Do you see that he does not remain with them continually, nor is his presence with them the same as before? He appeared, for instance, in the evening, and then disappeared. Then after eight days he appeared once again, and again he disappeared. Then he appeared later again by the sea, and then another time, causing great awe. But what does John mean when he says Jesus showed himself? It is clear from this that he was not seen unless he condescended to be seen because his body was from this time forward incorruptible and of unmixed purity. But why has the writer mentioned the place? To show that he had now taken away the greater part of their fear so that they now ventured out from their home and went about everywhere. For they were no longer shut up at home but had gone into Galilee to avoid danger from the Jews. Simon, therefore, comes to fish. For since neither [Christ] was with them continually, nor was the Spirit yet given, nor were they at that time yet entrusted with anything and so had nothing to do, they returned to their trade.

We may ask why Peter, who was a fisherman before his conversion, returned to fishing, when it is said, No one putting his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.^[1]

If the disciples had done this when Jesus was lying in the grave and before he rose from the dead . . . we might think they did so out of despair. But now after he has risen from the grave, after seeing the marks of his wounds . . . after he breathed the Holy Spirit on them . . . all at once they become what they were before, fishers, not of people but of fishes. We must remember then that they were not forbidden by their apostleship from earning their livelihood by a lawful use of their skills, provided they had no other means of living. . . . For if the blessed Paul did not use that power that he had with the rest of the preachers of the gospel, as they did, but went to warfare using his own resources in case the Gentiles, who were aliens from the name of Christ, might be offended at an apparently minor doctrine; if, educated in another way, he learned a craft he never knew before so that, while the teacher worked with his own hands, the hearer might not be burdened—how much more might Peter, who had been a fisherman, work at what he knew if he had nothing else to live on at the time? But how is it that he had nothing, someone will ask, when our Lord promises, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you?^[1] Our Lord, we answer, fulfilled this promise by bringing them the fishes to catch, for who else brought them? He did not bring on them that poverty that obliged them to go fishing, except in order to exhibit a miracle.

We know that Peter was a fisherman, whereas Matthew was a tax collector. Peter returned to fishing after his conversion, but Matthew did not again sit down to his business of tax collecting, because it is one thing to seek to make a living by fishing and another to increase one’s gains by money from the tax office.^[1] For there are some businesses that cannot—or hardly can—be carried on without sin. And these cannot be returned to after conversion.

Having then nothing to do, they went fishing, and they did this at night because they were terribly frightened. Luke also mentions this,^[1] but this is not the same occasion. And the other disciples followed because from that time on they were bound to one another, and at the same time desired to see the fishing and use their leisure time well. While they were working and tired, Jesus presents himself before them and does not reveal himself all at once so that they enter into conversation with him.

This is the whole import of this passage: Those who had completed their work in the darkness, before the disciples, had not caught anyone in their nets and snatched them from demonic deceit. They may have caught a very few people, which is almost the same thing as nobody. Not even those who served the types and shadows had been caught, since they also despised the divine law and obeyed instead human commandments. Even worse, the multitude of the Gentiles had also not been caught by the nets, since they did not receive the teachings of God. But when the sun of righteousness came, that is, the one who hungered after the salvation of the human race, he did not find anything edible among them. He told them to cast forth the word of the gospel, which is the teaching, on the right side of the boat. One can understand that the law and the prophets had been casting forth their words on the left side. By the grace of the one who gave the order, the disciples drew in many. For the marvel on this matter surpasses the fish of the apostles.

Pedagogy is the training of children, as is clear from the word itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture points to and then to give the Paedagogue^[1] charge of them. We are the children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us and describes us in many different figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel, the Lord, standing on the shore, says to the disciples—they happened to be fishing—and called aloud, ‘Children, have you no fish?’ In this way he addresses those who were already in the position of disciples as children . . . setting before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children.

The Lord appeared to his disciples after his resurrection by the sea of Tiberius and found them fishing, although they had caught nothing. While fishing at night, they caught nothing. Day dawned, and they made a catch because they saw Christ the day, and at a word from the Lord they cast their nets and made a catch. Now we find two catches of fish made by Christ’s disciples at a word from Christ. The first one refers to when he chose them and made them disciples.^[1] The second one refers to this current period after he had risen from the dead. Let us compare them, if you agree, and take careful note of the differences between them. It has a lot to do, after all, with the consolidation of our faith.

