The story of the life of the apostle paul. Even having recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the Jews did not want to abandon the old institutions

Apostle Paul

Apostle Paul

Saul - 13th Apostle Paul.

Saul is born May 25, 7 BC in the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor.
For the first time, the name of Saul, the future apostle Paul, is mentioned in the Bible in an episode connected with the execution of St. Stephen. As reported in the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen's executioners laid their clothes at the feet of Saul and the future apostle "approved the murder."
Saul was indeed a Jewish priest and fought fiercely against the early Christian communities. He persecuted all the supporters of Jesus, tracked them down to their homes, arrested them, and even took part in some executions, when the condemned were stoned to death.
The death of the first Christian occurred in the year 31.

"Stoning of St. Stephen". Rembrandt, 1625 (Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon). Saul is depicted in the background, seated with the garments of the witnesses on his knees (Acts 7:58).

Three days after the murder of Stefan, Saul, returning home along a deserted street, suddenly heard a voice sounding from somewhere above: “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Saul turned around sharply, but saw no one. Although it was already late and twilight, nevertheless, the area around was visible. But no matter how Saul peered into the darkness, he saw no one in front of him.

Frightened, Saul asked:
- Who are you, where are you from? An unknown voice replied:
- I'm talking to you, Lord. Why are you persecuting me and my Son?
Saul was just dumbfounded:
- Who is your son?
- Son, sent by me, Jesus. Why are you following him? came into this world from me, and his teaching is right because it is right. All who oppose Jesus are breaking God's laws. If you, Saul, do not come to your senses, then you will go blind.
On the one hand, Saul was very frightened by these words, but on the other hand, he began to convince himself that he had dreamed of all this, it seemed to him. And, not believing that God himself spoke to him, Saul did not draw any conclusions.
Waking up in the morning, Saul found darkness before his eyes, as if the night had not yet ended. And only after some time the priest realized that the most terrible thing had happened - he went blind. Yesterday's warning came true.
Saul began to pray tirelessly and ask the Lord to forgive him. And once again he heard the voice of God: "Ask my Son, he is merciful!"
Then the eldest son of Saul took him to Golgotha ​​and, at the request of his father, left him there alone. Saul prayed tirelessly for three days and three nights, losing track of time, until the next morning he heard a voice:
- It's me Jesus, what are you asking!
- Forgive me, Son of God, I was mistaken. Jesus answered him:
Everything is forgiven you, for you have repented. It is forgiven not by me, but by our father, the Lord God. You realized your mistake, and you will be rewarded in full.
Then Saul felt before his eyes the touch of human hands.
- I name you Paul. The time will come when you will stand at the gates of Paradise with the keys.
Saul stood motionless for a moment when he opened his eyes, no one was near him, and the first thing he saw was the rising sun. It was the beginning of a new day, but for Saul it was the beginning of a new life.
After Paul received his sight, he felt a great power in himself, and from that time his gift for healing and predictions woke up in him. More than once Jesus came to Paul in a dream in difficult times, prompting and protecting.
If a person sinned greatly, even if he killed, but then sincerely repented of his deed, then all his sins will be forgiven if he goes through purification. The story of the Apostle Paul is a living example of this.
All sins will have to be paid for sooner or later. A person will either suffer in this life himself, or torment will come to him through his own children, grandchildren or parents.
All the evil that you have done to someone in your life will surely come back to you. No matter which way, no matter where, but it will overtake you anyway. But when you suffer in full, you are tormented for all your sins, then everything will be forgiven you and you can again count on a happy life.
The main commandment in the teachings of Jesus is to love your neighbor as yourself, and never do to anyone what you do not wish for yourself.
Therefore, all people who live in love, in harmony with themselves, who are able to sympathize with their neighbor, already in this life receive all conceivable and unthinkable rewards. Paul, who persecuted Christians, was punished by the loss of his sight - no need to explain how hard this loss is for any person on Earth. After that, he could become angry at the whole world, hate all people.
Saul was terribly tormented and worried, but in the end he found the strength in himself to realize his mistakes and, approaching Jesus, humbly kneel before him. He sincerely repented, and therefore everything was forgiven him.
Paul's entire later life bears witness to Paul's sincere repentance.

Andrei Rublev, Saint Paul the Apostle, circa 1410

After being baptized, the apostle Paul became one of the most tireless and significant preachers of Christianity. He made many trips to the cities and countries of the Mediterranean, the apostle organized Christian communities everywhere. Paul cast aside all doubts and instructed, taught the parishioners, telling them about the teachings of Jesus.
In the year 60, Paul arrived in Rome. He came at a time when both Christians and Jews were severely persecuted. In 61 he met Peter here, who was with his wife. The apostles began to read sermons together.
Under the emperor Nero in 64 in Rome, the Apostle Paul was seized, although he had been warned of the danger by Peter in advance. Not finding the Apostle Peter, instead of him they seized his wife and put him in prison along with Paul. When Peter returned, all three were put on trial. No one pleaded guilty, and the court decided to execute everyone.
Paul was executed first, his head was cut off, and the headless body was hung on a cross at the entrance to the city, and the head of the apostle stood nearby on a platter on a small platform.
Paul was buried near the place of his execution in Rome.

“However, already in the middle of the 1st century, another line was outlined in the activities of Gagtungr. Taking advantage of the fact that the mission of Christ in Enrof remained unfinished and therefore the church founded by Him, instead of a worldwide apotheosis, barely flickers in the form of several small communities under the heavy layers of state institutions created by the Witzraors , and under the inert layers of the psychologies they involted, - the forces of Gagtungr begin to interfere in the life of the church itself. A highly gifted and deeply sincere in his impulse to Christ strong-willed personality comes forward, in which Jewish obsession and aggressive Jewish severity are combined with the rational and legal consciousness of a Roman citizen. This the person was the bearer of some mission, undoubtedly bright, but the indicated personal and hereditary traits of him distorted the understanding of this mission by himself.Instead of continuing the work of Christ, instead of strengthening and enlightening the church with the spirit of love, and only with this spirit, the thirteenth apostle unfolds an enormous, broadest organizational activity integrity, cementing disparate communities with strict statutes, strict unity of command, and even fear, since the danger of being thrown out of the bosom of the church, in case of disobedience, gave rise to spiritual fear. The fact that the Apostle Paul never met Jesus Christ during His lifetime and was therefore deprived of all that grace that came directly from Jesus is no less significant than the other: that Paul did not experience, like the others. apostles, the descent of the Holy Spirit. And yet the rest of the apostles seem to be relegated to the background, each of them narrows his activity to local tasks, to the creation of Christian communities in one country or another, and Paul, deprived of grace, gradually turns out to be the central figure, towering over all communities, uniting them all and everything. dictating to them what seems to him a continuation of the work of Christ.
Daniil Andreev - "Rose of the World"

