Andrew

Andrew was a native of Galilee, born in Bethsaida, which was twenty-five miles east of Nazareth, located on the northern shores of the sea. He was the first Apostle whom Y’Shua chose. He was the son of a woman named Joanna, and a fisherman name John, and had a brother called Simon who was later called Peter. Actually Andrew’s father’s name was not ‘John’ as we say the word today but ‘Jonah’, the same as the famous prophet. Jonah’s native village, Gath-Hepher, was near Nazareth. Jonah, the prophet, had been the most illustrious citizen ever to have lived near Nazareth. The name Jonah often applied in those days to those who followed the fishing trade. Another Jonah whom we call John the Apostle’ was also at first a fisherman.
Andrew thought more about matters of the soul than about fishing, for he left his fishing nets to follow John the Baptist. John was a man after his own heart; an outdoors man, rough, homely, who practiced the simple virtues and who lived the life of a man to whom the flesh mattered little and worldly acclaims even less. Andrew left John when he was imprisoned and attached himself to Y’Shua. At this stage Andrew was not yet a disciple of Y’Shua. He was merely a follower – that is, an interested onlooker who was willing to go along to observe. Finally he returned to Galilee and went back to his old task of fishing.
We have often heard Peter referred to as the big fisherman. That he was, but so was Andrew. We have often heard the words of Y’Shua to Peter quoted; “Follow Me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” But we must remember that these words were spoken to Andrew as well as to Peter, for they were invited to become fishers of men, a plural reference. Andrew merited this title even more than Peter. Peter became the fisherman of men en masse and Andrew was a fisher of individuals.
Now at last Andrew had been enrolled as a disciple of Y’Shua and for Andrew there followed approximately two and one half years of instruction. His name is listed as an Apostle in the book of the Acts. That is the last record we have of him in the N.T. Just when Andrew left Jerusalem is not known. Perhaps he went out as a missionary on his own accord, or perhaps he was driven out by the persecution which arose.
One recorded by Eusebius is that he went to Scythia, which is southern Russia, in the area around the Black Sea. Early Apocryphal works agree: “The acts of Andrew and Bartholomew gives an account of their mission among the Parthians.” According to the Martyrdom of Andrew he was stoned and crucified in Scythia. There according to tradition he was imprisoned, then crucified by order of the proconsul Aegeates, whose wife Maximilla had been separated from her husband by the preaching of Andrew. Supposedly Andrew was crucified on a cross which instead of being made like the one upon which Y’Shua died, was made in the form of an X. To this day that type of cross is known as Andrew’s Cross.
There is a third tradition about the ministry of Andrew which describes him as spending time in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, where John is supposed to have written his gospel in consequence of a revelation given to Andrew. These three traditions are mutually complementary that he went to Asia Minor to be with his old friend, John. Then he went beyond to Scythia. Returning to Asia Minor because it is the natural land-bridge between Russia and Greece. Andrew labored for a while in and around Ephesus and then finally went to Greece in his later years. There in the southern part of Greece, as tradition says, so angered the governor by winning his wife to faith in Y’Shua that the governor, in seeking revenge, caused this preacher of the Cross to die himself upon a cross in Patras. It was not at all unusual in the first century for noble people, especially the wives of nobles, to be converted to Belief. There is nothing in this tradition that is impossible or incredible.

Bartholomew

This name literally means ‘son of Tolmai.’ He is mentioned as one of the Twelve Apostles (Matt. 10:3; Mk. 3:18; Lk. 6:14; Acts 1:13). There is no further reference to him in the N.T. According to the Genealogies of the Twelve, he was of the house of Naphtali Bartholomew was identify with Nathanael. It was Philip who brought Nathanael to Y’Shua (Jn. 1:45). This has led many to believe that Bartholomew and Nathanael is the same person.
In the apocryphal Gospel of Bartholomew is the tradition that he preached the gospel in India, and that he brought a copy of Matthew’s Gospel in Hebrew to that place. He is said to have preached in the oasis of Al Bahnasa. He labored among the Parthians. Another tradition has him preaching in Phrgia in Asia Minor. He is further said to have preached in Armenia, and the Armenian Messianic Church claims him as its founder. Another tradition has him martyred at Albana, which now is modern Derbend, in the Soviet Union. The apocrypha describes a series of questions which Bartholomew addressed to Y’Shua and to Miriam in the time between the resurrection and the ascension.
Bartholomew returned from India to the North-West parts of Africa. At Hierapolis in Phrygia we find him in the company with Philip at whose Martyrdom he was likewise fastened to a cross, in order to have suffered at the same time; but for some special reason the Magistrates caused him to be taken down again, and dismissed and he went into Lycaonia. His last remove was to Albanople in Armenia the Great, a place miserably overrun with Idolatry, he was by the Governor of the place condemned to be crucified. Some add, that he was arrested, beaten with clubs and eventually crucified with is head downwards, and beheaded. And so Bartholomew died a martyr for his L-rd; others that he was flayed alive, which might well enough consist with his crucifixion; this punishment being in use, not only in Egypt, but amongst the Persians. The flaying which has probably suggested the knife, often associated as an emblem with picture of the saint; but on Bartholomew in art.
Emperor Anastasius removed Bartholomew’s body thither; which Gregory of Tours seems to contradict, saying the People of Lipatis, near Sicily, translated it from the place where he suffered into their Isle, and built a stately Messianic Church over it. By what means it was removed from hence to Beneventum in Italy, and afterwards to the Isle of Tiber at Rome, where another Messianic Church was built to the honor of this Apostle, is hart to account for. The mission of Bartholomew in Armenia lasted sixteen years and he was martyred in 68 A.D. at Albanus.
It is said that India in the first century was very loosely used, being understood to begin on the Bosporus. He had reached the easternmost of the tributaries of the Indus River before he turned to the Indian Ocean, and then west again. His great march and the seventy cities he had built or founded had in a measure opened the way to India. He preached the advent of Y’Shua according to the gospel of Matthew.
Jerome passes on the suggestion that Bartholomew was the only one of the twelve to be of noble birth. As we have seen, his name means son of Tolmai, or possibly son of Talmai. Now in 2 Sam. 3:3 there is mentioned of a Talmai who was king of Geshur; this Talmai had a daughter called Maacah; and this Maacah became the mother of Absalom, whom she bore to David. The suggestion is that it was from this Talmai that Bartholomew was descended, and that therefore he was of nothing less than royal lineage. Later still another story arose. The second part of Bartholomew’s name was connected with Ptolemy, and he was said to be called son of Ptolemy. The Ptolemies were the kings of Egypt, and it was said that Bartholomew was connected with the royal house of Egypt.
A very interesting personal description of him is given. “He has black, curly hair, white skin, large eyes, straight nose; his hair covers his ears, his beard long and grizzled, middle height. He wears a white robe with a purple stripe and a white cloak with four purple gems at the corners. For twenty-six years he has worn these, and they never grow old. His shoes have lasted twenty-six years. He prays a hundred times a day and a hundred times a night. His voice is like a trumpet; angels wait upon him; he is always cheerful, and knows all languages.”
The Roman Catholic tradition tells of the disposition of the remains of the Apostle: “A written account says that after the Emperor Anastasius built the city of Duras in Mesopotamia in 508, he caused the relics to be taken there, before the end of the sixth century, they were carried to the Lipari Islands near Sisily; and Anastasius, the Librarian, tells us that in 809 they were taken to Benevento and then transported to Rome in 983 by the Emperor Otto 3. They now lie in the church of Bartholomew-on-Tiber in a porphryr shrine under the high altar. An arm was sent by the Bishop of Benevento to Edward the Confessor, who gave it to Canterbury Cathedral.
The Greek Orthodox tradition tells the story of his travels to the remote Greek Orthodox Monasteries located in Mt. Athos, Greece. “As the sun began to sink over the mountain we reach our goal for the night, the cenobitic abbey of Karakallou, favored retreat of Albanians and Epirote. The sacristan appeared, suitable invested, and exposed the relics of a trestle table in front of the iconostasis: the skulls of the Apostle Bartholomew and Dionysius the Areogagite, the remains of a neomartyr, Gideon, a converted Turk.”
The bones (relics) of Bartholomew, like those of most of the other Apostles, are widely scattered today. The relics of the saint are preserved in the church of Bartholomew on the island in the Tiber River near Rome. Martin, the apostle Bartholomew, and Miriam Magdalene were represented in the arm collection – and as for such relics as fingers, toes, and small joints, this category was so extensive that only three well known saints were not represented: Joseph, John the Baptist, and James (the last being preserved entire at Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain). Philip’s successors added to the collection and there are now more than 7,000 relics at the Escorial, including 10 bodies, 144 heads, and 306 limbs.
Bartholomew’s ministry belongs more to the tradition of the eastern Messianic Churches than to the Western Messianic Church. However, evident that he went to Asia Minor (Turkey), in the company of Philip, where he labored in Hierapolis (near Laodicea and Colosse in Turkey).
The modern name of the district where he died is Azerbaijan and the place of his death, called in N.T. times Albanopolis, is now Derbend. Derbend is the sea gate through which the wild horsemen of Steppes later rode down upon civilized communities. The city of Tabriz, was the chief mart of Iranian Azerbaijan, was also located in this area. It was visited by Marco Polo in 1294. The statement that Bartholomew was skinned alive before being beheaded, is contained in the Brebertium Apostolorum, prefixed to certain ancient manuscripts.
India was a name applied indifferently by Greek and Latin writers to Arabia, Ethiopia, Libra, Parthia, Persia and the land of the Medes, and it is most probably that the India visited by Pantaenus was Ethiopia or Arabia Felix, or perhaps both.

James, Son of Alphaeus

James, is also called the ‘Less’ or perhaps ‘Younger,’ was a brother of Joses and a sister name Salome, and the son of Miriam. Which Miriam is not altogether certain though she appears to be the wife of one Clopas (Cleophas), which may have been another or second name for Alphaeus. James was a cousin of Y’Shua that fact would of course shed light on their previous acquaintance. His mother Miriam is supposed by some to have been called sister (sister-in-law) to Miriam the mother of Y’Shua, because of their marriage to two brothers, Clopas and Joseph (Jn. 19:25); Clopas, or Cleopas, is believed by scholars to be the same person as Alphaeus. It is also been supposed that Alphaeus died without offspring and that his wife was espoused by Joseph, on which accout James is perhaps the legal son of Alphaeus and the reputed half brother of our L-rd. James had a brother, Joses or Joseph (Matt. 27:56). The KJV in Lk. 6:16 mentions ‘Judas the brother of James’, whereas the NIV renders ‘the son of James.’
Whether or not this James is to be identified with the James the Less, the son of Alphaeus, the brother of our L-rd, is one of the most difficult questions in the gospel history. By comparing Matt. 27:56 and Mark 15:40 with John 19:25, we find that the Virgin had a (sister-in-law) that had two sons, James the Less and Joses. By referring to Matt. 13:55 and Mark 6:3 we find that a James and a Joses, with two other brethren called Jude and Simon, and at least three sisters, were living with the Virgin at Nazareth. By referring to Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 we find that there were two brethren named James and Jude among the apostles. It would certainly be natural to think that we had here but one family of four brothers and three or more sisters, the children of Clopas and Miriam, nephews and nieces of the Virgin. There are difficulties however in the way of this conclusion into which we cannot her enter; but in reply to the objection that the four brethren in Matt. 13:55 are described as the brothers of Y’Shua, not as his cousins, it must be recollected that the word which is here translated ‘brethren’ may also signify cousins.
Most of the ancient denominations, such as the Roman Catholic or Armenian Orthodox, identify James the Less and James the brother of Y’Shua as one and the same. Their reasoning is complicated, contradictory and not defensible by the Scriptural record. Essentially though, it is an attempt to assert that, contrary to what Paul wrote in Galatians about ‘James the brother of the L-rd, James the Just was a cousin of Y’Shua. The reason for this tortured attempt to explain Paul’s plain statement away is to protect the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Miriam (Mary) by implying that when Paul wrote ‘brother’ he really meant cousin. Obscure references in Greek literature are used by some to show that this was possible.
The early heresy of Docetism attempted to convince Believers that all sexual intercourse was evil. The later elevation of Miriam (Mary) to the stature of a demigoddess, force some to those who took this view to invert out of whole cloth the notion that the brothers and sisters of Y’Shua were perhaps children of Joseph by a previous marriage. Thus James the brother of the L-rd becomes James the half brother. However, at this point a further contradiction inserts itself. How could James the Less be the son of Joseph and also be the son of Alphaeus?
The answer which has apparently satisfied most of the scholars of the oldest branches of organized Christianity is to make Miriam the mother of James the Less, a sister of Miriam the mother of Y’Shua! This reduces James the Less to the status of a cousin of Y’Shua rather than a half brother.
The defenders of this point of view were under the pressure they were to preserve the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua. But their solution is simply impossible. Never in history have two sisters been given the same name in the same family. The purpose of names is to distinguish between children. With the great number of names available to the ancients it would be grotesque to suggest that there were two Miriam’s in the same family. We are safe, therefore, in assuming that James the half brother of Y’Shua was indeed just that. It is not an utter impossibility that James the Less is meant, but the whole thrust of Paul’s historic references to ‘James’ seemed to be, according to the context of Paul’s writing, the ‘James’ who is the brother of the L-rd.
James was a Zealot (a revolutionary group seeking to throw off the yoke of both Herod Antipas and Rome). But his patriotic and nationalistic idealism was rudely dashed by the policy of bloodshed which characterized the Zealots. Therefore, James became an ascetic, who sought refuge in his own piety from the bloodshed of the Zealots.
In the procurator ship of Alvinus the successor to Festus, the enemies of James decided to dispatch him. A council was hastily summoned. They plotted to set the scribes and Pharisees to ensnare him. They told him they had a mightily confidence in him and that they would that he might correct the error and false opinion the people had of Y’Shua. To that end he was invited to go to the top of the temple where he might be seen and heard by all. There they demanded, ‘Tell us, what is the institution of the crucified Y’Shua?’ The people below, hearing it, glorified, the blessed Y’Shua. The Scribes and Pharisees perceiving now that they had overshot themselves and that instead of reclaiming the people had confirmed them in their (supposed) error, thought there was no way left but presently to dispatch him, that by his sad fate others might be warn not to believe him. Wherefore, suddenly crying out that James himself was seduced and had become an imposter, they threw him down from the place where he stood on the top of the Temple. Though bruised, he was not killed by the fall, but recovered so much strength, as to get upon his knees and pray to heaven for them.
They began to load him with a shower of stones until one more mercifully cruel than the rest with a fuller’s club beat out his brains that went dashing out upon the ground. Thus dyed that good man in the 90th year of his life and about 24 years after Y’Shua’s ascension. He was buried upon the Mt. Of Olives in a tomb which he had built for himself.”
The seeds of Syrian Believers had been sown in Jerusalem during the Apostolic age was none other than James of the Twelve Apostles, identified as James the less. Having been stoned by the Jews for preaching Y’Shua, and was buried by the Sanctuary in Jerusalem then taken to Constantinople in the year 572. Were it was interred by Pope John 111 in a church which was first known as the ‘Church of the Apostles Philip and James the less.’

