Do You Know How The Apostles Died?

Our Lord originally appointed twelve apostles as his initial Church community, commissioned with the task of sharing the faith. As told in the Gospels, Judas Iscariot was originally one of them, but with his apostasy and death, he was replaced with Matthias. Their collective feast day is June 30. The Apostles' names are listed at Matthew 10:2, Mark 3:14, Luke 6:12, Acts 1:13, 26.

Each one of these most holy and beneficial men ended their earthly life in the following manner:

	Saint Peter He was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
	Saint Andrew Was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it". He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
	Saint James (Son of Zebedee) Also known as James The Greater. James was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
	Saint John (The Theologian) Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. He was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
	Saint Philip According to tradition he preached in Phrygia, and died at Hierapolis while preaching in Hieropolis. Through prayer he killed a giant snake that the pagans worshipped, which angered the unbaptized so much that they crucified him and St. Bartholomew upside-down. Again, the earth opened and swallowed his judge along with many pagans, and being terribly afraid the people rushed to bring the Apostles down from their torment. But St. Philip had already reposed.
	Saint Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel) Crucified upside down in Hierapolis with the Apostle Philip for causing the death of a great serpent the people worshiped and healing people through prayer. He was removed from the cross during a great earthquake because the people thought God was judging them; Saint Philip had already reposed.
	Saint Thomas Was pierced with a spear five spears in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent. The earlier traditions, as believed in the fourth century, say he preached in Parthia or Persia, and was finally buried at Edessa. The later traditions carry him farther east. His martyrdom whether in Persia or India, is said to have been by a spear, and is commemorated by the Greek Church on October 6, and by the Indians on July 1.
	Saint Matthew (The Evangelist) He must have lived many years as an apostle, since he was the author of the Gospel of Matthew which was written at least twenty years after the death of Christ. There is reason to believe that he stayed for fifteen years at Jerusalem, after which he went as missionary to the Persians, Parthians and Medes. Eventually Matthew went to Ethiopia to spread the gospel. There he was martyred by Fulvian, the ruler of the region, by being set on fire.
	Saint James (Son of Alpheus) Also known as James The Lesser. The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ (this was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation). When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. We know he lived at least five years after the death of Christ because of mentions in the Bible.
	Saint Jude (Brother of James) Also known as Thaddeus. According to tradition, Jude taught in Armenia, Syria and Persia where he was martyred. He was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. Tradition tells us he was buried in Kara Kalisa in what is now Iran.
	Saint Simon (The Zealot) He ended his missionary work in Georgia. Saint Simon was tortured and crucified by the pagans in Abkhazia.
	Saint Matthias The apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then was beheaded after death.
	Saint Paul Saint Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A-D 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.

These are the names and the separate days of the celebrations of the Holy Twelve:

12 Washington Avenue * Oakmont, PA 15139 — Office: 412-828-4144 * Fax: 412-828-7451
Copyright © 2009-2012 — All rights reserved.