29th June - Day of St. Peter and Paul

According to the Christian calendar of saints 29th June is in honor of St. Peter and Paul. The Church call them "preeminent Apostles and ecumenical teachers" because of their immense contribution to the spreading of the Word of God.

They have been persecuted and tortured but have never yielded to the suffer accepting it as a sign of God. The day is also known as Petrovden.

St. Peter was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. He was a fisherman - a son of John and Jonah from Bethsaida, a village near the Lake of Galilee. His Jewish name was Simon. The name Peter which means "stone" was given to him by Jesus. His brother Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus and since that moment he becomes the closest disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus loved him dearly, even after Peter denied three times knowing him during the passion. Peter became the leader in the early Church, he was the first to preach on Pentecost, he also worked the first public miracle: curing the lame man at the temple gate. St. Peter was sentenced to death by crucifixion in 67 in Rome by Nero emperor. Two letters in the Bible are said to be his.

Paul the Apostle was known as Saul prior to his conversion to the Christianity, and was dedicated to the persecution of Christians. While traveling to Damascus on a mission to "bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem", the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. Saul was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by one of the Christians he had to arrest. Since that moment Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. St. Paul dedicated all his life to the spreading of the Christianity. He was the right man to build the bridge between Jewish religion of the Old Testament and the Christianity of the New Testament. Like St. Peter he also was crucified in 67 in Rome by Nero emperor.

In Bulgarian traditions this day is the end of the Lent, therefore the housewives slaughter a chicken and give it away to friends and neighbours for health. In some regions people organize fairs, women knead ritual breads and also pick and eat apples called petrovki as a commemoration of the dead.

Petrovden is a name-day for Petar, Pavel, Petya, Pavlina, Petra, Pavelka, Polina, Kamen, Pencho and Peyo.