RELATIONSHIPS WITH HELLENISM

Along with knowledge of the Torah, Paul's familiarity with the commonplaces of the Greco-Roman culture of that time is evident from the New Testament: philosophy, literature, religion, and, above all, rhetoric. According to the widely accepted version, Paul's epistles are written in living, idiomatic Greek. On the other hand, there is clear evidence of the use of puns, versification that only appears in Aramaic. Tarsus, the hometown of Paul, was one of the centers of Hellenistic learning, second only to Alexandria and Athens in this respect. True, it is not known at what age Paul left Tarsus and went to study in Jerusalem, but it is known (Acts 9:30) that after his conversion, Paul was forced to return to his homeland for a long time in order to avoid persecution by former associates.
It was convincingly shown how widely the methods of ancient rhetoric are used in the speeches and epistles of Paul. It may also be noted that many of the New Testament quotations or allusions to the writings of secular ancient authors are cited by Paul, or at least put into his mouth. Many scholars have also tried to find traces of the influence of Asia Minor mystery cults in Paul's theology.

celebration

Installed Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul , as the two most revered apostles, called the supreme holy apostles for their especially zealous service to the Lord and the spread of the faith of Christ. The Orthodox holiday is celebrated on June 29 / July, 12, for Catholics - June 29.

On the day of memory of the Apostle Paul on June 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI said that for the first time in history, a scientific study of the sarcophagus, located under the altar of the Roman temple of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, was carried out. According to the pope, in the sarcophagus were found “…the smallest fragments of bones, which were subjected to research using carbon-14 by experts who did not know about their origin. According to the results, they belong to a person who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. “This seems to confirm the unanimous and indisputable tradition that the remains of the Apostle Paul are at stake,” the pontiff said at the ceremony marking the conclusion of the celebrations associated with the 2000th anniversary of St. Paul. They did not dare to open the ancient find for a long time. They tried to illuminate the sarcophagus with X-rays, but the stone turned out to be too thick. “In the sarcophagus, never before opened for centuries, a very small hole was made for the insertion of a probe, through which traces of a precious linen cloth dyed purple, a plate of pure gold and a blue cloth with linen fibers were found. The presence of red incense, as well as protein and calcareous compounds, was found." The pontiff promised that when the scientists finish their research, the sarcophagus with the relics will be available for the worship of believers.

In 2009, many German newspapers published in color a phantom portrait of St. apostle Paul. It was recreated by the criminal police of Düsseldorf, the administrative center of North Rhine-Westphalia. This was reported by the German news agency "DRA".
The experienced criminal police specialist who made this unusual portrait was helped by Düsseldorf historian Michael Hesemann, who has been working on a scientific book about the Apostle Paul for several years now.

Sources:
1. Daniil Andreev. "Rose of the World"
2. Lyubov Panova. "Revelations of Guardian Angels. Cross of Jesus".

Copyright © 2015 Unconditional Love

What made them different?

It so often happens in life that simple and unlearned people are very fond of church law and ritual more than theology.

It so often happens in life that learned people who have learned everything about the law can afford to treat the law as something optional in its trifles. But on the other hand, they try very hard to keep to the essence and meaning of this law. Here is what the apostle Paul writes about fasting:

For some are sure that everything can be eaten, but the weak eat vegetables. Who eats, do not humiliate the one who does not eat; and whoever does not eat, do not condemn him who eats, because God has accepted him.

No matter how you write the spiritual law, there will always be something that cannot be described. The essence of the law is in God, and He is infinity, which cannot fit into the narrow framework of the law.

In the Church, there are misunderstandings or even disputes between such people. But the past persecution of Christians in the USSR showed that both of them equally laid down their souls for Christ. They went up to the cross together, learned and unlearned, inspired and practical.

Because law and love are the two wings of faith.

The apostle Peter became such a man of the Law. Paul became such a man of the Spirit. Peter is the pillar of God's law, and Paul is the pillar of love.

Following the life of the apostles who walked with Christ, one could expect that no one but them would leave extensive memories of this life together with God. They didn't have to write themselves. There were smart people around. But…

The Gospels are astonishingly small and stingy with details. One gets the impression that Christ was almost silent for all three years. The disciples did not consider it necessary to write down all His words, which are dearer to us than gold. A thousand days of Jesus' preaching was expressed in the text of His direct speech, which can be read in just half an hour.

But on every day of those thousand days of the mission, something happened in the community of disciples that was worthy of pen and memory. And almost all of it is gone.

The amazing thing is that instead of twelve thick books of memories, we have only four thin books. One of them was written by someone who did not see Christ - Luke.

It is not clear why the apostles could not or did not want to convey to us what they were called for - to record every word of the Lord. For comparison, it is worth remembering that Moses wrote down on the tablets every letter of the Law he heard. And we have gaps in Scripture in days and months.

Moreover, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, they were called to preach. And almost the entire text of their sermon melted into thin air.

Only two epistles of the Apostle Peter! From what he said, traveling around the countries, only fragments of phrases and unverified fragments of tradition remained, such as the last words of Peter, addressed to his wife on the day of their execution in Rome.

The words of the rest of the apostles are just as meagre. And there were no longer twelve, but an order of magnitude more.

The apostles were silent for history.

Peter and James, the strongest of them, after the main preaching work, gathered in Jerusalem and did two important dramatic things: they broke with the Jewish religious tradition and laid the foundation for a new religious formation - the Church. When it became clear to them that a synthesis of the old and new systems was impossible, they, under the influence of inspiration, developed both a new scheme of worship and a new structure of the Church, and gave a forecast and vector for the development of this new Church.

About this, in fact, two epistles of the Apostle Peter are written: about the Church that is being formed and about the Church of the future.

Peter and James became the architects of the new Church. But building a temple is not enough. It must be revived with spirit, people, icons, singing, light, incense and preaching. The second part was completed by the apostle Paul.

"The Holy Apostle Paul". Domenico El Greco, 1610-14

Taking into account the silence of the apostles, their unlearnedness and obvious emphasis on deeds, we can conclude that God needed someone who would breathe a new spirit into the law, someone who would pronounce the word not only for his contemporaries, but also kindle the hearts of those who would live after him for thousands and thousands of years later.

