The Patrons of our Church
Apostles Peter and Paul
Saint Peter
The Holy Apostle Peter, according to Scriptural tradition, was the son of Jonah and the brother of Andrew the first called of the apostles. He, together with his kinsmen, was a fisherman. His given name was Simon and he, along with the other men in his family, was a fisherman. He was the first of the Apostles to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah (the Christ) and the Son of God whereupon he was surnamed the "Rock" ("Cephas", or "Petra" from which the name "Peter" is derived) by our Lord because of his steadfastness. When this steadfast fortitude was put to the test at the trial of Jesus, he denied Jesus. He repented from this denial and, with St. John, was the first of the apostles to witness to the empty tomb of our Lord. When the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles at Pentecost he became a powerful preacher of the Gospel. His apostolic activity extended throughout Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. When in Rome he was sentenced to death by the Emperor Nero and was crucified head down. Two of the general epistles (letters written to the entire Church rather than to the Church of a specific location) of the New Testament are attributed to him. St. Peter is generally acknowledge to have been the leader of the Apostles in so far as there was an order among them. This primacy did not, however, imply many of the later attributes claimed by some of his successors in the west. He did not, for instance, preside at the council at Jerusalem at which he was certainly present. He was, however, certainly the first among equals, and his word carried special weight because of his steadfastness, his openness to our Lord's message, and because of his ultimate and uncompromising witness to our Lord.
Saint Paul
The Holy Apostle Paul was born in Tarsus of a well-to do and well educated Jewish family. His given name was Saul and in his upbringing was given all the advantages that this cosmopolitan city had to offer. He was a Pharisee trained in the rabbinic school of Gamaliel, a famous teacher of the period. His faith was of such intensity that he was lead to persecute the Christian Church, which he believed to be a heretical Jewish sect. He was converted as the result of a vision of our Lord while on the way to Damascus to persecute the Christians there. As a result of this vision, he was baptized by St. Ananias, the apostle, and given the name Paul. He began a career of apostolic journeys which extend throughout Anatolia and Greece, eventually to Italy where he was martyred at Rome. Thirteen of the epistles (letters) to specific churches of the New Testament are traditionally attributed to St. Paul. He is commonly known as the "Apostle to the Gentiles" because, ultimately it was to the gentiles that his ministry was directed. A large part of his ministry consisted in articulating the message that Jesus Christ came to save the whole world and that He was the fulfillment of the law and dispensation of God -- i.e. everything to which the law and the prophets of the Old Testament witnessed, came to fruition in Him, and He therefore opened the way for a newly restored relationship between God and the creation. That whereas the original relationship between God and the world was broken by the sin -- and its consequences -- of Adam and Eve, this relationship was now renewed by Jesus Christ our mediator and advocate. Thus our salvation depends not upon our own initiative which is always insufficient, but rather upon our response to God's initiative in His only-begotten Son.