The Apostle Simon the Zealot was from Cana of Galilee, and he was one of the Twelve Apostles (Mt 10:4).  The name of Simon occurs in all the passages of the Gospel and also in the Acts of the Apostles, in which a list of the Apostles is given.  He should not be confused with Simeon or Simon, the brother of James the Less and first cousin of the Lord.  To distinguish him from St. Peter, who is called Simon Peter, he is called (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18) Kananaios, or Kananites, and Zelotes (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13).  Both surnames have the same signification and are a translation of the Hebrew qana (the Zealous).  The name does not signify that he belonged to the party of Zealots, but that he had zeal for the Jewish law, which he practiced before his call.  The first miracle which the Savior worked, changing water into wine (Jn 2:1-11), occurred at the house of Simon during his wedding feast.  When the wine ran out, the Lord, at the prompting of the Theotokos, transformed water into wine.  Struck by the miracle, the bridegroom believed in Jesus as the promised Messiah with all his heart and soul. 

Little is known of the life of St. Simon.  Tradition tells us that St. Simon was crucified and received the crown of martyrdom at Abkhazia on the Black Sea.  He was buried at the city of Nikopsia thirteen miles from Sukhum.  Afterwards (in the nineteenth century), at the place where the holy Apostle Simon struggled near Mount Iveria, the New Athos monastery of Simon the Canaanite was established. The cave wherein the holy Apostle Simon struggled is preserved.  Almost all the lands of the then known world, even as far as Britain, have been mentioned as places evangelized by him.  According to one Orthodox tradition, St. Simon preached on the Black Sea, in Egypt, Northern Africa, and Britain. 

We commemorate St. Simon on May 10^th and also with the Synaxis of the twelve Apostles on June 30^th.

While we have little to say of his life, unlike some of the Apostles, it is most significant that the first miracle of Christ was at Simon’s wedding.  Many of the church fathers say that this shows how important marriage is to God.  One aspect of our Divine image and likeness is the community that exists in the Trinity.  It is this community of the Trinity – Christ, husband and wife – in marriage where it is expressed miraculously.  Seeing the wonder of the changing of water into wine, made Simon realize that he was in the presence of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Promised One of the Prophets.  He followed Jesus without question.  We might be tempted to say or at least think that we have never encountered such a miracle, so while it was easy for Simon, we need something else; we need more.  The reality is that we encounter miracles every day.  We receive the Body and Blood of our Lord.  Children are born.  People are healed through Holy Unction.  People meet the saints, after the saints have reposed.  As we learn more about the universe in which we live, we see the vastness and beauty both at the macroscopic and microscopic levels.  Regardless of where we look, there is an order, a structure.  Order and structure are hallmarks of intelligence, and of miraculous beauty.  They are the undeniable mark of the Hand of God and as such they are all miraculous.  So instead of mourning that we could not witness the miracles of Christ while He dwelt among us or of seeking after our own image of miracles, let us all realize that life is the true miracle.  It is the Gift of the Holy Spirit and we all share in it.

May all glory hone and worship be unto You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas St. Thomas was a Jew who was born in the Galilean city of Pansada and was a fisherman, like many of the other Apostles.  Hearing the good tidings of Jesus Christ, he left all and followed after Him.  Thomas is mentioned by the three Synoptics (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6, cf. Acts 1:13), but in St. John he has a very distinctive part.  First, when Jesus announced His intention of returning to Judea to visit Lazarus, "Thomas" who is called Didymus or the twin, said to his fellow disciples: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).  Again it was St. Thomas who during the discourse before the Last Supper raised an objection: "Thomas said to him: Lord, we know not whither You go; and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5).  But St. Thomas is best known for his role in verifying the Resurrection of his Master.  He is remembered for his incredulity when the other Apostles announced Christ's Resurrection to him: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25); but eight days later he made his act of faith, drawing down the rebuke of Jesus: "Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed" (John 20:29).  St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus - at Lake Tiberias when a miraculous catch of fish occurred. 

According to Church Tradition, the holy Apostle Thomas founded Christian churches in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Ethiopia and India.  Preaching the Gospel earned him a martyr's death.  For having converted the wife and son of the governor of the Indian city of Meliapur [Melipur], the holy apostle was locked up in prison, suffered torture, and finally, pierced with five spears, he departed to the Lord.  The name of the Apostle Thomas is associated with the Arabian (or Arapet) Icon of the Mother of God, which the Orthodox Church commemorates on September 6^th.

