Saint Nicholas Cathedral
June 29, 2023
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the persons and lives of the holy chief apostles whom we celebrate today, we can discern any number of similarities, any number of parallels. Both took new names that signified their apostolic calling—Simon became Peter, and Saul became Paul. (Perhaps signifying some mystery, both went from names starting with ‘s’ to names starting with ‘p.’) Both were martyred in Rome; Peter was crucified upside-down while Paul was beheaded. Peter was responsible for preaching to the Jews, while inaugurating and approving the inclusion of the Gentiles; Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisee and Hebrew of Hebrews, who learned at the feet of Gamaliel, became the apostle to the nations.
More important than any of this, however, is their common preaching, common witness, common message, which was appropriately celebrated in last night’s hymns. As we sang in the doxastichon at the aposticha:
“Together they”—Saints Peter and Paul—“proclaim to Israel: ‘He who was stretched out on the Cross is the Lord of all!’”
Peter’s proclamation began shakily. As recorded in today’s Gospel reading, he, illumined by divine grace, knew Jesus to be the Son of God and Christ. But, moments later, when Jesus began to speak of his coming Passion, Peter foolishly exclaimed “May it never be!” When the time came for Christ to go to the Cross, Peter declared that he was ready to die with him, only to deny him three times.
But, in the end, God’s calling and grace were triumphant in St. Peter, and in the Book of Acts, we hear him preaching boldly, filled with the Holy Spirit: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Likewise, St. Paul was a great preacher of the Cross. When he was among his fellow Christians, he was resolved “to know nothing… but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” His word was “the word of the Cross,” the power of God to those who are being saved.
More than this, the Cross was, for the chief apostles, not merely an abstract doctrine, something to be preached, discussed, talked about. The Cross was also a reality in their own lives.
In St. Peter’s case, he was called, quite literally, to accept his cross. According to an ancient tradition first recorded in so-called apocryphal writings, St. Peter had managed to escape the city of Rome during Nero’s persecution of Christians. As he left town, however, he caught sight of the Lord going the other way. “Where art thou going, Lord?” he asked, only to hear a terrifying answer: “I am going to be crucified again.”
St. Peter understood: he was being called to bear the ultimate witness to his Friend and Master, his Lord and Savior, in fulfillment of the words that the Resurrected Lord once uttered beside the Sea of Tiberias: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” In imitation of his Lord, St. Peter was bound, led away, and stretched out on a cross of wood.
For St. Paul, the Cross was a daily reality. In today’s epistle reading we heard the litany of hardships that he faced in the course of his ministry, including the thorn in his flesh that troubled him constantly. And yet, for St. Paul, these hardships were a manifestation of the power of God realized in the Cross: strength made perfect in weakness, grace that was sufficient, the marks of the Lord Jesus borne in fragile flesh.
Indeed, so intimate is the connection between the apostolic ministry and the Cross that last night’s hymns referred to the two chief apostles as “the arms of the Cross” of Christ the Savior. We are reminded of Aaron and Hur, who stood by the side of Moses during the battle against Amalek, holding the prophet and God-seer’s arms upright in the form of a cross. Likewise, these two apostles were called to stand at the right and left hand of Christ and spread the grace of the Cross to the entire universe. They became the arms of the Cross and, indeed, the arms of the Savior, stretching out to embrace humanity and the whole cosmos with the divine love revealed in the Crucifixion.
And so, as we celebrate the feast of these two greatest apostles, they call us, too, to put the Cross at the center of our lives. If the Cross is the shape of divine love, then it is only by taking up our own cross that we open ourselves up to the love of God. Likewise, it is only through the word of the Cross—expressed in our thoughts, words, and deeds—that we can share the love of God with others.
The Cross for us can of course take many forms: sometimes we suffer innocent crucifixion, because of the hardships of the world and actions of others. But more often, we, unlike Our Lord, suffer because we are guilty, because of sins, unchecked passions, and evil inclinations. But whenever we suffer with faith, repentance, and humble-mindedness, this suffering becomes for us a cross, a little cross united to the saving Cross of Christ.
The Cross is a roaring channel through which divine love cascades into the world, and, to paraphrase the words of the services for the feast, the two chief apostles became rivers of that gracious love, flowing out into creation. By following the preaching and example of Sts. Peter and Paul, by embracing the Cross in our lives, we, too, can receive that love and even become streams and rivulets flowing with the love of God, bringing that love to our brethren and neighbors.
To our Crucified Savior, who is himself the preaching of the apostles and the adornment of the saints, Christ our true God, be all glory and adoration, together with his Father and his All-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Holy chief apostles Peter and Paul, pray to God for us!