John

He was one of the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee, and of Salome who was probably a sister of Miryam, the mother of Y’Shua. He grew up in Galilee and was a partner with his brother and with Andrew and Peter in the fishing business. He was a disciple of John the Baptist, and the companion of Andrew in following that noted prophet (Jn. 1:34-40). He accompanied Y’Shua on His first tour in Galilee and later, with his partners, quit the fishing industry to become a disciple of Y’Shua.
We are told he own a home in Jerusalem and probably the interview with Nicodemus was held at his home. He was sent out as one the twelve on a preaching mission. He and his brother were called Sons of Thunder when they sought to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village whose inhabitants had refused them hospitality (Mk. 3:17). Their mother expressed the ambition of her sons when she requested for them the chief places in the kingdom (Mk. 10:35).
He was present in the court at the trial of Y’Shua because he was known to the family of the high priest. He was present at the cross and there was given by Y’Shua the responsibility for Miriam (Jn. 19:26). He, along with Peter and James, the L-rd’s brother, are called pillars of the Jerusalem Believers.
John lived a long time after the beginning of the movement of faith. His epistles reveal that he rose to a position of influence within world-wide Belief, and shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem moved to Ephesus in Asia Minor. At this strategic location he became the pastor of the Messianic Church in Ephesus and had a special relationship to other Messianic Churches in the area, as we know from his letters to the Seven Messianic Churches in Asia. His brother, James, was the first of the Apostles to die. John, on the other hand, was the last to die. Almost all the other Apostles met violent deaths, but John died peacefully in Ephesus at an advanced age, around the year 100 A.D.
While living in Ephesus it is believed that John had with him Miriam, the mother of Y’Shua, for a few years. Nicephorus says John stayed in Jerusalem and cared for Miriam like a son until the day of her death. There are two places of her death shown to this day, a tomb in Jerusalem, and in Ephesus the ‘House of Miriam”.
While in Ephesus John was exiled to Patmos, a penal colony off the coast of Turkey. According to early tradition, the sacred text of the book of Revelation, was given to John and set down while he was in the cave that is now known as the cave of the Apocalypse, which cave is now hidden within, and below, the building of the Monastery of the Apocalypse. This monastery was built in the 17th century to house the Patmias – a theological school that was established at that date, and its structures have been very little altered since then. The buildings constitute an ensemble of cells, class-rooms, flowered courtyards and stairways, with chapels dedicated to Nicholas, Artemios and Anne – this last one being built in front of the open side of the cave. The holy cave, or grotto, itself has long since been transformed into a small church dedicated to John’s presence – in one corner there is the place where he laid his head to rest; near it the place where he rested his hand to raise himself from the rocky floor on which he slept; not far away the place where he spread his parchment; and, in the roof of the cave, the triple fissure in the rock through which he heard ‘the great voice as of a trumpet.’ The cave is small, and the light is dim; it is a place that draws one to meditation, prayer, worship, contemplation…a place of which a man might say, ‘How fearful is this place!; This is none other than the house of G-d, and this is the gate of Heaven.’
An Apocryphal writing offers us some details on John’s sojourn on Patmos. All the local island traditions are derived from this text, which provides a lengthy account of how John wrote his Gospel. From the 7th century onwards Patmos came to be abandoned like the majority of the Aegean islands, for this was the period of the upsurge of Islam and of great naval battles between Arabs and Byzantines. Eusebius records that John was released from Patmos and returned to Ephesus.
The Scripture record of John ends with the Seven Letters to the Seven Messianic Churches mentioned in the first two chapters of the book of the Revelation. Augustine states that John preached to the Parthians. These were the people who lived on the borders of what is now Russia and Iran, and is near the eastern regions of Turkey.
Another tradition concerning John is also handed down by Jerome. It says that when John was evidently an old man in Ephesus he had to be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples. At these meetings he was accustomed to say no more than, “Little children, love one another!” After a time the disciples wearied at always hearing the same words and they asked, “Master, why do you always say this?” “It is the L-rd’s command,” was his reply. “And if this alone be done, it is enough!”
There is a firm tradition that John lived until the reign of Nerva, 68 years after the resurrection of Y’Shua. The 29th of September is considered the probable date of the Evangelist’s death. The tomb of John was in a room beneath the large dome, and the tradition says the dust from this room had healing powers, which brought many sick people to the tomb during the Middle Ages. And the ashes cured every kind of illness, were under the roof of these domes. The grave of John, which is perhaps the best attested of any Apostolic tomb by history and archaeology, contains no relics, nor are there any historical traces or traditions of what may have become of them.

Judas Iscariot

The name Judas Iscariot is a corruption of Judas of Kerioth. Kerioth was a small town a few miles south of Hebron. Judas was the only one of the Apostles who was not a Galilean, but a Judean. His father’s name was Simon (John 13:2).
Judas first met Y’Shua when He was preaching through Judea, though his call to become a disciple may have been received at the Sea of Tiberius, as is recorded in Matt. 4:18-24. From the time of his call to the Passover Week, we have no specific references to Judas which describe any activities of himself alone. He seemed trustworthy; the disciples freely elected him treasurer of their band. They astounded when the revelation of his treachery was made.
It was almost a year before His crucifixion when Y’Shua said that Judas was a devil (Jn. 6:70). However long Judas may have deceived the disciples, he did not deceive Y’Shua. About the time of the Passover Week we begin to read more of his sinister character. At the anointing of Y’Shua by Miriam Judas asked, “Why was not this ointment sold for 300 shillings and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. (Jn. 12:5-6).
Y’Shua also mentioned Judas’ coming defection when He said, “He that eats bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.” (Jn. 13:18. This is a quotation from the OT referring to a reference in the book o Psalms. It seemed by these veiled references that Y’Shua was giving Judas as much opportunity as he could to repent, as if to inform him that He knew all along that Judas was going to betray Him, but still was announcing that the door of mercy was open.
Why did Judas become a disciple? Some suggest that he was sincere for a while, but then saw that Y’Shua was not going to fulfill His destiny as a political deliverer and therefore sought to get out, currying favor with the priest, as well as earning what pitiful funds he could a the price of his betrayal. It is significant that Judas alone among the disciples was of southern extraction; and the differences in temperament and social outlook, together with the petty prejudices to which these generally give rise, may explain in part though they do not justify, his after treachery – the lack of inner sympathy which existed between Judas and the rest of the Apostles. He undoubtedly possessed certain business ability, and was therefore appointed keeper of the purse. But his heart could not have been clean, even from the first, as he administered even his primary charge dishonestly.
Perhaps the most significant thing that can be said of Judas was that in feeling sorrow for his crime of betrayal, he did not seek to atone for his sin to the One whom he had wronged, but went to his accomplices in crime, the priests, and there sought to set himself aright. And because those whom he had served in his selfishness failed him at the end, he went out and hanged himself. His life is a lesson which points vividly to the pitfalls of our spiritual pilgrimage.
After the betrayal, Mark, Luke and John are silent as regards to Judas and the accounts given in Matthew and Acts of his remorse and death vary in detail. According to Matthew, the actual condemnation of Y’Shua awakened Judas’ sense of guilt, and becoming still more despondent at his repulse by the chief priest and elders, ‘he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.’ With the money the chief priests purchased the potter’s field, afterward called the field of blood, and in this way was fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah (11:12-14) ascribed by Matthew to Jeremiah (Matt. 27:2-10). The account given in Acts 1:16-20 is much shorter. It mentions neither Judas; repentance nor the chief priests, but simply states that Judas obtained a field with the reward of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. The author of Acts finds in this the fulfillment of the prophecy in Palms 69:25. The Vulgate rendering, ‘When he had hanged himself, he burst asunder, suggests a means of reconciling the two accounts.
From Judas fettered greed and disappointed ambition sprang jealousy and spite and hatred. It was the hatred, not of a strong, but of an essentially weak man. Instead of making an open breach with his L-rd, he remained ostensibly one of His followers; and this continued contact with a goodness to whi8ch he would not yield (Mk. 14:10), and his brooding over the rebukes of his Master, gave ready entrance for satan into his soul. But if he knew the good and did not do it (Jn. 13:17), so also he was weak in the carrying out of his nefarious designs. It was this hesitancy, rather than a fiendish cunning, which induced him to remain till the last moment in the upper room, and which prompted the remark of Y’Shua ‘What thou doest, do quickly’ (Jn. 13:27). Of a piece with this weak-mindedness was his attempt to cast the blame upon the chief priests and elders (Matt. 17:3-4). He sought to set himself right, not with the innocent Y’Shua whom he had betrayed, but with the accomplices in his crime; and because that world which his selfishness had made his god failed him at the last, he went and hanged himself. It was the tragic end of one who espoused a great cause in the spirit of speculation and selfish ambition, and who weighed not the dread consequences to which those impure motive might lead him.
There is little material about Judas in any of the common apocryphal sources. A current guidebook on Jerusalem states: “Haceldama (Field of Blood) is a name given to the so called ‘potter’s field’ that was bought with the 30 pieces of silver that Judas had earned for betraying Y’Shua. Judas, repenting of his deed, flung the money at the feet of the priests who were unwilling to accept it because it was ‘blood money.’ After Judas had killed himself the money was used to buy a field to serve as a burial place for strangers.”

