Our Fathers the Apostles
Yesterday, the Church commemorated the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul, and the Feast of the Apostles in general.
And I would like tonight for the subject of our talk to be Our Fathers the Apostles.
How few are the churches that we have built in the names of our holy fathers the Apostles, while they have a favor upon us that we will never forget, which is that they preached the faith to us. Had it not been for them, the faith would not have reached us… They labored, and we entered into their labor… And the Scripture says to us: “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you.” (Heb. 13:7).
The Holy Bible likens them to mountains, and the Psalm says: “His foundations are in the holy mountains,” and it also says, “I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help comes.” The Scripture also likens them to rivers that symbolize the work of the Holy Spirit, as the Lord said: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” He said this about the Spirit whom those believing in Him were going to receive (John 7:38, 39).
Therefore, when the nations raged against them and kingdoms were shaken, and they raised their voices to God complaining, the Psalm prophesied about them, saying: “The rivers have lifted up, O Lord, the rivers have lifted up their voice, from the voice of many waters”… Therefore, the righteous believer was likened to a tree planted by the streams of water, the waters of these sweet rivers, our fathers the Apostles…
Their sweet teachings, which refresh the soul, remind us of the saying of the Psalm: “The streams of the rivers make glad the city of God.”
It was also said about our fathers the Apostles that they are the pillars of the Church.
In this, the Apostle Paul said: “And when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James, Cephas, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship” (Gal. 2:9).
And in order for us to remember that our fathers the Apostles are the pillars of the Church, the Church is raised upon twelve pillars that symbolize the twelve Apostles.
The Apostles are also the stewards and ambassadors of the Lord, and they are the faithful vinedressers.
The vineyard is the Church, and the Lord had entrusted it to vinedressers in the Old Testament, who proved to be evil vinedressers, so He took it away from them and delivered it to the Apostles.
And the Apostles became the stewards of the Lord, “stewards of the mysteries of God.” And the Lord said about them: “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?” (Luke 12). It was even said about the successors of the Apostles (the bishops) that they are stewards of God: “For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God” (Titus 1:7).
The Apostle Paul said: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
And it was said about the Apostles that they are Christ’s beloved, His own, and His brethren…
He said to them: “I no longer call you servants, but friends.” And it was said about the relationship of the Lord with them: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). And He called them His brethren, so it was said that He is “the firstborn among many brethren,” and that “He was made like His brethren in all things except sin.”
And out of the Lord’s honor for them, He shared with them in the work of judgment…
When He sits in His glory, they will sit with Him on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The Apostle Paul also said: “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?”
And the Lord honored them even more, saying: “The works that I do, you will do also; and greater works than these you will do.” And the mind stands astonished before the phrase “and greater works than these”—these who washed His feet…
These Apostles are the bearers of the faith to the whole world…
The Lord entrusted them with this message when He said to them: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And He said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them… and teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19, 20). He also said: “You shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Their mission, then, was to the ends of the earth. Therefore, “Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Ps. 19:4).
What, do you think, would have been our destiny had it not been for the preaching of these Apostles?
Had it not been for these Apostles, there would have been no preaching, no faith, no churches, no ordination of bishops and priests, and no succession of the laying on of hands. We would not have known the faith that the Lord delivered to them, and that they delivered to us: “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you” (1 Cor. 11).
The Church derives its identity from the foundation of the Apostles. The sound churches in doctrine are the apostolic churches, which were founded by the Apostles and preserved the Apostolic Tradition and the teachings and traditions of the Apostles intact, without being destroyed.
The Apostles are the golden treasury that preserved the oral Gospel and transmitted it from the mouth of Christ to the people with complete faithfulness…
The teaching of Christ was not all recorded in the Gospel (John 21:25). In the four Gospels there are many references to sermons of the Lord that He preached in houses, in the open places, on the bank of the river or the shore of the lake, or on the road… Yet nothing of them was written for us. His conversations with the Apostles over forty days were also not recorded for us in the four Gospels. But the Apostles preserved them and taught them to the people (Matthew 20:28).
The Scripture told us about an oral Gospel. It is said: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying: The time is fulfilled… repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14, 15). What is this Gospel? It is an oral Gospel preserved by our fathers the Apostles. And the Lord said to the Apostles: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
It is the same oral Gospel with which the holy Apostles were entrusted, and whose divine teaching they delivered to the world with complete accuracy.
They were entrusted with the word of God; therefore, they cared greatly for the service of the word.
(Acts 4:6). They filled the world with teaching, which they received from Christ. They did not write everything for us: some of it was in their epistles, some in their canons and in the Didascalia, and some they left in Tradition, as life and practice. Some they delivered to their disciples, so that they, in turn, might deliver it to faithful and competent people who would teach it to others (2 Tim. 2:2).
These holy Apostles did not thrust themselves into the ministry; rather, the Lord Himself chose them and said to them, “But I chose you.”
And the Lord did not choose them in vain. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined,” and those whom He predestined, “these He also called” (Rom. 8:29).
Even the Apostle Paul, who was not one of the Twelve but joined the Apostles later, said about himself: “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace…” (Gal. 1:15).
What virtues did these saints possess for the Lord to choose them?
First, they were humble; they learned from the Lord, who was meek and humble in heart.
Look at the Apostle Paul, who ascended to the third heaven, and through whose hands God performed signs and wonders, and who had an abundance of revelations, and labored more than all the Apostles. He says: “I who am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,” and he says: “Sinners, of whom I am chief.”
And Peter says, in brokenness after the miracle of the fish: “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.” And at his crucifixion, he requested to be crucified upside down! And John the Beloved says: “If we say that we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves,” and the Apostle James says: “For we all stumble in many things.”
Christ, the humble One, who emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, chose these humble Apostles, just as He chose a humble mother, and a humble man who prepared the way before Him (the Baptist) Matthew 7:11.
One of the most important qualities of the Apostles was that they loved the Lord…
The Apostle John used to lean on the Lord’s breast, and he said: “We love Him because He first loved us.”
And the Apostle Peter, even after denying Him, said: “You know all things, Lord. You know that I love You” (John 21:17).
And the Apostle Paul says: “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him” (Phil. 3:8), and he used to call people to know “the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:19).
This love made them endure everything for His sake, with joy…
They entered into “the fellowship of His sufferings,” and endured for His sake scourging, imprisonment, torture, and humiliation. But they came out rejoicing, because they considered themselves worthy to be dishonored for His name’s sake (Acts 5:41)…
We also honor the Apostles because they were vessels of the Holy Spirit…
They did not begin their ministry until after receiving power from the Holy Spirit. They did not speak themselves; rather, the Spirit of God was the One speaking through their mouths (Matthew 10:20). Therefore, their word was the word of God.
And when they held a council, they concluded their decision with the phrase: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us” (Acts 15:28).
And in the choosing of Barnabas and Saul, while they were fasting and praying, the Holy Spirit said: “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:3), and the Spirit continued to lead them continually.
Our talk about our fathers the Apostles does not end. It is enough to record, in the holiness of their lives, the saying of the Apostle Paul: “That I may live no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III — in Al-Keraza Magazine — Tenth Year (Issue Twenty-Nine), 20/7/1979.
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