Chief Apostles
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul
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The foremost Apostles whose preaching, sufferings and martyrdom strengthened the Church throughout the world.
Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Paul and Peter, Bibliographic reference — The Lives of the Holy Apostles, drawn from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
Life and Historical Setting
Saint Peter was called from his fishing nets to follow Christ and confessed Him as the Son of the living God. After denying the Lord during the Passion, he was restored through repentance and became a bold preacher of the Resurrection. Saint Paul, once a persecutor of the Church, encountered the risen Christ and became the Apostle to the nations. Both completed their apostolic labors in Rome through martyrdom.
Miracles, Relics and Places of Veneration
Rome preserves the ancient memory of their martyrdom and burial. Orthodox pilgrimage honors these apostolic places while maintaining that their authority comes from Christ and their common confession, not from a rivalry between two separate apostolic traditions.
Iconography and Spiritual Meaning
The saint is shown with a Gospel scroll or book, expressing apostolic preaching. His or her authority is service to Christ and faithful transmission of the Gospel within the communion of the Church.
Feast Day
June 29 — Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
In the Hagiographical Tradition
The wider Orthodox hagiographical tradition concerning the Apostles is also preserved in The Lives of the Holy Apostles, an English collection drawn chiefly from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church.
Historical Record and Ecclesiastical Tradition
The Gospels, Acts and the authentic New Testament letters are the primary sources for Peter and Paul, including Peter's denial and restoration and Paul's conversion and missions. Their martyrdom in Rome is supported by very early Church testimony, while the precise forms—Peter's inverted cross and Paul's beheading—and later relic translations are presented according to ecclesiastical tradition rather than the text of Acts.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Church in America — The Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Paul and PeterBibliographic reference — The Lives of the Holy Apostles, drawn from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes