The Church commemorates the Leaders of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Saint Peter the Apostle
Saint Peter’s father was a fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee and the brother of Saint Andrew. He had a difficult life and his family was very poor.
Purity, straightforwardness, determination, and devotion to the paternal faith were the preconditions for becoming an Apostle of Christ.
Saint Peter’s great devotion to his Master is seen when he dared to walk on the sea when he tried to stop the soldiers who went to arrest Him, and even when he disowned Him three times but repented and wept bitterly.
He ran with John and enters the tomb of Jesus first, when he was informed of the Resurrection by the Myrrh-bearing women and, on behalf of all the Apostles, preaches to the people on the day of Pentecost.
His missionary activity began in Judea and extended to Antioch and other parts of Asia.
In the Orthodox tradition, there is no information about the end of this great Apostle. Some claim that he was martyred in Antioch.
According to the tradition of Western Christianity, he reached Rome, where he was crucified by Emperor Nero around 67 AD.
Two of the seven catholic epistles of the New Testament were written by Peter the Apostle.
Saint Paul the Apostle, the Apostle of the Nations and Teacher of the Oecumene
Saint Paul was originally a persecutor of Christianity and did not belong to the circle of the twelve disciples of Christ.
Born in Tarsus of Cilicia to wealthy parents, around 10 AD, he received Greek education and observed strictly the law.
He was an elected member of the religious group of the Pharisees. He joined the Church miraculously when he went to Damascus to arrest the Christians.
After his baptism, he lived ascetically for three years and then in Antioch, and, along with Barnabas the Apostle, he began his tours, first visiting Cyprus in AD 45.
Saint Paul visited every place on the island, preached, and baptized the new members of the Church and primarily the Apostles ordain bishops and presbyters.
Saint Paul was dubbed the Apostle of the Nations and Teacher of the Oecumene.
During his four missionary tours from Palestine to Rome, which are mentioned in fourteen of his epistles in the New Testament, he founded local churches by ordaining bishops.
In spreading the Word of God, he used the Greek language and philosophy as a tool and proclaimed the liberation from sin, slavery, and oppression of the Mosaic Law.
He suffered imprisonment, beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, slander by Jews and Gentiles, and all kinds of persecution.
He eventually imitated Jesus to the end, becoming a martyr for the Church during the persecution of Emperor Nero in Rome.
The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul remain a constant example of brotherly love and true unity in the life of the Orthodox Church.
