Archpriest Oliver Subotić (Director of the Missionary Department of the Archdiocese of Belgrade-Karlovac) spoke on the great Christian feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul – St. Peter's Day, which was liturgically celebrated today, the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, July 12, 2026, in the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor.

The Holy Liturgy was presided over by the Archbishop's Vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, Archpriest-Staurophorus Nemanja Krivokapić, and in addition to Fr. Oliver, Archpriest Nenad Kalem concelebrated.

“Brothers and sisters, coming to the Holy Liturgy every Sunday, every holiday, enjoying these wonderful services, especially in this holy temple, in the beauty of the service, we often forget how much sacrifice was made in the centuries that are behind us, so that we today could freely come to temples, pray to God, glorify the Lord and nourish our souls with holy prayers, to receive communion, to take into ourselves what is the greatest treasure we can receive, which is the body and blood of Christ.

A great sacrifice was made so that we could do this in freedom. The sacrifice, first of all, of the holy people of God. But, in the first place, of the apostles, whose testimony is in the foundations of the Church. Among the apostles, two stand out, the most supreme. These are the apostles Peter and Paul, whose memory we celebrate today.

The Church rightly singled out these two a man from the Council of the Apostles as a truly exceptional person who will, as such, be until the end of the world and the end of time. The Apostle Peter, the one on whose confession of faith the Church was built. This is the faith that Christ is the Son of the living God. Let us not forget, the Apostle Peter does not confess the Lord only for Christ, but for the Son of God. Our faith is in the Son of God, which the Apostle Peter was the first to confess and that is why it is so important. On the rock of the confession of that faith the Church stands and exists all these centuries and will be so until the end of the world and the end of time. The Apostle Peter, what is most miraculous of all, was a Galilean fisherman, a man who did not study at any great schools. He was a family man. Today we could say, a completely ordinary man whom we meet every day in our lives seen from the outside. However, the Lord God saw the depths of his being and He knew that He would find in him the one who would be the first and foremost apostle, who would become the teacher of the world. Imagine what a miracle of God it is that an ignorant Galilean fisherman should become the teacher of the world, and he became this, of course, by the grace of the Holy Spirit who sanctified, consecrated, made him wise and made him what he is,” said Fr. Oliver.

On the other hand, he continued, the Apostle Paul, outwardly a completely different person, a highly learned man, raised by the great teachers of the Jewish Old Testament.

“The Apostle Paul was a man of extraordinary intellectual abilities, initially, as we know, a persecutor of the Church, and then the “apostle to the Gentiles,” a chosen vessel of God, to whom Christ appears in uncreated light, when he is on the road to Damascus, persecuting Christians. And, in that uncreated light, the Apostle Paul receives the mystery of theology. The mystery of the Church as the body of Christ is revealed to him and the Apostle Paul, as we have said, becomes the “apostle to the Gentiles”. The breadth and beauty of the Church, which unites such diverse personalities in one and makes them become such great witnesses in Christ, is wonderful. It reminds us, of course, that we ourselves should be like that to the extent of our abilities. Let us never forget - the last commandment of the Lord says: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. The commandment of the Lord, which the Lord delivers, immediately before it ascends to heaven, from the Mount of Olives, is addressed to all of us, and the apostles, among them first and foremost the Holy First Apostles Peter and Paul, remind us to be fiery in zeal and to follow that commandment, each according to his own ability. Of course, someone does not have the power to preach, to bear witness to the faith in this way, but he can help his shepherds in any other way.

But, there is one other thing, dear brothers and sisters, that the apostles, the Saints, the great and the greatest, Peter and Paul, remind us of, and that is to never despair. To never despair no matter what fall we fall into. No matter what happens, there is a way out, there is a possibility, not only to get up, but to rise to heights that are perhaps unimaginable to us at that moment. Because, let us not forget, the apostle Peter, in human weakness, also has that threefold renunciation of the Lord, where he, as a man, became afraid. When the grace of God withdraws, it can happen to anyone. Probably each of us would behave like this, probably something like this would happen to each of us if we were in the same place, because the grace of God is what makes us strong, and the Lord in providence allowed the apostle Peter to fall, in order to give hope to all of us. Through the example of the Apostle Peter, who did not fall into despair but, having entered the depths of repentance, rose again and confirmed the Lord as the first and foremost apostle and became what he became. So, the Apostle Peter teaches us in this way.

The Apostle Paul, for his part, was a persecutor of Christians at first, and then the greatest preacher of the word of Christ, the “apostle to the Gentiles”. He was constantly tormented by the fact that he had once persecuted the Church. He considered himself the least of all the apostles. He says that the Lord addressed him as if he were a premature baby, but he again showed how, according to his words, one should leave behind what is bad and, as the Apostle Paul says - “I leave behind what is behind me, and I reach forward and run towards the goal, I run towards my Lord”. And this is how these two men, dear brothers and sisters, teach and inspire us with their life example, giving us strength so that we too, through our life's trials, in our falls, do not fall into despair, but rather to get up. Let us get up as soon as possible, as long as we are alive, so that this struggle lasts forever and that we never give up, striving towards Christ, to whom be glory forever, forever, amen", said Father Oliver.