Monthly Archives: June 2019

The Holy Apostle Peter ~
The son of Jonah and brother of Andrew the First-Called, of the tribe of Simeon and the town of Bethsaida. he was a fisherman and was at first called Simon, but the Lord was pleased to call him Cephas, or Peter (Jn 1:42). He was the first of the disciples to give clear expression to his faith in the Lord Jesus, saying: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt, 16:16). His love for the Lord was very strong, and his faith in Him went from strength to strength. When the Lord was put on trial Peter denied Him three times, but it needed only one look into the face of the Lord. and Peter’s soul was filled with shame and repentance. After the descent of the Holy Spirit. Peter became a fearless and powerful preacher of the Gospel. After his first sermon in Jerusalem, about 3,000 souls were converted to the Faith. He preached the Gospel throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, in Italy and in lllyria. He performed many wonders, healing the sick and raising the dead, and even his shadow had the power of healing the sick. He had a major struggle with Simon the Magician, who declared himself to be from God but was actually a servant of the devil. He finally put him to shame and overcame him. Peter was condemned to death on the order of the wicked Em-peror Nero, a friend of Simon’s. After installing Linus as Bishop of Rome and exhorting and encouraging the flock of Christ there, Peter went to his death with joy. When he saw the cross before him, he asked the executioner to crucify him upside-down, because he felt himself to be unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. And so this great servant of the greatest Master went to his rest and received a crown of eternal glory.

The Holy Apostle Paul ~
Born in Tarsus and of the tribe of Benjamin, he was formerly called Saul and studied under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee and a persecutor of Christians. He was wondrously converted to the Christian faith by the Lord Himself, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus. He was baptised by the Apostle Ananias, named Paul and enrolled in the work of the Great Apostles. He preached the Gospel everywhere with burning zeal, from the borders of Arabia to the land of Spain, among both the Jews and the heathen, and receiving the title of ‘the Apostle to the Gentiles’. His fearful sufferings were matched only by his superhuman endurance. Through all the years of his preaching, he hung from day to day like a thread between life and death. Filling his days and nights with toil and suffering for Christ, organising the Church in many places and reaching a high level of perfection, he was able to say: ‘I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me’ (Gal. 2:20). He was beheaded in Rome in the reign of Nero, at the same time as St Peter.

A new miracle of St Luke, Archbishop of Crimea, has occurred in the ancient Greek region of the Argolid, in the city of Argos.

A young man named Christos Argiropoulos, son of the Argos State Philharmonic Society’s conductor, says that he took to St Peter’s Church a piece of cloth, saturated with oil from St Luke’s Relics. On March 30 he met with his friend, the owner of a shop in Argos, and gave him a small piece of the cloth with the saint’s blessing, as his friend had had serious problems with his spine. Movements that would be ordinary for a healthy person were extremely difficult for him: in order to get into a car he had to bear 20 minutes of pain.

Less than half an hour later, the friend called him, weeping with joy: as soon as the sick man came home, his mother anointed him with the oil from the relics. The young man at once felt that something was coming out from within; all the pain that had been tormenting him for so long time were disappearing!

After some time, Christos Argiropoulos met with his friend again. The latter began performing acrobatic tricks before him right on the pavement, crying and laughing at the same time.

May we have the blessing of St Luke the Physician, and all the Saints.