On the first occasion, then, when the Lord came across the fishermen whom he had not found previously, they had also caught nothing all night, having worked hard without result. He ordered them to throw out the nets. He did not say, on the right, he did not say, on the left, but he simply said, Throw out the nets. Before the resurrection, the nets were let out all over the place. After the resurrection, the right side is chosen. Next, in the first catch of fish, the boats are overloaded, the nets are breaking. In this last one after the resurrection, there is no overloading of the boat or breaking of the seine. When they fished the first time, the number of fish caught is not mentioned. This time, after the resurrection, a definite number of fish is mentioned. So let us carry on with the first, in order to arrive at the last. . . . In the first account we have the nets, the nets of the word, the nets of preaching. Here are the nets. Let the psalm tell us, I proclaimed, and I spoke. They were multiplied beyond counting.^[2] It is as plain as a pikestaff that it is happening now. The gospel is being proclaimed, Christians are multiplying beyond counting. If they all lived good lives, they would not be overloading the boat. If they were not divided by heretics and schisms, the net would not be breaking. . . .

The last catch of fish refers to the holy church that exists now in the few, toiling away among the many who are evil. This holy church will be realized in that certain, definite number in which no sinner will be found. . . . And they will be big fish because they will all be immortal, all destined to live without end. What can be bigger than what has no end? And the Evangelist made it his business to give your memory a flashback to the first catch of fish. Why else did he add, after all, And though they were such big fish, the nets were not torn? It was as though he were saying, Remember that first catch of fish, when the nets were torn. This will be the kingdom of heaven, no heretics will be barking, no schismatics setting themselves apart. All will be inside, all will be at peace.

When they recognized him, the disciples Peter and John again exhibited their different temperaments. The one was more fervent, the other more contemplative. The one was ready to go, the other more penetrating. John is the one who first recognized Jesus, but Peter is the first to come to him.

After his resurrection, Jesus was standing on the shore; his disciples were in the ship. When the others did not know him, the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord. For virginity is the first to recognize a virgin body. Jesus was the same as he was before, yet he was not seen alike by all as the same. And immediately it is added, And no one dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ for they knew that he was the Lord. No one dared because they knew that he was God. They ate with him at dinner because they saw he was a man and had flesh. It was not that he was one person as God, another as man: but, being one and the same Son of God, he was known as man, adored as God. ^[1] PETER DIVES FOR THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE. EPHREM THE SYRIAN. Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew you out, pearl! It was not kings that put you before people, but those naked ones who were a type of the poor and the fishers and the Galileans. For clothed bodies were not able to come to you.^[1] They came that were stripped as children. They plunged their bodies and came down to you. And you much desired them, and you helped them who thus loved you. They gave you good news: their tongues before their hearts did the poor [fishermen] open and produced and showed the new riches among the merchants. On the wrists of people they put you as a medicine of life. The naked ones in a type saw your rising again by the seashore. And by the side of the lake, they, the apostles^[2] of a truth, saw the rising again of the Son of your Creator. By you and by your Lord the sea and the lake were beautified. The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing. And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming and put on his coat; clothed as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two. ^[3]

Our Lord ate to prove the resurrection, not to give his palate the pleasure of tasting of honey. He asked for a fish broiled on the coals that he might confirm the doubting apostles who did not dare approach him because they thought they saw not a body but a spirit.

They see a fire of coals, for the Savior had kindled a fire miraculously and put a fish on it that he had caught by his ineffable power. This too he had done by design. For it was not the hand of the holy apostles or the preaching of these spiritual fisherman among the human race that started the work. For he first caught one fish as the firstfruits of those who were to come (not that we mean one precisely, for by one is signified a small number). Then afterward the disciples caught the multitude in their nets, being enabled by his divine bidding to catch what they were fishing for.

Peter drags the dragnet with the others, bringing the catch to Christ. The hundred can be understood to mean the fullness of the Gentiles. The fifty refers to the elect of Israel who have been saved. And the three set one’s mind on the revelation of the holy Trinity, to whose glory the life of the believers who were caught in the dragnet is naturally connected.