Without Paul, the Church would have been in a mode of silence. Without it, it is simply impossible to imagine our Church. Take away these messages of his, and it seems that a strange silence will reign in the church and a void will form that there will be nothing to fill.

God needed the mouthpiece or mouth of the Holy Spirit. God needed someone who could combine teaching with prophetic ministry.

And God chose for Himself a special person to fill the silence of the apostles. The Lord chose a new apostle not at all where one might expect - among the Pharisees. Not among the elect, but among the called, the young man Saul (Saul) was found.

We are familiar with this. The Russian people were not elected from the beginning. The princes of Kyiv at the beginning of Russian history also persecuted Christians. Yes, and we ourselves are involved in the persecution through the party, the Komsomol and the patience of the statues of the idol of Lenin in our squares.

But the Lord is not interested in history, but in the heart.

What is the snobbery of the apostles to God? What is the ranking of the importance and primacy of the Jerusalem community, which they invented for themselves, to Him? Let us remember how they asked themselves to sit at His right hand, and the Lord was surprised at such a strange desire to be divided into grades according to quality. Christ is still surprised at this struggle for primacy and the special rights of bishops, watching how the Pope and the Patriarchs are still figuring out who is the most important here on earth.

Despite everything, the Lord suddenly chose a person outside the walls of the church. Not just a stranger, but also a persecutor. The choice was paradoxical - a Pharisee. The Lord's chosen one was a small, feverish, educated, rich, aristocrat and citizen of Rome - Paul.

Moreover, Paul, chosen by the Lord, behaved as if he had no need to communicate with the "real" apostles. He was baptized by Ananias. And after that, Paul, quite confident in himself and in his chosenness, went on a sermon, which the Christian community did not entrust him with. He did not present himself to the elders of the Christian community in Jerusalem, but simply went where the Holy Spirit led him.

And not without reason. In his appearance to Paul, Christ tells him: "Get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness of what you have seen and what I will reveal to you."

The apostles were astonished to discover yet another “impostor” speaking in the name of Christ.

Paul didn't mind at all. Only three years later, the apostle Barnabas found him and led him to introduce himself to the real apostles - Peter and James. Paul went, but, going to Jerusalem, he did not have complexes and was even ready to argue with Peter about his mission among the Gentiles. And he argued. And Peter, by inspiration from God, accepted the arguments of this strange charismatic.

Paul was so convincing and self-sufficient that the apostles ... did not add anything to his charisma: neither episcopacy nor priesthood, but only extended their hand to him for fellowship.

And the famous have put nothing more on me. …Having learned about the grace given to me, Jacob and Cephas and John, revered as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the hand of fellowship.

Paul was neither a priest nor a bishop. He did not accept any consecrations, except for the consecration of God himself. What is our rules to God?

And Paul calmly ordained elders like a true bishop, before the eyes of an astonished Christian community.

It's hard for us to take it in.

Suddenly, a certain young man from Moscow State University will appear and, in addition to all the seminaries and ordinations, will begin to preach in such a way that the Patriarch himself will think, bow his head and stretch out his hand to the impostor, and say:

I have nothing to add to him. He received everything from God.

But the Patriarch did not see Christ the way the apostle Peter saw Him, and yet Paul was accepted by the then Church. The Church of today is also saturated with Paul's teaching.

What is the essence and power of Paul's preaching?

The Apostle Peter after Pentecost began to revise the agreement between God and mankind. He renegotiated this treaty on behalf of the Church.

And the apostle Paul took up explaining the essence of the New Testament and filling the law with new content. This is what in jurisprudence is called the development of by-laws and rules.

Love, unexpectedly for the world, has become the subject of a contract. God needed a genius who could combine law with love.

We used to throw this word "love", and then it was a rarity. In those days, putting the word “love” into the law was completely impossible and absurd.

This is not always obvious even now. For example, the West is affected by homosexual influenza. And the question arose about the essence of marriage. A legal conflict arose between believers and non-believers.

For Roman law, marriage is a contract relating to the share of ownership of joint property. And no more. Such is the self-supporting document.

For believers, marriage is a mystical union of two different people, of different sexes, into a kind of new spiritual community, striving for God.

The West does not understand the East: what does God and the soul have to do with it when it comes to money? The East does not understand the West: what does property have to do with sacraments?

To invest in the Law the concept of love - both then and now something incredibly crazy. But our faith rests on this, which is “madness for the Greeks, and a temptation for the Jews” - to go beyond the limits of the rational and accept the love of God.

Paul clearly defined that love is not a property or a relationship, but the essence of God. In God, love is expressed in the third person of the Trinity - God the Spirit.

Paul built a worldview as a view of God's world, describing it in terms of the coordinate system of the Holy Spirit. It was easy for him. After all, he, like the other apostles, received this Spirit in full measure. The apostle was not just given, but so given, in thunder and lightning, that in his soul there was no place left for himself, and all the place inside the heart was given to Christ. The Lord transformed Paul by power. And Paul did not reject this power and accepted it. God put the burning coal of the Spirit into Paul's heart, and it kindled and shone like a little sun of grace.

It was easy for Paul to see the world of the Spirit. He was in it.

The apostle described in detail this space, this terra incognita from top to bottom, from heaven to earth, from Paradise to the slave estate of a Roman patrician. Mankind, thanks to the apostle Paul, was able to see the universe of the Spirit. Mankind was able to see the real picture of the world in which God lives together with man.

From the description of Paradise, Paul went downstairs and described the commandments to the bishops, whom he implores to imitate Christ.

Brethren, such is the Bishop who is better for us, reverend, mild-tempered, without defilement, excommunicated from sinners and higher than Heaven.

He took the trouble to give commandments to priests, ordinary Christians and all those who love God.

Be brotherly affection one to another with tenderness; warn one another in respect; do not weaken in zeal; be patient in affliction, persevere in prayer...

Paul assigned a whole layer of teaching to the Spirit, His properties and signs of our life in the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, temperance. There is no law on those.

Paul took a fresh look at not only life, but also death. As it is written about this in the akathist:

Where are you, death's sting, where is the darkness and your fear before? From now on, you are desirable, inseparably combine with God. Peace to the great Sabbath of the mysterious. The desire of the Imams to die and be with Christ, the Apostle cries out. In the same way, we, looking at death, as if on a path in Eternal Life, will cry out: Alleluia.

He appealed to all those for whom love means at least something. He appealed to all those for whom love and God are linked together.

The fact that God is love is not difficult for any observant person to notice. Love in its depths will certainly go into the mysterious depths, where it will certainly meet God. True love is always divinely sacrificial, life-giving and creative.

For us, ordinary people, the most valuable thing in the message of the Apostle Paul, without a doubt, is what we now call the Hymn of Love. Probably, there is no such Russian person who would not hear and would not admire the words of the Epistle to the Corinthians. This is a hymn of incredible beauty and depth. No one will write better about love, unless a new Paul appears:

If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but have no love, then I am a ringing brass or a resounding cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing.

And if I give away all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but I do not have love, it does not profit me at all.

Love is long-suffering, merciful, love does not envy, love does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything.

Paul understood perfectly well that love is not just for nothing, but it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Love is the essence of God, given to us from heaven and making us related to God. She brings grace in this life and immortality after the grave.

The apostle Paul revealed God's plan for love and explained how it can be the essence of the law, which the law approaches, but never embraces.

There is an interesting passage in the Nomocanon in which the bishop complains to the clergy that he is looking for rules for all occasions, and answers that it is impossible to write a law and a rule for everything, and that the Holy Spirit must teach us what is not in the Rules.

Paul does not deny the law, he only builds a hierarchy of relationships with God. The law is like baby booties for a baby in spirit. The law is like a guarantee and protection from a fool. It sets a certain guaranteed level of right relationship with God. The law is also a system that educates, trains and tempers the character. The law gives form to life in the spirit. After all, the form of faith cannot have something that anyone will come to mind.

But the law is only the law. There is no essence in the law itself. The form does not justify itself.

The essence is only in God, in that part of Him that we are able to accept and which He Himself gave us - in the Holy Spirit, our good Comforter and Defender.

The apostolic ministry is the history of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and through people. And our life with Christ is also only the story of our life in the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit in us - we live. No - all the time that we spent outside the Spirit is death in reality.

The life of the Apostle Paul is so beautiful, so good, so gracious, so noble, that it itself serves as the best sermon. After all, a person cannot empty-handedly stand on the threshold of death thirty times and rejoice, cannot drown and praise God, cannot be sick and generously trust God, if he does not have what covers all this - the grace of the Holy Spirit.

We all suffer from depression. We want to rest all the time. We are offended and fighting all the time. And very close by lies the world opened to the eyes by the works of Paul - the world of Spirit and Love. It is strange not that we complain, but that we, standing on the threshold of the Kingdom of God, do not want to enter it, despite the testimony of such wonderful people as the Apostle Paul.

What are we waiting for?

But to whom shall I liken this generation? He is like children who sit in the street and, turning to their comrades, say: we played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang sad songs to you, and you did not weep.

So what are you delaying? Arise, be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.

Onesiphorus, who heard about Paul from the words of Titus, meets Paul and sees a man below average height, his hair is scanty, his legs are slightly apart, his knees stick out, his eyes are under fused eyebrows and his nose is slightly protruding. He was a very painful person, about which he writes himself, he was close to death, he was given a mysterious sting in the flesh that haunts him.

Many of us are also weak. But many of us are much stronger than an apostle. So what prevents us from being like him in spirit, if in body we are like or even stronger than Paul? We have only one defect that distinguishes us from the apostle - our cold heart, in which the spirit of love hardly glimmers.

And time goes by, but we are still waiting for something:

Like a tree loses its leaves in time, so our days become impoverished for many years. The festival of youth fades, the lamp of joy is extinguished, alienation approaches old age. Friends and relatives are dying. Where are you, young jubilant?

It's not that God chose the young man Saul (Saul) and made him work for Himself. But mainly because Saul wanted to be with God. And for some reason we don't like it.

But we still have time to work for love and get it with our own labor. We still have time to pray to God for giving us love when we can no longer get it by labor. Living in love is quite real.

That they should seek God, whether they feel Him, and whether they find Him, although He is not far from each of us (Acts 17:26, 27).

I say this not because I have already achieved or perfected; but I strive, lest I also reach, as Christ Jesus reached me. Brethren, I do not consider myself accomplished; but only, forgetting what is behind and stretching forward, do I strive towards the goal, towards the honor of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:10-14).

Why wait for God to visit us in thunder and lightning, fall from a horse and be completely blinded? You can turn to God even tomorrow. There would be a desire to love and be loved by God.

Sources

The main sources of information about the life and preaching of Paul are the books of the New Testament: the Acts of the Holy Apostles and the Epistles of Paul. Authentic epistles are those containing first-person testimony and contemporary events being researched. The question of which of the 14 New Testament epistles traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul actually belongs to him is discussed below and in the articles devoted to individual epistles. The testimonies of the Epistles require a critical approach. Paul is impartial and directly involved in the events mentioned, therefore, when reading the Epistles, it is necessary to take into account his tendency to one interpretation of the facts or another. It is also necessary, as far as possible, to take into account the addressee of the epistle and the situation in which it was written, since this affects the rhetoric of the letter and the nature of the proclamation of the Gospel (kerygma).

Paul's epistles are the main source of information about his faith, doctrine, and worldview. Paul's speeches quoted in Acts are not unquestionably authentic. Comparison of the book of Acts, the main character of the second half of which is Saul-Paul, with the mentions of places, persons and travels in the Epistles allows us to reconstruct to some extent the life of Paul, primarily during his missionary travels (approx. 46-61). There are a number of contradictions between the Acts and the Epistles; in such cases, as a rule, the testimony of the Epistles is preferred.

Paul is mentioned several times in the writings of the apostolic men. Paul is also the protagonist or false author of a number of New Testament Apocrypha, but the value of these books as sources of information about the historical Paul is immeasurably lower. Among such apocrypha are the Acts of Paul, Pseudo-Clementine, the Acts of Peter and Paul, the Apocalypse of Paul, the apocryphal epistles of Paul and to Paul (including correspondence with Seneca), etc.

Life

Origin

Family and upbringing

... The Holy Apostles John the Theologian, Paul, Barnabas and, no doubt, many others were virgins

However, according to the message from the book of the Acts of the Apostles: "... having received power from the chief priests, I imprisoned many saints, and when they killed them, I gave voice to it" (Acts 26:10), - it can be concluded that Paul was a member of the Sanhedrin because he had the right to vote to execute Christians. Members of this organization were required to marry. Moreover, Paul, being a strict Pharisee, would hardly have been willing to neglect what the Jews considered a sacred duty, namely marriage. His detailed instructions in 1 Corinthians 7 also suggest that he was intimately familiar with issues such as those that arise in connection with marriage, and thus may have been married before this passage was written.

According to legend, the holy martyrs Zinaida of Tarsus and Philonila are relatives (according to some sources, sisters) of the Apostle Paul.

