Our Fathers the Apostles
Our Fathers the Apostles 1
Their Importance
Our Fathers the Apostles are those saints through whom we received the faith. They are the ones who spread the Christian faith throughout the whole inhabited world. They labored, and we entered into their labor.
And the faith they delivered to us is a pure, sound faith, which they received from the Lord Christ Himself.
Whether during His incarnation and His ministry on earth, or during the forty days after the Resurrection, when He appeared to them “and He spoke about the things pertaining to the kingdom of God…” (Acts 1:3), or afterwards as our teacher Paul the Apostle said in his epistle to the Corinthians: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.” (1 Cor 11:23).
What they received from the Lord they delivered to us. Thus their teaching became a divine teaching, added to which was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to them. And they did not deliver to us only the Gospels and the Epistles, but also the Apostolic Canons, which include many matters in the administration of the Church, and also the Didache, that is “The Teachings of the Apostles,” which contains 38 chapters on pastoral care.
The Scriptures called them “the pillars of the Church” (Gal 2:9). And it says: “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” (Eph 2:20).
For this reason the churches in olden times, in the era of the apostles, were built — symbolically — on twelve pillars, a symbol of our holy Fathers the Apostles.
They were also likened to rivers from which the springs of the Holy Spirit flow forth (John 7:38).
In fulfillment of the psalm: “On the rivers he established it.” (Ps 24:2). And when they prayed from the terror of the persecution that befell them, it was said: “The rivers have lifted up, O LORD, the rivers have lifted up their voice… from the voices of many waters.” (Ps 93:3–4).
They were also likened to mountains, because of their lofty rank.
It is said in the psalm: “His foundation is in the holy mountains.” (Ps 87:1). Therefore it is also said in invoking their intercession: “I lifted my eyes to the mountains, from where comes my help.” (Ps 121). How many glorious metaphors were used to liken our Fathers the Apostles.
And we must not forget at all the love of the Lord for them.
So much so that He said of them that they are “His own.” It was said concerning this: “He loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1). They are the ones whose feet the Lord washed. He said to them: “You are clean, but not all of you. For He knew the one who would betray Him.” (John 13:10,11).
Just as He called them His own, He also called them His brethren.
He said to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection: “…Go to my brethren.” (John 20:17). He said to the two Marys: “Go, tell my brethren to go to Galilee; there they will see Me.” (Matt 28:10). He said to them: “I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for I have made known to you all that I heard from My Father.” (John 15:15).
Our Fathers the Apostles the Lord called His agents and ambassadors…
When Peter asked Him: “Lord, is this parable for us or for everyone also?” He answered him: “Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom his master will set over his servants to give them their food in due season?” (Luke 12:42). And Saint Paul the Apostle said: “Let a man regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” (1 Cor 4:1). He also said: “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor 5:20).
And they said: “…we are those who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:41) and they also said of Him: “…that which we heard, which we saw with our eyes, which we looked upon, and our hands handled…” (1 John 1:1).
The Lord Chose Them
There is no doubt that for certain qualities the Lord chose them from among all their contemporaries. He said to them: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16).
The Lord’s choosing of them indicates two things:
First: that they did not set themselves up in the ministry for personal purposes.
Second: that God called them to know Him. As Scripture says: “Those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called…” (Rom 8:29–30). A salute to those whom the Lord chose from among all the inhabitants of the world, to bear His name and to preach the gospel to the whole creation (Mark 16:15).
They received the divine call from the mouth of the Lord Himself.
Just as He saw Simon and Andrew his brother when they were fishing: “He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’” (Matt 4:19). Likewise He called two other fishermen, James and John: “Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.” (Matt 4:22). He called Matthew from the tax office and said to him: “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. (Matt 9:9). The same phrase “Follow Me” was heard by Philip (John 1:43).
Perhaps the strangest calling in the apostles is that of Saul of Tarsus (Paul).
He was called by the Holy Trinity, by each Person individually… It is known that the Lord called him on the road to Damascus, when He said to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” and referred him to Ananias. He said to Ananias: “Behold, he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.” (Acts 9:3–15).
He was called by the Holy Spirit, when “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2). “Then they fasted and prayed and laid hands on them and sent them away. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.” (Acts 13:3–4).
Saul was also called by God the Father. He said concerning that: “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace… immediately I did not consult with flesh and blood.” (Gal 1:15–16). And the most beautiful thing said about the calling of all the apostles is their saying:
“Behold, we have left all and followed You.” (Luke 18:28).
This shows us that their hearts were ready and not attached to the world. The fishermen among them left their nets and the boat and left their father and followed Him (Matt 4). Matthew left the tax office… they all left family, home, and work, and went after Him. Each of them corresponds to what was said of the father of fathers Abraham: “When he was called he obeyed… he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Heb 11:8).