When to the number of 10, representing the Law,^[1] we add the Holy Spirit as represented by 7,^[2] we have 17. And when this number is used for the adding together of every serial number it contains, from 1 up to itself, the sum amounts to 153. For if you add 2 to 1, you have 3 of course. If to these you add 3 and 4, the whole makes 10, etc.^[3] . . . All therefore who are sharers in such grace are symbolized by this number, that is, are symbolically represented. This number has, besides, three times over, the number of 50, and 3 in addition, with reference to the mystery of the Trinity; while, again, the number of 50 is made up by multiplying 7 by 7, with the addition of 1, for 7 times 7 make 49. And the 1 is added to show that there is one who is expressed by 7 on account of his sevenfold operation. And we know that it was on the fiftieth day after our Lord’s ascension that the Holy Spirit was sent, for whom the disciples were commanded to wait according to the promise.^[4] It was not, then, without a purpose that these fishes were described as so many in number, and so large in size, that is, as both 153 and large.

The question also arises as to why, after his resurrection, the Lord stood on the shore while his disciples were laboring in the sea, when before his resurrection he walked on the waves of the sea^[1] in his disciples’ sight. . . . What does the sea indicate but this present age, which is tossed about by the uproar of circumstances and the waves of this corruptible life? What does the solidity of the shore signify but the uninterrupted continuity of eternal peace? Therefore since the disciples were still held in the waves of this mortal life, they were laboring on the sea. But since our Redeemer had already passed beyond his perishable body, after his resurrection he stood on the shore.

Why was Peter the one who brought the net to land? Our holy church had been entrusted to him.^[1] It was to him individually that it was said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep.^[2] What was afterward disclosed to him in words was now indicated to him by an action. Because the church’s preacher was to part us from the waves of this world, it was surely necessary that Peter bring the net full of fish to land. He dragged the fish to the firm ground of the shore because by his preaching he revealed to the faithful the stability of our eternal home. He accomplished this by his words and by his letters, and he accomplishes it daily by his miraculous signs. . . . When the net is said to be full of large fish, we are told how many, namely, 153.

Seven and ten multiplied by three make fifty-one. . . . The fiftieth year was a year of rest to the whole people from all their work. In unity is true rest. For where division is, true rest cannot be.

The miracle of the catch of fish is a great mystery in the great Gospel of John. And it is recorded in the last chapter to commend it all the more forcefully to our attention. There were seven disciples taking part in that fishing expedition: Peter, Thomas, Nathanael,^[1] the two sons of Zebedee and two others whose names are not given. This number refers to the end of time because time is counted by periods of seven days. The statement When morning arrived, Jesus stood on the shore also pertains to the end because the shore is the end of the sea and therefore signifies the end of the world.

The Lord indicated here the kind of character the church would have in the end of the world, just as by that other draught of fishes^[1] he indicated its present character. The one our Lord did at the beginning of his ministry, the other after his resurrection. The former draught of fishes signified the mixture of bad and good that composes the church at present. The latter signified the good alone that it will contain in eternity when the world is ended and the resurrection of the dead completed. Furthermore, on that previous occasion Jesus did not stand on the shore but went into a ship which was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the land. . . . In the former account they put the fishes that were caught into the ship and did not, as here, draw the net to the shore. . . . The one account took place before the resurrection, the other after the resurrection of the Lord because in the earlier account it signified our being called by the Lord. The account here signifies our being raised from the dead.

In the earlier account the nets are not thrown to the right or to the left so that we might think he was indicating either the good if it was to the right, or the bad if it was to the left. Instead, he has them throw the nets indifferently: Let down your nets for a draught is all that he says, meaning that the good and bad were mixed together. But here in this later account he says, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, to signify those who should stand on the right hand, the good. . . . But those who belong to the resurrection of life, that is, to the right hand, and are caught within the net of the Christian name, shall only appear on the shore, that is, at the end of the world, after the resurrection. This is why they were not able to draw the net into the ship and unload the fishes, as they were before. . . . The church keeps these of the right hand, after death, in the sleep of peace, as it were, in the deep till the net comes to shore.

The bodies of the righteous at the resurrection will need neither any fruit to preserve them from dying of disease or the wasting decay of old age nor any bodily nourishment to prevent hunger and thirst. For they will be endowed with such a sure and inviolable gift of immortality that they will not eat because they have to, but only if they want to. Not the power but the necessity of eating and drinking shall be taken away from them . . . just like our Savior after his resurrection took meat and drink with his disciples, with spiritual but still real flesh, not for the sake of nourishment, but in an exercise of his power.

