The Holy, Glorious, All-Praiseworthy and Chief Apostles Peter and Paul; Passing into Eternal Life (1941) of Blessed Iakym (Joachim) (Senkivsky), Basilian Protohegoumen and Martyr of Drohobych, where his body was boiled
All-Night Vigil Feast. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
2 Corinthians 11:21-12:9; Matthew 16:13-19.
Read Matthew 16:13-19
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the holy, glorious, all-praiseworthy and chief apostles, Peter and Paul. These pillars of the Church, as they are called, were both martyred in Rome, under the Emperor Nero around 67 AD.
The hymnography of the Church extols these two men as ‘leaders of the apostles’ (Troparion), ‘teachers and foundations of the Church of Christ, its true pillars and walls, and trumpets of the divine teachings’ (Stichera at the Lytia). The Greek word used here for leader is koryphaioi. In ancient Greek theater the koryphaioi were the leaders of the chorus. They set the pattern, and served as a reference point for the singing, and also for the dance movements and gestures of the rest. In other words, their role was to keep the whole group unified and moving in the same pattern so that their message could be clearly seen and understood. What is this pattern that the holy apostles present to us?
In the Gospel reading which the Church assigns to today’s feast Jesus asks his disciples, ‘who do you say that I am?’ St. Peter responds with the great confession of faith, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. As Jesus explains, this confession is not a product of Peter’s own human reasoning, but it is a revelation from God. In the first place then, we are called to confess the true faith, not as we have figured it out…but as we have received it.
But this is not all. Even we who have seen the true light and have found the true faith, can and do fall away from the pattern of life that this confession calls us to. When we do, we must repent, rise, and answer with St. Peter the other great question posed to him by Jesus: “Do you love me? (John 21:17).
St. Paul affirms the primacy of love in his first letter to the Corinthians, “if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2)
As we celebrate the feast today, then, let us look to the pattern set for us by these two koryphaioi – one of bold confession of faith, heartfelt repentance and love for Christ, and let us sing with the Church, “With what beautiful hymns shall we praise Peter and Paul? They are wings of divine knowledge, spreading out to the far ends of the earth and soaring aloft to heaven. They are two heads of the Gospel of grace, two feet of the preaching of the truth, two rivers of wisdom and two arms of the Cross, through which the merciful Christ casts down the pride of demons.” (Stichera at O, Lord I have cried)