SF. APOSTOLI PETRU ȘI PAVEL († 64; 67). Încheierea sărb. Coborârii Sfântului Spirit.

11:16-29 PAUL’S BOASTING
OVERVIEW: In the pretended posture of foolishness (THEODORET OF CYR), Paul boasts of worldly things: his birth, wealth, wisdom, circumcision and popular reputation. He knows that none of these things matter before God, which is why he called this way of speaking foolish (CHRYSOSTOM). He earned his living with his own hands, from early morning until about eleven o’clock, and from then until four in the afternoon he would engage in public disputation with enormous energy. He had been beaten, stoned and shipwrecked, in danger from rivers in winter, in danger at sea from soldiers who in a shipwreck would have killed him rather than risk his escape by letting him swim to safety (AMBROSIASTER). Paul shared the suffering of all the saints (CYPRIAN, EPHREM THE SYRIAN, AUGUSTINE). Such discipline is beneficial not only for bringing the body into subjection but also for showing charity to neighbors (BASIL). Meanwhile, the false apostles rob the Corinthians privately while they exalt them publicly (CHRYSOSTOM).
11:30-33 PAUL’S ESCAPE
OVERVIEW: The governor of Damascus intended to capture Paul in order to keep the Jews happy, but this plan was foiled (AMBROSIASTER). Paul did not refrain from accepting human help when necessary. At times when evils are inevitable, grace alone suffices, but where timely choices are to be made, one does not hesitate to seize available opportunities (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE). The time when God’s help is necessary is when all human help fails (AMBROSIASTER).
12:1-6 THE MYSTICAL VISION
OVERVIEW: To be caught up in the third heaven means that Paul was caught up beyond all the stars of the universe into the heaven that is third in the hierarchy of spiritual heavens (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM, AMBROSIASTER, GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS, PELAGIUS). It is obvious that Paul was talking about himself, but he speaks in this way to show that he would prefer not to talk about things unutterable (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM, THEODORET OF CYR, THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA, OECUMENIUS, ISAAC OF NINEVEH, AUGUSTINE). If anyone talks about the things that have been revealed to him, that in itself is not foolish. But if he keeps quiet about them, he may be more wise (AMBROSIASTER). It is not so much the deeds themselves that tempt us to pride as our telling them to others (CHRYSOSTOM).
12:7-10 THE THORN IN PAUL’S FLESH
OVERVIEW: By the thorn in his flesh, Paul was referring to the persecutions he had so often suffered (SEVERIAN OF GABALA, THEODORET OF CYR) from vexing adversaries like Alexander the coppersmith and the party of Hymenaeus and Philetus. Paul could hardly bear the plots that were going on behind his back, and he sought three times (meaning often) to be delivered from them (CHRYSOSTOM). But Paul’s affliction was intended for a higher purpose (THEODORET OF CYR). By grace his humility overcame his frailty (AMBROSE). By this it became clear that God’s power is made perfect in persecutions and sufferings (CYPRIAN, BASIL, SEVERIAN). When some infirmity or desolation attacks us, then our power is made mature if faith stands firm (NOVATIAN). The more trials we face, the more grace we are capable of receiving (CHRYSOSTOM). Does this imply that the devil is good because he is useful? On the contrary, he is evil because he is the devil, but God who is good and almighty draws many good things out of the devil’s malice (TERTULLIAN, AUGUSTINE). This incident shows that even a wrong prayer may receive a right answer (PELAGIUS, CASSIODORUS).
Gospel according to St. Matthew 16,13-19
16:13-20 PETER’S CONFESSION OF THE CHRIST
OVERVIEW: Our Lord did not examine his own disciples as to his identity within the borders of Judea but did so in the territory of the Gentiles, so that it would be revealed to the Gentiles through Peter what flesh and blood had not unveiled. All of this would in due time occur in the faith of Cornelius, who was first among the Gentiles to believe (EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN). By the title Son of man, Jesus showed that he himself not only appears to be but in fact unchangeably is man, without ceasing to be true God (THEODORE OF HERACLEA). He signifies how earnestly he desires the triune economy to be duly confessed when he says, “Who do men say the Son of man is?” for he thereby denotes his true deity (CHRYSOSTOM). He asked about a secret that the faith of those who believe ought to penetrate (HILARY OF POITIERS). Peter is the rock upon whose confession the church will be built (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). If Christ is the Son of God, he is also God. If he is not God, he is not the Son of God. But he himself is the Son and as the Son takes up all things from the Father, and so we hold him in our hearts (EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN). He was unwilling to be proclaimed Jesus Christ prior to his suffering and resurrection (JEROME).