They knew that it was the Lord, and therefore they did not ask him, Who are you? But seeing that his form was altered and full of awe, they were greatly amazed and wanted to ask something about it. But fear, and their knowledge that he was not someone else but the same person, checked the inquiry, and they only ate what he created for them by exercising greater power than before. For here he no longer looks to heaven, nor does he perform those human acts he did before, thereby showing that those things that he did previously were done by way of condescension.

Mystically, the broiled fish is Christ who suffered. And he is the bread that came down from heaven.^[1] The church is united to his body in order to participate in everlasting blessedness. This is why he says, Bring of the fish that you have now caught, in order to signify that all of us who have this hope and are in that number seven of disciples, which represents the universal church here, partake of this great sacrament and are admitted to this bliss.

By holding this last feast with seven disciples . . . he declares that only those who are full of the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit shall be with him at his eternal feast. All time here on this earth unrolls in seven days, and the number seven indicates those who now rise above earthly things in their pursuit of perfection. It signifies those who are not bound by love of this world, who when tempted by anything at all do not suppress the [positive] desires that have arisen in them. These are the ones who feast at this final banquet in the presence of Truth. . . . Desire then to be filled with the presence of this Spirit. Weigh carefully what you do now for its impact on your future at that banquet.

We find in the four Evangelists ten distinct appearances of the Lord to different persons after his resurrection: First was to the women near the sepulcher;^[1] the second to the women returning from the sepulcher;^[2] the third, to Peter;^[3] the fourth, to the two going to Emmaus;^[4] the fifth, to the large number in Jerusalem when Thomas was not present;^[5] the sixth when Thomas saw him;^[6] the seventh at the sea of Tiberias;^[7] the eighth by all the Eleven on a mountain of Galilee mentioned by Matthew;^[8] a ninth when for the last time he sat eating with the disciples;^[9] a tenth when he was seen no longer on earth but lifted up in the cloud as he ascended into heaven.^[10]

[The third time] is a reference not to appearances but to days. In other words, the first day includes all of his manifestations of himself on the day of his resurrection, then the second day occurs eight days after that when Thomas saw and believed, and now the third day occurs with the draught of fishes. And afterward as often as he saw them up to the time of his ascension.

Perhaps when you heard these things, you glowed and called those happy who were then with him along with those who shall be with him at the day of the general resurrection. Let us then make every effort so that we may see that admirable face. For if when now we hear, we are so enflamed, and desire to have been in those days that he spent upon earth, and to have heard his voice and seen his face and to have approached and touched and ministered unto him—consider how great a thing it will be to see him no longer in a mortal body or doing human actions but with a bodyguard of angels, being ourselves also in a form of unmixed purity, and beholding him and enjoying the rest of that bliss which surpasses all language. Therefore I beseech you, let us use every means so as not to miss such glory. For nothing is difficult if we are willing, nothing burdensome if we apply ourselves. If we endure, we shall also reign with him.^[1]

Why, having passed by the others, does he speak with Peter on these matters? He does so because he was the chosen one of the apostles, the mouthpiece of the disciples and the leader of the band. This is why Paul went up, at one time, to inquire of him rather than of the others. And at the same time he does this to show him that he must now be joyful since the denial was put behind him. And so, Jesus entrusts to him primacy over his brothers. He does not bring up the denial, nor does he reproach him for what had taken place. Rather, he says, If you love me, preside over your brothers, and now show them the warmth of love that you have always shown and in which you rejoiced. And the life that you said you would lay down for me, now give for my sheep.

It is Peter, chosen by the Lord himself to feed his flock, who merits three times to hear the words Feed my little lambs; feed my lambs; feed my sheep. And so, by feeding well the flock of Christ with the food of faith, he effaced the sin of his former fall. For this reason he is admonished three times to feed the flock. He is asked three times whether he loves the Lord in order that he may confess him three times whom he had denied three times before his crucifixion.^[1]

Christ rose again in the flesh, and Peter rose in the spirit because, when Christ died in his passion, Peter died by his denial. Christ the Lord was raised from the dead, and out of his love he raised Peter. He questioned him about the love he was confessing and entrusted him with his sheep. After all, what benefit could Peter confer on Christ by the mere fact of his loving Christ? If Christ loves you, it is to your advantage, not Christ’s. And if you love Christ, it is to your advantage, not Christ’s. And yet Christ the Lord wanted to indicate how people ought to show that they love Christ. And he made it plain enough by entrusting him with his sheep. Do you love me? I do. Feed my sheep. All this once, all this a second time, all this a third time. Peter made no other reply than that he loved him. The Lord asked no other question but whether he loved him. When Peter answered, our Lord did nothing else but entrust his sheep to him.

