Let the Apostles Speak: Why We Should Preach More Often from the Apostolos

Yet the epistle reading passes quickly, rarely, if I may say, becoming the focus of the homily. Sometimes the Apostolos is read, not chanted, in a low, hurried, and/or a minute voice. It may be the case (not always!) that the epistle is seen as the “runner up” to the proclamation of the Gospel. Without diminishing the primacy of the Holy Gospels, this article makes a simple plea: let us preach more often from the Apostolos, and especially from St. Paul. Doing so will deepen our ecclesial identity, ground our people in sacramental life, and give voice to a pastor whose words remain uncannily contemporary. This argument is devotional because St. Paul speaks to the heart, and scholarly because preaching the Apostolos demands careful attention to holy tradition (scripture, church fathers, councils, liturgics, etc.).

The Apostolic Word in the Liturgy

From the beginning, Christian worship included the public reading of scripture and the apostolic writings. Paul commands that his letters be read “to all the brothers and sisters” (cf. 1 Thess 5:27; Col 4:16), and he charges Timothy to “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim 4:13). The letters were not private correspondence; they were homiletical declarations sent to be proclaimed. Notice, even in the case of Philemon, the letter is not only addressed to Philemon but to “the church in your house” (Phlm 2). The first home of the epistles was a Eucharistic assembly, their first audience were baptized men, women, and children who gathered around the Lord’s table.

One of the earliest historical witnesses that the epistle was read out loud during liturgical celebrations comes from an early third-century text called the Didascalia Apostolorum, likely written by a third-century Syriac bishop for a non-Christian community. It says that at the “conclusion of all the scriptures” that the “Gospel should be read, as being the seal of all the scriptures” (Canon 8, trans. Margaret Dunlop Gibson)1. Thus we presuppose the liturgical placement of the Apostolos before the Gospel reading. In the late fourth century, the Apostolic Constitutions were formulated in Antioch, and it explicitly spelled out the order of the readings to include the law and the prophets, the epistles, Acts, and finally the Gospels (2.57). In other words, the Apostolic Constitutions codified for the Antiochian Byzantine Tradition the liturgical placement of the Apostolos before the Gospel.

Our liturgical structure has preserved this order. The Apostolos follows the prokeimenon, a psalm verse that attunes the heart, and precedes the chanting of the Alleluia, with its verses, and the holy Gospel. The sequence is theological: the prophets and psalms prepare us, the Apostolos/apostles announce Christ’s saving work in the Church, the Gospel discloses the deeds and words of the Lord, and the homily gathers these threads into a word for this people, in this place, today. When we avoid the epistle, we subtly suggest that the apostolic witness is lesser. When we preach from it regularly, we show the faithful that the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Evangelists also formed the Church by the mouth of the apostles.

The Orthodox Byzantine lectionary itself invites this balance. In the post-Pentecost cycle the Church leads us through extended portions of Romans and the Corinthian correspondence. During the Sundays of Great Lent, readings from Hebrews train our eyes on Christ’s priestly sacrifice. Throughout feasts and fasts, Pauline pericopes recur like familiar friends. The Church, in other words, has always intended us to hear St. Paul as a guide across the year, not sporadically, but as a sustained teacher in the midst of worship. For this reason, our holy father St. John Chrysostom says of St. Paul:

“I love all the saints, but I love most the blessed Paul, the chosen vessel, the heavenly trumpet, the friend of the bridegroom, Christ. And I have said this and brought the love which I have for him out into the public eye so that I might make you, too, partners in this love charm” (homily on 2 Cor 11:1 in Patrologia Graeca 61.476).

Why Paul, and Why Now?

Saint Paul is, above all, a spiritual father and a pastor (cf. 1 Cor 4:15). His letters are not abstract treatises but are spiritual direction in the shape of prose. He admonishes, consoles, argues, sings, weeps, and prays. He knows the names of people and the peculiar sins and hopes of communities. He blends doctrinal clarity with fatherly patience. He gives us self-understanding in the Church, he articulates the sacramental life for us, he addresses moral and cultural confusion with evangelical courage, while remaining a good shepherd to his flock.

No one speaks more extensively than Paul about the nature of the Church. In him we learn that the Church is Christ’s Body (1 Cor 12), a holy temple indwelt by the Spirit (1 Cor 3; Eph 2), and a household of faith (Gal 6). He refuses factionalism: “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor 1:13). He insists on unity through baptized diversity: “one body … one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph 4:4–5). In our own fractured age, Paul teaches us that ecclesial unity is not ideological uniformity but Eucharistic communion in the crucified and risen Lord.

Much of our sacramental understanding comes from Paul. In Baptism we are “buried with [Christ] … and raised … to walk in newness of life” (Rom 6; cf. Gal 3:27). In the Eucharist we participate in the one bread and one cup (1 Cor 10), discern the Lord’s Body (1 Cor 11), and are knit together in thanksgiving. Paul’s theology of marriage culminates: “This mystery is great … I speak of Christ and the Church” (Eph 5). In Ordination we recognize the laying on of hands (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6) and the entrusting of the apostolic deposit. Preaching from these texts forms a people who know what they are doing when they come to the baptismal font, the holy altar, and the marriage bed: they are living sacramentally in Christ!

