June: Day 30: Synaxis of the Holy Apostles

June: Day 30:
Synaxis of the Holy Apostles
 
(Brief Information About the Holy Apostles and Lessons From Their Lives - 
Imitation of the Holy Apostles in Following Christ)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the day of the Synaxis of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Apostles, let us talk about the Holy Apostles. Since not everyone knows well enough in whose honor we celebrate, we think we will now offer you a short conversation about the Holy Apostles in general, and we will say: 1) who the Holy Apostles were, 2) how many of them there were, 3) what they did for our holy faith and for believers, 4) how they ended their holy life, and 5) in what we should imitate them.

II. a) Who were the Holy Apostles? The name apostle means "messenger," "servant," and the Holy Apostles were messengers of Jesus Christ, His servants. They were also called Disciples of Christ, because they were closest to Jesus Christ and listened to His holy teaching more than anyone else. Our Savior chose them to serve people when He Himself came out to serve the human race publicly, three years before His death on the cross. In order to reveal His omnipotence to the world, the Savior chose them almost all from poor and humble families; by origin, they were mostly simple fishermen, or publicans (tax collectors) - and some, although they were of more noble birth, later preferred poverty and dishonor to worldly wealth and vain glory. Having been called to the apostleship, they left their relatives, their homes and all their property and followed Jesus Christ inseparably. By order of their Divine Teacher, they preached throughout the cities and villages, willingly sharing with Him all the hardships and sufferings. For being the closest disciples of the Savior, they were repeatedly honored with special conversations with Him about the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, hidden from the people for a time; for being zealous servants of Christ, they were honored by Him with a special grace-filled power, which rested upon them in abundance - they were honored with miracles. And after the ascension of the Lord to heaven, on Pentecost, they received the Holy Spirit Himself in the form of fiery tongues, by the power of which they then performed the work of their service until death. Now they are honored with high honor in heaven, surrounding the throne of God. And at the Dread Judgment of Christ, sitting on twelve thrones, they will judge us and all people together with the saints. These are who the holy apostles were!

b) How many were there? From the Holy Gospel it is evident that our Savior first chose 12 Disciples, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, whom He sent out two by two to preach; then, seeing that the harvest was plentiful and the laborers few, He chose another 70 Apostles and also sent them out to preach (Luke 10:1, 2). The Holy Gospel does not convey to us the names of all these 70 Apostles, but conveys the names of the most chosen 12 Apostles. “Jesus went up the mountain,” notes the Holy Evangelist Mark, “and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, 'Sons of Thunder;' Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him" (Mark 3:13, 20). In place of Judas the traitor, after the ascension of the Lord into heaven, the Apostles, after prayer, chose Matthias, "by casting lots." Some time later, after the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, the great apostle, Saint Paul, was miraculously called to the ranks of the Apostles by the Lord.

c) There were not many disciples of Christ, but, with the help of God, they conquered the whole world with their teaching and established the Church founded by Christ, serving for it as if the foundation stones, "Jesus Christ being Himself the chief cornerstone." "Their sound has gone out through all the earth," according to the words of the Church, "and their words to the end of the world." There was not a single nation then to which one of the Apostles did not preach the gospel of the Kingdom. The countries of Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pergamum, Bithynia, Illyria, Italy, Scythia, Thrace, Greece, Armenia, India, Media, Persia, Parthia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Britain, and others were proclaimed by their teaching, supported by miracles.

Like their Divine Teacher, they experienced many needs and hardships during their preaching to the pagan nations. According to the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, some “were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:36, 37). Having suffered so much to spread the teaching of Christ orally and in writing during their lifetime, they still teach the world with their writings, which they have left to us as a precious heritage. These Scriptures are contained in books called the books of the New Testament, or the Holy Gospel and the Apostle, readings from which you hear almost every time during divine services.

d) The holy, God-inspired teaching of the Apostles was sealed with their holy blood. Almost all of Christ's Apostles ended their suffering lives as martyrs. The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, who preached the holy gospel to our ancestors, was crucified on the cross; James the son of Zebedee was beheaded; Bartholomew, after the most severe tortures, died by the sword; Thomas was pierced with a spear; Matthew also died a martyr; James the son of Alphaeus died on the cross; Judas Thaddaeus the son of James was hanged on the tree of the cross and shot; Simon the Canaanite was also hanged on the cross. Only one holy evangelist, John the Theologian, died peacefully, although during his life he also experienced severe suffering for Christ, for example, he was tortured in boiling oil, and in addition, he languished in confinement for some time. The Holy Foremost Apostles, Peter and Paul, also, as we already know, ended their lives as martyrs: the Apostle Peter was hanged headlong on a cross, and the Apostle Paul was beheaded, being a Roman citizen.

III. We have now offered you, my brethren, the story of the Holy Apostles of Christ so that you, recalling their special closeness to the Lord, their great sufferings and labors for the benefit of our holy faith and their martyric end, always remember them with ardent love and holy reverence, and try to the best of your ability to imitate them, if not in apostolic activity, which is not intended for everyone, then in any case “in following Christ” following the example of the Holy Apostles.

The Apostles, as we know, having left their occupation for Christ, also left those subjects that were inseparably connected with these occupations. This is where we need to imitate the Apostles. There are many things in your life that cannot be combined with free service to Christ, that suppress, constrain our spirit and do not allow it to rise to the spiritual and heavenly. What is it?

This is, firstly, “excessive worldly care,” when people are immersed in worldly concerns with their whole being – to the point of forgetting the higher needs of the soul, to the point that they are occupied with them day and night, and cannot free themselves from them either in church or during prayer.

This, further, is the “passion for acquisitions,” when acquisitions are made the goal of one’s life, earthly gains are placed above all else, Christian duties are forgotten for the sake of self-interest, the violation of feast days, the omission of church services, and disregard for prayer at home are considered of no importance.

This is also a "thirst for pleasures," when they know neither the measure nor the time for them, do not analyze their properties, when they think and talk only about pleasures, when they want to live only for them, when they spend the greater part of their wealth on them. This is what is especially dangerous in the present time. This is what is more dangerous than anything else and we must leave it, imitating the Apostles.

They, having left the nets and the ship, began to follow Christ freely. And we will follow Him freely, if we leave behind all earthly passions. A ship, freed from a heavy load, easily rushes along the sea waves. A bird, freed from the fowler’s nets, easily flies up. Our spirit, freed from earthly cares and from passion for sinful pleasures, will also easily fly up to the very throne of the Almighty. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.