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30x 40 cm - 11.8 x 15.7inch.
Handmade linden wood curved.
Egg tempera and gold leaf 22k. |
+Ο
Πέτρος καταγόταν από τη Βηθσαϊδά της Γαλιλαίας και ήταν γιος του Ιωνά,
αδελφός του Αποστόλου Ανδρέα του Πρωτόκλητου. Ο Πέτρος και ο Ανδρέας
ήταν ψαράδες στη λίμνη Γεννησαρέτ. Είχε νυμφευθεί στην Καπερναούμ, όπου
έμενε οικογενειακά μαζί με την πεθερά του. Όπως μας πληροφορεί το
Ευαγγέλιο, όταν ο Ιησούς έφθασε στη λίμνη της Γεννησαρέτ συνάντησε τους
δυο αδελφούς Πέτρο και Ανδρέα οι οποίοι έριχναν τα δίχτυα τους. Αμέσως
μετά την κλήση τους, άφησαν τα δίχτυα και τις οικογένειές τους και τον
ακολούθησαν. Ψαράς στο επάγγελμα, ήταν τύπος αυθόρμητος, ορμητικός, και
τη ζωή του κοντά στο Χριστό τη μαθαίνουμε από τα τέσσερα Ευαγγέλια, ενώ
την αποστολική του δράση, από τις πράξεις των Αποστόλων. Έγραψε και δύο
Καθολικές Επιστολές, μέσα στις οποίες να τι προτρέπει τους χριστιανούς:
«Νήψατε, γρηγορήσατε, ο αντίδικος υμών διάβολος ως λέων ωρυόμενος
περιπατεί ζητών τίνα καταπίη» (Α΄ Πέτρου, ε΄ 8). Δηλαδή εγκρατευθείτε,
γίνετε άγρυπνοι και προσεκτικοί. Διότι ο αντίπαλος και κατήγορός σας ο
διάβολος, σαν λιοντάρι που βρυχάται, περιπατεί με μανία και ζητάει ποιον
να τραβήξει μακριά από την πίστη και να τον καταπιεί. Μετά την Ανάληψη
του Κυρίου, ο Πέτρος, δίδαξε το Ευαγγέλιο στην Ιουδαία, στην Αντιόχεια,
στον Πόντο, στην Γαλατία, στην Καππαδοκία, στην Ασία και τη Βιθυνία.
Κατά την παράδοση (που σημαίνει ότι δεν είναι απόλυτα ιστορικά
διασταυρωμένο) έφτασε μέχρι την Ρώμη, όπου επί Νέρωνος (54-68μ.Χ.)
υπέστη μαρτυρικό θάνατο, αφού τον σταύρωσαν χιαστί, με το κεφάλι προς τα
κάτω περί το έτος 64 μ.Χ.
Ο δε Παύλος γεννήθηκε στην Ταρσό της
Κιλικίας σε ένα χωρίο που ονομάζεται Γίσχαλα και στην αρχή ήταν σκληρός
διώκτης του Χριστιανισμού. Το 36 μ.Χ. περίπου, όταν κάποτε μετέβαινε στη
Δαμασκό για να διώξει και εκεί χριστιανούς, έγινε θαύμα στο οποίο
φανερώθηκε ο Χριστός, ο οποίος τον πρόσταξε να πάει στον Ανανία ο οποίος
τον κατήχησε και τον βάπτισε. Έτσι, έγινε ο μεγαλύτερος κήρυκας του
Ευαγγελίου, θυσιάζοντας μάλιστα και την ζωή του γι’ αυτό. Ονομάστηκε ο
πρώτος μετά τον Ένα και Απόστολος των Εθνών, λόγω των τεσσάρων μεγάλων
αποστολικών περιοδειών του. Είναι ο ιδρυτής της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος.
Συνέγραψε 14 επιστολές προς τις Εκκλησίες τις οποίες εκείνος ίδρυσε. Τη
ζωή του με τις περιπέτειές του θα τα δει κανείς, αν μελετήσει τις
Πράξεις των Αποστόλων, αλλά και τις 14 Επιστολές του στην Καινή Διαθήκη.
