but to the feasts of peter, paul gets to come, a sort of new kid on the block. in january, after the ancient feast of s. peter's chair (called by some the confession of s. peter) there is an octave, the baptism of s. paul (called by some the conversion of s. paul, the some being protestants who are uncomfortable with apostolic succession or baptismal regeneration.) and at the height of summer, amidst the celebrations of john the baptist and james the brother of john mary magdalene and before the transfiguration of our lord and the dormition of his holy mother, peter shares a feast with paul. an odd couple, it seems. that paul is an addition is obvious from the readings for matins. they are all about peter (with a bit of john, from the third chapter of acts). paul has his own commemoration on the 30th of july.
but an importantly odd couple for a church that would come to be catholic, not in the sense of ruled by one man who lived in the capital of the empire and sits in peter's chair, but in the sense of embracing all the peoples of the world. this feast recognizes that it is not just the home boys, the twelve who wandered around galilee with jesus for years, who are called to be apostles, but that such folk, to borrow from a children's hymn, as doctors and queens and sherdesses on the green are also and equally called to be saints of god, are called into the apostolic fellowship.
this feast has another importance of, i think, which is recognized in the traditional icon, a portrait of two very different men embracing. they are instantly recognizable by the traditions of iconography: peter has his trademark blond hair, paul is bald. we call them saint peter and saint paul, but their friends knew them as rocky and shorty, which is what their names meant. peter, as is remarked in the fourth chapter of acts, was unlearned, but a passionate follower of his lord. (and is so often true of passionate followers, given to periods of infidelity.) paul as he proudly mentions from time to time in his letters, was educated in the best schools of judaism. but there they are in the icon, embracing, an embrace we celebrate on 29th july each year.
the insight to the importance of that embrace, i suggest, is provided by john's understanding of the importance of peter. for much of the church, peter's 'primacy,' as it is called, depends on his 'confession' celebrated on the 18th of january, when we remember jesus' saying, 'thou art peter, and on this rock i will build my church,' a statement which has been used as much for division as building. but for john, who probably in his gospel says more about peter than does even matthew, the importance of peter is built on that last breakfast scene on the seashore, when jesus asks peter, three times, 'dost thou love me?' it is peter's love for jesus that qualifies him to feed jesus' sheep.
peter and paul both have spotted histories. peter right after his 'confession' tries to talk jesus out of the crucifixion, cueing jesus' remarkable statement 'get thee behind me, satan.' peter denied jesus three times during the trial before the crucifixion. paul was first famous as saul, who held the coats of stephen's stoners, and who was a sort of prime grand inquisitor. that makes their embrace even more significant, and it reminds us what sort of love is expected of us. anyone can love the seemingly perfect, the obvious saints. but to forgive and to love those who have famously failed is not only more difficult, it is redemptive. it is the sort of love which lets the unlearned and unfaithful and the torturers become transformed into holy apostles.
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