Fourth Sunday of Easter

Peter and Paul / El Greco / 1590

From the First Epistle of St. Peter

Beloved:
If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good,
this is a grace before God.
For to this you have been called,
because Christ also suffered for you,
leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.
He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.

When he was insulted, he returned no insult;
when he suffered, he did not threaten;
instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross,
so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.

For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

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From the website, Art and the Bible
On the left: St. Peter. On the right: St. Paul, holding his traditional attribute, a sword. Hardly visible is the set of keys that Peter is holding in his left hand. El Greco made two more, almost identical, paintings of the two apostles. One was made in 1587-92 and is currently in the Hermitage museum; the other is from 1605-08 and may be found in the Stockholm Nationalmuseum.