Among the earliest followers of Jesus Christ, who became the founders of His Universal Church, there are two apostles, called the supreme ones. This is the apostle Peter and the apostle Paul. In earthly life, they were completely different people, not only in their social status, but also in their way of thinking and in their perception of the world. They were united by faith in the resurrection of the Son of God, who opened the gates to Eternal Life.
Fisherman from Lake Gennesaret
About the Holy Apostle Peter, we know that he comes from the city of Bethsaida, located in the north of the Lake of Gennesaret. His father Jonah was from the tribe of Naphtali. Before meeting with Jesus Christ, the apostle Peter was called Simon. He lived in Capernaum with his wife and mother-in-law. Simon was a simple and modest fisherman. Together with his brother Andrew, the future Apostle Andrew the First-Called, he earned his bread with hard work, did not think about the secrets of the universe, and all his interests were reduced to the concerns of the current day.
At the very beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus, having called both brothers to Himself, gave Simon a new name - Peter, which means "stone". Said at the same timeJesus' words that on this "rock" He will build a church, impregnable for hell, testify to the special role that was destined by Him for this person. And Peter from the very beginning wholeheartedly believed his Teacher. There was no room for doubt in his simple and open soul. Leaving everything that connected him with his former life, he followed Christ without hesitation.
The insight of the Apostle Paul
The apostle Paul appears to us quite differently. He was born in the city of Tarsus, in the family of a Jew who had Roman citizenship, which legally provided him with a privileged position. His original name was Saul and he was a fanatical believer in the Jewish Law. In Jerusalem, having joined the Pharisees, he received an excellent education under the guidance of one of the most famous rabbis of that time. This made him even more of a zealot for Judaism and a persecutor of Christians.
But the Lord was pleased to enlighten his mind with the light of true faith. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul, with all the fervor of his heart, began to preach in the synagogues a doctrine that only yesterday he had denounced as false and whose adherents he accused of crimes against the Law. He was an educated man, and this gave his sermons a special power. Having embarked on this new life path for him, Saul began to be called Paul, which is deeply symbolic - a change in name meant a change in his whole life.
Martyrdom of the Holy Apostles
According to Holy Tradition, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul died at the hands ofJews on one day - July 12 (NS). It became their day of remembrance. Every year on this day a holiday is celebrated - the Day of Peter and Paul. Emperor Nero put the Apostle Peter to death after he learned that Peter had significantly increased the number of newly converted Christians by his preaching. The apostle was condemned to be crucified, like his great Teacher, but he begged the executioners to nail him upside down to the cross, as he considered himself unworthy of repeating the death of Christ, crucified standing up.
The Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen, and, according to the law, he could not be crucified, since such an execution was considered shameful, and only fugitive slaves and those who belonged to the lowest strata of society were subjected to it. By order of the emperor, he was taken out of Rome and beheaded with a sword blow on the Ostian road. Tradition says that at the place where the head of the holy apostle fell, a miraculous spring gushed out of the ground.
During the period of early Christianity, the veneration of these saints followed immediately after their martyrdom, and the burial place was one of the greatest shrines. Then they began to celebrate the holiday - the Day of Peter and Paul. It is known that when in the 4th century, under Emperor Constantine the Great, Christianity finally received official status and became the state religion, churches were built in Rome and Constantinople in honor of these apostles.
Adoration of Russians to the Holy Apostles
From the first days of the adoption of Christianity in Russia, the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul have become one of the most revered and beloved saints by Russians. The Baptist of Russia - Equal-to-the-Apostles PrinceVladimir, returning from Korsun, brought an icon with their image to Kyiv. Subsequently, it was donated to Novgorod, where for a long time it was kept in St. Sophia Cathedral. Later it was lost, but even today under the vaults of this temple you can see an old fresco of the 11th century, representing the holy Apostle Peter.
The centuries-old tradition of honoring the supreme apostles in Russia is evidenced by the wall paintings of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, dating back to the 11th-12th centuries. They also depict the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. Two ancient Russian monasteries in honor of these saints were founded at the beginning of the 12th century, one in Novgorod on Sinichaya Gora, and the other in Rostov. A century later, the Peter and Paul Monastery appeared in Bryansk. During this period, many liturgical texts were written, including the akathist to Peter and Paul.
