Peter and Pavel - read about them on the subway or at dinner. And they will come to visit you

You come to Rome and the first thing you do is go to St. Peter's Cathedral - the main temple of the Catholic Church. It is huge, artistically perfect, overwhelming in its size. You enter without thinking that this splendor was erected over the circus of Nero, where the Apostle Peter was crucified in 64. His grave was also here. Now this gloomy place has become a bright attraction, funny tourists are photographed here, pilgrims from all over the world crowd. You look at this center of the Christian world and think not about Nero's circus, but about, say, the TV series Young Pope or how great it would be to get to the papal sermon. Not because you love the Pope very much, but because - well, Pope, how can you let him go?
Only when you go down to the crypt (by the way, it is not easy to get there without an excursion), will you see the chapel over the grave of the apostle - you will suddenly be pierced: of course, it was here. And from the cloud of white columns, from the shadow of Michelangelo's Pieta, from the crowd of marble sculptures, the figure of the illiterate and weak-willed will emerge (well, weakness - and the renunciation of Christ at the house of the high priest, and an attempt to escape from certain death from Rome - by the way, on the ancient Appian Way, the place the appearance of Christ to the fleeing disciple, there is a chapel "Quo vadis?", "Where are you going?", also a shrine, which is worth visiting just for the atmosphere) of a fisherman with deep and sincere faith. "You are the Christ - the Son of the Living God!" - he did not doubt for a second, ran to the tomb of the Lord, barely heard about the Resurrection.

Perhaps you will cry pathetically. Perhaps you just freeze and think. Perhaps you will envy: well, how is it, such a saint - and above his grave there is a church in which the Orthodox cannot serve? Perhaps you can buy a souvenir in a shop to keep the memory. I just bought myself a bookmark with Pieta for all sorts of pious books and a small plump candle with a very miniature paper rose tied to it. I keep the candle even more carefully than the Jerusalem ones. Standing on the shelf, waiting for especially heavy temptations - I don't light it yet.

Then you take a taxi or walk to the metro and drive to the southern part of Rome to the Basilica of San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the city walls). There, too, you won't feel anything at first. A small but lush garden with palm trees, straight and twisted columns, the building itself is very beautiful and seems to be completely new despite the apparently ancient fresco above. Even the tall white statue of Paul will at first touch exclusively aesthetic senses. Impressive, thank you very much.

Then you go inside, and it will most likely be pretty quiet, because of all the pilgrimage basilicas, this one is the least visited. To go far beyond the city walls. And from the metro to go for about ten minutes, or even fifteen. It will be very beautiful inside, and not even like a museum - no, of course, this is a temple, no doubt about it. There is an apse, almost Byzantine.

Then you, too, will go down to the crypt, and there you will be covered again, as they say. Directly over the grave of the Apostle Paul. You will stand and quietly quote his hymn of love: "Love is merciful ... does not seek its own ..." or about the appeal of the pagans: "You, wild olive ... do not be proud, but be afraid ..." You will recall his appeal in detail, and you will not even need to proof that it was his grave (although there is such a thing: in 2006, human remains were found in the crypt, and analysis showed that this person lived in the 1st-2nd centuries).

The last thing in the world will you want to think about the missionary work of Peter and Paul. They are somehow taken for granted. No, really, does anyone have doubts? Did the church just pick up and emerge from nowhere? After the miraculous events with their Teacher, several people went in different directions, and they did something there? Well, no, it's ridiculously simple. There had to be someone who unconditionally and wholeheartedly believed and listened to the Spirit who had enlightened them, who would become motors and inspirers for everyone else. Of course, this is Peter and Paul. But now you don't want to think about their work. Faced with their martyrdom and death, you want them to rest.

Then you will reach the Lateran Cathedral, so that by inertia you will sooner bow to the honest heads of the supreme apostles, and then it will come to you that you have not yet prayed to them. Not because of a lack of respect and not because of a strangely understood spirituality, according to which the Orthodox should not pray in "Latin" churches.

Simply - somehow it is impossible to ask for anything. And you can't thank either. I just want to talk humanly.

Then you will go to the nearest cafe (by the way, there is an excellent pastry shop next to the Lateran Cathedral, I recommend it), you can hardly find a free table, put a cup of coffee and a plate of pastries on it, or even two, take a Bible out of your bag and it is absolutely not pious , right after the meal, start reading the Apostle. Just read like an adventure novel, Acts and, like a fascinating correspondence, messages. And you will read until you feel with all your heart that they, next to you, are also drinking coffee with cakes, the argument is some kind of theological. Peter, of course, loses, gets a little angry, says: "All of you, Pavel, are darkening," and Pavel to him: "Yes, it's not me that is darkening, but you are not listening!" Then they will turn to you, and you will start talking about something of your own, but your conversation is no longer within my competence. It will not be an illusion or a charm, it will be a meeting.

By the way, you don't have to go to Rome. The last episode from my story is enough. Sit down and read about them. In the subway, at dinner, under a floor lamp. You will see, they will come to visit you to talk.

Nun Elizabeth (Senchukova)