Judas Thomas

Tomas was also known as Didymas. The word means ‘twin,’ but we do not know anything about the brother or sister who was his twin. He was a native of Galilee and by trade, a fisherman. He possessed a nature which contained within it certain conflicting elements exceedingly difficult of reconciliation, possessed little natural cheerfulness of spirit, and was inclined to look often at life with icy coolness or gloom. Yet, Thomas was a man of unconquerable courage and entire unselfishness. He combined a continuous faith in the teaching of Y’Shua mingled with a sincere love for Y’Shua the teacher. He is referred to in detail by John alone, though his election to the Twelve is recorded in Matt. 10:3, Mk. 3:18, Luke 6:15 and Acts. 1:13.
John, who has given us the greatest amount of detail about Thomas and who had probably known him from boyhood, since they were of the same craft and city, he had never what the Bible calls ‘a wicked heart of unbelief.’ Instead he was a man who struggled against his doubts and was ready to abandon them when he could. Thomas doubted that we might have no doubts.
Thomas visited Babylon were he was a central figure. These movements quickly spread eastward, and therefore owed nothing to western Christianity. Places where Patriarchates were organized by the Apostles are the following mothers of all cities; the first, Babylon which was at that time outside the Roman Empire of the West. The Messianic Church of the East traces its origin directly back to the original Apostles. One of its chapels founded by the Three Wise Men on their return from Bethlehem, is still in use today in the town of Resaih, in Northern Iran.
Nine hundred years ago, Thomas, after establishing the first Messianic Church among his own people in ancient Babylon, turned to India, led by the Holy Spirit and spreading to countries all over Asia in the third century. These Acts have some links with the first-century Indian history also. Thomas arrived in India no later than 49 A.D.
Then Thomas was assigned India, he protested, ‘I cannot go there because of the fatigue of the body on the journey, for I am Hebrew.’ Y’Shua then appeared to Thomas, urging him to go to India, but he continued to resist, saying, ‘I would that Thou wouldst send me into anther country, for unto the country of India I cannot go.’ It was then that our L-rd showed himself to Abbanes, a merchant from India, and sold Thomas to him as a slave, Thomas recognizing himself as Y’Shua’s slave, yields, and thus went to India as a slave of Abbanes. Thomas had remained in North India until war destroyed Gondaforus and his kingdom, and then he went to South India.
It is said that a certain Abbanes, a trade envoy to Syria was commissioned by the Indian King Gondophares to seek an able architect from that country to build a palace for him. The tradition states that he was directed by our L-rd in a Jerusalem market to Thomas, who accompanied him back to India. At heart the saint really contemplated a celestial and not a material palace. As he squandered the royal funds in giving to the poor, the king seized him and put him in prison. He also felt Thomas would spoil their trade (profession) and in time extirpate the religion of their country. At the time the king’s brother, Gad, died and at his burial witnessed the untold splendor of the celestial palace promised by the saint, then miraculously came back to life to recount his wondrous vision. The king and his brother therefore released Thomas and accepted baptism at his hand.
Afterwards he endured various persecutions and consequently martyrdom for the belief and justice of our L-rd, by a lance thrust by miscreants deputed by King Mizdi. After his burial, a Syrian co-religionist transported his body back to Edessa without knowledge of the local king, who eventually wanted to try to cure his sick son by means of Thomas’s relic. Upon opening the grave, they found the body to be gone, but earth from the tomb performed the miracle and healed the ailing prince, and the whole royal family was converted to Believing. Their names have been found on excavated coins and in a Gandhara inscription fixing their rule as about 19-45 A.D. in Scytho-India in the Indus valley. The 5th century Martytologium Hieronimanum assigns July 3 as the commemoration day in Edessa of the translation of the body of Thomas, who suffered in India.
Thomas house had begun to be inhabited by some Believers who are thinking of its restoration. But it lies at a distance of about 25 days’ journey from the said Believers, and it lies on the sea shore in a town called Mailapur in the province of Silan, which is one of the provinces of India. It was miraculously built by Thomas himself. All around the house was a plot of ground well fenced with very high brushwood. The documents call the house indifferently house or church. It was very big and lay in a ruinous state.
Gomez gives us the following description of the house. ‘It is made in the fashion of our churches and lie East-West; it has three doors; one at the entrance, another in the middle and the third in the principal chapel. All the door are lined with sheets of iron and diamond-shaped studs of iron; the door are of wood worked out with skilful
workmanship.’ The house was 17 ells long and 11 broad, according to D. Fernandez, Correa says more precisely that from the principal doors to the entrance of the chapel there was a distance of 12 ells and the chapel itself was 5 ells. It had two side doors and three naves divided by wooden pillars of the workmanship. These pillars supported the top beam which was also of fine work. Above the wood-work there were walls of mortar reinforced with stones and reaching the tiles roof.
According to D. Fernandez the central chapel with its tower was the one built by the Apostle. From this statement it would appear that the side chapels and naves were later additions. According to what the Portuguese heard from the natives the body of Thomas, who died on a mountain at a distance from that time in chapel on the right hand (on the Gospel side). In the chapel on the Epistle side lay buried a disciple of the Apostle. Both these chapels do not seem to have been larger than five and a half ells, just large enough to enclose the bodies. As to the identity of the disciple buried in the left hand chapel (on the right hand of person looking), the authors seem to diverge in opinion. According to Gomez, it was Mathias, a companion of the Apostle. For D. Fernandez and Correa he was the king of the place, a converted Believer.
“The Apostle was wounded in the cave on the Little Mount but in his death agony, he got out of the cave and dragged himself to the Big Mount where the principal oratory was, and where also presumably were his disciples. There, wounded mortally, as he was, he clasped a stone cross and recommended his soul to his Master.”
The traditions gathered by the Portuguese: “Thomas was sent by order of the Messiah to the parts of India. He was accompanied by two other Apostles, Bartholomew and Judas Tadeus. Thomas with J. Tadeus went first to Babylon, and passing Bacora went over to Qualexquadaqua where J. Tadeus settled himself, converted many into Christianity and built houses of prayer. At the time Abuna was giving the testimony this place belonged to the Muslims and Arabs and there were neither Christians nor any house of prayer there. Bartholomew passed over to Persia and lay buried in Tarao in a monastery in Tabris, the land of Xequismael; there were still many Believers and houses of prayer. Thomas leaving Juda Tadeus went to Socotora and then to Mylapore and China; in Cabalia he converted many and built a house of prayer. From there he return to Mylapore and lived on a hill one and a half leages away from the place where afterwards was built his house.
Amador Correa who described the 1564 feast of the Thomas Believers, says that this feast was in commemoration of the day on which Thomas came to the end of his journey in a ship, 2 leagues away from Cranganore. Roz qho knew the Chaldean tradition from the Chaldean books and the local tradition, oral or written that Thomas preached and baptized many in Cambaya and the lands of Mogor, Socotora, Malavar and Bisnaga reaching even China and great China according to the Chaldean breviary of Thomas. There are vestiges in those places even today of Believers. The Apostle also preached to the Cafres.
Thomas converted 3 principal kings of India. The Chaldean book states he converted six kings and three emperors; the emperors correspond to Roz’s three principal kings. He began eight archbishoprics. Only the following could be clearly identified: Hindu, Malabar, Socotora, Cambaia, Mogor, China, and Mahachina which should be, according to the author, Cataio.
The Chaldean Abuna told the inquirers of 1533 that the Apostle was murdered with a lance by a low castle. At the instigation of the Brahmins he was stoned by some people and he fell down. As he lay there almost dead a Brahmin struck him with a lance and he breathed the last. Diogo Couto tried to combine the traditions: ‘The envious Brahmins who had been discredited before the king by the virtue of Thomas, went to kill him. Hearing that he was in the cave near the Little Mount (which at the time of the Apostle was called Antenodur), they stood near the slop of the mountain, where there was a narrow opening to let in a little light, and looking through it they found the Apostle on his knees with eyes closed, in a rapture so profound that he appeared to be dead. The Brahmins thrusting the lance through the opening wounded him mortally. The wound was about half a span deep. When the saint sighed, all the murderers ran away and he in his death agony of out of the cave and dragged himself to the Big Mount, and there he died.
It is repugnant to think that Christianity was preached from the beginning only in the Roman empire and all the twelve Apostles went westwards to the parts of the Roman empire.
After the death of Thomas the Malabar Messianic Church was left without a preacher and leader, and after 93 years there were no priest at all. At that time a pagan magician called Manikabashar appeared; he went to Mylapore and worked wonders by his magic; seduced many Believers from the true faith. Those who remained faithful took refuge in Malabar and were kindly received by the believing brethren there. After that the 160 Believing families were for several long periods left without priest and leaders; divisions also sprang up among them at different times for various reasons. Some of them left the orthodox faith but others persevered, 96 families lapsed while 64 persevered.
It is evident that Thomas, who as a disciple was pessimistic and filled with doubt, became a vigorous missionary. He was a fearless evangelist and a great builder of Messianic Churches as the central human instrument in the strategy of G-d.

