The Holy and Glorious Apostles Saint Peter & Saint Paul (Commemorated on 29th June) Leaders of the Apostles and teachers of the world, pray to the Master of all, to grant peace to the world, and great mercy on our souls. (Festal Verse)

The Apostles Peter and Paul had a sometimes confrontational relationship with each other over how to accomplish their common mission of evangelising the world. Their disputes centred on how Jewish the Church should remain.

The resolution of their conflict helped to sort out the difference between our natural ethnic identities and our unity as the people of God.

They are portrayed together in icons as often as they are portrayed individually. The two apostles are accounted of equal rank by the Church, the Chiefs of the Apostles, and celebrates their annual Feast together on 29th June.

Saint Peter, the Apostle

Saint Peter, who was named Simon by his parents, was a man of Bethsaida. He was the son of a fisherman named Jonah. He followed the same trade, along with his brother Andrew. Jesus met them by the shore of the Sea of Galilee and called them to His service, and they followed Him (Matt 4:18-20). Peter was married, and seems to have been at least 10 years older than Our Lord, and he was generally looked up to as a leader. 

He was a man of strong emotions, and the Gospels tell us a great deal about his nature. The Lord called him Peter because of his profound confession of Jesus' divinity, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" to which Jesus replied, "Blessed are you Simon......and I say that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church (Matt 16:16-18).

After the Crucifixion, Peter was one of the outstanding leaders of the Christians and his fame was great. The Book of Acts tells us about his apostolic journeys, which were only less extensive than those of Saint Paul. Saint Peter founded the Church of Antioch, and was its first bishop. He was one of the leaders in Jerusalem, and developed the methods of admitting and governing converts to the faith. The gospel of Saint Mark, is thought to have been dictated by Saint Peter.

He was martyred in Rome, along with Saint Paul in the time of Emperor Nero, about 65 AD.

Saint Paul, the Apostle

Saint Paul was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, in Asia Minor. His Jewish parents gave him the name Saul. He was a Pharisee, one of the strictest of the Jews. In his native city he learned the Greek language and the trade of tent making. Later on he went to Jerusalem, where he was a pupil of the famous Gamaliel, like the apostle Saint Barnabas.

At this time he was zealously anti-christian.  He was an onlooker at the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. Later he became a fervent follower of Christ.

One day while he was on the way to Damascus to make trouble for the Christians there, he was blinded by a vision of the Lord. Jesus said "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" He became blind by the vision but his sight returned after three days. He asked and was baptised a Christian, becoming perhaps the most famous convert in history.

After his conversion, Paul (as he was now called) became the most famous apostle of Christian history. He travelled all over the Roman world, preaching, and establishing churches. He made many converts, and many enemies. He was often in trouble, arrested, imprisoned, and beaten.

Paul argued with Peter about the correct way to treat non-Jewish converts to Christianity. Eventually Paul's insistence that non-Jews did not have to follow all Jewish customs, was adopted by the Christian Church at its general council in Jerusalem.

Paul also preached in the Temple at Jerusalem, and was brought before the Jewish High Council, the Sanhedrin, for trial. A plot was made against his life, and the Roman soldiers sent him to the Roman Governor at Caesarea. He appealed his case to the Emperor because he was a citizen of the Roman Empire.

In Rome he was allowed to live under house arrest for two years. After being freed, and after further apostolic missions, he was again arrested for preaching against the state religion. This time he was made a prisoner and then finally he was beheaded in Rome about 67 AD.

Saints Peter and Paul

Both apostles, Peter and Paul, are traditionally regarded as the founders of the Church at Antioch.  Both put a great deal of effort into missionary work at Antioch. At various times, both used Antioch as their base for further missionary work.  The Acts of the Apostles describe how the Church of Antioch sent out Saint Paul on his missionary journeys from there.

Antioch was where the followers of Jesus were first called Christian, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us.

After their missionary journeys in the Eastern Mediterranean, Peter and then Paul went to the imperial capital city, Rome. They were executed there by the Roman authorities.

Because the two great Apostles were so involved in missionary effort, the Church of Antioch tries its hardest to follow their example and to "go into all the world, teaching all peoples, baptising them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".  

The Church of Antioch goes out in Christian Love, especially as taught by Saint John the Apostle, another great apostolic influence in Antioch.  "God is Love".  In the Church of Antioch we live the Love of God, no matter what our ethnic identity may be.