According to one tradition, after the Ascension, the Apostles divided their labors and India fell to the lot of Thomas, but he declared his inability to go.  Thereupon, his Jesus appeared in a supernatural way to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor, an Indian king, and sold Thomas to him to be his slave and serve Gundafor as a carpenter.  Then Abban and Thomas sailed away until they came to Andrapolis, where they landed and attended the marriage feast of the ruler's daughter.  Strange occurrences followed and Christ under the appearance of Thomas exhorted the bride to remain a Virgin.  Coming to India Thomas undertook to build a palace for Gundafor, but he spent the money entrusted to him on the poor.  Gundafor imprisoned him; but the Apostle escaped miraculously and Gundafor was converted.  Going about the country to preach, Thomas met with many strange adventures.  Then he came to the city of King Misdai (Syriac Mazdai), where he converted Tertia the wife of Misdai and Vazan his son.  After this he was condemned to death, led out of city to a hill, and pierced through with spears by four soldiers.  He was buried in the tomb of the ancient kings but his remains were afterwards removed to the West.

What is certainly remarkable is the fact that about the year A.D. 46 a king was reigning over that part of Asia south of Himalayas now represented by Afghanistan, Baluchistan, the Punjab, and Sind, who bore the name Gondophernes or Guduphara.  This we know both from the discovery of coins, some of the Parthian type with Greek legends, others of the Indian types with the legends in an Indian dialect in Kharoshthi characters.  Further we have the evidence of the Takht-i-Bahi inscription, which is dated and which the best specialists accept as establishing the King Gunduphara probably began to reign about A.D.  20 and was still reigning in 46.  While it may be easy to doubt the traditions and legends, the archeological evidence supports the tradition.  In addition, the tradition that St. Thomas preached in "India" was widely spread in both East and West and is to be found in such writers as Ephraem Syrus, Ambrose, Paulinus, Jerome, and, later Gregory of Tours and others.  In that region is still to be found a granite bas-relief cross with a Pahlavi (ancient Persian) inscription dating from the seventh century, and the tradition that it was here that St. Thomas laid down his life is locally very strong.  It is also true that on the Malabar or west coast of southern India a body of Christians still exists using a form of Syriac for its liturgical language.  They are known throughout the Christian world as the “St. Thomas Christians”. The relics of St. Thomas were certainly at Edessa in the fourth century, and there they remained until they were translated to Chios in 1258 and towards to Ortona.  Today, the relics of the holy Apostle Thomas are in India, in Hungary and on Mt. Athos.

In his homily on the Gospel passage where Thomas says, “my Lord and my God", St. John Chrysostom wrote, “Thomas, being once weaker in faith than the other apostles, toiled through the grace of God more bravely, more zealously and tirelessly than them all, so that he went preaching over nearly all the earth, not fearing to proclaim the Word of God to savage nations."  It is fitting that we discuss the Apostle Thomas on this Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.  Another tradition holds that when it was nearing the time for the Virgin to fall asleep in the Lord, she called all the Apostles to her side.  They all came from the far ends of the earth, save for Thomas.  He received the message a bit late.  Arriving at her tomb some three days after her repose he had the stone rolled away so he might kiss her one last time.  But the tomb was filled with flowers.  The body of the Theotokos was gone.  Thomas was witness to another great miracle.  Thomas was truly impetuous and he gave us the term doubting Thomas, but his faith and his dedication can never be doubted.  He is an example for us in that though we might have doubts about our faith, they are easily dispelled by Christ.  We only need to gaze upon Him and accept Him into our hearts and minds and say, “My Lord and My God”.

As I have mentioned before, one great advantage of traveling by auto is reading signs that can be used as sermon inspiration.  In traveling, another source for sermons is to borrow the basic idea from another priest.  So with the latter thought in mind, I would like to begin a series on those men who spent 3 years of their lives following the Lord and learning at His side.  Of course I am referring to the Apostles.  We will discuss the eleven faithful men and also Matthias, the replacement for Judas Iscariot.  Let’s begin with a James – specifically James the Less.