Matthew

Matthew’s other name was Levi. Alphaeus was a godly man, but though Matthew was given the priestly name of Levi, he was probably for from godly in his early life. Bearing the name Levi more probably indicates that Matthew was of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe. The tribe of Levi, unlike the tribe of Gad, had fled from northern Israel before the Assyrian invasion and had joined with Judah. That a child not of a priestly tribe of Levi should have been named Levi would be most unlikely in those days.
He was a customs officer (Matt. 10:3) in Capernaum, in the territory ruled by Herod Antipas. He belonged to the class of bureaucrats called portitores serving under the publican, the officers who were concessionaires for taxes according to the Roman custom of that day. As such he would have had some education and have been acquainted with the Aramaic, Greek and Latin languages. The tax collectors, of whom he was one, although scorned by the Jews, seemed as a group to hear the message of Y’Shua gladly. (Matt. 11:19; Luke 17:34; 15:1). It required a great deal of ambition of the House of Herod Antipas and a servant of the hated Romans by becoming a tax gatherer for them. The way this term publican is used in the Bible indicates that to be a tax gatherer was to obtain a position in which graft and corruption were into only possible, but likely. Also there was the embarrassment of being known as a collaborator with Rome. The Roman occupation troops were hated with the same kind of scorn that the Jews in the 20th century felt toward the Nazis.
By the time Matthew was called, Peter, James and John, who also came from Capernaum, were already disciples. (Matt. 9:11; 14:18; Mark 5:37). The first thing Matthew did after his call was to invite Y’Shua to his home for a feast. Matthew filled the place with the only people who would set foot in his house, his fellow tax gatherers and sinners. When Y’Shua was criticized for keeping company with them He responded, “those who are well need no physician, but those who are sick.” And in a paraphrase of the words of Micah 6:6-8 He added, “go and learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice for I come not to call the righteous but sinners.” (Matt. 9:11-12).
Matthew composed a gospel of Y’Shua at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or on the person of our L-rd the Saviour, quotes the testimony of the O.T., he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint, but the Hebrew. Matthew understood the way in which Y’Shua fulfilled the prophecies of the O.T. More references appear in his gospel to this fact than in any of the other three gospels. His quotations would have been of only passing interest to Gentiles. He remained in the Holy Land, for 15 years, ministering to the Jews. But like other Apostles, Matthew eventually incurred the wrath of the Jewish establishment and was forced to turn to the Gentiles who gave him a more ready hearing.
There are so many traditions on Matthew stating he ministered in Ethiopia, Persia, Paulinus of Nola with Parthia, Isidore with Macedonia, India, and Egypt. After the dispersion of the Apostles, he travelled into Egypt and Ethiopia, preaching the Gospel; and having arrived in the capital of Ethiopia, he lodged in the house of the eunuch who had been baptized by Philip, and who entertained him with the great honor. There were two terrible magicians at that time in Ethiopia, who by their diabolical spells and incantations kept all the people in subjection, afflicting them at the same time with strange and terrible diseases; but Matthew overcame them, and having baptized the people, they were delivered forever from the malignant influence of these enchanters. Matthew remained twenty-three years in Egypt and Ethiopia, and it is said that he perished in the ninetieth year of our era, under Domitian.
The apocryphal claims that “he was sent to the cannibalistic Anthrophophagi who attempted to put his eyes out and put him in prison for 30 days before eating him. On the 27th day he was rescued by Andrew who came by sea miraculously escaping a storm and thus rescued Matthew. Matthew returned to the Anthropophagi working miracles among them and the king became jealous of him. They bound Matthew, covered him with papyrus soaked in dolphin oil, poured brimstone, asphalt and pitch upon him, heaped up tow and wood and surrounded him with the golden images of the 12 idols of the people. But the fire turned to dew and the flames flew our and melted the metal of the images. Finally the fire took the form of a dragon, chased the king into his palace and curled around about him so that he could not move. Then Matthew rebuked the fire and prayed and gave up the ghost. The king was converted and became a priest and with two angles Matthew departed to heaven.”
The Talmud says that Matthew was condemned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a body of important Jews in Alexandria, Egypt. This would hint as to an historical relationship of Matthew to Egypt. It is perhaps possible that Matthew was martyred in Egypt upon his return from Ethiopia in Africa.
In Salerno, Italy in the cathedral lays the body of Matthew. Above the seats of the choir there is a reminder of the moving of the body of Matthew, it show a procession with the body of the Apostle being brought into the church. In the center of the crypt there is the tomb of Matthew located at about 2 meters of depth and surmounted by a two-fronted altar, rich of marble and dominated by an ample umbrella canopy, finely embroidered, which covers two bronze statues representing the Evangelist: one for each front of the altar. The sculptor knew how to give the bronze a great expression of power. The tomb and the altars are adorned in an elegant marble base which has enormous candelabras at each corner. They were a gift from the School of Medicine. It is enclosed in a magnificent crypt deserving of the veneration of the people of Salerno and deserving of Matthew.
What is certain is that Matthew was a gifted writer, an ardent disciple and had perhaps had the best education of any of the Twelve. Thus he was well equipped to witness to people in places of authority, and was a vessel well chosen to write the great gospel which bears his name.

