All the world, let us praise as our leaders the disciples of Christ and foundations of the Church, the true pillars and bases, and inspired trumpets of the teachings and sufferings of Christ, the Princes, Peter and Paul. For, passing through the whole breadth of the earth as with a plough, they sowed the faith, and they made the knowledge of God well up for all, showing forth the understanding of the Trinity. O Peter, rock and foundation, and Paul, vessel of election, who as the yoked oxen of Christ drew nations, cities and islands to knowledge of God, and brought the Hebrews again to Christ, and intercede that our souls may be saved. (from Great Vespers of Ss Peter and Paul in the Byzantine Rite.)
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| An 13th-century icon of Ss Peter and Paul from the church dedicated to them in the city of Belozersk, now in the Russian State Museum in St Petersburg, which houses many famous icons. |
Τοὺς Μαθητὰς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ θεμελίους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, τοὺς ἀληθεῖς στύλους καὶ βάσεις, καὶ σάλπιγγας ἐνθέους τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ δογμάτων καὶ παθημάτων, τούς κορυφαίους Πέτρον καὶ Παῦλον, ἅπας ὁ κόσμος ὡς προστάτας εὐφημήσωμεν. Οὗτοι γὰρ διαδραμόντες τὸ κλίτος ὅλον τῆς γῆς, ὥσπερ ἀρότρῳ ἔσπειραν τὴν πίστιν, καὶ πᾶσι τὴν θεογνωσίαν ἀνέβλυσαν, τῆς Τριάδος δεικνύντες λόγον. Ὦ Πέτρε, πέτρα καὶ κρηπίς, καὶ Παῦλε, σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς, οἱ καὶ ζευκτοὶ βόες τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πάντας εἵλκυσαν πρὸς τὴν θεογνωσίαν, ἔθνη πόλεις τε καὶ νήσους, Ἑβραίους δὲ πάλιν πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν ἐπανήγαγον, καὶ πρεσβεύουσι τοῦ σωθῆναι τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν.