The popularity of the apostles Peter and Paul is also evidenced by the widespread use of their names among the Orthodox inhabitants of our country. Suffice it to recall the vast host of ancient Russian saints. Among them, many at baptism, and some at the time of monastic tonsure or the adoption of the Great Schema, were called the names of the supreme apostles. This list can be continued with the names of people who left their mark on Russian history, as well as those countless Peters and Pauls who lived their lives in the boundless expanses of Russia.
Ancient images of the supreme apostles
Speaking about the development of the iconography of these images, it should be noted that the holy apostles Peter and Paul were depicted firstChristians on the walls of the catacombs, where they performed their services. At that time, such wall paintings represented a very definite danger for the adherents of the new faith, and for this reason they often resorted to the help of symbols. However, there are separate frescoes dating to this period, on which the apostles are given quite definite, similar portrait features, which allows researchers to admit their real similarity with historical prototypes. It should be noted that in the literary monuments that have come down to us from those distant times, the same tendency is noticed: some of them contain quite similar descriptions of the appearance of the apostles.
Apostles Peter and Paul in Russian icon painting
With the establishment of Orthodoxy, St. Peter and Paul became those saints, whose image was certainly included in the number of sacred images of each temple. As a rule, their compositions were based on plots from the New Testament, but scenes from Holy Tradition are also known. One of them is the widespread icon of Peter and Paul embracing, looking into each other's eyes. It shows the audience the moment of the meeting of the apostles in Rome shortly before the execution. A similar image in a half-length version has become widespread.
However, since the times of Ancient Russia, icons have received great popularity, on which the apostles Peter and Paul are represented standing in full growth, slightly facing each other. One of them is the oldest icon that has come down to us, which is stored today in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod. This is the same icon brought, according to legend, by Prince Vladimir from Korsun,mentioned above.
Growing importance of apostolic images
Over time, the importance of the images of Saints Peter and Paul has grown so much that they have become an integral part of the deesis row of each iconostasis. It has become a tradition to place the image of the Apostle Peter to the left of the central icon of Jesus Christ, immediately after the images of the Mother of God and the Archangel Michael, and the icon of the Apostle Paul to the right, directly behind the icon of John the Baptist and the image of the Archangel Gabriel. The most famous of these images are the creations of Andrei Rublev, which have survived to this day in the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir.
Since the end of the 17th century, the influence of Western European schools has increased in Russian icon painting. This explains the appearance of themes connected with the martyrdom of the apostles. In former times, their traditional attributes were: Peter had the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and Paul had a scroll - a symbol of wisdom. Now, in the hands of the apostles, we see the instruments of their martyrdom - Peter has a cross, and Paul has a sword. Even icons are known, in the background of which scenes of execution are depicted.
Over the years, the order of the church services dedicated to them has been established. The texts of the chants accompanying them belong mainly to the 7th-8th centuries. Their authorship is attributed to such pillars of the Christian Church as Patriarch Herman of Constantinople and St. Andrew of Crete, whose penitential canon is read every year during Great Lent. In addition to them, the names of St. John of Damascus and Cosmas of Mayum are mentioned. At services, an akathist to Peter and Paul is always performed, andalso solemn stichera.
The names of saints immortalized in architecture
The names of the holy apostles Peter and Paul are forever immortalized in temple architecture. This applies equally to Russia and to Western countries. Suffice it to recall the main Catholic church - St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The greatest artists and architects worked on the creation of this largest historical Christian church. Among them are the following: Michelangelo, Raphael, Bramante, Bernini and many others.
In Orthodox Russia, the tradition of building churches in honor of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul has its roots in the time of St. Prince Vladimir. It is known that during the period of his reign, the first church of the apostles Peter and Paul appeared on the Dnieper banks, and after it, throughout the vast territory of Russia, in cities, villages and even completely remote villages, temples dedicated to these two great ascetics were built in a multitude.