Peter

John 1:42 Thou are Simon, the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone’.” There is in the Greek, a play upon the words Thou are Peter (Petros – literally, ‘a little rock’ or ‘pebble’) and upon this Rock (Petra) I will build my Messianic Church. He does not promise to build His Messianic Church upon Peter, but upon Himself, as Peter himself is careful to tell us.” 1 Pet. 2:4-9.
Peter’s Planarian – a treatise on heresies in Kfar-Nachum, from the very first day Y’Shua visited Capernaum, the building was marked out as the home of Simon and Andrew (Mk. 1:29). Here Y’Shua healed the mother-in-law of Peter. The house of hospitality is next described as surrounded by such a crush of people seeking Y’Shua that here was no room even outside (Mk. 2:2). To this home Y’Shua returned after his journeys round the Lake, and after the official election of the twelve apostles (Mk. 3:19). It was here that He imparted his more intimate teaching (Mk. 7:17). The last time the house is mentioned in Mark is when Y’Shua came back from a tour of preaching (Mk. 10:10).
Peter was brought to Y’Shua by his brother Andrew. They were both fishermen, plying their trade on the Sea of Galilee. Peter was a young man when he first met Y’Shua, and certainly he was interested in the Messiah. When his brother Andrew announced that he had found the Messiah, Peter eagerly dropped his nets and went along to see for himself. Then he returned to his trade.
It was sometime later that Y’Shua came to the shores of Galilee and there found Peter who had talked with Him before. There the invitation of the Messiah came, “Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” (Matt. 4:19) Peter and Andrew straightway left their nets and boats and followed Y’Shua. He was married and his mother-in-law apparently lived with him and his wife.
Peter was not particularly modest, but usually was self-assertive. He frequently stood in the early days at the forefront of the Apostles and was their spokesman. In the list of Apostles in the Scriptures we find the name Peter preceding the rest of the twelve.
Peter was impulsive; he often acted first and thought second. He was a rare combination of courage and cowardice, of great strength and regrettable instability. Y’Shua spoke more often to Peter than to any other of His disciples, both in blame and praise. No other disciple is so pointed reproved by out L-rd as Peter, and to disciple ever ventured to reprove his Master but Peter! Peter’s overly tempestuous character became the personification of faithfulness to Y’Shua.
There was one redeeming factor about Peter’s character and that was his exquisite sense of sin. He was extremely sensitive and tender in his spirit in this respect. It was Peter who said, “Depart from me O L-rd for I am a sinful man.” (Lk. 5:8). Peter sinned as grievously as did Judas. Judas sold Y’Shua. Peter cursed Him. There is no essential difference, except that Peter repented and Judas did not.
Apparently Peter took his wife with him on his journey as we learn in 1 Corinthians 9:5. Peter considered himself the opponent of Paul, despite Paul’s arguments as recorded in Galations. Peter, himself, no doubt stood nearer to Paul than did the other members of the Jerusalem Believers. Peter, banished with the rest of the Jews from Rome, by the edict of Claudius, was absent in Britain. Peter, acting as a free-lance missionary, stemming from Avalon, preached in Britain during the Caradoc-Claudian war.
The visits of both Peter and Paul, with the family of the Pudens, is referred to Scripture. Other ancient records state that the children of Claudia and Rurfus Pudens were raised at the knees of Peter and Paul.
The first Messianic Church dedicated to Peter was founded by King Lucius, the British King, who was the first by royal decree to proclaim Christianity the national faith of Britain in Winchester A.D. 156. Three men – Eucharius, Valerius and Maternus – all of whom had been pupils of Peter at Rome, were sent by him to Trier to preach the gospel of Y’Shua.
The Acts tell us that in 43, after the death of James, Peter left Jerusalem ‘for another place’ (Acts 12:17). He is lost from sight until 49, when we find him at the Council of Jerusalem. No canonical text has anything to say about his missionary activity during this time. But Eusebius writes that he came to Rome about 44, at he beginning of Claudius reign. It seems certain that Rome was evangelized during the period from 43 to 49. Claudius expelled the Jews in 50, because they were growing agitated at the prompting of Chrestos. This shows that discussions between Jews and Judeo-Christians were taking place, leading to conflicts which came to the ear of the emperor. In fact at Corinth in 51 Paul met some converted Jews driven from Rome by Claudius: Aquila and Priscilla. Peter was in Babylon, which was located on the great Roman highway as the next great city to the east of Antioch.
It was in Rome that Peter died. Testimony from the year 170 concerning the graves of the two Apostles at Rome (Peter and Paul) were actually buried in two places in Rome. It has now been officially announced by the Pope that the grave of Peter has been found. It is possible that Rev. 11:3-13 contains a cryptic account of the martyrdom of Paul and Peter in Rome. That this passage is both historic and prophetic is evident. The historical aspect of it may be a reference to the death of Paul and Peter in Rome, though this text seems to point primarily to a future fulfillment.
Near the close of the gospel of John there is a hint given as to the manner of Peter’s death. It agrees with the tradition which has been long with us that Nero had Peter crucified head-downward on the Vatican Hill. It says, ‘As long as you were young, you girded yourself and went wherever you chose, but when you become ole, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ The phrase ‘stretching out of the hands’ (John 21:18) may indicate the manner of execution, which is crucifixion.
Maliciously condemned, Peter was cast into the horrible, fetid prison of the Mamertine. There, for nine months, in absolute darkness, he endured monstrous torture manacled to a post. Never before or since has there been a dungeon of equal horror. Historians write of it as being the most fearsome on the brutal agenda of mankind. Over three thousand years old, it is probably the oldest torture chamber extant, the oldest remaining monument of bestiality of ancient Rome, a bleak testimony to its barbaric inhumanity of its murdered victims. It cam be seen to this day, with the dungeon and the pillar to which Peter was bound in chains.
Paul is therefore said to have been beheaded at Rome, and Peter to have been crucified under him. And this account is confirmed by the fact, that the names of Peter and Paul still remain in the cemeteries of that city even to this day. Both suffered martyrdom about the same time, Dionysius bishop of Corinth bears the following testimony, in his discourse addressed to the Romans. “Thus, likewise you, by means of this admonition, have mingled the flourishing seed that had been planted by Peter and Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of these having planted us at Corinth, likewise instructed us; and having in like manner taught in Italy, they suffered martyrdom about the same time.”
Peter’s body was embalmed by Marcellunus the Presbyter after the Jewish manner, then buried in the Vatican near the Triumphal Way. Over his body a small Messianic Church was erected. Peter’s body was removed to the cemetery in the Appian Way, 2 miles from Rome where it rested obscurely until the Reign of Constantine who rebuilt and enlarged the Vatican to the honor of Peter. They say Peter’s body was slender of a middle size inclining to tallness. His complexion pail and almost white. His beard curled and thick but short. His eyes black but flecked with red due to frequent weeping. Eye brows thin or none at all.