When the Lord Christ called these apostles they followed Him though they did not know where He was going. He had no place to lay His head, yet they followed Him: “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matt 8:20). Yet they followed Him. He had no official position in Jewish society at that time… when He called them, He did not assign them a particular office, nor a fixed place of ministry, nor a source of income; on the contrary He said to them: “Freely you have received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper in your money belts; nor bag for the journey, nor two tunics, nor shoes, nor staff.” (Matt 10:8–10). Nevertheless they followed Him.
More than that, He called them to bear the cross.
He said to them plainly: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matt 16:24). He explained this cross to them: “Behold, I send you as sheep among wolves… they will deliver you to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you… and you will be hated by all for My name’s sake… and when they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” (Matt 10:16–23).
They followed Him despite all those expected dangers.
It suffices that He said to them: “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.” (John 16:2). He said to them: “He who desires to save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt 16:25). With all that they followed Him and accepted all that awaited them for His sake with joy.
One of the important qualities of our Fathers the Apostles was a life of discipleship.
Discipleship
They were discipled by the Lord of glory Himself — not only by His public sermons that He delivered to the people, but they also had private sessions with Him, such as His washing of their feet and His conversations with them about the Holy Spirit (John 13–16). Likewise the forty days He spent with them after the Resurrection, He spoke to them about things pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). And as Scripture says: “Then He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45). What He taught them He commanded them to teach others. He said to them: “Make disciples of all the nations… and teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19–20). And this was not all; He also gave them the Holy Spirit, saying to them: “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26). Here appears the second essential characteristic in our Fathers the Apostles, which is:
The Work of the Holy Spirit in Them
The most important feature of the Fathers the Apostles is that the Holy Spirit worked in them. The Lord commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). Of this power He said to them: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). And so it was. The Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:2–4). The Spirit’s work continued with them in their ministry. He was the One who guided their councils (Acts 15:28). He was the One who moved them to places of ministry (Acts 16:6–10). He performed miracles through them.
And the Holy Spirit was the One who spoke through their mouths.
As the Lord had promised them: “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (Matt 10:20) “as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4). Therefore their word had a wondrous power in its effect. So much so that in one sermon of Saint Peter on the day of Pentecost three thousand souls believed and were baptized (Acts 2).
And they became givers of the Holy Spirit.
They laid hands on the people of Samaria, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17–18). Likewise on the people of Ephesus the Holy Spirit came (Acts 19:6). Also by their laying on of hands the grace of the Holy Spirit would come in the sacrament of the priesthood (2 Tim 1:6) — with all that the Spirit works in this sacrament.
By the Holy Spirit, Peter and Paul raised the dead.
The Apostle Peter raised Tabitha from death. He prayed and said, “Tabitha, arise,” and she opened her eyes and arose (Acts 9:40). The Apostle Paul raised Eutychus after he fell from the third story and was carried dead (Acts 20:9–12). Paul “had handkerchiefs or aprons brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and evil spirits went out of them.” (Acts 19:12).
The Church in their days became the Church of the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit was the condition for choosing ministers. Even the deacons were to be “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” (Acts 6:3). Therefore the ministry in the days of the apostles was characterized by power.
They Were Champions of Faith..
They were distinguished by strength, boldness, and courage in their service. They endured, for the sake of that, scourging, imprisonment, and stoning. Yet in testimony for the Lord they spoke openly (Acts 4:31), and without restraint (Acts 28:31). They preached at convenient and inconvenient times (2 Tim 4:2) — even while in prison. Many of Paul’s epistles were written in prison, such as his epistle to the Ephesians (Eph 4:1).
John the Apostle wrote his Revelation while in exile (Rev 1:9). It is said once after they were scourged that “they departed rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:40–41).
They turned prisons into quasi-temples by their hymns inside them (Acts 16:25).
When they were driven from Jerusalem it was said of them: “Therefore those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4). They did not allow any obstacle to prevent them from ministry. Paul the Apostle used to say: “Woe to me if I do not preach!” “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win the Jews… to those without law I became as without law… I became all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor 9:16–22).
The Fathers the Apostles preached by their teaching and by their blood. The majority of them passed away as martyrs. They were varied in their virtues: John excelled in love, Peter in zeal, Paul in toil and struggle, Thomas in exactness, James in asceticism, and all in renunciation of the world.
They were distinguished by courage, steadfastness, and endurance.
Paul the Apostle says: “In everything we commend ourselves as servants of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors… in honor and dishonor… as deceivers and yet true… as unknown and yet well known… as dying and behold we live… as chastened and yet not killed… as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.” (2 Cor 6:4–10) “Persecuted, but not forsaken.” (2 Cor 4:8–9).
Their ministry was also characterized by firmness.
Despite their love for all, we see their firmness in Peter’s stance toward Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11), and Paul’s stance toward the offender in Corinth (1 Cor 5:5), and John the Beloved’s stance toward heretics (2 John 10–11).
We see their courage in their confrontations with kings and governors.
Like Paul’s stance before King Agrippa (Acts 26:27–29) and before Felix the governor (Acts 24:25). And in his saying: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers… can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:35–39).
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine – Nineteenth Year – Issues 25 & 26 (July 19, 1991)
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