The descriptor of the Less comes from an unfortunate literal translation of the Greek.  It has no bearing on his position among the Apostles nor does it refer to his abilities.  The name simply refers to the fact that James the Less was shorter in stature and younger than James the Greater.  It would seem that his designation is one of human rather than Divine.  James was the son of Alphaeus and Mary.  There were many James and Marys in the first century and it is easy to confuse them.  Eusebius the 2^nd century church historian states that his mother was Mary was the wife of Cleophas, one of the myrrh bearing women.  Cleophas was apparently the second name of Alphaeus.  This would make James a cousin of Jesus.  Eusebius also wrote that tradition held that James the Less as cousin of Jesus bore a remarkable resemblance to Jesus and this is why Judas Iscariot had to kiss Jesus for the guards to know Who He was.  James was also the brother of Matthew Levi, the Evangelist.  From the second name of Matthew we can conclude that he was of the tribe of Levi the priests.  We know that Matthew was a tax collector and as such was despised by the Jews.  How this effected James is unknown.

James left us no writings by which to identify him, nor did he have any disciples who would write about him.  What we do know is that he was a great orator who traveled about the near east preaching the Gospel to all.  He was prominent when the fires of Christianity were first ignited and were maintained by the preaching of the Apostles and their disciples and by the blood of the martyrs.  Tradition says that James was responsible for establishing the church in Syria and may have lead it for a time.  We know that the Roman government and the Israelites were determined to crush this movement and one of their targets was James.  He traveled from catacomb to catacomb and when capture was a certainty he simply vanished.  We of today should not be astonished by this nor should we be skeptical.  There are Gospel accounts of Christ disappearing from the midst of a hostile crowd.  And when the Ethiopian eunuch was in dire need of guidance when reading Isaiah, Philip appeared with him and then disappeared.  We should never forget that all things are possible for God.

On one occasion Albinus the governor of Syria was assured that the capture of James was imminent.  When he was informed that the house where James was purported to be was crowded with people, he instructed the centurion to take many troops with him and capture James.  James eluded capture.  At this time, Albinus received a communiqué that his daughter, Gaiae, was deathly ill.  She was only six and was the light of his life.  He rushed home but when he arrived and saw the tears on his wife’s face he knew that Gaiae was gone.  He returned to the governor’s palace and fought to keep his emotions in check.  While he sat, one of the praetorian guards came in and announced that a man had given himself up who identified himself as James the Less.  Albinus ordered that he be brought in.  What Albinus saw before him was a beggar dressed in rags who had a terrible body odor about him.  James stated that he was James the Less.  Albinus then asked him before I send you to your doom, why have you come and James answered that he knew Albinus needed him.  James informed him that he knew his daughter had died and he had come to raise her from her deathbed.  Many times during his travels, James had invoked the power of the Risen Lord to heal and to raise the dead through the Mercy of Christ.  When James came to the house of Albinus and prayed over Gaiae, she was raised from the dead.  It was fortuitous that James had arrived when he did because the emperor Claudius had issued a decree that all soothsayers and such were to be sent to Rome so that the son of the emperor could be healed his disease.  James was sent to Rome where he did indeed heal the son of Claudius.  From there he traveled back to the near east.

For nearly 30 years, James preached that only through Jesus could one enter paradise.  James lived to about 66 years.  Eventually, the government caught up with him and he was crucified and in the 62^nd year of our Lord, James was crucified on October 9^th.  James does not have the historical stature of a Peter or a Paul, but he never sought accolades for himself.  He preached tirelessly and brought many former pagans to the Christian faith.  He helped to establish churches throughout Syria.  He brought about many miracles of healing and also of raising the dead.  All of this he did because of his absolute faith in his Master, our Lord.  All of this he could accomplish because of the message he brought was not his own but the one he received from the Messiah Himself.  For those of us living almost 2000 years later, this latter accomplishment is our goal.  When we speak and teach, let us speak and teach not of ourselves.  Let us bring the lessons of the Saviour to all we meet by how we live our lives and in what we say.  And when we do respond to questions, let us recall the words of Christ, which his Apostles followed throughout the rest of their lives, And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say." Luke 12:11-12