Philip

How did a Jew get such a name as the Greek, “Philip”? The name means “Lover of horses.” In the first century there was a local King in the province of Ituraea called, “Philip the Tetrarch”, who raised the status of Bethsaida to be the capital of the province. Philip the Apostle was probably named in honor of the Tetrarch, who had, some ten years before the future Apostle’s birth, done so much for that region and Bethsaida where he was born. The Greek influence in Philip’s life and ministry is most significant. Budge says Philip was of the tribe of Zebulon.
Y’Shua found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me!” (Jn. 1:43). Philip went out immediately to find his friend Nathaniel. It was Philip who later introduced certain Greeks to Y’Shua (Jn. 12:20-33). It is impressive that all the references to Philip are in John’s gospel. John was a fellow Galilean, who lived in the neighboring village of Capernaum on the shore of the sea. He was, no doubt, a close friend to Philip.
Collected traditions about the Apostles from people who had known them, tells us in particular that the daughters of Philip spoke in Hierapolis where Philip lived. Two of his daughters had remained virgins and also died at Hierapolis; the others married and one died at Ephesus. The Turkish city of Hierapolis is where Philip’s tomb is still to be found. Philip was able to minister effectively in this Roman-Greek city, and died there. He was ideally suited for a ministry to those who spoke Greek, and died in an area that was at that time still largely Greek in culture, though ruled by Rome.
The Montanist Proclus argued that the tombs of the four daughters of Philip, all prophetesses in the N.T. times, were still to be seen at Hierapolis in Asia. Hierapolis is close to Laodicea and Colossae, both Biblical cities. Colossae, which is 16 miles from Hierapolis, was the location of a highly developed Messianic Church during the lifetime of Paul and the location of the church to which Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians. Philip preached in Scythia (southern Russia) and eventually returned to Asia Minor, where he would have been in proximity to his old friend John who was located in Ephesus. John, in the book of Revelation, refers to the Messianic Church of Laodicians, which was just six miles form Philip’s place of ministry in Hierapolis
Philip, as a missionary to the Galatians, a voluminous writer of great learning… he had also a trained and cultivated mind. Philip of the city Bethsaida, whence also came Peter, preach Y’Shua to the Gauls, and brought barbarous and neighboring nations, seated in darkness and close to the swelling ocean, to the light of knowledge and port of faith. Afterwards he was stoned, pierced through the thighs and crucified upside down, and died in Hierapolis, a city of Phrgia, and having been buried with his corpse upright along with his daughters rest there. Upper Asia with the Gospel, and at length at Hierapolis at the age of 87 to have undergone martyrdom.
To the Galatians must be corrected in the place of ‘to the Gauls.’ In 825-851 it was written by Freculphus: “Philip of the City of Bethsaida whence also came Peter, of whom in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles praiseworthy mention is often made, whose daughters also were outstanding prophetesses, and of wonderful sanctify and perpetual virginity, as ecclesiastical history narrates, preached Y’Shua to the Gauls.”
One says Crescents is in Gaul. In it must not be read, ‘in Galatia’ as some have falsely thought, but ‘in Gaul.’ Pere Longeval remarks that this sentiment was so general in the East, that Theodoret who read ‘in Galatia’ did not fail to understand ‘Gaul’ because as a matter of fact the Greeks gave this name to Gaul, and the Galatians had only thus been named because they were a colony of Gauls.
Pope John the Third (560-572) acquired the body of Philip from Hierapolis and interred it in a church in Rome. He called it, ‘The Church of the Holy Apostles Philip and James.

Simon the Zealot

Simon was also called Canaanite, or Cananaean, or Zealot. He received his call to the apostleship along with Andrew and Peter, the sons of Zebedee, Thaddaeus and Judas Iscariot at the Sea of Tiberias (Matt. 4:18-22).
Simon was a Zealot. This movement was the extreme and violent Jewish nationalist party which sought to drive the hated Romans out of Palestine by revolution and guerrilla warfare. He was also certainly an idealistic revolutionary. The fate of this party of the Zealots was bloody indeed. It was mainly responsible for the revolt of A.D. 68-70 which brought down the walls of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple by Vespasian and Titus in 70 A.D. The last stand of the Zealots was at Masada in 71 A.D. where their final outpost of defiance saw the suicide of hundreds of Jews, after a long siege conducted by the Roman general Silva. Masada, a remote fortress in the sky overlooks the Dead Sea in one of the most desolate spots in the Holy Land. Herod the Great fortified it as a place of refuge which could not be easily taken. Only by building a huge earthen ramp was the plateau finally assaulted by the Romans who found only three people alive. Masada is a synonym for heroism to the Jewish people somewhat like the Alamo is to Texans and for a similar reason, except that the defense of the Alamo was conducted to gain time for General Sam Houston’s army, whereas the defense of Masada was simply an act of heroic and hopeless defiance, the decision on the part of the Zealots to die rather than to endure Roman slavery.
The Zealots were nationalist fanatics but many were also pure idealist. Simon apparently was more of an idealist than a nationalist and when the supreme idealist of Y’Shua was presented to him he forsook the lesser for the greater.
He is said to have diverted his journey towards Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Matania, and Lybia. Nor could the coldness of the climate benumb his zeal or hinder him from shipping himself over into the Western Islands, even to Britain itself. He was the next missionary after Joseph to go to Britain in the year A.D. 60 during the first year of the Boadicean war. Then the whole island was convulsed in a deep, burning anger against the Romans, which was never equaled before or after in the long years of conflict between the two nations. Tacitus states that from A.D. 59 to 62 the brutalities of war were at their worst. Atrocities occurred on both sides, but the Romans carried their vicious perpetrations to such an extent that even Rome was shocked. Bearing this in mind we can readily understand that any Christian evangelizing outside the British shield would be fraught with imminent danger. At all times the disciples were oblivious to danger, but when the pressure became too severe invariable they fled the land until matters quiet down. In the year A.D. 44 a Claudian Edict expelled the Christian leaders from Rome. Many of them sought sanctuary in Britain. Among those who fled to Britain from Rome was Peter.
The south of England was sparsely inhabited by the native Britons and consequently more heavily populated by the Romans. It was far beyond the strong protective shield of the Silurian arms in the south and the powerful northern Yorkshire Celts. In this dangerous territory Simon was definitely on his own. Undeterred, with infinite courage, he began preaching the gospel right in the heart of the Roman domain.
Much of the most famed of British metals in the days before the Roman occupation was tin. The vivid accounts of overland pack-horse transport of Cornish tin from the Gallic cost to Narbo (Narbonne) in the first century B.E., and of the island emporium on the British coast, from which merchants obtained it, all speak of a brisk and flourishing early trade.
Prasutagus expired in 61, seven years before Nero committed suicide. Now Nero’s policy was from the first averse to recognition being granted to tribal kings likely to stand between Rome and the subject peoples Rome had conquered. Simon preached for a time in England. Britain was first invaded by Julius Caesar. While this attempt at conquest did not last, it definitely demonstrates a Roman presence eighty years before the permanent takeover of Britain by the Romans under Claudius in A.D. 43.
Simon ministered to people with whom he could converse. This would be the Greek, and Latin speaking Roman troops and their friends and families.
After he had preached the gospel in Egypt he went to Mesopotamia, where he met with Jude and together with him took his journey into Persia, they were both crowned with martyrdom. The Menology of the Greek Church celebrates Simon’s Day on May 10.
Though we do not know of any lasting organization from the effort of Simon, it is possible that a few believers won by him continued to worship and win others.
Simon in leaving Jerusalem and traveled first to Egypt and then through North Africa to Carthage, from there to Spain and north to Britain, then from Glastonbury to London, which was by that time the capital of the new Roman conquest. There he would have preached in Latin to members of the Roman community. There is no historical proof that a Jewish church was founded in London.
Simon fled toward the south of England, then he embarked upon a ship to return to Palestine, because it was obvious that the disruption of the Roman peace made England at that time a doubtful filed for the proclamation of the gospel. In other words, Simon witnessed and preached but because of unsettled conditions, was forced to retire.
The next strong tradition finds Simon in Persia in company with Jude with whom he was martyred. They were thought to have preached together in Syria and Mesopotamia traveling as far as Persia and to have been martyred, Simon being sawn asunder and Jude killed with a halberd.
According to the Roman Catholic tradition the bodies of Jude and Simon are buried together, the bones being intermixed, the major tomb being in Peter’s in Rome, with fragments in the church of Saturninis, Tolosa, Spain, Sernin, Toulouse, France and until World War 11 in the monastery chapel of Norber, Cologne, Germany.