Connections with Hellenism

Along with knowledge of the Torah, Paul's familiarity with the commonplaces of the Greco-Roman culture of that time is evident from the New Testament: philosophy, literature, religion, and, above all, rhetoric. According to the widely accepted version, the letters of Paul are written in living idiomatic Greek. According to another, there is clear evidence of the use of wordplay, versification, which appears only in Aramaic. Paul's hometown of Tarsus was one of the centers of Hellenistic learning, second only to Alexandria and Athens in this regard. True, it is not known at what age Paul left Tarsus and went to study in Jerusalem, but it is known (Acts 9:30) that after his conversion, Paul was forced to return to his homeland for a long time in order to avoid persecution by former associates.

Judging by the Acts of the Holy Apostles, Paul was younger than Jesus. It is highly probable that both of them were in Jerusalem on the same Passover days. However, there is no evidence in the New Testament that Paul saw Jesus before his execution.

Acts 7-9 speaks several times of the active participation of Paul (called only Saul until Acts 13:9) in persecuting the early Christian church; Paul himself also mentions in a number of epistles that he participated in the persecution of Christians before conversion.

Stefan's murder

For the first time, Saul is mentioned in the 7th chapter of Acts, in the scene of the stoning of the first martyr Stephen. Preacher Stephen was brought to trial for blasphemy by representatives of the Hellenistic synagogues (Jews who came to Jerusalem from the Diaspora and spoke Greek), in particular, immigrants from Cilicia (Acts 6:9), one of whom could be Saul. Acts describes the trial of Stephen, but it is not clear whether he was sentenced to death, or whether he was stoned to death by an angry mob that did not wait for the end of the trial. .

Causes and nature of persecution

The persecution that Paul took part in was caused by early Christian preaching, which became unacceptable to Orthodox Judaism due to such things as:

• Criticism of the temple cult . Many researchers believe that already at that time among Christians from the "Hellenists", such as Stefan, a critical attitude began to appear towards the Jewish focus on Jerusalem and the Temple, which is poorly compatible with the universal nature of the Christian gospel. Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin, in writing which Luke could rely on a source that quite accurately conveys the views of the "Hellenists", contains open attacks on the Temple. Perhaps it was the criticism of the temple cult that became the main reason for the persecution.

In the early persecution of Christians, one can see an attempt by the synagogue communities, which were under the complete influence of the Pharisees, to restore order in their midst through the “disciplinary” punishment of unorthodox views. Such punishment could be the scourging mentioned by Paul (5 times 40 strokes without one) and imprisonment, which he underwent after becoming a Christian (2 Cor 11:23-24). It is possible that the persecution of Christians was carried out mainly in the Hellenistic communities, a member of one of which could be Saul. The main role in the persecution was apparently played by the Pharisees, but the temple Sadducean priesthood could also have taken part in them. In Acts 9:1-2, Saul the Pharisee receives authority from the Sadducean high priest to bring Christians from Damascus to Jerusalem for punishment.

After treatment

As the book of Acts tells, on the way to Damascus, he unexpectedly heard an unknown voice “Saul! Saul! Why are you chasing me?" and was blind for three days (9:8-9). Brought to Damascus, he was healed by the Christian Ananias and baptized (9:17-18). After spending several days with the disciples of Damascus, Ap. Paul preaches the Gospel among the Jews of Arabia, which can be understood from the "Epistle to the Galatians" (Gal 1:17). After spending three years on the Arabian Peninsula, because of the threat from the aggressive part of the Jewish community, he leaves for Jerusalem (Gal 1:18). Local Christians could not accept him for a long time, only the intercession of Barnabas reconciled Paul with the apostles (9:26-27). Enlisting the support of the apostle Peter, Paul stops in Antioch, where Barnabas and Mark become his companions (Acts 12:24).

Then Paul spent 14 years in the preaching ministry in Syria and Cilicia, where he was criticized by the Judeo-Christians ( pharisaical heresy) for denying the need for circumcision. Disputes between Paul's supporters and his opponents call for an Apostolic Council (Acts 15:1-6).

Ephesians burn witch books after the sermon of the apostle Paul

When Peter arrives in Antioch, he and Paul begin an argument (Gal 2:11-14).

Paul subsequently extends his preaching to Europe, preaching in the Balkans (Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth) and in Italy. One of his most significant epistles is the Epistle to the Romans, written in 58 in Corinth and addressed to the Christian community in Rome.

The Apostle Paul became a zealous preacher of the gospel in Palestine, Greece, Asia Minor, Italy, and other regions of the ancient world. According to the book of Acts, during the celebration of Sunday in Troas, the apostle Paul resurrected a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting at the window and, having fallen asleep, fell down from the third floor.

For the spread of the faith of Christ, the Apostle Paul suffered a lot and was not crucified as a citizen, but beheaded in Rome under Nero in 64 (according to another version - in 67-68). At the place of his burial, the disciples left a memorial sign, which allowed Emperor Constantine to find this place and build the church of San Paolo Fuori le Mura there.

Orthodox Christians celebrate the memory of Peter and Paul on the same day - (July 12, N.S.), Catholics on June 29, as the two most revered apostles, called chief holy apostles for especially zealous service to the Lord and spreading the faith of Christ.

Discovery of the remains of the Apostle Paul

Reconstruction of the possible appearance of the Apostle Paul

On the day of memory of the Apostle Paul on June 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI said that for the first time in history, a scientific study of the sarcophagus was carried out, located under the altar of the Roman temple of San Paolo Fuori le Mura. According to the pope, in the sarcophagus were found “…the smallest fragments of bones, which were subjected to research using carbon-14 by experts who did not know about their origin. According to the results, they belong to a person who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. “This seems to confirm the unanimous and undeniable tradition that the remains of the Apostle Paul are at stake,” the pontiff said at a ceremony to mark the conclusion of the celebrations associated with the 2000th anniversary of St. Paul. They did not dare to open the ancient find for a long time. They tried to illuminate the sarcophagus with X-rays, but the stone turned out to be too thick. “In the sarcophagus, never before opened for centuries, a very small hole was made for the insertion of a probe, through which traces of a precious linen cloth dyed purple, a plate of pure gold and a blue cloth with linen fibers were found. The presence of red incense, as well as protein and calcareous compounds, was found." The pontiff promised that when the scientists finish their research, the sarcophagus with the relics will be available for the worship of believers.