There are indeed many other things that are able to give us boldness toward God and to show us bright and approved, but that which most of all brings good will from on high is tender care for our neighbor—which is what Christ requires of Peter here.

Jesus promoted Peter and placed him as the head of the lambs of his herd and said, Feed my lambs, that is, all those who believe in me and who, because they were instructed only recently, are weaker. And for this reason, it is necessary that you carry their burden, and protect them, and comfort them in their weakness and nourish them with the grace that was given to you.

O pastors! Imitate that diligent pastor, the chief of the whole flock, who cared so greatly for his flock. He brought near those who were far away. He brought back the wanderers. He visited the sick. He strengthened the weak. He bound up the broken. He guarded those who were well fed. He gave himself up for the sake of the sheep. He chose and instructed excellent leaders, and committed the sheep into their hands and gave them authority over all his flock. For he said to Simon Cephas, Feed my sheep and my lambs and my ewes. So Simon fed his sheep and fulfilled his calling and handed over the flock to you and departed. And so you also must feed and guide them well. For the pastor who cares for his sheep engages in no other pursuit along with that. He does not make a vineyard, or plant gardens, or fall into the troubles of this world. Never have we seen a pastor who left his sheep in the wilderness and became a merchant, or one who left his flock to wander and became a husbandman. But if he deserts his flock and does these things, he thereby hands over his flock to the wolves.

He is being armed for weightier and greater matters. He is told Feed my sheep, a task that was certainly going to mean danger for the flesh but glory for the spirit. Just think how much he was going to suffer for the name of Christ by feeding the sheep of Christ! Feed my sheep, feed my lambs. I mean, if you love me, what present are you going to give me? The prince of pastors made him a pastor so that Peter would feed Christ’s sheep, not his own. . . .

Feed my sheep. Why? Because you love me, because you are devoted to me, I am committing my sheep to you. Feed them, but remember they are mine. Heretical leaders, though, wish to make their own the sheep that are really Christ’s. All the same, they are forced . . . to set the stamp of Christ on them. They may make them their own private flock, but they still have to register them in the Lord’s name.

Feed my sheep; he did not say yours, did he? Feed, good servant, the Lord’s sheep that bear the Lord’s brand. After all, was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Peter and Paul?^[1] So feed his sheep, washed in his baptism, sealed in his name, redeemed with his blood. Feed, he says, my sheep.

Peter, look to me as to how you educate; remembering your own fall, sympathize with all;

Mindful of the maiden who caused your fall, do not be harsh;

If conceit attacks you, hear the sound of the cock’s crow,

And remember the tears with whose streams I washed you,

Peter, do you love me? Feed my flock, and love those whom I love, sympathizing with sinners.

Heed my mercy to you, since I received you who had thrice denied me.

You have a thief as gatekeeper of Paradise to give you courage.^[1]

Send him those whom you wish. Because of you, Adam turned to me

Saying, O Creator grant to me the robber as gatekeeper, and Cephas as keeper of keys. KONTAKION ^[1]

If the faith of the apostle Peter is shaken by his Lord’s passion, it is so that with bitter weeping he may hear the soothing words Feed my sheep.

Peter also restrained himself in this inquiry of our Lord’s by answering cautiously, for he remembered earlier on, when Christ’s passion was drawing near, he had attributed greater constancy to himself than he possessed.

A second time he said to him, Tend my Sheep, that is, Simon, tend the men who are mature in faith and possessing proven wisdom, who obey you in the prescribed degrees of the church, in the apostolate, in the priesthood, and in the pastoral office.

The Savior does not say to him, fast, or keep watch for me. But, since the pastoral care of souls is more worthy and more useful to the community, he entrusts him with this. I, he says, need nothing: feed my sheep, and return to me the love with which I loved you, because I will take your care for them as care devoted to me.