Jude Thaddaeus

Judas is simply the Greek form of Judah, Jude is the Latin form of Judah. Jerome called this Judas, ‘Trionius,’ which means, the man with three names. In Matthew 10:3 he is called ‘Lebbaeus’ whose surname was ‘Thaddaeus’. In Mark 3:18 he is called ‘Thaddaeus, Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 refers to him as, ‘Judas the son of James.’ I found two translations of Luke 6:16 saying ‘brother’ rather than ‘son.’ In the Greek it merely says, ‘Judas of James’ but the common meaning of this is ‘son of.’
James the Great, sometimes called James the Elder, as the father of Judas. Judas Thaddaeus Lebbaeus as the grandson of Zebedee and the nephew of John the Apostle. The name Thaddaeus may be a diminutive of Theudas or Theodore, derived from the Aramaic known tad which means breast and which would mean dear or beloved, that is, one closer to the heart of the one who named him. The other name, Lebbaeus, may be a derivation of the Hebrew known leb, which means heart, and in that cast it would bear the same meaning as Thaddaeus.
Jude according to the Book of the Bee, he was of the tribe of Judah as befits a man whose name is the Greek form of Judah. Jerome identifies this same Thaddaeus with Lebbaeus and Judas of James. The Church of the East in India confirms the movement of Jude from Jerusalem eastward. This church makes a claim that the leaven which they used in their communion bread is made from the Holy Leaven…a portion of the original bread used by Y’Shua at the Last Passover was brought to the East by the Apostle Thaddaeus. The bread of the L-rd’s Passover could not have been made with leaven, since the Passover celebration was with unleavened bread as a commanded by the Mosaic Law, according to Ex. 12:15. Thus we cannot accept the tradition that Thaddaeus (Jude) brought the leaven or sour-dough from the original Passover. Nevertheless, the name of the city of Edessa appears in connection with Thaddaeus (Jude) and this as least demonstrates the historical continuity of that association.
Thaddaeus (Jude) preached in Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia. He adds that Thaddaeus (Jude) suffered martyrdom in Syria. The generally accepted chronology gives a period of eight years to the mission of Thaddeus (35-43 A.D.) and sixteen years to that of Bartholomew (44-66 A.D.), both of whom suffered martyrdom in Armenia (Thaddeus at Ardaze in 50 A.D. and Bartholomew at Derbend in 68 A.D.
The first Illuminators of Armenia were Thaddaeus and Bartholomew whose shrines still stand in the churches of Artaz (Macco) and Alpac (Bashkale) in south-east Armenia and have always been venerated by Armenians. The first evangelization of Armenia was Judas Thaddaeus who spent the years 43-66 A.D. in that country and was joined by Bartholomew in the year 60 A.D. The latter was martyred in 68 A.D. at Derbend. A roll of a thousand victims including men and women of noble descent lost their lives with Thaddaeus, while others perished with Bartholomew.
The association of Jude with Persia, where part of the ancient Armenia is found today (the other parts being within Turkey and the Soviet Union) is acknowledged by the Roman Catholic tradition as follows: ‘Jude preached throughout Samaria, Edessa and Mesopotamia and penetrated as far as Persia where he was martyred with a javelin or with arrows or by being tied to a cross. He is pictured as a young or middle age man in sacred art. His relics are widely distributed. Some are in Peter’s, Rome, and others in the Church of Saturninus in Tolosa, Spain.’
On the other hand the Assyrian Church leaders, as well as a major general of the Iranian Army, informed the author during a visit to Teheran (October 16, 1971) that the original tomb of Jude Thaddaeus was in a small village called Kara Kelisa near the Caspian Sea, about 40 miles from Tabriz. This is in Iran, near the Soviet border. This could well be the site of the original tomb of Jude even though it is likely that to keep the relics safe from the invasion of Genghis Khan, the relics themselves may have been moved westward and scattered from Rome to Spain. The tremendous tomb which is built for these relics in Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which is located directly south of the main altar in a side area, attest to the firm belief among the Catholic authorities that some of the genuine relics of Jude are indeed to be found there in Rome to this day.
Jude followed his father into the ranks of the Apostles from the place near Capernaum where they were engaged in fishing. He may have had a close alliance with the Seventy who were also disciples of Y’Shua. But he had as well, a firm position as one of the Twelve. After the resurrection Thaddaeus is listed in the official roster of the Apostles (Acts 1:10). He was present on the day of Pentecost. He was one of the first Apostles to leave Jerusalem for a foreign country. Jude became one of the first Apostles to witness directly to a foreign king, a Gentile He spent his years of evangelistic effort in Syria and Northern Persia and his relics are now to be found in Rome and Tolosa, Spain.

James, Son of Zebedee

We know the least about James but that he was the first of the Apostles of Y’Shua to become a martyr. James was the elder brother of John and with John he was a partner with Andrew and Peter in the fishing trade along with Zebedee, his father. They owned several boats and employed hired servants, and therefore, this fishing company must have been quite affluent. There is also some evidence that James was a first cousin to Y’Shua and had been acquainted with Him since infancy.
James is referred to as being present at the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law at Capernaum. Following this he was ordained as one of the twelve disciples of Y’Shua. James life was cut off while the Messianic Church was young. He was known as Sons of Thunder, was bestowed on them when they were first called to the discipleship. James was murdered by King Herod Agrippa 1, about the year 44 A.D., shortly before Herod’s own death. The account is found in Acts 12:1-2. James fulfills the prophecy of Y’Shua that he too should drink of the cup of his Master.
It was not until 1879 that the bones were found again, behind the High Altar, a sensational discovery causing one of the workmen to faint and become temporarily blind. Elaborate tests were applied to the mingled remains of James and his two disciples, and the skeleton of the apostle was identified with the help of a missing portion preserved in a reliquary in the cathedral of Pistoya.
We can assume with reasonable certainty that James died in the year of 44, since he was executed in Jerusalem during the rule of Herod Agrippa 1 (Acts 12, 2). Thus his original grave must have been situated near Jerusalem. In the year 614 the Persians occupied the Byzantine territories in Syria and Palestine, and some scholars believe that the body of James was brought to Galicia at the time.
The miraculous discovery of the relics of James in Santiago occurred in the first quarter of the ninth century (791-842, and before the year of 842), that is before the first destruction of the shrine of St. Menas, but at a time when there must already have been some concern for its security, the ninth century at the very latest. The best of the Bible encyclopedias (ISBE) indicates James was slain by Herod Agrippa 1 about 44 A.D.
The Encyclopedia Britannica affirms James’ official martyrdom about 14 years after the death of Messiah, (Acts 12:2) under Herod Agrippa 1, the grandson of Herod the Great. It adds, ‘there is a tradition open to serious difficulties and not unanimously admitted, that James preached the gospel in Spain and that after his death his body was transported to Compostela. The resultant death of James, after his preaching career of 14 years due to a mere suspicion of illegal activities was a hallmark of all the Herods. ’
After the ascension of the Messiah, James preach the Gospel in Judea; then he travelled over the whole world, and came at last to Spain, where he made very few converts by reason of the ignorance and darkness of the people. He became the patron saint of the Spaniards, and Compostela, as a place of pilgrimage, was renowned throughout Europe. According to the Spanish legend, James was the son of Zebedee, an illustrious baron of Galilee, who, being the proprietor of ships, was accustomed to fish along the shores of a certain lake called Genesareth, but solely for his good pleasure and recreation. It is entirely possible that a number of Jewish slaves in Spain were indeed converted to Y’Shua by James, and have based on this their miraculous tales concerning the visit of James which might well have been the foundation of a later association of James with Spain. Such visit was entirely in character with what we know of the personality of James. He was a zealous Jew who could have been filled with compassion for the salvation of those doubly unfortunate Jewish slaves in Spain. He would have wanted them for the Messiah and have felt keenly their separation from the main body of Israel.
James is not mentioned in the Gospel of John, a fact of especial interest if we accept John, the brother of James, as its author. The Gospel of John is the only source of information about Philip, Andrew, and Nathanael Bartholomew. John tells nothing of James, his brother, and conceals his own identity under the cloak of the ‘beloved disciple.’ Apocryphal literature states: “Zebedee was if the house of Levi, and his wife of the house of Judah. Now, because the father of James loved him greatly he counted him among the family of his father Levi, and similarly because the mother of John loved him greatly, she counted him among the family of her father Judah. And they were surnamed “Children of Thunder, for they were both the priestly house and of the royal house.