The Epistles of the Apostle Paul

Literature

• // Biblical Encyclopedia of Archimandrite Nicephorus. - Moscow, 1891-1892.
• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• David Auni. The New Testament and Its Literary Environment. - St. Petersburg. : RBO, 2000. - ISBN 5-85524-110-6

• Alain Badiou. Apostle Paul. Justification of universalism. - St. Petersburg. : University Book, 1999. - ISBN 5-85133-062-7

• Rudolf Bultmann. Favorites: Faith and understanding. - M .: ROSSPEN, 2004. - ISBN 5-8243-0493-9

• James D. Dunn. Unity and Diversity in the New Testament. - M .: BBI, 1999. - ISBN 5-89647-014-2

• Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov). Christ and the First Christian Generation. - M .: PSTBI, 2003. - ISBN 5-7429-0106-2

• I. A. Levinskaya. Acts of the Apostles. Chapters I-VIII: Historical and Philological Commentary. - M .: BBI, 1999. - ISBN 5-89647-033-9

• Bruce M. Metzger. New Testament: context, formation, content. - M .: BBI, 2006. - ISBN 5-89647-149-1

• Good News: New Testament translated from ancient Greek. Educational publication with historical and philological notes. - M .: RBO, 2006. - ISBN 5-85524-323-0

• N. T. Wright. What the apostle Paul actually said. - M .: BBI, 2004. - ISBN 5-89647-085-1

• Cleon L. Rogers, Jr., Cleon L. Rogers III. A new linguistic and exegetical key to the Greek text of the New Testament. - St. Petersburg. : Bible for All, 2001. - ISBN 5-7454-0545-7

• New Testament Interpretation: A Collection of Essays on Principles and Methods. - St. Petersburg. : Bible for All, 2004. - ISBN 5-7454-0835-9

• McRae J. The Life and Teachings of the Apostle Paul. - Cherkasy.: Colloquium, 2009. - ISBN 978-966-8957-13-0

• Lose, E. Paul. Biography. M., 2010.
• Wright, N. T. What did the apostle Paul really say? Was Paul of Tarsus the founder of Christianity? 3rd ed. M., 2010.
• Myshtsyn, V. N. The teaching of St. Apostle Paul on the law of works and the law of faith. M., 2012 (Academy of Fundamental Research: Theology).

Notes

1. Dunn, pp. 64-66.
2. Levinskaya, pp. 13-55.
3. A brief summary of the views on the authorship of the speeches given in Acts is given in Talbert, C.H. "Again: Paul's Visits to Jerusalem", Novum Testamentum, 9, 1967, pp. 26-40 (p. 37).
4. 1 Clement 5:5, 47:1; Epistles of Ignatius to Ephesians 12:2 and Romans 4:3; Polycarp 3:2 and 9:1.
5. Known only from Acts (9:11, 21:39, 22:3).
6. Saul's name is nowhere mentioned in the Epistles.
7. Rom 11:1, Phil 3:5.
8. Phil 3:5; Gal 1:14; Acts 23:6, 26:5.
9. Acts 16:37-38, 22:25-29, 23:27. There is no mention of this in the Epistles.
10. Arguments against apprenticeship with Gamaliel, as well as Paul's Roman citizenship, and a number of other facts not found in the Epistles, are given, in particular, in Roetzel, c. Paul: The Man and the Myth, Columbia: University of South Carolina, 1998. In the Pharisaism of Paul's time, there was constant controversy between the followers of Rabbis Hillel and Shammai. Gamaliel belonged to the "softer" school of Hillel, while the image of Paul the Pharisee portrayed in Acts and Epistles is clearly closer to the "severe" Shammaites (Wright, pp. 26-37). This may argue against Acts' evidence of Gamaliel's teaching, or at least speak of a divergence of belief between Saul and his teacher.
11. For example, Rom 4:3-25, Gal 3:8-14 and 2 Cor 3:7-18 can be seen as examples of midrash. For the New Testament use of the five devices of Jewish exegesis (Targum, Midrash, Pesher, Typology, and Allegory), see Dunn, pp. 122-32; Interpretation of the New Testament, pp. 239-264.
12. Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church X.1
13. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, "On Monasticism"
14. Talmud Sanftedrin 3H edition of Sankin, 1 vol. 229 pages
15. Yebatnath 6.6, Sankin editions; Talmud, 1 volume, 411 pages.
16. Life of the Holy Martyr Zinaida
17. The native language of most Jews in the Diaspora was Greek. However, many commentators interpret Paul's description of himself as "a Jew of the Jews" (Phil 3:5) in the sense that Paul was taught from childhood to speak Hebrew and/or Aramaic, so Greek was not his native language , but in the second language (Glad Tidings, p. 410; Bp. Cassian, p. 203; Rogers, p. 708; Dunn, p. 295). About the "Hellenistic" Jews, who spoke Greek, and the "Jewish" Jews, who even in the Diaspora retained Aramaic (or Hebrew) as their everyday language, see section Participation in the persecution of Christians .
18. Raphael Lataster's Was the New Testament Really Written in Greek? In the book, in addition to parsing the play on words, Peshitto's versification, attention is paid to the discrepancies in the Greek manuscripts, which can only appear if we assume the primacy of the Aramaic original NT http://www.aramaicpeshitta.com/downloadbook.htm partial translation of this book.
19. In particular, in Tarsus at the time of Paul was the school of the famous Stoic philosopher Nestor, who was for some time the tutor of the emperor Tiberius.
20. Auni, pp. 181-222. A large-scale study of the use of forms and devices of Greco-Roman rhetoric in the New Testament was initiated by the book Betz, H. D. Galatians: A Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Churches in Galatia, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979.
21. In particular, in 1 Cor 15:33 Paul quotes the comedian Menander (“Thais”, fr. 218), in the Epistle to Titus 1:12 - the work of Epimenides “On Oracles”, and in a speech before the Athenians (Acts 17:28) he quotes a line from Arata's didactic poem "Phenomena". Of course, it does not follow from this that Paul read these writings, but some degree of his acquaintance with Hellenistic culture is still obvious.

This man never communicated with Jesus Christ during his earthly life and was not in the circle of the disciples of the Savior. His biography contains many dark spots and very strange episodes. Why did it happen that it was the apostle Paul who eventually became one of the most revered authors of the New Testament?

In the past, it happened more than once that an ardent opponent of a doctrine subsequently turned into its zealous apologist. But the story of Saul from the city of Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul, of course, stands apart. First, because the texts he wrote, which became part of the New Testament, became the foundation for all Christian theological thought. And secondly, because he went the way not just from an opponent to a supporter, but from a persecutor and executioner of Christians to a defender of the faith, who was martyred for his beliefs.

Pharisee from Cilicia.

