Peter's confession. What does it mean for us now, when we stand at the Cross and Pascha is still so far away? Pascha is far away, but the Cross is always before our eyes, and how necessary it is for us at this moment to hear: "You are the Christ." Because we are tired, because we are weak, because now the fast seems endlessly long to us, and the promised joy so undeserved. But this confession of Peter, which is so generously given to us today, both strengthens and confirms us; and, being spoken in such a difficult time, it makes us remember another confession. Mary's confession.

How hard it was for Mary to live out the Good News, how heavy it was for her to bear this burden, and she went to Elizabeth. Not in order to share this burden with her. No, for it was her burden alone. She made this journey because she simply needed very much to see someone close to her. So that someone dear could simply be nearby. And now this other confession of faith is given to us. "And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord" (Luke 1:46). The fast has passed the middle - the hardest time. We have already had time to grow tired, and Pascha is still so far away. And now two wonderful confessions of faith in Jesus are given to us. "Unwedded Virgin and All-Pure Mother, having received the annunciation from the Archangel, you hastened with care into the hill country; and having greeted your kinswoman, the most honorable Elizabeth, you were called by her the Mother of the Lord, and you magnified the Lord who magnified you: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb" (the troparion for the day of the Praise of the Most Holy Mother of God, that is, for today). Let us also magnify the Lord; and although Pascha is still far away, it will come, and each one will be magnified.

Peter loved Jesus very much. But this love became perfect only after the Cross. Before that it was childishly naive, selfish, and weak. We too often think that we love, but in practice this is the satisfaction of our own needs. Look at funerals. People weep, but if they truly believed, they would feel luminous sorrow. There might be tears, but there would be no anguish in them. Anguish is always about oneself. We do not want our beloved to die. We are afraid of this. Almost anyone will tell you that there is nothing more frightening for us; even our own death does not frighten us as much as the death of someone close.

And to this very most frightening thing in the world, the Lord says through the apostle's mouth: "there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). Peter is afraid for Jesus, he does not want anything to happen to Him, but this fear comes from a lack of faith and therefore hinders the providential paths of the Lord.

It is very difficult to attain perfect love. For Peter this required passing through the trial of the Cross of the beloved person, and this is probably why the words about Peter in today's reading are followed by the words about the cross. And specifically about one's own cross, for the cross of the beloved becomes your cross.

Why does the rainbow become the sign of the covenant that God makes with Noah and, in his person, with all the righteous of all times and nations? In antiquity, the overwhelming majority of peoples regarded the rainbow as a bridge joining heaven and earth. Along this bridge, as they thought, the gods who lived in the heavens descended to earth to human beings in order to enter into communion with them. Of course, the sacred writer sees the God of the Bible in no way as the ancient pagans saw their gods. But he preserves the image of the rainbow, making it a symbol of the covenant. And, apparently, the chief meaning of this symbol, the meaning contained in it from the beginning, becomes the connection between heaven and earth.

Indeed, any covenant-union presupposes special relations between those who make it, in this case between God and those righteous people who, like Noah, matter so much to God that He is ready to save them even when all the rest of humanity is doomed. But something else is important for the destinies of humanity: God is ready to stop the coming catastrophe for the sake of those righteous people with whom He has made a union. And the rainbow is a living reminder, and therefore an actualization of the relations that the union presupposes. Strictly speaking, it is precisely these relations that save the world from catastrophe.

Of course, one cannot count on more here: the covenant with Noah is not enough to change the situation in the world radically. What is needed here is the people of God with their history, ending in the coming of the Messiah. But it is enough to save the world from catastrophe. And that is already no small thing: thanks to the covenant with Noah, humanity receives the possibility of living until its salvation.