My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 16th of January, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the
Veneration of the Honored CHAINS of the holy and glorious
Apostle PETER.
Saint Peter, the most glorious and Chief of the holy Apostles, whose CHAINS are Venerated by the Orthodox Church this day, had suffered imprisonment for the sake of Christ, as we read in Saint Luke’s account of Acts, Chapter 12. “Now at that time, Herod the king put forth his hands to maltreat some of those from the Church” [Acts 12:1]. The time is the early part of A.D. 44, since that is the date of Herod’s death. The title “king” was also accurate during this period, since Herod Agripa I, grandson of Herod the Great, was king of Palestine from A.D. 42 to 44. Only those three years was he king over Palestine from the death of Herod the Great.
Herod is Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great who had sought to kill Jesus as a child. Herod Agrippa ruled as king in Judea and Palestine under Rome in A.D. 41-44. The dates of his reign determine the period in which James, the brother of John, was killed and Peter imprisoned. James is the first of the Twelve Apostles to be martyred. Herod had in mind to “oppress” or “hurt,” as the word for”harass” is translated elsewhere. This incident reveals that by A.D. 44 there was growing popular displeasure against Christians.
Saint Luke, author of the Book of Acts, notes: “Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church, And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping bound with TWO CHAINS between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an Angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying ‘Arise quickly!’ And HIS CHAINS FELL OFF HIS HANDS. Then the Angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself and tie on your sandals,’ and so he did. And he said to him, ‘Put on your garment and follow me.’ So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the Angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the Angel departed from him. And when Peter had come to himself, he said, ‘Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His Angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people. So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, ‘You are beside yourself!’ Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, ‘It is his Angel.’ Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, ‘Go tell these things to James and to the brethren.’ And he departed and went to another place. Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down form Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. [Acts 12:1-19].
The holy Apostle Peter then left Jerusalem and preached the Gospel in other places. News of his miraculous release spread throughout Jerusalem. The CHAINS which fell from the holy Apostle’s body WERE COLLECTED BY THE CHRISTIANS AND REVERENTLY RETAINED BY THEM AS PRECIOUS RELICS. Those formerly base and ugly links of metal, used odiously for the detention of the Apostle, became SACRED TREASURES FROM THE TIME THEY WERE CLAPPED UPON HIM. By means of those chains, he suffered the Lord’s Passion on his own body through imprisonment and humiliation. Later, CHAINS would also bind him on the path to crucifixion.
In the twelfth year of Nero’s reign, Saint Peter arrived in Rome for the third time. At length, Saint Peter was arrested by soldiers, CHAINED, and taken to his death. Saint Symeon the Metaphrastes says that Saint Peter was not taken alone, but with a multitude of the faithful. The holy Apostle requested that he be crucified head-downwards. Thus the Great Apostle of the Lord, the holy Peter, reposed, glorifying God in his death by the cross; enduring great torment from the nails in his hands and feet, he surrendered his blameless soul into the hands of God, on the 29th of June, in the year of our Lord 67 A.D. Afterward, his disciple, the holy Clement, having begged for the body of the Apostle, took it down from the cross and washed it. He then called together the remaining faithful and clergy, and they interred the holy relics with honor. Decent burial was also given to those who suffered with him. The CHAINS BY WHICH THE APOSTLE WAS FETTERED WERE ALSO KEPT AS SACRED HEIRLOOMS BY THE Church. Thus, today, in our celebration of the Veneration of his CHAINS, we are keeping faith with the faithful of generations past by this expression of unity.
In 438 A.D., Atheanis-Evdokia (400-460 A.D.), wife of Emperor Theodosius II, Augustus from 402-450, fell down from favor as a result of allegations of adultery. She thereafter went to Jerusalem, as an exile of her own volition, still retaining her Imperial Title. She constructed and adorned churches, for which Juvenal (422-458 A.D.), Patriarch of Jerusalem, presented her WITH A GIFT OF THE SPIRITUAL TREASURE OF THE APOSTLE PETER’S CHAINS. For three centuries, the treasured chains were kept in Jerusalem, where many healings and miracles were wrought through them. The Empress brought these holy relics back to Hagia Sophia in 439 A.D.
The account of Saint Bede calls for the celebration of this particular day. Evdoxia, the wife of Emperor Valentinian, returned the chains from Jerusalem to Rome on the 1st day of August. She consulted with the Pope, who then brought out the chains with which the same Apostle had been bound under Emperor Nero. When the two chains were put down side by side, they miraculously joined together, as if there had always been one chain. The newly joined chains were placed in the Church of Saint Peter ad Vincula (“Saint Peter’s where the Chains are” or “Saint Peter in Chains”). The church was endowed with many gifts and privileges.
Thus, that church of Rome then held the chains from both the Apostle’s imprisonment in Jerusalem and his martyrdom under Emperor Nero in Rome. The Holy Church established the 16th day of January as the feast of this wondrous deliverance of the Apostle Peter and the celebration of the Veneration of his SACRED CHAINS. These chains wrought many miracles and cures. Even as the handkerchiefs and aprons from Saint Paul’s skin were being put upon the sick at Ephesus, and diseases and evil spirits departed from the afflicted [Acts 19:11-12], in like manner THE CHAINS which fettered Saint Peter’s body were divinely energized to work Wonders (miracles). Indeed, not only the bodies and holy relics of the Saints are filled with Wonderworking grace, together with their articles and associated instruments, but even THEIR SHADOWS–AS THAT OF PETER [Acts 5:15-16].
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“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 