According to some reports, Saul was even a member of the local Sanhedrin - the highest religious institution, which simultaneously served as a court. It was there that he had to face for the first time the main ideological enemies of the Pharisees at that time - Christians. As befitted a faithful follower of the Pharisees, he actively joined in the persecution.

“This is what I did in Jerusalem: having received power from the chief priests, I imprisoned many saints, and when they killed them, I gave my voice to it; and in all the synagogues I repeatedly tormented them and forced them to blaspheme Jesus, and, in excessive fury against them, persecuted them even in foreign cities,” such words of the future apostle are given in the Acts of the Holy Apostles. One of the most notable episodes was the participation of Saul in the fate of Saint Stephen, who was stoned to death. He himself did not take part in the massacre, but did not try to stop the killers and fully approved of what was happening.

Saul's life changed dramatically on the way to Damascus, where he was leading a group of Christians for punishment. According to tradition, he suddenly heard a voice saying, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?" After that, for three days he was stricken with blindness, which only the Damascus Christian Ananias could heal. This ended the story of the Pharisee Saul and began the thorny path of the Apostle Paul.

Conflict of pillars of faith.

“... he said to Peter in front of everyone: if you, being a Jew, live in a pagan way, and not in a Jewish way, then why do you force the Gentiles to live in a Jewish way?” - Paul himself tells about this in the Epistle to the Galatians. It was about the fact that Peter, preaching, did not always behave sincerely, trying at the same time to arouse the sympathy of the pagans, and not incur condemnation from fellow believers.

It is worth recalling here that Christians at first did not want to accept Paul, mindful of his Pharisees' past. Actually, only the intercession of the apostles Barnabas and Peter helped him become "his" among those whom he subjected to severe persecution just yesterday. And now, “in gratitude,” he accused the eldest among the twelve apostles of hypocrisy! It is astonishing that Paul dared to do such a thing, and that it did not provoke any criticism from Peter.

Paul's behavior is easy to explain. As you know, there is no more ardent fanatic than a neophyte. The enthusiasm of the newly converted Christian had not yet cooled down, and the obstacles that had to be constantly overcome on the path of this ministry only kindled the flame of faith in his soul more hotly. In addition, Paul clearly felt superior to most of the other apostles. Against the backdrop of sincere but inept speeches of fishermen, publicans and wanderers, the sermons of a professional theologian, who was fluent in the most complex issues of interpretation of the Torah, certainly sounded more convincing and vivid. It is possible that this gave reason to consider himself better versed in matters of faith than his older, but less educated counterparts. That is why he was not afraid to teach, sincerely believing that he knew “how to”.

As for Peter, he was wise enough not to argue with Paul, but to admit that he was right. After all, he, voluntarily or involuntarily, touched on the most painful topic - hypocrisy. Who better than Peter, who denied his Master three times in one night, knew the full power of this sin! Therefore, Peter humbled himself and did not object to Paul's accusations.

Missionary or traitor?

For Saul, brought up on the Old Testament principles of "an eye for an eye", the manifestation of mercy is something strange and unusual. It is not known what impressed him more: the manifest power of God or the behavior of Ananias, who, although doubting, nevertheless came and healed the worst enemy of his brothers in faith.

Before the young Pharisee, who thought that he knew in every detail how the world works, a new reality suddenly opened up, built on other, already Christian values. It was this sudden shift in coordinates that caused him to convert to a new faith.

God chose a man like Paul for a reason. Let's look back at his education and training. Now all these abilities have been used for the good of Christianity. That is why the words penetrated into every heart. And that is why he was heard in all parts of the earth, for which he was called "the apostle of the Gentiles."

He could preach twice as effectively as any Christian, because he knew in advance that the Pharisees might object to him. And therefore he emerged victorious from all disputes, thereby further angering his yesterday's associates.

That is why Paul suffered a tragic fate, like other apostles. He could not be forgiven for moving to another camp. The Jews wanted to kill him back in Damascus, right after he started preaching. But this plan failed.

In the end, the decisive word, as in the case with, was said by Roman justice. Paul was executed in Rome, under the emperor Nero. Moreover, as a Roman citizen, he was beheaded, not crucified. But the words he spoke still live on.

With the Holy Apostle Paul came from the tribe of Benjamin, before his apostolic ministry he was called Saul. He was born in the Cilician city of Tarsus from noble parents and had the rights of Roman citizenship. Saul was brought up with due strictness in the law of the fathers and belonged to the sect of the Pharisees. To continue his education, his parents sent him to Jerusalem to the famous teacher Gamaliel, who was a member of the Sanhedrin. Despite the religious tolerance of his teacher, who later received holy baptism (Comm. 2 August), Saul was a devout Jew who incited hatred towards Christians. He approved the murder of Archdeacon Stephen (134; Comm. 27 December), who, according to some accounts, was his relative, and even guarded the clothes of those who stoned the holy martyr (Acts 8:3). He forced people to rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 26:11) and even asked the Sanhedrin for permission to persecute Christians wherever they appeared and bring them bound to Jerusalem (Acts 9:1-2). One day, it was in the year 34, on the way to Damascus, where Saul was sent with an order from the high priests to torture the Christians hiding there from persecution, the Divine Light, surpassing the sunshine, suddenly shone Saul. All the soldiers accompanying him fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him: “Saul! Saul! Why are you chasing me? It's hard for you to go against the pricks." Saul asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The voice answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have come to you to make you a minister and a witness of what you have seen and what I will reveal to you, delivering you from the people of the Jews and from the Gentiles, to whom I am now sending you to open their eyes, so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God and by faith in Me received the remission of sins and the lot with the sanctified” (Acts 26:13-18). Saul's companions heard the voice, but they could not make out the words. Saul was blinded by the shining Divine Light, he did not see anything until his spiritual eyes finally saw through.

In Damascus, he spent three days fasting and praying without taking food or drink. In this city lived one of the 70 disciples of Christ, the holy Apostle Ananias (Comm. 1 October). The Lord in a vision revealed to him everything that had happened to Paul and commanded him to go to the poor blind man, so that by laying hands on him, he would restore his sight (Acts 9:10-12). The apostle Ananias fulfilled the command, and immediately, as if the scales fell off Saul's eyes, and he received his sight. Having received holy baptism, Saul was named Paul and became, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, from a wolf - a lamb, from thorns - grapes, from tares - wheat, from an enemy - a friend, from a blasphemer - a theologian. The holy Apostle Paul began to fervently preach in the synagogues of Damascus that Christ is truly the Son of God. The Jews, who knew him as a persecutor of Christians, now inflamed with anger and hatred towards him and decided to kill him. However, the Christians saved the Apostle Paul: helping him get away from the chase, they lowered him in a basket from the window of a house adjoining the city wall.