What [Christ] said to [Peter] at this point, Feed my sheep, was surely the same thing that he had said to him more clearly before his passion, But I have asked on your behalf that your faith may not fail you, and once you have recovered, strengthen your brothers.^[1] To feed Christ’s sheep is to strengthen those who believe in Christ, lest their faith fail them, and to devote oneself ceaselessly [to seeing to it] that they may make greater and greater progress in their faith. However, we must look carefully at the fact that his feeding of the Lord’s flock is not to be carried out with one single approach but should rather be multifaceted. A director must diligently see to it that earthly necessities are not lacking to his subjects and also be careful in providing them with examples of virtues along with words of preaching. . . . When those who are under his care may perhaps themselves have fallen into error, he as a righteous person should, according to the word of the psalmist, accuse them mercifully and rebuke them,^[2] but he should not soothe their hearts with the oil of harmful approval. This too is one of the obligations of a pious shepherd.

Here is a type given to the churches in that they ought to ask for a threefold confession of Christ from those who have chosen to love him by coming to him in holy baptism. And, by dwelling on this passage, instructors in religion may arrive at the knowledge that they cannot please the chief shepherd, that is, Christ, unless they take thought for the health of the sheep of his fold and their continual well-being. . . . Surely it is true to say that they are doing the Lord himself service who take, as it were, by the hand the mind of those who have been admitted to the faith and who are expected to be called to maturity in this faith. They are, in fact, eager to establish them firmly in the faith by every help that they can offer. Therefore, by his thrice-repeated confession the thrice-repeated denial of the blessed Peter was done away with. And, by the saying of our Lord, Feed my lambs, we must understand a renewal as it were of the apostleship already given to him, washing away the disgrace of his fall that came in the intervening period and obliterating his faintheartedness that arose from human infirmity.

To the threefold denial there is now appended a threefold confession, that his tongue may not yield a feebler service to love than to fear and imminent death may not appear to have elicited more from the lips than present life. Let it be the office of love to feed the Lord’s flock, if it was the signal of fear to deny the Shepherd. Those who have this purpose in feeding the flock of Christ, that they may have them as their own and not as Christ’s, are convicted of loving themselves, and not Christ, from the desire either of boasting, or wielding power or acquiring gain, and not from the love of obeying, serving and pleasing God. Against such, therefore, there stands as a wakeful sentinel this thrice-inculcated utterance of Christ, of whom the apostle complains that they seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.^[1] For what else do the words Do you love me? Feed my sheep mean than if it were said, If you love me, do not think of feeding yourself but feed my sheep as mine and not as your own. Seek my glory in them, and not your own; my dominion, and not yours; my gain, and not yours. Otherwise, you might be found in the fellowship of those who belong to the perilous times, lovers of their own selves, and all else that is joined on to this beginning of evils. . . . With great propriety, therefore, Peter is asked, Do you love me? And he is found replying, I love you. And then the command to Feed my lambs is applied to Peter, not only once but also a second and a third time, which also demonstrates here that love and liking are one and the same thing.^[2] For the Lord, in the last question, did not say Diligis me, [as he had the first two times] but, Amas me? Let us, then, love not ourselves, but him. And in feeding his sheep, let us be seeking the things which are his, not the things which are our own. For in some inexplicable way that I cannot understand, everyone who loves himself, and not God, does not love himself. And whoever loves God, and not himself, that is the person who loves himself. For whoever cannot live by himself will certainly die by loving himself. The person, therefore, who loves himself while losing his own life does not really love himself. But when [Christ], who preserves life, is loved, a person who does not love himself ends up loving all the more when he does not love himself for this reason, namely, that he may love him [i.e., Christ] by whom he lives.

In this case, however, the Lord Jesus Christ is entrusting the slave with sheep he bought with his blood, and so he requires of the slave the capacity to suffer to the point of shedding his blood. It is as though he were saying, Feed my sheep. I am entrusting my sheep to you. What sheep? The ones I bought with my blood. I died for them. Do you love me? Be ready to die for them. And as a matter of fact, while that human slave of a human master would pay money for sheep destroyed, Peter paid the price of his blood for sheep preserved.