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16:13 Who Do People Say I Am?
INTO CAESAREA PHILIPPI. CHRYSOSTOM: Why does he mention Philip, the founder of the city? Because there was another city, Caesarea Stratonis.1 He does not go there, but rather he leads them far away from Judea, so that being freed from all alarm, they might speak with boldness all that was in their mind. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 54.1.2
THE QUESTION ASKED OUTSIDE JUDEA. EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: Caesarea Philippi is outside Judea in the region of the Gentiles. Why therefore did our Lord not examine his own disciples within the borders of Judea? Why did he go far north into the territory of the Gentiles? But as our insignificance [as Gentiles] works against us, he questioned the disciples in Gentile territory. The result was that by the true and everlasting conviction of the blessed apostle Peter-what flesh and blood had not unveiled, the Father revealed from the heavens. Through faith the Gentiles rather than the Jews would come to acknowledge the Son of God. This indeed occurred in the city of Caesarea-Cornelius who was first among the Gentiles to believe with all his own household, through the holy apostle Peter. The Lord was not inclined to question his own disciples in Judea, when the Jews did not believe that he was the Son of God but regarded him merely as the son of Joseph. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28.3
SON OF MAN, SON OF GOD. THEODORE OF HERACLEA: Jesus asks this in order that we might know what opinions about him were current among the Jews. [He also asks] so that we might learn to inquire intently into what people are saying about him, and if it is bad, to remove the causes, or if complimentary, to increase them. But he said “Son of man” in order to show that he himself not only appears to be but in fact unchangeably is man, and again, is true God. [It is] not as if he were divided into different species, one part God and one part man; rather one may address him as Son of man with no doubt that this very same one is also the Son of God. 4FRAGMENT 101.5

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16:14 The Opinions of the Multitude
WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT THE SON OF MAN IS? CHRYSOSTOM: Note that he is not asking them their own opinion. Rather, he asks the opinion of the people. Why? In order to contrast the opinion of the people with the disciples answer to the question “But who do you say that I am?” In this way, by the manner of his inquiry, they might be drawn gradually to a more sublime notion and not fall into the same common view as that of the multitude.
Note that Jesus does not raise this question at the beginning of his preaching but only after he had done many miracles, had talked through with them many lofty teachings, and had given them many clear proofs of his divinity and of his union with the Father. Only then does he put this question to them.
He did not ask “Who do the scribes and Pharisees say that I am?” even though they had often come to him and discoursed with him. Rather, he begins his questioning by asking “Who do men say the Son of man is?” as if to inquire about common opinion. Even if common opinion was far less true than it might have been, it was at least relatively more free from malice than the opinions of the religious leaders, which was teeming with bad motives.
He signifies how earnestly he desires this divine economy to be confessed when he says, “Who do men say the Son of man is?” for he thereby denotes his godhead, which he does also in many other places. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 54.1.6
SOME SAY JEREMIAH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: In the same way they had supposed that Christ was Jeremiah. Perhaps they knew that the Lord had wisdom from his birth and was without peer in his teaching. Something similar was thought of Jeremiah, in that as a child he was singled out for prophecy and that without human training he was the prophet of a greater prophet who was to follow.7 FRAGMENT 91.8
ONE OF THE PROPHETS. ORIGEN: Just look at the differences of opinion among the Jews about Jesus. Some, following corrupt thinking, said he was John the Baptist (for example, Herod the tetrarch, who asked his servants, “Is this John the Baptizer now risen from the dead and, because of this, with powers at work in him?”) Others said that Elijah is now the one called Jesus. He has either been born a second time or he has been alive somewhere all along and is now appearing again. Some suggested Jeremiah was Jesus, and not that Jeremiah was a type of Christ. This comes perhaps from a mistaken interpretation of a passage in the beginning of Jeremiah about Christ’s prophecy unfulfilled in the time of the prophet but beginning to be fulfilled in Jesus, whom God set up over nations and kingdoms “to root up, and to build up, and to transplant.”9 COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.9.10