Cathedral on the Neva
The Cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg occupies a special place among them. It is also called the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Erected according to the project of the architect D. Trizini in 1712-1733, it became the tomb of the Russian tsars. The cathedral is located on the territory of the Peter and Paul Fortress, founded in 1703 by order of Peter I to protect the mouth of the Neva from a possible invasion of the Swedes.
In the beginning, the wooden church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul appeared. When the construction of a stone church began in 1712, it was carried out in such a way that the former buildingremained unharmed inside the newly erected walls, and services in it did not stop all the time of work. The new cathedral, built in the Peter the Great Baroque style, has become one of the architectural masterpieces that still adorn the city on the Neva.
Temple in Sestroretsk
In 2009, the church of Peter and Paul built in the suburbs of St. Petersburg was solemnly consecrated. Sestroretsk is a small resort town near the northern capital. At the beginning of the 18th century, a wooden church was built here in honor of the supreme apostles. Over time, it was replaced by a stone temple, which became an outstanding achievement of architecture. However, during the years of rebellion it was destroyed, and only with the onset of democratic reforms did it begin to be restored.
Rebuilt and consecrated, the Church of Peter and Paul (Sestroretsk) is a memorial monument to Russian submariners. The fact is that it was built on the very spot where, in ancient times, the Russian nugget genius, peasant Efim Nikonov, demonstrated his invention to Tsar Peter I - the first submarine. This is preserved in the memory of today's sailors, and a whole memorial to the memory of the heroes of the Russian submarine fleet was created on the territory of the temple.
Temples of different cities and different confessions
It is impossible not to mention two more temples located in St. Petersburg. One of them is the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul at the Medical Academy. It is located on Piskarevsky Prospekt. And the other, which is located in the very center of the city on Gorokhovaya Street - it is the home temple of the PedagogicalUniversity named after A. I. Herzen. Both of them, created even before the revolution, were closed during the Soviet period, and today they have reopened their doors to parishioners.
In many cities of the country there are now churches in honor of the holy apostles. Among them are Moscow, Smolensk, Sevastopol, Karaganda, Barnaul, Ufa and many others. In addition to Orthodox churches, services to Peter and Paul are regularly performed in the cathedrals of other Christian denominations. Residents of the capital, for example, are well acquainted with the building of the Lutheran Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Starosadsky Lane, restored after atheistic hard times. The majestic Catholic church dedicated to the aforementioned saints also rises in Veliky Novgorod. And the list goes on and on.
Cities named after the apostles Peter and Paul
The memory of the holy apostles is also immortalized in the names of some cities. The most famous among them is St. Petersburg, which bears the name of its heavenly patron, the Apostle Peter. It was founded in 1703. A city in the Far East, Petropavlovsk, is also named after the holy apostles. The prison, which became its cradle, was founded by the Cossacks in 1697. Over time, a settlement formed around it, from which the city grew.
Another Petropavlovsk is located on the territory that today belongs to Kazakhstan. Initially, it was a military fortress, standing at the crossroads of important trade routes. Over time, it lost its military significance and turned into a large settlement - a junction station of the Trans-Siberian railway.
Distortionapostolic images in contemporary culture
From ancient times, the supreme apostles Peter and Paul became characters both in apocrypha (rejected by the church, and not included in the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments), and in folklore stories. Traditionally, the Apostle Peter was presented in them as the key-keeper at the gates of heaven or as a companion of Jesus Christ when He appeared to people. The Apostle Paul corresponded to the image of a resident or guardian of paradise. The patronage of fire and the sun was often attributed to him.
This vulgar interpretation of sacred images, characteristic of the lower classes of the people, unfortunately, has become widespread in our days, it has taken root in many areas of modern culture. This is especially noticeable in film and animation. For the reason that both apostles are traditionally depicted together, and the day of their memory is celebrated at the same time - July 12, Peter and Paul were combined into a single image. For example, in the popular mind, both are considered the patrons of fishermen, despite the fact that only the Apostle Peter was engaged in this trade. It is also unfair to identify both of them with the stone on which the church building was erected, since these words of Jesus refer only to the apostle Peter.
