In Petrum et Paulum

On the Chief Apostles Peter and Paul, and Their Most Glorious Martyrdom. 1. I see a contest between heaven and earth on account of this present festival of the memory of the apostles, the heavenly powers praising with honored voices the teaching of their labor, since through them the mystery of the economy was made known to them, as Paul proclaims, that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavens through the Church; while men on earth are constrained to show fitting praise through honor to the chief apostles, since through them they have returned to salvation. For what is greater than Peter? What is equal to Paul? They who by deed and word conquered all creation in heaven and on earth; they who were bound with the clay of the body and were found superior to angels. What then shall we say to the teachers of the upper and lower creation? For I find no speech worthy to praise those who praised our race, who went around the whole earth and sea, who tore up the roots of sins and sowed the seeds of piety in the hearts of disobedient men.

Peter the teacher of the apostles, Paul the knower of the inhabited world and participant in the heavenly powers; Peter the bridle of the ungrateful Jews, Paul the consolation of the nations. And observe the surpassing wisdom of the Lord. For he chose Peter from among fishermen, and Paul from among tentmakers; and this he did for benefit, for the glory of the Jews was sinking. For this reason the Lord entrusted to this fisherman, saying to him: Go to the sea and cast a hook; and take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth, and you will find a stater. By "sea" he means the unstable opinion of the lawless Jews; by "hook," the artful word of teaching; by "fish," the law. And opening its mouth means interpreting it; and finding a stater in it signifies examining it spiritually. And to Paul as a tentmaker he entrusted the nations, that he might clothe the naked through law and grace with the scarlet garment dyed with the water and blood of the Lord. Thus the Lord cries to him: Go, he says, for I will send you to distant nations. O blessed pair entrusted with the souls of the whole world! Peter the beginning of orthodoxy, the great hierophant of the Church, the necessary counselor of Christians, the treasure of the heavenly powers, the apostle honored by the Lord.

Paul the great herald of truth, the boast of the inhabited world, the man in the heavens and the angel on earth, the glory of the Church, the eagle soaring in the heights, the lyre of the Spirit, the swallow and the cicada, the instrument of the Lord, the swift servant of Christ. Paul and Peter, the yoked oxen of the Church, who trafficked a noble merchandise to the inhabited world, who took up the cross instead of a yoke, and instead of a rider the Saviour, and instead of the yoke-straps the covenants of the Scriptures, and instead of a goad the grace of the Holy Spirit. Paul and Peter, who daily brighten the Church, the treasuries of the Lord, the inns of the inhabited world, the vessels of the Spirit, the interpreters of the Holy Trinity, the guides of the economy of the divine word. Peter, my spiritual love; Paul, the vessel of election, my staff. Peter, the temple of God; Paul, the mouth of Christ, the lyre of the Spirit, the three-cubit man touching the heavens; the one circumscribed in place, yet circumscribing the whole world for the Lord; the one who from Jerusalem and in a circuit as far as Illyricum filled the Gospel of Christ; the swift runner, the eagle flying up into heaven, the one filled with divine grace, the one testified by the Lord to bear his name before the whole inhabited world, the one who passed through the three-storied heaven and entered paradise, and ascended as far as the Lord's and inconceivable throne, and heard the ineffable mysteries which it is not permitted for a man to speak.

And what shall we say to Peter? The sweet vision of the Church, the radiance of the inhabited world, the pure dove, the teacher of the apostles, the fervent apostle, the one boiling with the Spirit, the angel and the man, the one filled with grace, the solid rock of faith, the aged wisdom of the Church, the blessed one who was called son of a dove because of his purity from the Lord's mouth, the one who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven from the Lord himself. You have plundered the ranks of the angels. And why do I say much? The Lord himself praises you, saying: You are the light of the world, richer than kings, mightier than the wealthy, stronger than soldiers, wiser than the wise and philosophers, more eloquent than orators, possessing nothing and holding everything. You are the endurance of the martyrs, the orthodoxy of the patriarchs, the asceticism of the monks, the crown-wearers of the virgins, the peacemakers among those in marriage, the bridles of rapacious rich, the chastisers of the licentious, the shelter of kings, the walls of Christians, the opponents of barbarians, those who put a muzzle on heretics, those who deaden the irrational passions of bodies, those who drove away the legions of demons, those who cast down the altars of the Greeks, those who inherited both the upper and the lower realms, having received the keys of the upper and having authority to loose and bind the sins of the lower. O the wonder of the unlettered man! O the wisdom of the illiterate! Peter, who in his shadow binds paralytics and looses death.

Paul, who drives out diseases and banishes demons with his garments; those who have the Mother of the Lord in their midst and are superior to a righteous spirit; Paul, the ceaseless swallow of the Church; Peter, who continuously, like a nightingale, sings unceasingly to the inhabited world; the pillars of the Church, the great luminaries of the inhabited world, who are superior to each other and better than all creation together. Hail, Peter, the rock of faith; hail, Paul, the boast of the Church; hail, Peter, the foundation of orthodoxy; hail, Paul, the care of the Churches; hail, Peter, the ornament of the inhabited world; hail, Paul, the entrance to paradise; hail, Peter, the guide to the kingdom of heaven; hail, Paul, the fair-weather harbor of the storm-tossed; hail, Peter, who were deemed worthy of many praises by the Lord; hail, Paul, who are the helmsman of many graces; hail, Peter, the one fervent and boiling with the Holy Spirit; hail, Paul, the vigorous runner; those who illuminated the entire inhabited world with holy preaching, who endured countless horrors for the Church, being confined in prisons, abhorred by Jews, dragged by barbarians, tortured by kings, not easily allowed to breathe, and not tolerating to cease from teaching; who could not move a limb of their body because of the weight of their chains, and yet loosed the entire inhabited world bound by sin through their letters.

You have put to flight the phalanxes of demons; through you the grace of the Holy Spirit has been spread over the whole world; you have dispelled the mist of error, you have cast down the audacity of demons; you have destroyed the altars of the Greeks; you have reduced every falsely-named worship to ashes; you have winnowed out the tares from the wheat and cast them away; and your daily teaching has shown the pure offspring of the Church. What thanks, then, can we render to you who have labored so much for our sake? I remember you, Peter, and I am amazed; I call you to mind, Paul, and I am overcome with tears in my astonishment. For what can I say, or what can I speak, as I contemplate your afflictions, I know not. How many prisons have you sanctified, how many dungeons have you illumined? How many cells have you filled with your teachings? How many chains have you made glorious? How many tortures have you endured? How many places have you hallowed with your footsteps? How many insults have you disregarded? How have you borne Christ? How have you brightened the Churches with your preaching?

Blessed is the instrument of your tongue; your limbs are mingled with blood for the sake of the Church; you have imitated Christ in all things without fail. For your voice has gone out into every land, and your words to the ends of the inhabited world. Christ will preserve the Church, which was betrothed by you, unbroken. No one before you, nor after you, has appeared such as you. For who, holding the office of teacher, has dared to say anything without your tradition? You have made all teachers, you have made all theologians, you have enlightened all who were darkened. Your endurance has conquered our blindness; you yourselves prayed to be anathema, in order to win the world. What then shall we give you in return for all the good things you have given us? Today are the memorials of your contest; today is the festival of your testimony concerning Christ; today we all rejoice and honor your holy relics. Hail, Peter, who enjoyed the wood of the cross, and who, in likeness of the Teacher, did not wish to be crucified in an upright posture, as our Master was, but rather head downwards, making your journey to heaven while on earth. O blessed nails, which passed through those holy limbs, which are dear to me, and are for me better than heavenly glory. He who with boldness entrusted his soul to the hands of the Master, who served the Lord without distraction, and the Church betrothed to him with all eagerness, the lover of the Master and good servant of the Lord, the one fervent in Spirit, the faithful apostle of the Master of all.

Paul, the thrice-blessed, was beheaded by the sword, the indescribable man. What sword passed through that throat, the Lordly instrument, the one marveled at under heaven and still shuddered at beneath the earth? What place received your blood, the milk-like substance seen on the tunic of the one who impaled you? That blood made his barbarian soul sweeter than honey and prepared him to become faithful along with his companions. May that sword be for me a crown instead. He served the Lord for thirty-five years with all zeal, and having completed the course for piety, he rested at about sixty-eight years of age. We counter our sins with your blessed voices. Rejoice in the Lord always; intercede for us without ceasing; fulfill your promises. For you cry out, blessed Peter, speaking thus: "I will strive, after my departure, to make remembrance of you." So the blessed Peter, the apostle of Christ, is from Bethsaida in Galilee, where our Lord Jesus Christ performed most of his miracles, and from which city Philip also originated. The blessed Paul is from Tarsus in Cilicia. Both lie in the great city of ancient Rome, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of June, under Nero.

slain by the most lawless of emperors, and arrived before the Teacher and Lord of all after many labors. Therefore, beloved, we must show every zeal, beseeching Christ our God, the King of all, that He may deem us worthy, through His love for humanity, to abide by their traditions and teachings, so that we may receive mercy before His judgment seat. Through whom and with whom glory is to God the Father, together with the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always, unto the ages of ages. Amen.