It appears from these words that, if one who is able refuses to feed the sheep of almighty God, he shows that he does not love the chief Shepherd. For if, in order to accomplish the good of all, the Only Begotten of the Father came forth from the concealment of the Father into our midst, what shall we say if we prefer our privacy over the good of our neighbors? And so, rest is to be desired by us with all our heart. And yet for the advantage of many it should sometimes be laid aside. For, as we ought with full desire to fly from occupation, so, if there should be a lack of anyone available to preach, we need to put a willing shoulder under the burden of occupation. And this we are taught by the conduct of two prophets [Jeremiah and Isaiah], one of whom attempted to shun the office of preaching,^[1] while the other desired it.^[2]

But how is it that after having said, When you were young, he added, When you are old? By this he meant that Peter was not young at that time (because he was not), though still not yet an old man, but rather one in the prime of life. So why then did he recall to his memory his former life? He did so to make clear to Peter his standard of values. In the eyes of the world the young man is useful, the old useless. In life with me, Jesus says, this is not the case. Rather, when old age has come on, then nobility shines brighter and courage becomes more illustrious, being unimpeded by youthful passion. This he said not to terrify but to rouse Peter, for he knew about his love and that he long had yearned for this blessing. At the same time he declares the kind of death he will die. For since Peter always wanted to be in danger for his sake, Be of good cheer, he says, I will so satisfy your desire that, what you didn’t suffer when you were young, you will suffer when you are old.

Since the Lord saw that he was tortured by the memory of the past, and that he was heavily burdened and grieved at remembering his denial, he revealed to him what he would suffer for his denial. Peter himself resigned everything to the knowledge of our Lord who taught him about the great change in circumstances he would undergo when he said, Do not be afraid about the future. Indeed I know that your love for me is so firm that you will be crucified for me upside down. And since these words of the Lord were not clear, they were explained by the evangelist: He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.

Someone else will fasten a belt, because those who die the death of the cross are fastened to the wood. When Nero ordered his execution on the cross, Peter asked his executioners to crucify him upside down, that is, with his head down and his feet up. He did this so that simple people might not worship him like they did Christ because of their, otherwise, identical passion. Therefore, Peter taught people to worship the cross of the Lord [and not his], in order not to give those who like to argue the pretext to object: In what does the cross of the Lord differ from that of Simon? Both of them were fixed to the cross in the same manner. Therefore he changed how he would die on his cross. . . . The words, and take you where you do not wish to go, are said because the crucified must necessarily be bound by others where he doesn’t want to be.

The Lord did not hand over his little flock to its pastor until he had received genuine pledges. He received the threefold [confession] that [Simon] had professed as trustworthy pledges for the three [denials]. Therefore, when his Master said [to him], Do you love me? our Lord was wanting to receive from him his true love so that, after having given the pledge of his love, [Simon] might receive [Jesus’] sheep as a flock. When [the Lord] saw that his mouth was confessing and that his tears were a seal, he gave him the reward reserved for pastors, namely, death, since this is the crown of victory of the pastors and their shepherds. [The Lord] was not able to give Simon the allotted portion of death until he had received from him [the pledge of] his love. For in the same way our Lord would not have given his life for his little flock if it had not been on account of his love for it.

Peter accomplished later on by the grace of God what he had previously been unable to do by self-reliance. You see, after the Lord had entrusted him with his, not Peter’s sheep, to feed them, not for himself but for the Lord, he told him about his future martyrdom, which he had forfeited the first time because he had been in much too much of a hurry. When you are older, he said, someone else will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go. He said this, though, to signify by what death he was going to glorify the Lord. It came about that Peter arrived at his martyrdom, having washed away his denial with his tears. What had been promised him by the Savior could not be taken away from him by the tempter.

[Nero] publicly announced himself as the first among God’s chief enemies and so was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself^[1] and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero.^[2] This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day. It is confirmed likewise by Caius, a member of the church, who arose under Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus,^[3] the leader of the Phrygian heresy,^[4] speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid: But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican^[5] or to the Ostian way, you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church. And that they both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans in the following words: You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in the same way in Italy and suffered martyrdom at the same time.^[6] I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed.

Such was the end reached by that denier and lover—elated by his presumption, prostrated by his denial, cleansed by his weeping, approved by his confession, crowned by his suffering. This was the end he reached, to die with a perfected love for the name of him with whom by a perverted forwardness he had promised to die. After he was strengthened by Christ’s resurrection, Peter would do what in his weakness he had promised prematurely. For the necessary order was that Christ should first die for Peter’s salvation and then that Peter should die for the preaching of Christ. The boldness thus begun by human temerity was an utter inversion of the order that had been instituted by the Truth. Peter thought he was going to lay down his life for Christ^[1]—the one to be delivered on behalf of the deliverer—seeing that Christ had come to lay down his life for all his own, including Peter, which, you see, was now done. From here on out, a true strength of heart (because it was graciously given) may be assumed for incurring death itself for the name of the Lord and not a false one presumptuously usurped through an erroneous estimate of ourselves.

