Поклонение честным веригам святого Апостола Петра

The Holy Apostle Peter, by order of King Herod 614, was thrown into prison and bound with two iron chains. But at night, when he was sleeping among two soldiers, the Angel of the Lord woke him up, pushing him in the side, and led him out of prison, and the iron chains fell from the hands of the apostle, as it is related in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 12:7). The news of Peter's miraculous deliverance from shackles and prison spread throughout Jerusalem, and some of the believers, having secretly taken these chains, began to keep them with them, so that, looking at them, they would have before the eyes of the very supreme Apostle Peter, who immediately upon leaving prison set off to preach the word of God to other countries and did not return to Jerusalem. These chains received healing powers from the body of the apostle, who was tightly bound by them. It is known that the headbands and scarves of the Holy Apostle Paul healed diseases and drove out unclean spirits, because they were soaked in his sweat (Acts 19:12); The chains of St. Peter had the same effect, because they once tightly covered the body of the apostle. Believers revered these honest chains with deep reverence, worshiped them and carefully preserved them, like a dear inheritance, from generation to generation, and each time the parents explained to their children, and they explained to their heirs, what great prisoner these chains touched and whose body they were consecrated. So they passed by inheritance into the hands of the Holy Patriarch of Jerusalem Juvenal. And when the pious Queen Eudokia, the wife of Tsar Theodosius the Younger 615, returned to Constantinople from Jerusalem, where during her stay she built many churches and decorated holy places from her royal funds, Patriarch Juvenaly gave her many different spiritual treasures for her piety and love for the shrine. Among them, he gave her these honest and miraculous chains of St. Apostle Peter 616. Upon returning to Constantinople, Evdokia brought one chain as a gift to the church of the Holy Apostle Peter, located inside the Great St. Sophia Cathedral 617, and sent the other to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia, who was married to the Roman king Valentinian III. 618 Pious, like a mother, Eudoxia lovingly accepted this precious gift and, having built a church in the name of the Holy Apostle Peter on Mount Exquilium, she placed this chain there along with another chain of the Holy Apostle Peter, found in Rome, with which Nero tied him during his torment 619. After this, it was established to celebrate on January 16 a holiday of worship of these honest chains 620, in memory and honor of the holy Apostle Peter and for the glory of Christ our God. Do not leave Rome, you came to us with honest chains, even as you wore the Apostles on the throne. Whom we worship by faith, we pray: with your prayers to God, grant us great mercy. The Stone of Christ, the Stone of Faith, brightly glorifies the disciples of the first throne: for it convenes everyone to celebrate, Peter, the miracles of your honest chains, and grants forgiveness of sins. Let us praise the Supreme and First Apostles, the truth of the Divine disciple, Peter the Great, and with faith we kiss his chains, the resolution of sins is acceptable. Here, of course, Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, king of the Jews, who killed St. the Apostle James Zebedee and who also wanted to destroy the Apostle Peter; ruled Judea during the reign of the Roman emperors Caligula (37–41) and Claudius (41–54); He died, struck by an Angel, from a serious illness shortly after the miraculous release of the Apostle Peter from prison. Theodosius II the Younger - Byzantine emperor, reigned from 408-450. Honest chains of St. Apostle Peter were kept in Jerusalem until 439, in which year Empress Eudoxia received them from Patriarch Juvenal. Here, of course, is the main cathedral in Constantinople in the name of Sophia - the Wisdom of God, created by Constantine the Great. This cathedral was subsequently magnificently renewed and enlarged by the Emperor Justinian the Great in 537; in 1453, after the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, it was converted into a mosque. Justinian's Church of St. Sophia remains to this day a most remarkable, majestic monument of Christian architecture of the Byzantine style of the most flourishing era of its development. Valentinian III – Roman Emperor; reigned from 423–455. Nero - Roman emperor reigned from 54-68; At his command, the Apostle Peter was committed to martyrdom (about the year 67). – The chains with which the Apostle Peter was shackled at the command of Nero were found in Rome in the 2nd century. The Roman holiday of the chain existed at the beginning of the 2nd century, under Pope Alexander (109–119) in memory of the chain of the Apostle Peter in a Roman prison, which was honored and kissed, and after this holiday was renewed by the chain sent from Jerusalem. This holiday is celebrated in the Roman church on August 1st. You might be interested in: