On June 29  (July 12 on the civil calendar), we commemorate the martyrdom of the Chief Apostles Peter and Paul.

The Scriptures do not record the deaths of Peter or Paul, or indeed any of the Apostles except for James the son of Zebedee (Acts 12:2), but they are clearly anticipated.

St. Paul writes: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:1-8)

And Jesus, after rising from the dead, said to Peter: “When you were young, you went where you would, but when you are old, you will go where you are taken.” And by these words, He foretold Peter’s death. He then said, “Follow me.” (John 21:15-19)

A very early tradition indicates they were martyred at Rome at the command of the Emperor Nero on or about the same day, and were buried there. As a Roman citizen, Paul was beheaded with a sword, while Peter was crucified, head downward. The present Church of St Peter in Rome replaces earlier churches built on the same site going back to the time of the Emperor Constantine, in whose reign a church was built there on the burial site of Peter.

St. Augustine writes, in a sermon for this feast, “Both apostles share the same feast day, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles’ blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith.” (Sermon 152)

Why are the Apostles Peter and Paul called the “Chief Apostles”?

As scripture testifies, the Apostles occupy a special place in the Church: “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1). Vested with equal power from above and with equal authority to absolve sins (John 20:19ff), all the Apostles will sit on the twelve thrones next to the Son of Man (Matt. 19:28)

Although certain Apostles are distinguished in Scripture and tradition, for example, Peter, Paul, John, James, and others, none of them were chief, or even superior in honor to the rest. But because in the Acts of the Apostles the labors of the Apostles Peter and Paul are the most told, the Church and the holy fathers, while revering the name of each of the Apostles, call these two Apostles chief. Calling these two Apostles chief in rank and labors, the Church impresses upon us that its head is Jesus Christ alone, and all the Apostles are His servants (cf. Col. 1:18).

The Holy Apostle Peter, who bore the name Simon before being called by Christ, was the elder brother of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, and a fisherman. He was married, and had children. As St. John Chrysostom expressed it, he was a man who was fiery, unlearned, simple, poor, and God-fearing. He was brought to the Lord by his brother Andrew (Matt. 4:18). When the Lord saw the simple fisherman for the first time, He named him Cephas, in Syriac, or Peter, in Greek, which means, a rock. After receiving Peter as one of the Apostles, the Lord visited his humble home and healed his mother-in-law of a fever (Matt. 8:14).

Peter was granted by the Lord to be one of the three disciples to witness His divine glory on Matt. Tabor (Matt. 16-17), His divine power at the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:21ff), and His humiliation according to His human nature in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Peter washed away his denial of Christ with bitter tears of repentance (John 21:15ff); he was the first of the Apostles to enter the Savior’s tomb after His resurrection (John 20:1ff), and the first of the Apostles to be vouchsafed to behold the Risen One (1 Cor: 15:1ff).

After the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter became an outstanding preacher. The strength of his word was so great that he turned first three thousand, then five thousand people to Christ (Acts 2:41; 4:4). At the Apostle Peter’s word, the guilty fell dead (Acts. 5:1ff), the sick were healed and the dead returned to life (Acts 9:32ff), even just by touching his shadow as it passed by (Acts 5:15).

Yet Peter did not rank first in authority. All church matters were decided by the common voice of the Apostles and presbyters of the whole Church. Tradition tells us it was in fact James who served as bishop of the first Christians in Jerusalem. It is James who presides at the Apostles’ council in Jerusalem, and on behalf of all the Apostles James receives both Paul’s correction (Gal. 2:11ff) and Peter’s confirmation: “James answered, saying, ‘Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles… Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God…” (Acts 15)

When the Apostle Paul spoke of the Apostles who are honored as the pillars of the faith, he assigned first place to James, and then Peter and John (Gal. 2:9), and places himself amongst them (2 Cor. 11:5).

The Apostle Peter made five journeys, preaching the Gospels and converting many to the Lord. He finished his final journey in Rome, where he preached the faith of Christ, multiplying the number of disciples. In Rome, the Apostle Peter rebuked the deceit of Simon the magician, who was calling himself Christ, and converted two women, favorites of Nero.

At Nero’s command, the Apostle Peter was crucified on June 29, A.D. 67. He asked his tormenters to crucify him upside-down, wishing by this to show the difference between his own sufferings and the saving Passion of Christ. Peter was buried on Vatican hill, and Roman Christians preserved this place with great reverence. In 1941, when excavations were conducted in basement of the current Cathedral of St. Peter, a slab was found in that very place bearing the quite expressive inscription in Greek: “Peter is here.”

The miraculous conversion of the Apostle Paul, formerly Saul

Saul was educated in the Jewish law, hated and persecuted the Church of Christ, and received authority from the Sanhedrin to find and persecute Christians.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison…

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (Acts 8:3; 9:1-9)

Saul, the stubborn persecutor of Christianity becomes Paul, the valiant preacher of the Gospels. The life, deeds, words, and epistles of Paul all bear witness to him as a chosen vessel of God’s grace. Neither afflictions, nor want, nor persecution, nor hunger, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor sword, nor death could weaken the love in Paul’s heart for God.

He travelled continually in many countries to preach the Gospels to the Jews, and especially to the pagans. These travels were accompanied by amazingly powerful preaching, miracles, tireless labor, inexhaustible patience, and very holy life. The labors of Paul’s apostolic service were incomparable. He said of himself, “I labored more abundantly than they all”  (1 Cor. 15:10). The Apostle endured countless sorrows for his labors. In A.D. 67, on June 29, he received a martyr’s death in Rome, at the same time as the Apostle Peter. As a Roman citizen, Paul was beheaded by the sword.

The Church honors the Apostles Peter and Paul as having enlightened the darkness of the West; the Church glorifies Peter’s steadfastness and Paul’s wisdom, and sees in them an image of ones who sinned and corrected themselves: in the Apostle Peter, as one who denied the Lord but then repented; andin the Apostle Paul, as one who resisted the Gospel, but then believed.