Ο Απόστολος Παύλος θέλει κάθε χριστιανός, όπως και ο ίδιος, να
αισθάνεται και να λέει: «ζω δε ουκέτι εγώ, ζη δε εν εμοί Χριστός» (Προς
Γαλάτας β΄ 20). Δηλαδή, δε ζω πλέον εγώ, ο παλαιός άνθρωπος, αλλά ζει
μέσα μου ο Χριστός. Και ακόμα, «τα πάντα και εν πάσι Χριστός» (Προς
Κολασσαείς γ΄ 11). Να διευθύνει, δηλαδή, όλες τις εκδηλώσεις τις
ανθρώπινης ζωής μας ο Χριστός. Ο Απόστολος Παύλος υπέστη μαρτυρικό
θάνατο (χωρίς να είναι απόλυτα ιστορικά διασταυρωμένο) δι’ αποκεφαλισμού
στη Ρώμη μεταξύ των ετών 64 - 67 μ.Χ.
Ἀπολυτίκιον
Ἦχος δ’.
Οἱ
τῶν Ἀποστόλων πρωτόθρονοι, καὶ τῆς Οἰκουμένης διδάσκαλοι, τῷ Δεσπότῃ
τῶν ὅλων πρεσβεύσατε, εἰρήνην τῆ οἰκουμένῃ δωρήσασθαι, καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς
ἡμῶν τὸ μέγα ἔλεος.
-------------------------------------------------
+ St. Peter.
A visiting dignitary is honoured with a symbolic key to
the city as a token of respect, but for eternity the keys to
the kingdom of Heaven have been placed by the Messiah
himself, out of respect to one of his greatest disciples,
into the hand of a man called Peter,the constant companion
and beloved friend of Jesus Christ. This magnificent
disciple, whom trust places at the gates of heaven to
examine the credentials of those who would enter, had a
master key in his lifetime which unlocked the hearts of men
to admit the Saviour, and his wisdom was the key to men's
minds which in turn admitted the intelligence to give
meaning to the Christian faith.
Brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew, a fisherman like
himself, Peter forthwith acknowledged the Master and
undertook a lifetime of casting his fisherman's nets for the
sake of Jesus Christ and so excelled himself in his personal
and total dedication to the Saviour that in the two thousand
years that have elapsed any roll call of the disciples finds
the name of Peter among the most prominent. He ranks with
St. Paul as one without whom the new Faith could not have
survived the whips and scorns of the pagan era of
superstition and spiritual darkness.
Several accounts are given in the New Testament about St,
Peter and his strong bond with the Nazarene, but the
stirring passage in Matthew should be etched in the mind of
every Christian, that which says "And I say to thee that
thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will
give thee the keys of the Kingdom of the Heavens, and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the
heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in the heavens." This divine authority vested in
Peter as well as to all of the disciples of Christ, placed a
sacred trust in Peter, whose name means, "rock" from the
Greek word
petra.
It was upon this rock of faith, as depicted in holy
Scripture, that the formation of the Christian Church, the
disciples' handywork, was not only a success but a triumph
as well. Peter, the redoubtable fisherman who had never
strayed far from his home in Capernaum on the shores of
Galilee, was at the side of Jesus in his ministry throughout
the Holy Land and as one of his closest apostles planned the
campaigns for the winning of converts.
In the course of this spiritual campaign, he came to
witness the many miracles of the Master, such as the walking
on water, the miracle of the loaves and fishes and, many
others which were to lend an aura of divine authority to all
of the apostles in the stewardship of the Church.
Peter, together with many others, was privileged to
witness the glorious resurrection of Christ, an event which
all Christendom views with such reverence as to regard the
first followers of Christ, as next to divine.
Peter struck out on his own in the missionary work of
renewed dedication after the death of Jesus, but he favoured
Jerusalem and together with other followers of Christ
assisted diligently in the formation of the Christian
community in Jerusalem.
