The miraculous icon of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is placed in the Katholikon of the Holy Monastery of Karakallou. This particular representation is found quite often, especially during the Palaeologan period.
According to the Athonite tradition, the icon was in danger of being destroyed by a strong fire that broke out and completely destroyed the church. When the fathers of the monastery found the icon of the two Saints untouched, they praised God and the two Apostles, who thus revealed their presence to them. On the back of the icon, the only damage that was caused can still be seen.
The icon depicts the two great Saints of our church, Peter and Paul, in a tender moment of brotherly love. It is a pictorial depiction of the meeting and embrace of the two Apostles, who lived and learned alongside the Lord himself, the incarnate Jesus Christ. The faces of the two Apostles are touched, indicating the intimacy and love they had for each other. At the same time, their hands entwine around their bodies in an elaborate pictorial representation.
The embrace and kissing of the holy Apostles are a great example of the brotherhood that the Orthodox Christian tradition advocates. The Orthodox theology does not separate the material form of human from his spirit but seeks coherence and common sanctification. Thus, this particular representation does not hesitate to convey the love of the two Apostles both through their spiritual encountering and through their physical and material proximity.
In fact, Hieromonk Dionysius of Fourna mentions about the depiction of Saints Peter and Paul that:
"Peter, desiring the respectful image of his fellow student, runs to meet him. Paul, who sees him and desires to meet him, reaches out his hand to his friend' (Interpretation of the art of painting).
