A HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY CHIEF APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL
(June 29/July 12)
About the Rock on Which Christ Built His Church
Brothers and sisters,
Today is the feast of the chief apostles Peter and Paul, and since the hoopla continues regarding the election by the Roman Catholics of a new pope, whom they imagine to be the successor of Saint Peter, I would like to say a few words in explanation of the final verses of today’s Gospel lection, the sense of which is twisted by the Roman Catholics to justify the power and authority they ascribe to the Pope. This misinterpretation is extremely important to understand, as it forms the basis for the largest heresy ever to appear.
The section in question begins with the fifteenth verse of the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, when the Lord asked the apostles, Whom say ye that I am? They did not answer directly, but with a certain bashful humility replied, Some say that Thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets, although of course they understood that Jesus could be none of these. Peter, however, with his accustomed boldness and fervor leaps forward and confesses that Christ is truly the Son of God. He did not say “son of God,” without the article in Greek, or as we would say in English, “a” son of God, but used the Greek article “o,” meaning specifically “the” Son of God, one in essence with His Father. Peter proclaimed this with his whole soul, not being fainthearted like the other apostles, but saying openly what they were only mulling. Therefore, Christ declared that it was God the Father Himself that revealed this great truth to Peter.
Then the Lord pronounced these famous words: Thou art Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build My Church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. The Roman Catholics equate Peter (Petros) with the rock (petra) on which Christ will build His Church, reducing the difference between the personal name Petros and the common noun petra to a simple play on words. But the overwhelming majority of the Holy Fathers, whose consensus defines the true faith, reject the demeaning notion that Christ could intend nothing more than a play on words in His phrasing of such an important declaration. They understand that by “petra,” the Lord means that Peter’s confession of faith in Him as the Son of God is the rock on which He will build His Church and that, ultimately, He Himself is the rock on which He will build the Church. Elsewhere in Scripture where the word “petra” or its alternative “lithos” is used, it means either an ordinary stone or rock, or else Christ Himself or God generally. Take, for example, the verse from the Psalms: The stone (lithon) which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.[1] This is obviously a prophecy regarding Christ and the New Testament Church. Or consider these verses from the New Testament:
From Romans: Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone (lithon proskomattos) and rock of offence (petran skandalou): and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.[2]
And from First Peter: Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone (lithon akrogoniaion), elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone of stumbling (lithos proskomattos) and a rock of offence (petra skandalou).[3]
And from First Corinthians: Our fathers… did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock (pnevmatikis petras): and that rock (petra) was Christ.[4]
Could anything be clearer than this, especially when Saint Peter himself testifies that Christ is the Cornerstone of the Church?
Had the Lord intended the meaning the Roman Catholics ascribe to His saying in the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, He would have done better to put it like this: “Upon thee, Petros, I will build My Church,” rather than say “petra,” a word so strongly indicative of His own Person.
In any case, the point is moot, since even if the Roman Catholic interpretation were correct, there is not the slightest hint, explicit or implicit, that the Lord’s words refer to supposed successors of Peter. The foundation stone would necessarily be laid at the beginning of construction, not at any later time.
The next verse reads as follows: I will give unto 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 is a promise relating to the future (I will give) and refers to the power to pardon sins, the power which opens the Kingdom of Heaven to us as individuals. When the Lord actually grants this power, He grants it to all the apostles, although the promise was made only to Peter, as the others were as yet unable to receive it. The bestowal occurred after Christ’s Resurrection, when He breathed upon the apostles and said to them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.[5] The Greek verb translated as ye remit, “apheta,” is in the second person plural. It definitely does not refer to one person only. The context and the scriptural text itself make it absolutely clear that Christ was giving the power (and thus the keys) to all the apostles, not to Peter alone.
This power the apostles passed on to their successors, the rightly believing, that is, the Orthodox bishops and, through the bishops, to the presbyters. Otherwise, it would have been almost useless, since all the members of the Church in all subsequent generations would, with the death of the apostles, have lost access to the personal forgiveness that opens the Kingdom to us and which Christ at the beginning deigned to commit to the apostles. Notwithstanding, it is Christ Himself Who ever remains the ultimate Forgiver of sins, as we know from many places in the Scriptures.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, it is clear that the Roman Catholic system of the Papacy has no basis in the Holy Scriptures, besides being refuted by the consensus of the Holy Fathers and the testimony of ecclesiastical history. Nevertheless, you see from today’s feast how highly the Orthodox Church, Christ’s true and only Church, the real Catholic Church, honors the holy Apostle Peter. She honors him as the chief Apostle, the one Christ gave a certain seniority over the others. The Lord made Saint Peter the first among equals, not the “Prince” over the other apostles. One need only review all the references in the New Testament to Saint Peter and read his two beautiful, powerful epistles to gain a true sense of his role in the earliest Church. It is a very different role indeed from that ascribed to his supposed successors by the Roman Catholics.
As this world and everything that is of it hurtles deeper and deeper into spiritual darkness, may the Lord enlighten all Roman Catholics of goodwill with the light of understanding and move them to accept humbly the ancient faith of His true Orthodox Catholic Church. And by the prayers of His chosen chief apostle, the great Peter, may He confirm all of us in that same faith. Amen.
[1] Ps. 117:22
[2] Rom. 9:33
[3] I Pet. 2:8
[4] I Cor. 10:1,4
[5] John 20:23
