Main news for 12 August 2016

It is hard to take responsibility for one's choice. It is hard to express a definite opinion, hard to make a decision, because you bear responsibility for all its consequences and fruits. And if this choice, this decision, lies in the religious, moral sphere, then one has to answer for it with one's whole life. And decisions in general are hard to make, because can a person know anything for certain?

Therefore the moment is so important when the apostle Peter, whether on his own behalf or on behalf of all the Twelve, resolves to pronounce the words: "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Thanks to this confession, Peter receives the Lord Jesus as Savior. Everything further, witness, preaching, the burden of the Gethsemane night, and the gift of Pentecost, is founded on this decision of Peter and on his action, on his confession. Becoming the foundation of the Church, he partakes, if not of the divine nature, for the Last Supper is still far off, then of the divine authority of Christ.

Peter himself, it appears, experienced this moment deeply. In the letter written around the year 63, speaking of the essence of faith and life, he mentions precisely readiness "to give an account of the hope" (1 Pet. 3:15). The apostleship of the Twelve consists, properly speaking, first of all in their confession, and only then in preaching over all the face of the earth. And this applies to all their disciples as well.