VENERATION OF THE PRECIOUS CHAINS OF THE APOSTLE PETER

“Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man”: Peter’s confession of the messiahship of the Lord Jesus became the basis for the future apostle’s call to preach the Gospel. Repeating these words, the Church, as a community of believers journeying through history, asks Christ not to leave her for a moment. “I was the best sailor,” sings Till Lindemann, speaking for Jesus, in his enigmatic song. It turns out that Jesus couldn’t have gotten out of Peter’s boat because it was his, not Peter’s.

1 The calling of the Apostle Peter is described in the seventeenth pericope of the Gospel of Luke, in verses one through eleven. This text says that Jesus appeared on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Seeing two boats and the fishermen in them, He entered one of them and preached from it, teaching the people. In gratitude for the opportunity to teach from the boat, Jesus commanded the fishermen to sail out into deep water and cast their nets for a catch. The catch was so great that the boats began to sink. Then Simon Peter, from whose boat Jesus was teaching, uttered his famous words: “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). It is obvious that Peter had not yet met Jesus at that time. He had not heard the essence of His good news and did not know the truth that “Jesus came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17).

2 Therefore, we Christians must constantly cry out to God: “God, come to me, for I am a sinful man. Lord, do not forsake me, for I am a sinful man. Holy One, justify me, for I am a sinful man.” “My hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my protection is the Holy Spirit,” as the great ascetic, prophetic seer, and teacher of spiritual life of the eighth and ninth centuries, St. Joannicius the Great (752–846), said. This trinitarian prayer is read during the Matins service, as well as during evening prayers.

3 “Fear seized him and all those with him because of the catch of fish they had taken,” says the Gospel (Luke 5:9). In response to Peter’s confession of his own sinfulness and his request to leave him — “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” — in response to this fear and trembling, the Lord Jesus spoke words of apostolic calling. “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men" (Luke 5:10). You will catch people as you once caught fish; you will welcome people into the saving nets of the Church. “Loneliness on the net” is the title of a magnificent and deeply philosophical novel by the contemporary Polish writer Janusz Wisniewski, referring to modernity and the Internet. Grace is communion. In the grace-filled nets of the Church, in the communion of the apostles and the grace of the sacraments, there should be no loneliness. Otherwise, it is a mistake on the part of the ministers of the Church, expressed in modern language, a “systemic failure” that needs to be corrected immediately. Such loneliness is felt in church schisms. To overcome it, schisms introduce liberal practices or, conversely, cease to recognize the sacraments of other churches or communities. An example of this is the various schisms that have formed in relation to the great historical churches.

4 The word “fish” in Greek is pronounced “ichthys.” It is an early Christian anagram, an acronym composed of the first letters of the words “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.” These are just five words that make up one word that contains the mystery of our salvation and is also an ancient creed. “Fear not, for from now on you will be a fisher of men.” These words have another interpretation. They command us all to be evangelists, missionaries, and preachers: “Fear not, for from now on you will be a distributor of fish to all, that is, you will teach and reveal to all people the Lord Jesus, His mysteries, His words, His works.” It turns out that Jesus’ boat belongs to the fishes. As a community of believers and as the vessel from which Jesus will preach until the end of time, and all of us together as the Church, we are called to always respond to this call of Jesus. As one of the great theologians of the last century said, every Christian must be a prophet and a mystic, otherwise there will be no more Christianity.