July 12 is one of the five great Christian holidays - the Day of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Apostles Peter and Paul. This day marks the end of the Peter's Fast.
The Holy Apostle Peter - the elder brother of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called - before his apostolic activity was a fisherman, had a wife and two children, and was called Simon. He was simple, unlettered, poor, and God-fearing, as Saint John Chrysostom says of him. The Apostle Peter was the only one who defended the Lord from those who came to subject the Teacher to suffering and death. He was also the only disciple who, when tempted, denied Christ three times. However, the Lord, having accepted the tearful repentance of His disciple, vouchsafed him to be the first of the apostles to behold Himself Risen (Lk. 24, 34).
In Rome, the Apostle Peter was foretold by the Lord Himself of his imminent end (2 Peter 1, 14). By the command of Emperor Nero, who sought to avenge the apostle for the destruction of his friend Simon the Magician and for the conversion to Christ of his beloved wives, the Holy Apostle Peter was crucified in the year 67, probably on June 29. Before his martyr's death, considering himself unworthy to accept the same execution as his beloved Teacher, the Apostle Peter asked his tormentors to crucify him head down, desiring even in death to bow his head to the Lord.
Paul, however, previously bore the name Saul and was a cruel persecutor of Christians. He even participated in the murder of the first Christian martyr, Archdeacon Stephen, but was miraculously converted to the faith by God Himself. After this, Saul submitted to the Lord, was baptized, receiving the name Paul, and became a zealous preacher of Christianity. Having made several journeys around the Mediterranean, he founded churches in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome.
According to some traditions, the Apostle Paul helped the Apostle Peter overcome Simon the Magician and convert to Christianity two beloved wives of Emperor Nero, for which he was condemned to death. Other sources note that the reason for the execution of the Apostle Paul was the fact of his converting to Christianity the chief imperial cupbearer. According to some data, the day of the Apostle Paul's death coincides with the day of the Apostle Peter's death; according to others, it occurred exactly one year after the crucifixion of the Apostle Peter. As a Roman citizen, the Apostle Paul was beheaded with a sword.
Celebrating on this day the memory of the foremost apostles, the Orthodox Church glorifies the spiritual firmness of Saint Peter and the mind of Saint Paul, singing in them the image of the conversion of those who sin and are corrected: in the Apostle Peter - the image of one who denied the Lord and then repented, in the Apostle Paul - the image of one who resisted the Lord's preaching and then believed.
The images of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the iconostasis of an Orthodox church have become an invariable part of the Deesis tier.