Ancient Corinth was not unlike our world. It was a tangle of wealth, promiscuity and licentiousness, status, philosophy, and religious pluralism. Paul does not offer mere rules to live by but rather gives us a Christ-shaped ethic: “You are not your own … therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20). He forms conscience in love (Rom 12–15), teaches the freedom of the Spirit (Gal 5), and orders charisms for edification (1 Cor 12–14). In the thicket of political slogans and culture wars, St. Paul instructs us in cruciform freedom, namely, faith working through love (Gal 5:6).

Whether facing persecution (2 Cor 4–5), grieving the dead (1 Thess 4), or confessing weakness (2 Cor 12), St. Paul’s word gives hope to the weary. The phrase “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor 6:10) could be the motto of each of our parishes. Preaching Paul turns us from cynicism to patience, from self-reliance to grace.

Antioch and the Apostle: Our Heritage

For the faithful of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, St. Paul is not a distant figure. Antioch was his first base of missionary activity. It was there the disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). From Antioch, Sts. Paul and Barnabas were sent on mission by prayer and fasting (Acts 13:1–3). In Antioch, Sts. Peter and Paul confronted one another painfully, honestly, and charitably about the truth of the Gospel (Gal 2). The Church of Antioch learned early that apostolic life means missionary zeal, theological clarity, and fraternal correction in love.

The Golden-Mouthed preacher of Antioch, as noted above, St. John Chrysostom, poured forth homilies on Paul because he believed the apostle speaks with enduring pastoral power. To cultivate a Pauline homiletic today is to stand in the Antiochian lineage, not to innovate. It is to recover a native accent of our tradition.

Why We Often Neglect the Apostolos and How to Recover It

If Paul is so central, why do we hesitate? Several reasons are common:

• Perceived complexity. Paul can seem difficult—dense arguments, unfamiliar first-century problems, unfamiliar rhetoric and grammar.

• Fear of controversy. Passages on sexuality, marriage, obedience, or church order provoke anxiety in a polarized climate.

• Habit. We have simply grown accustomed to preaching almost exclusively from the Gospel.

These concerns are understandable but not decisive. The remedy is not to avoid the holy apostle, but to preach him well: patiently, contextually, and pastorally. A few orientations may help.

1. Preach Paul as a letter to a church

Remind the faithful that each pericope belongs to an actual letter. Name the city (Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus), describe its situation briefly, and situate the reading within the flow of the epistle. One or two minutes of context opens the text.

2. Let the lectionary lead

The Church gives us a continuous cycle of sorts across weeks—Romans and Corinthians after Pentecost, Hebrews during the Lenten Sundays, and so forth. Consider a short series (two or three homilies) that follows Paul’s argument, even if the Gospel pericope remains the day’s focus in other weeks. This builds biblical literacy.

3. Read with a Christological compass

Paul’s center is always Christ crucified and risen. Even when addressing disputes, his answer is not a policy but a Person: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). Preach Christ from Paul, and pastoral application will follow.

4. Address the hard texts as a physician, not a pundit

When Paul speaks about sexuality, discipline, or obedience, he speaks as a spiritual father forming a holy community. He does not shout at the world; he heals the Church and subsequently heals the world through the Church! We can do the same: speak truth with tears, committed to the salvation of our people.

Theological Motifs That Preach

Certain Pauline themes recur in the lectionary and invite homiletic development. Take these points as examples. They are not exhaustive, but these major motifs can be traced throughout the Pauline epistles. Though I may point to specific passages, consider how St. Paul writes his letters and the passage in question considering one or more of these motifs.

1. “In Christ” as a new creation

Union with Christ is at the center of all of St. Paul’s letters. It could be made explicit as in 2 Cor 5:17; to be “in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17) is to live by baptismal identity rather than by the old self. Or it could be implicit, such as Paul lovingly chastising Philemon over his treatment of Onesimus; all who are in Christ should be treated as brothers and sisters. Preaching can explore identity, belonging, and transformation, not mere moralism but grace-enabled change.

2. The Body and its members

Paul’s image of the Church as a body (1 Cor 12) preaches well in communities tempted either to clericalism (“the priest does everything”) or consumerism (“I attend but do not serve”). Emphasize charisms as gifts for the common good, discovered and ordered in love.

3. The Eucharist as communion and discernment

From 1 Corinthians 10–11, we can teach both reverent awe and communal responsibility: the Eucharist makes us one and calls us to examine ourselves, reconcile, and care for the poor. “Discerning the Body” includes both the sacred mysteries and the members.

4. Kenosis and imitation

Philippians 2:5–11 is inexhaustible. Christ’s self-emptying love becomes the pattern for our life; Paul models it in his own ministry (e.g., 1 Thess 2; 2 Cor 11–12). Preaching can trace the downward path of love and an obedience to God that ultimately leads to exaltation.

5. Hope, endurance, and joy

Paul’s vocabulary of endurance, consolation, and joy in suffering (Rom 5; 2 Cor 1; 2 Cor 4) meets parishioners where they live. It is not optimism; it is a cruciform life with a resurrection-shaped realism.