Peter, whose presence at Gethsemane had further fuelled
the fires of Christian zeal in his heart, joined John in
Samaria, Lydda, Joppa, and Caesaria in a propagation of the
truth of the Messiah, but returning to Jerusalem found that
a famine had set in and that the Christian community was
somehow being blamed for the economic woes that ravaged the
land. With the help of Paul and Barnabas they restored
thconfidence of the people and led them out of their hapless
state to an era of new prosperity. Ultimately Peter
established the first church in the ancient city of Antioch
and became its first bishop. Later in Rome, he was sentenced
by Nero to be crucified, a manner of death in which he
emulated the Messiah.
Saint Paul
.
Whenever the storms of controversy within the Christian
Church have cast a shadow on the Cross of Jesus Christ, the
clouds have been rolled back by the spiritual brighteness,
undiminished by the centuries, of the magnificent St. Paul.
Most Christians agree that were it not for St. Paul, the new
faith of Jesus Christ would have never taken hold to become
the mainstay of Western civilization, The total commitment
of St. Paul to the Messiah, for which he ultimately
sacrificed his life, brought the message of Jesus to the
nucleus of Christians over a period of thirty years and
assured the permanency of the truth of the Savior. It was
Christ, of course, who planted the seeds, but it was St.
Paul who nourished the garden of Christendom.
St. Paul was born in Tarsus, a flourishing crossroads
city in Cilicia, Asia Minor. He received his religious
training in Jerusalem under the renowned rabbinical tutor
Gamaliel, from whom he absorbed the teaching of the
Pharisees with intensity and sincerity. He deplored the
acceptance of the Messiah as heresy to his religion and as
an affront to the Law of the ancient covenant. Armed with
articles of condemnation from his council, he set out for
Damascus with an avowed purpose of wiping out this new
belief in Jesus Christ.
On the road to Damascus he met Jesus. This is perhaps the
most dramatic turnabout in history, one that was destined to
alter the course of the world. St. Paul embraced as the
Messiah the man whom he had set out to destroy; thereafter
he devoted himself with deep conviction to the truth of
Christianity. The conversion alone of this profoundly
religious man is in itself testimony to the reality of the
Messiah's divinity.
Although not one of the twelve disciples of Christ, Paul
linked himself with the apostles and became the greatest
apostolic missionary of all time. A brilliant orator and
writer, he was sensitive to the needs and moods of the
various tribes of both Greek and Near Eastern backgrounds.
Furthermore, he was intelligent enough to cope with the
problems that beset the new faith at every turn.
St. Paul, a man of small physical stature, cast a giant
shadow upon the missionary scene as he traveled the length
and breadth of the ancient Eastern world. He had success
following success in the vast areas of Asia, Greece, Cyprus,
Macedonia, and eventually Rome, where his most noble purpose
was to prove his undoing. He had a fondness for Jerusalem,
for whose poor he continually solicited funds. Moreover, he
envisioned a union of the Jewish and Christian communities,
a project which was to prove dangerous. He met James in
Jerusalem and together they sought a means to bring this
laudable plan into being. However, he encountered not love
but outright hostility. In fact, he had to be saved from an
angry mob by the Roman authorities, who placed him aboard a
ship bound for Rome, where he arrived after a tossed
voyage.
St. Paul had always wanted to use the eternal city with
its strategic position in the empire, from which the spread
of Christianity could be projected. Although he preached in
Rome for two years, his ambitions were never completely
realized, except for the production of his masterful
Pastoral Letters.
Despite his frail health he continued his work for Christ
at an accelerated pace, but his enthusiastic love for the
Savior also brought him the resentment of certain
influential elements in Rome. When his enemies had done
their worst, he was brought to trial and met a marytr's
death about A.D. 67.
The true greatness of Paul is discerned in his writings,
particularly his epistles. As author of almost half of the
twenty-seven books of the New Testament, he has influenced
Christianity as no other man with the exception of Jesus
himself. Even after nearly two thousand years, St. Paul's
candor, freshness, clarity, and perceptiveness in his
writings are as welcome as sunrise.
Orthodox Christianity remembers St. Paul each year on
29th June and as one of the Apostles on June 30.