He said, Follow me, but not in the same way as when he had previously called the disciples. Then too, certainly, he said, Follow me.^[1] But then it was to school he was summoning them; now it is to the prize giving.

Christ told Peter not that he would die, but that he would glorify God. In this way, we learn that suffering for Christ is both an honor and glory for the sufferer. And when he had spoken this, he said, Follow Me. Here again Jesus alludes to his tender carefulness, and to Peter’s being very closely attached to himself. If anyone should ask, How then did James assume the see at Jerusalem? I reply that Christ appointed Peter, not as Bishop of this see, but as Doctor of the whole world.

The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . .” [Mt 16:18–19]. On him he builds the Church, and commands him to feed the sheep [Jn 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [ cathedra ], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, by which it is made clear that there is one Church and one chair. . . . If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he think that he holds the faith? If he deserts the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he be confident that he is in the Church?

The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . .” [Mt 16:18–19]. On him he builds the Church, and commands him to feed the sheep [Jn 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [ cathedra ], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, by which it is made clear that there is one Church and one chair. . . . If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he think that he holds the faith? If he deserts the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he be confident that he is in the Church?

Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the dispersion . . . pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom, being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.

The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . .” [Mt 16:18–19]. On him he builds the Church, and commands him to feed the sheep [Jn 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [ cathedra ], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, by which it is made clear that there is one Church and one chair. . . . If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he think that he holds the faith?

As for the resolution of the bishops, which is contrary to the Nicene decree, in union with your faithful piety, I declare it to be invalid and annul it by the authority of the holy apostle Peter.

Ignatius . . . to the Church that has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the most high Father, and Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son; the Church that is beloved and enlightened by the will of him that wills all things according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, that presides in the place of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and that presides over love, and is named from Christ, and from the Father.

From the beginning it has been your practice to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send contributions to many churches in every city. Thus relieving the want of the needy, and making provision for the brethren in the mines by the gifts you have sent from the beginning, you Romans keep up the hereditary customs of the Romans, which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only maintained, but added to, furnishing an abundance of supplies to the saints, and encouraging the brethren from abroad with blessed words, as a loving father his children.

If anyone considers and examines these things, there is no need for a long discussion and arguments. There is easy proof of faith in a short summary of the truth. The Lord says to Peter: “I say to you,” he says, “that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven . . .” [Mt 16:18–19]. On him he builds the Church, and commands him to feed the sheep [Jn 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [ cathedra ], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, by which it is made clear that there is one Church and one chair. . . . If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he think that he holds the faith? If he deserts the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he be confident that he is in the Church?

A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, held from an older tradition that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Savior’s passover. . . . But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice that, from apostolic Tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on the day of the Resurrection of our Savior. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all, with one consent, through mutual correspondence, drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the Resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated on the Lord’s Day, and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on this day only. . . . Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, and the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there excommunicated. But this did not please all the bishops. And they asked him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. . . . [St. Irenaeus of Lyons] fittingly admonished Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God that observed the tradition of an ancient custom.

We exhort you in every respect, honorable brother, to heed obediently what has been written by the most blessed pope of the city of Rome, for blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of faith to those who seek it. For we, by reason of our pursuit of peace and faith, cannot try cases on the faith without the consent of the bishop of Rome.

Your most sweet holiness [Bishop Eulogius of Alexandria] has spoken much in your letter to me about the chair of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, saying that he himself now sits on it in the persons of his successors. And indeed I acknowledge myself to be unworthy. . . . I gladly accepted all that has been said, in that he has spoken to me about Peter’s chair, who occupies Peter’s chair. And though special honor to myself in no way delights me . . . who can be ignorant that the holy Church has been made firm in the solidity of the prince of the apostles, who derived his name from the firmness of his mind, so as to be called Peter, from petra . And to him it is said by the voice of the truth, “To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven” [Mt 16:19]. And again it is said to him, “And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren” [Lk 22:32]. And once more, “Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep” [Jn 21:17].