The bottom panel of the middle light depicts an airman in his flying suit. A wounded man is lying on the ground, with a nurse kneeling at his side tending to him. Behind these two, a priest or padre is standing with his prayer book in his hands. The dramatic background depicts St Paul's Cathedral against a sky turned red by the billowing flames and smoke coming from the burning of East London during the Blitz. In his sermon on November 7, 1948, the Sunday before Armistice Day, Maynard spoke of the many different kinds of service rendered by so many different types of men and women during the war. These were all 'wisdom's children' in that "within an evil situation there was redeeming good: ... there was a place for the fruits of faithfulness, self-sacrifice, self-control; devotion to a noble cause; tenderness to the wounded; the courage of the soldier and the courage of the saint." On the left side of this scene we have the figure of St Peter holding a staff. St Peter is one of the major figures of the New Testament story—from his calling from the life of a fisherman to his leading the Church in Rome, and his martyrdom there. Following Peter's identification of Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God" and Jesus' response: "thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 16:16-19), Peter has always been seen as a leader among the disciples and, following the resurrection, as a leader of the church. He preached a significant open-air sermon at Pentecost, twice defied the Sanhedrin, and undertook missionary journeys. He was instrumental in the decision to evangelize the Gentiles, and was present at the Council of Jerusalem where Paul further argued the case for accepting Gentiles into the Christian community without the need for circumcision and other trappings of the Mosaic Law (Acts 4-15). Peter's appointment as the first Bishop of Rome, and his subsequent martyrdom there, is well-attested in non-scriptural writings from the first and second centuries. Peter is the Patron Saint of many churches, including this church on the Eastern Hill of the city of Melbourne. |
St Paul is pictured on the right side of this scene, reading from a book that he is holding. With St Peter, Paul was a significant teacher and leader in the early church. He is first mentioned in Acts as a bystander at the martyrdom of St Stephen, and then as a vigorous persecuter of the early church. This ceased with his conversion when he had, on the road to Damascus, a vision of Our Lord, which led to his subsequent baptism. Paul then became the leader of the mission to the Gentiles. He was a significant contributor at the Council of Jerusalem where the need for circumcision of Gentile Christians was discussed. His missionary work brought him into conflict with the authorities on a number of occasions. Eventually, as a Roman citizen, he appealed to Caesar and was taken to Rome, where he was martyred as few years later. Paul's letters to the mission churches form a substantial part of the New Testament, and represent some of the earlest writings found there. The teaching contained in these letters has had a great influence on the development of Christian theology, and centres on the view that the salvation of all men comes through Christ and in Christ. It is an elementary and often repeated doctrine of St Paul that Jesus Christ saves us through the Cross, that we are "justified by His blood", that "we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Romans 5:9-10). And it is from Paul that we get the other main theme of this War Memorial window: "But we preach Christ Crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:23-24.) |