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16:15 What Do You Say?
THE MESSIANIC SECRET. HILARY OF POITIERS: When they had presented diverse human origins concerning him, he asked what they themselves thought about him. Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But Peter had pondered the nature of the question. For the Lord had said, “Whom do men say that the Son of man is?” Certainly his human body indicated he was a Son of man. But by adding “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus indicated that they should consider something besides what he seemed in himself, for he was a Son of man. Therefore what judgment concerning himself did he desire? It was a secret he was asking about, into which the faith of those who believe ought to extend itself. ON MATTHEW 16.6.11
PROBING FOR ANOTHER JUDGMENT. CHRYSOSTOM: Then, since they said, “Some John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets,” and set forth their mistaken opinion, he next added, “But who do you say that I am?” He was calling them on by his second inquiry to entertain some higher mental picture, indicating that their former judgment falls exceedingly short of his dignity. Thus Jesus probes for another judgment from them. He poses this second question that they might not fall in with the multitude who, because they saw his miracles as greater than human, accounted him a man indeed but one that, as Herod had thought, may have appeared after a resurrection. To lead them away from such notions, he says, “But who do you say that I am?”-that is, you who are always with me, and see me working miracles and have yourselves done many mighty works by me. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 54.1.12

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16:16 You are the Christ
CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: Did the Lord not know what people called him? But by questioning he brought forth the conviction of the apostle Peter and left for us in the future a strong affirmation of faith. For the Lord questioned not only Peter but all the apostles when he said, “Who do you say that I am?” Yet one on behalf of all answered the King, who is in due time to judge the whole world. He is God, both God and man. How miserable does this make those who are false teachers and strangers now, and to be judged in eternity. If Christ is the Son of God, by all means he is also God. If he is not God, he is not the Son of God. But since he himself is the Son, and as the Son takes up all things from the Father, let us hold this same one inseparably in our heart because there is no one who escapes his hand. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28.13
ONE CHRIST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Peter did not say “you are a Christ” or “a son of God” but “the Christ, the Son of God.” For there are many christs by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature the Son of God.14 Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life and that death has no authority over him. And even if the flesh, for a short while, was weak and died, nevertheless it rose again, since the Word, who indwelled it, could not be held under the bonds of death. FRAGMENT 190.15

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16:17-18 On This Rock I Will Build My Church
UPON THIS ROCK. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: This is not the property of Peter alone, but it came about on behalf of every human being. Having said that his confession is a rock, he stated that upon this rock I will build my church. This means he will build his church upon this same confession and faith. For this reason, addressing the one who first confessed him with this title, on account of his confession he applied to him this authority, too, as something that would become his, speaking of the common and special good of the church as pertaining to him alone. It was from this confession, which was going to become the common property of all believers, that he bestowed upon him this name, the rock. In the same way also Jesus attributes to him the special character of the church, as though it existed beforehand in him on account of his confession. By this he shows, in consequence, that this is the common good of the church, since also the common element of the confession was to come to be first in Peter. This then is what he says, that in the church would be the key of the kingdom of heaven. If anyone holds the key to this, to the church, in the same way he will also hold it for all heavenly things. He who is counted as belonging to the church and is recognized as its member is a partaker and an inheritor of heaven. He who is a stranger to it, whatever his status may be, will have no communion in heavenly things. To this very day the priests of the church have expelled those who are unworthy by this saying and admitted those who have become worthy by repentance. FRAGMENT 92.16

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16:19 What is Bound or Loosed
THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. EPIPHANIUS THE LATIN: For Christ is a rock which is never disturbed or worn away. Therefore Peter gladly received his name from Christ to signify the established and unshaken faith of the church.… The devil is the gateway of death who always hastens to stir up against the holy church calamities and temptations and persecutions. But the faith of the apostle, which was founded upon the rock of Christ, abides always unconquered and unshaken. And the very keys of the kingdom of the heavens have been handed down so that one whom he has bound on earth has been bound in heaven, and one whom he has set free on earth he has also set free in heaven. INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28.17