This morning we will continue our examination of the Apostles.  Today let’s discuss Matthew, who is also called Levi.  Matthew was the brother of James the Less whom we learned about last week.  From the name Levi, like his brother James, we know that he was of the priestly caste – the descendants of the tribe of Levi.  These people were given no allotment of land when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, but were distributed among the tribes.  This ensured that sacrifice could be performed for atonement of sins throughout Israel and Judah.  Those who were not centered about Jerusalem became unnecessary after the 7^th century BC, when under King Ahab, sacrifice was outlawed except in the temple in Jerusalem.  Matthew was a tax collector in Capharnaum.  One day Jesus was walking and saw the tax collector named Matthew sitting at a tax collection post, and said to him, "Follow me." And Matthew stood up and followed Him, and became one of His twelve apostles. (See M 9:9-13 = P 2:13-17 = L 5:27-32) Tax collectors in those days were social outcasts. Devout Jews avoided them because they were usually dishonest (the job carried no salary, and they were expected to make their profits by cheating the people from whom they collected taxes). Patriotic and nationalistic Jews hated them because they were agents of the Roman government, the conquerors, and hated them with a double hatred if (like Matthew) they were Jews, because they had gone over to the enemy, had betrayed their own people for money. Thus, throughout the Gospels, we find tax collectors (publicans) mentioned as a standard type of sinful and despised outcast. Matthew brought many of his former associates to meet Jesus, and social outcasts in general were shown that the love of Jesus extended even to them.  The name "Matthew" means "gift of the Lord." Mark and Luke, in the story of his calling, name him "Levi."  The name Matthew is derived from the Hebrew Mattija, being shortened to Mattai in post-Biblical Hebrew. In Greek it is sometimes seen as Maththaios.  Matthew is spoken of five times in the New Testament and is one of its authors.

Matthew's Gospel is given pride of place in the canon of the New Testament, and was written to convince Jewish readers that their anticipated Messiah had come in the person of Jesus. The entire first chapter gives the Jewish genealogy of Jesus.  The Gospel was written to fill a sorely-felt want for his fellow countrymen, both believers and unbelievers. For the former, it served as a token of his regard and as an encouragement in the trial to come, especially the danger of falling back to Judaism; for the latter, it was designed to convince them that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus, our Lord, in Whom all the promises of the Messianic Kingdom embracing all people had been fulfilled in a spiritual rather than in a carnal way: "My Kingdom is not of this world." His Gospel, then, answered the question put by the disciples of St. John the Baptist, "Are You He Who is to come, or shall we look for another?"  St. Matthew composed his Gospel in his native Aramaic, the "Hebrew tongue" mentioned in the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.  The actual date of the Gospel can not be determined, but St. Matthew’s makes references to the Temple and the sacrifices at the Altar in the Jewish Temple.  From this we can deduce that the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy had not come.  Therefore, the Gospel was written prior to 70 AD, the accepted date for the destruction of the Temple.

Of Matthew's life after Pentecost the Scriptures tell us nothing.  Early church fathers tell us that he preached among the Jews for 15 years.  Soon after authoring the Gospel, about the time of the persecution of Herod Agrippa I in 42 AD, he took his departure for other lands.  Tradition says that he traveled to the Jewish enclave in Ethiopia, and places in the East such as Parthia and Persia.  While in Ethiopia, St. Matthew unmasked two magicians, who were worshiped as gods, triumphed over the magicians' dragons and resurrected the daughter of King Hegesippus, who was thus converted.

Toward the end of St. Matthew’s life, Jesus appeared to him as a child and told him that he was soon to depart this life.  Jesus told him that he would always be with Matthew.  He instructed Matthew to go to Bishop Plato and to exorcise the demon from the wife of King Fulvanus.  When he did this, the demon went to the king and transformed itself in the form of a soldier.  He convinced the king that his wife was more interested in St. Matthew that in the king.  The demon told King Fulvanus that he could not kill St. Matthew nor could he even look him in the face because the saint had exorcised many demons through the Word of the Lord.  In a rage, the king had St. Matthew brought in and informed him he would be burned alive.  He was lead to the seashore.  The apostle exhorted the brethren to remain undismayed, and that they should rejoice, and accompany him with great meekness, singing and praising God, because they were deemed worthy to have the relics of the apostle. Having therefore come to the place, the executioners, like most evil wild beasts, pinned down to the ground Matthew's hands and feet with long nails; and having done everything as they had been bid, applied the fire.  And Matthew, having looked up to heaven, cried out, ADONAI ELOI SABAOTH MARMARI MARMUNTH; that is, O God the Father, O Lord Jesus Christ, deliver me, and burn down their gods which they worship; and let the fire also pursue the king even to his palace, but not to his destruction: for perhaps he will repent and be converted. And when he saw the fire to be monstrous in height, the king, thinking that Matthew was burnt up, laughed aloud, and said: Has thy magic been of any avail to thee, Matthew? Can thy Jesus now give thee any help? And as he said this a dreadful wonder appeared; for all the fire along with the wood went away froth Matthew, and was poured round about their gods, so that nothing of the gold or the silver was any more seen; and the king fled, and said: Woe's me, that my gods are destroyed by the rebuke of Matthew, of which the weight was a thousand talents of gold and a thousand talents of silver. Better are the gods of stone and of earthenware, in that they are neither melted nor stolen.  And when the fire had thus utterly destroyed their gods, and burnt up many soldiers, there came to pass again another stranger wonder. For the fire, in the likeness of a great and dreadful dragon, chased the tyrant as far as the palace, and ran hither and thither round the king, not letting him go into the palace. And the king, chased by the fire, and not allowed to go into his palace, turned back to where Matthew was, and cried out, saying: I beseech thee, whoever thou art, O mail, whether magician or sorcerer or god, or angel of God, whom so great a pyre has not touched, remove from me this dreadful and fiery dragon; forget the evil I have done, as also when thou made me receive my sight. And Matthew, having rebuked the fire, and the flames having been extinguished, and the dragon having become invisible, stretching his eyes to heaven, and praying in Hebrew, and commending his spirit to the Lord, said: Peace to you! And having glorified the Lord, he went to his rest about the sixth hour.  Afterward, King Fulvanus had the saint’s body placed on a bed and brought to the castle.  When the king saw that the saints body and tunic were unmarked by the fire, he realized that the God of the Christians was indeed the only God.  He was given the name Matthew in Baptism.  His wife was given the name Sophia.  Bishop Plato ordained the king as a priest and on the repose of Bishop Plato, the king succeeded the bishop.

Our history of saints is replete with stories of miraculous deaths that result in conversions of the executioner.  We should not be skeptical nor should we be amused.  We have all heard the expression, “God works in mysterious ways”.  Many of us have experienced His mysterious ways in our own lives.  The church has always preached that the blood of the martyrs is the source of life for the church.  Whether, the martyr is one who actually experiences the martyr’s death, or is one who as a monastic becomes dead to the world, these individuals help the church grow.  For any who would doubt, look at Russia.  During the 75 years of Communism, the government did all it could to destroy the church.  Lenin stated that when the old babas die, the church will die along with them.  We know that there were more martyrs under the Communist yoke in the 20^th century that in all previous centuries combined.  And today, the churches are filled; the seminaries and convents are filled.  We here in the US can learn from the spirituality of the Russian people.  The blood of the first Christian martyrs are what nourished the fledgling church in the first three centuries.

In his homily on the Apostle Matthew the Saint Bede the Venerable said, "Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: Follow me." Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men."  He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: "Follow me." This following meant imitating the pattern of his life - not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: "Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."  "And he rose and followed him." There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew's assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.

Christ summons us in the same way.  Our vocation is to follow Him, no matter where Christ leads us.

This morning let’s continue our exploration of the lives of the 12 Apostles.  Today we will learn about the Apostle Jude, not to be confused with Judas Iscariot or The Apostle Jude of the 70.  The holy Apostle Jude, of the number of the twelve Apostles of Christ, descended from the line of King David through King Solomon and was the son of the righteous Joseph the Betrothed by his first wife.  Saint Jude is the author of the catholic or general Epistle that bears his name.  The Apostle Jude had other names also: the Evangelist Matthew calls him "Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus" (Matthew 10:3); the holy Evangelist Mark also calls him Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18); while in the Acts of the Holy Apostles, he is mentioned under the name of Barsabas (Acts 15:22).  At that time this was customary.  In the Acts of the Apostles (9:36), we read of the disciple Tabitha, a seamstress who becomes ill and reposes.  St. Peter raises her from her deathbed.  The passage states that Tabitha means Dorcas and some translations go farther and say that these mean Gazelle.  Today, in our multicultural society, it is quite common to have people who have multiple names, all of which are the same, e.g. Jorge or George; Stephan or Stephen, Petro or Peter and so on.  The name Jude is a variant of Judah, which means "Praise."

