Let us strive to follow the example of the Apostle Peter and the Holy Apostle Paul in their love for the Holy Cross. Let us deeply experience the Lord’s Cross and ensure that not a single day of our lives passes without remembering Christ’s Cross, reflecting on its significance, and making the sign of the Cross, His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Archbishop of Mtskheta-Tbilisi, and Metropolitan of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia Shio III said in his sermon on the Feast of the Holy, Glorious and All-Praised Chief Apostles Peter and Paul.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!

Your Eminence, Reverend Father Archil, Dear fathers, brothers, and sisters,

I congratulate you on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

It has been a great joy to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with you today. There was such order, such a spiritual and uplifting atmosphere, that we are filled with joy and gratitude. May the Lord bless you and grant you happiness!

Today we thank and glorify God for raising before this sinful world such extraordinary pillars and luminaries, who preached the truth not only through their magnificent epistles but also through their very lives, leaving us an example of faith in God and profound love. Even today, they continue to preach to us.

The Holy Apostle Peter gave us a great example of faith when he stepped out of the boat and walked toward the Lord Jesus Christ on the sea. We, too, should always move toward Christ, never doubting that the Lord will help us through every trial, just as He helped the Apostle Peter when he began to sink.

The Apostle Peter also displayed remarkable courage when, without fear, he drew his sword against the high priest’s servant in the Garden of Gethsemane. As you remember, the Lord then healed that servant.

Likewise, whenever the Lord is insulted in our presence or the Most Holy Mother of God is blasphemed, we too should courageously rebuke such actions with bold words, following Peter’s example. At the same time, we must also learn from the Apostle Peter’s extraordinary repentance. As you recall, throughout his life he deeply repented his grievous sin of denying the Lord Jesus Christ three times.

It is impossible today to speak of all the labors and merits of these glorious Apostles.

As for the Apostle Paul, there is hardly any need to explain the immense importance of his epistles for our faith and for the salvation of our souls. Dear Father Archil, it is enough today simply to recall how profoundly he understood the meaning and depth of Christian love. How wonderful are his words in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, in the famous passage known as the Hymn to Love. He writes that even if he possessed the gift of prophecy, understood all mysteries, and had faith strong enough to move mountains, but lacked love, he would be nothing more than a resounding gong. Even if he gave away all his possessions to the poor and surrendered his body to be burned, without love it would profit him nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2–3).

The Holy Apostle Paul did not merely write about this love more profoundly than anyone else; he lived by it and burned with Christ’s love as perhaps no one else did. Christ’s Crucifixion affected him so deeply that everything else in this world lost its meaning. He wrote: ‘From now on, the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world’ (Galatians 6:14). He was so completely consumed by Christ’s love and so deeply identified with Christ’s Crucifixion and His wounds that he declared: ‘I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus’ (Galatians 6:17).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us strive, like the Apostle Peter, to imitate the Holy Apostle Paul in his love for the Holy Cross. Let us also experience the Lord’s Cross in our hearts, ensuring that not a single day of our lives passes without remembering Christ’s Cross, reflecting upon its meaning, and making the sign of the Cross. And let us never forget the Apostle Paul’s well-known words: ‘Love is the fulfillment of the law’ (Romans 13:10).

If we live in this way, or at least strive to do so, then Christ’s Cross will also be imprinted upon our hearts, and we will become, even if only a little, like the Apostles, in whose hearts the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shone with heavenly light.

Once again, I congratulate you on today’s feast. Once again, I thank you for this great joy and for serving together in prayer. May God bless you and strengthen you!

Through the prayers of the Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul, may God bless, strengthen, and gladden the clergy of this church, its rector, Archpriest Archil, and all of you, dear brothers and sisters!

Through the prayers of the Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul, may God unite and save all of Georgia. Amen!

God is with us!” the Patriarch said.