The shrines that are venerated on January 29 according to the new style tell us about the two imprisonments of St. Peter.
By the 40s of the new calendar, Herod Agrippa became seriously worried. The so-called Nazarene sect grew rapidly. Her followers talked all the time about the Kingdom of Heaven and its King. Agrippa, who was obsessed with power, could not tolerate such a thing.
The followers of Christ began to be persecuted. It was at this time that James, the brother of the Apostle John, was killed, and Saint Peter found himself in prison.
The Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells that at night an angel, the messenger of the Lord, appeared in Peter’s cell.. At the same moment, the chains (chains) with which the apostle was bound were asleep.
The hooks flew out of the wall. The prisoner’s doors swung open, and the apostle left her unhindered. He came to the house of his friends, where Christians were gathering for prayer and supper. There he was greeted with great surprise.
Soon, Peter left Jerusalem, going to preach the Gospel. And his disciples kept the chains with reverence. Their miraculous properties appeared immediately.
The weak and possessed flocked to Jerusalem to touch the shrine and be healed.
As a result of his travels, Peter arrived in Rome, where he not only preached, but also performed many miracles. They say that the power of the Holy Spirit in him was so great that even if Peter’s shadow fell on a sick person, he was healed.
The fire that literally destroyed Rome during the reign of Nero gave the emperor a reason to begin the first persecution of Christians. They were caught by denunciations, found by the sounds of psalms coming from the tunnels under the city, and looked for at fairs and in houses. During the raids, Peter and Paul were arrested, as well as several of their closest disciples. They were imprisoned in the Mamertine dungeon, where they were again shackled.
Miraculously, Peter’s chains were preserved after his crucifixion. They were immediately recognized as miraculous and were kept in Rome, where they healed many people.
The first chains had a different fate. At first, they stayed in Jerusalem. But in the 5th century, Patriarch Juvenal of Constantinople presented them to Empress Eudoxia. The empress placed some of them in one of the chapels of the St. Sophia Cathedral, and some of them were given to her daughter, Eudoxia. She was married to the Holy Roman Emperor and lived in Rome. So the chains from Jerusalem also ended up in the eternal city. There they were combined with shackles from the Mamertine prison.
At the site of Peter’s execution, Eudoxia built a temple in his honor. The chains have been kept there ever since. They are solemnly brought out for worship on January 16 (29) according to the old style. The church is called San Pietro in Vincoli, which means “St. Peter in chains.”
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January 29
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