Saint Paul, the Holy Apostle, before his apostolate, was called Saul. He was a Jew by birth, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was born in Tarsus of Cilicia. His prominent parents, who lived first in Rome but later moved to Tarsus of Cilicia, held the coveted rank of Roman citizens. This is why Saint Paul was also a Roman citizen himself. Mention is made of a daughter in the family. Saul was likewise a kinsman of the holy First-Martyr Stefanos (Stephen) and (probably with him) was sent to Jerusalem by his parents to study the Law of Moses. Saul became a pupil of the famous Rabbi Gamaliel. His friend and comrade in his studies was Barnabas, who later became an Apostle of Christ. When Barnabus became a Christian he prayed to God, persistently and with tears, that He enlighten Saul's understanding and turn his heart. Now Saul studied primarily the law of his fathers, becoming a great proponent of it. He, moreover, joined the party of the Pharisees (strict zealots of their heritage, ostentatious in their piety).

Holy Apostle Peter, the preeminent Apostle of the Lord and the brother of the First-Called Apostle Andrew, was known as Simon, son of Jonas (Jonah), who was a Jew of the Tribe of Simeon. He was a native of Bethsaida, an insignificant and little-known town of Galilee in Palestine. He lived in poverty during the years when Hyrcanus was a high priest of the Jews. After the repose of Peter's mother, Peter took to wife the daughter of Aristovoulos, the brother of the holy Apostle Barnabus, and begat children of her: a son and a daughter.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the chiefs of the Holy Apostles, are celebrated on June 29th in one of the culminating feasts of the Holy Gospel, according to Saint John Maximovitch. "The Apostles Peter and Paul, without having authority over others, both stood in front of all the others on account of their warm zeal and labors. Their life was the most brilliant and was a personification of the life and labors of all the Apostles.

At the Mystical ("Last") Supper, Christ celebrates sacramentally His Sacrifice on the Cross. He offers His Holy Blood, and by calling it the blood of the New Covenant [or 'Testament']. 'He shows that He is going to die. That is why He talks about a testament, a will. And indeed He recalls the earlier Covenant [the Old Testament] because that too was ratified by blood [cf. Hebrews 9:18-21].' At the Mystical Supper, we were the past [the Old Testament], the present [the New Testament], and the future [His imminent death] coexisting in the Person of Christ.

Six months before his appearing to the Most Holy Ever-Virgin Mary in Nazareth, the Great Gabriel, Archangel of the Lord, appeared to Zacharias the High Priest in the Temple in Jerusalem. Before he revealed the miraculous conception by a virgin who has not known a man, the Archangel revealed the Wondrous conceiving by an old and barren woman.

Saint Eusebius was a major opponent of the very dangerous heresy of Arianism. When the Patriarchal throne of Antioch became vacant, Meletius was elected Patriarch. This Meletius was a shining light in the Church and deserved the great eulogy given by Saint John Chrysostom at his death. But the Arian heretics soon drove Meletius from Antioch. When Constantius, Constantine's evil son, died, he was followed by another heretic Julian the Apostate, a man even worse than he, as ruler of the Empire.