In the vision that the Apostle Ananias was granted, the Lord called the Apostle Paul "the chosen vessel" called to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ "before the peoples and kings and sons of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Having received instructions from the Lord about the gospel, the Apostle Paul began to preach the faith of Christ among the Jews and especially among the pagans, wandering from country to country and sending out his epistles (14 in number), which he wrote on the way and which, according to St. John Chrysostom, are still enclose the Universal Church like a wall built of adamant.

Enlightening the nations with the teachings of Christ, the apostle Paul undertook long journeys. In addition to his repeated stays in Palestine, he went preaching about Christ in Phenicia, Syria, Cappadocia, Galatia, Lycaonia, Namphylia, Caria, Lycia, Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, Macedonia, Italy, the islands of Cyprus, Lesbos, Samothrace, Samos, Patmos, Rhodes, Melit, Sicily and other lands. The power of his preaching was so great that the Jews could not oppose anything to the power of Paul's teaching (Acts 9:22); the pagans themselves asked him to preach the word of God, and the whole city gathered to listen to him (Acts 13:42-44). The gospel of the Apostle Paul quickly spread everywhere and disarmed everyone (Acts 13:49; 14:1; 17:4:12; 18:8). His sermons reached the hearts of not only ordinary people, but also learned and distinguished people (Acts 13:12; 17:34; 18:8). The power of the word of the Apostle Paul was accompanied by miracles: his word healed the sick (Acts 14:10; 16:18), struck the magician with blindness (Acts 13:11), raised the dead (Acts 20:9-12); even the things of the holy apostle were miraculous - from touching them, miraculous healings were performed, and evil spirits left the possessed (Acts 19, 12). For good deeds and fiery preaching, the Lord honored His faithful disciple with admiration to the third heaven. By his own admission, the holy Apostle Paul, he "was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which a man cannot retell" (2 Cor. 12, 2-4).

In his unceasing labors, the apostle Paul endured innumerable tribulations. In one of the Epistles, he admits that he has been in dungeons more than once and many times near death. “From the Jews,” he writes, “five times I was given forty blows without one; three times I was beaten with sticks, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent night and day in the depths of the sea. I have been many times in travels, in dangers on the rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from fellow tribesmen, in dangers from pagans, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers on the sea, in dangers between false brothers, in labor and in exhaustion, often in vigil, in hunger and thirst, often in fasting, in cold and nakedness (2 Cor. 11, 24-27).

The holy apostle Paul endured all his needs and sorrows with great humility and tears of gratitude (Acts 20:19), for at any time he was ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13). Despite the unceasing persecution that the apostle Paul endured, he also felt great respect for himself from his contemporaries. The pagans, seeing his miracles, gave him great honor (Acts 28:10); the inhabitants of Lystra for the miraculous healing of the lame man recognized him as a god (Acts 14, 11-18); the name Pavlovo was used by the Jews in incantations (Acts 19:13). The believers guarded the Apostle Paul with the greatest zeal (Acts 9:25, 30; 19:30; 21:12); saying goodbye to him, Christians prayed for him with tears and, kissing him, saw him off (Acts 20, 37-38); some Corinthian Christians called themselves Pauline (1 Cor. 1:12).

According to some legends, the apostle Paul helped the apostle Peter defeat Simon the sorcerer and convert two beloved wives of Emperor Nero to Christianity, for which he was sentenced to death. Other sources indicate that the reason for the execution of the Apostle Paul was the fact that he had converted to Christianity as the chief imperial butler. According to some sources, the day of the death of the Apostle Paul coincides with the day of the death of the Apostle Peter, according to others, it happened exactly one year after the crucifixion of the Apostle Peter. As a Roman citizen, the apostle Paul was beheaded by the sword.

The veneration of the holy apostles Peter and Paul began immediately after their execution. The place of their burial was sacred to the early Christians. In the 4th century, Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great (+337; Comm. 21 May) erected churches in honor of the holy chief apostles in Rome and Constantinople. Their joint celebration - June 29 - was so widespread that the well-known church writer of the 4th century, St. Ambrose, Bishop of Mediolan (+397; Comm. December 7), wrote: "...their celebration cannot be hidden in any part of the world." St. John Chrysostom, in a conversation on the day of memory of the apostles Peter and Paul, said: “What is more than Peter! What is equal to Paul in deed and word! They have surpassed all nature, earthly and heavenly. Bound by the body, they became more excellent than angels... Peter is the leader of the apostles, Paul is the teacher of the universe and partaker of the heavenly powers. Peter is the bridle of the lawless Jews, Paul is the caller of the Gentiles; and behold the highest wisdom of the Lord, Who chose Peter from among the fishermen, and Paul from among the skin-makers. Peter - the beginning of Orthodoxy, the great clergyman of the Church, the necessary adviser to Christians, the treasury of heavenly gifts, the chosen apostle of the Lord; Paul is the great preacher of the truth, the glory of the universe, soaring on high, the spiritual lyre, the organ of the Lord, the vigilant helmsman of Christ's Church.

Celebrating on this day the memory of the supreme apostles, the Orthodox Church glorifies the spiritual firmness of St. Peter and the mind of St. Paul, sings in them the image of the conversion of those who sin and correct: in the Apostle Peter - the image of one who rejected the Lord and repented, in the Apostle Paul - the image of those who resisted the preaching of the Lord and then believer.

In the Russian Church, the veneration of the apostles Peter and Paul began after the Baptism of Russia. According to church tradition, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (+1015; Comm. 15 July) brought from Korsun an icon of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, which was subsequently presented as a gift to the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral. In the same cathedral, frescoes of the 11th century depicting the Apostle Peter are still preserved. In the Kiev Sophia Cathedral, wall paintings depicting the apostles Peter and Paul date back to the 11th-12th centuries. The first monastery in honor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was erected in Novgorod on Mount Sinichaya in 1185. Around the same time, the construction of the Petrovsky Monastery in Rostov began. The Peter and Paul Monastery existed in the 13th century in Bryansk.

The names of the apostles Peter and Paul, received at holy baptism, are especially common in Russia. These names were borne by many saints of Ancient Russia. The images of the holy apostles Peter and Paul in the iconostasis of an Orthodox church have become an invariable part of the Deesis tier. Especially famous are the icons of the supreme apostles Peter and Paul, painted by the brilliant Russian icon painter Rev. Andrei Rublev.