A saint's day
Sts Peter and Paul
The Church keeps the chief Apostles together: Peter, the fisherman of Galilee who left his nets to follow Christ and whom Christ called the rock, and Paul, the tentmaker who persecuted the Church until the risen Christ met him on the road to Damascus. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, and Paul, the Apostle to the nations, was beheaded there.
The dates
- Kept on
- 29 June (12 July on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
The Apostles' Fast leads up to the feast.
The next day the Church keeps the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles.
Fishermen keep St Peter with his brother Andrew, the Apostles who left their nets to follow Christ.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast: