). It is remarkable that Christ, saying to Peter: “Feed my sheep,” did not say: “Feed your sheep,” but, O good servant, feed the sheep of the Lord. “For Christ was divided, Paul was crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Peter or Paul” (1 Cor. 1:13)? Feed my sheep. For predatory wolves, heavy wolves, lying teachers and mercenaries, not sparing the flock (Matthew 7:15, Acts 20:29; 2 Pet. 2:1; John 10:12), plundering another's flock and using the spoil as if it were their own gain, think that they are shepherding their own flock. These are not the good shepherds, the shepherds of the Lord. “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11), handed over to him by the Chief Shepherd Himself (1 Pet. 5:4). And the Apostle Peter, faithful to his calling, laid down his soul for the verbal flock of Christ, sealing his apostleship with martyrdom, now glorified throughout the world. And the Apostle Paul, who was formerly Saul, became a meek lamb from a ravenous wolf; formerly he was an enemy of the Church, then he is an Apostle; first as her persecutor, then as a preacher. Having received from the high priests the authority to present all Christians in general in prison for execution, he was already on his way, “breathed reproach and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), thirsted for blood, but “He who lived in Heaven laughed at him” (Ps. 2:4). When he, persecuting and embittering the Church of God in this way (1 Cor. 15:9; Acts 8:3), was approaching Damascus, then the Lord from Heaven called out to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” - I am here, I am there, I am everywhere: here is My head; there is My body. Let us not be surprised at this; we ourselves are members of the Body of Christ. “Savle, Saul, that you persecute Me”; “You are cruel against the goad” (Acts 9:4–5). Saul, trembling and horrified, cried out: “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus,” the Lord answered him, “whom you are persecuting.” And Saul suddenly changes: “What do you want to do to me?” - exclaims. And a voice came to him: “Arise and go into the city, and it is said to you what is fitting for you to do” (Acts 9:5, 6). Here the Lord sends Ananias: “Go up to the man named Saul and baptize him, for this is the vessel chosen by Me, to bring My name before the tongues and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:11, 15, 18). This vessel must be filled with My grace. Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard from many about this men, how much evil you have done to your saints in Jerusalem: and here to have power from the bishops, to bind all who name your name” (Acts 9:13, 14). But the Lord urgently commands Ananias: “Go and seek him, for I am a chosen vessel: ...For I will tell him how much it is fitting for him to suffer for My Name” (Acts 9:15-16). And indeed the Lord showed the Apostle Paul what he had to endure for His Name. He instructed him in exploits; did not leave him in chains, shackles, dungeons, shipwrecks; He Himself sympathized with him in his suffering, He Himself guided him to this day. On one day we commemorate the suffering of both of these Apostles, for, although they suffered on different days, in spirit and in the proximity of their suffering they are one. Peter preceded, Paul soon followed him, first called Saul, and then Paul, transforming pride into humility in his face, as his very name (Paulus), that is, “small, few, least,” shows this. What after this, the Apostle Paul? Ask him, he answers this himself: “I am,” he says, “thought to be an apostle: ... but I have labored more than all: not I, but the grace of God which is with me” (1 Cor. 15:9, 10). So, brothers, today celebrating the memory of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, remembering their honest sufferings, let us love their true faith, holy life, let us love their innocence, their sufferings and the purity of their confession. By loving these high qualities in them and imitating their great deeds, “become like” them (2 Thess. 3:9), and we will achieve that eternal bliss that is prepared for all saints. The path of our life was previously harder, thornier, more difficult, but because of the large cloud of witnesses that surrounded us (Heb. 12:1) who passed along it, it has now become easier, smoother, and more passable for us. First, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of faith, walked along it (Heb. 12:2); His undaunted Apostles followed Him; then martyrs, youths, wives, virgins and many hosts of witnesses. Who acted in them and helped them along this path? - The One who said: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). You might be interested in: