Apostleship: Glory or Gory? 

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. (1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

St Paul’s description (above) of what it is to live as an apostle of Christ presents a bleak picture. Apostleship means suffering, no success in the eyes of the world, humiliation and rejection – literally, according to the Apostle, it means being treated like dung. Not the nice view we have of the apostles from gold-gilded icons. We would do well to remember that when two of His disciples requested the places of honor at His right and left sides, our Lord Jesus Christ warned that being near Him will result in suffering before any glory (Mark 10:35-40). Nevertheless, the apostles were willing to endure to attain the goal which they believed Christ had set before them.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

St John Chrysostom comments on the Twelve Disciples:

Despite the onslaught of the devil along with the whole world and countless demons against these twelve – and not just at one time but throughout their lives – they survived and prevailed, and remarkably not by slaying their adversaries but by converting and reforming them. It is this particularly, in fact, that should at every point be observed, that they did not slay or eliminate those scheming against them: finding them equivalent to demons, they made them a match for angels, on the one hand freeing human nature from this evil tyranny, and on the other expelling those offensive demons that cause total disarray from public places and homes, and in fact even from the wilderness itself. (SPIRITUAL GEMS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, page 64)

Chrysostom reminds us that the apostles conquered the world without any army, without any military victories, without the use of weapons of mass destruction, without any gun rights and with no armed militia. They were opposed by imperial powers, governments, armies, and the death penalty, yet they killed no one and they prevailed victoriously. Russian Patriarch Kirill would do well to remember this history rather than advocating for military efforts to achieve nationalistic goals.

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him… (2 Timothy 2:10-12)