 The holy Apostle John the Theologian writes in his Gospel: For neither did his brethren believe in him (John 7:5).  Hierarch Theophilact, the Archbishop of Bulgaria, explains these words thusly: at the beginning of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sons of Joseph, including also Jude, did not believe in His Divine essence.  Tradition indicates that when the righteous Joseph the Betrothed, on having returned from Egypt, began to divide the land belonging to him among his sons, he desired to allot a part also to Christ the Saviour, Who was born supernaturally and incorruptibly of the Most Pure Virgin Mary.  The brethren opposed this, and only the eldest of them, James, accepted Jesus Christ in the joint ownership of his share and for this was called the Brother of the Lord.  Later, Jude believed in Christ the Saviour as the awaited Messiah, turned to Him with his whole heart and was chosen by Him to be one of His closest twelve disciples.  But the Apostle Jude, remembering his sin, considered himself unworthy to be called the brother of the Lord and in his catholic epistle names himself simply the brother of James. 

 After the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jude was one of the first apostles to leave Jerusalem for a foreign country.  In fact, it is believed that Jude was one of the first apostles to witness directly to a foreign king, a Gentile.  He spread the faith in Christ at first in Judaea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumaea, and afterwards in the lands of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia and came, finally, to the area of Armenia associated with the city of Edessa.  Tradition tells us that he likely traveled to Edessa in the company perhaps of the apostle Bartholomew, and for a brief time, with the apostle Thomas.  Here he completed the work of catechesis that had been started by his predecessor, the Apostle of the seventy Thaddaeus.  Information has been preserved that the holy Apostle Jude went to Persia to preach and thence wrote his catholic epistle in the Greek tongue, in the brief words of which are contained many profound truths.  It contains dogmatic teaching on the Holy Trinity, on the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the difference between the good and the evil angels and on the future Dread Judgment.  In the moral respect, the Apostle persuades believers to keep themselves from carnal impurity, to be correct in their duties, in prayer, faith and love, to convert the erring to the path of salvation, to preserve themselves from the teachings of heretics.  The Apostle Jude teaches that faith alone in Christ is insufficient; essential also are good deeds, appropriate to Christian teaching.  In this he echoes the better-known Epistle of his brother, James, who wrote, “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2:17)

 The holy Apostle Jude died a martyr about the year 80 in Armenia, in the city of Arat, where he was crucified on a cross and pierced with arrows.  He was buried in Kara Kalisa near the Caspian Sea, about 40 miles from Tabriz, in modern day Iran.  We commemorate the Apostle Jude on June 19^th.

 From this brief outline of the life of Saint Jude, we can see a very determined individual.  He was determined to spread the message of eternal salvation that He received personally from his foster brother.  As was true of all the Apostles, Saint Jude was a driven man.  He was driven to Evangelize, regardless of the consequences.  This was no couch potato or armchair warrior or Monday morning quarterback.  Here was a man that took the teachings of Christ to heart and he couldn’t wait to spread these to all that he could.  Few of us have this drive today and few of us have the opportunity to travel and preach as did the Apostles and many of the church saints, both men and women.  This should not cause us to despair or to be disheartened.  As Saint Paul wrote in 1^st Corinthians (12:28), “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.”  There are many roles for us within the Body of Christ, within the Church.  Our responsibility is to find what our own role may be.  If we sit and wait for the Lord to come and tap us on the shoulder, we could wait our whole lives.  We need to ask and ask and ask.  We need to be nudges.  We must almost demand an answer from God.  But we also must be open to hear the answer.  Asking but not listening is not the way to learn our role in the Church.  And, we also must accept that our role grows, matures and sometimes our role changes over time or changes abruptly.  Only God can tell us this.  He may answer directly.  He may tell us through other people.  We may understand it after reading a passage from scripture or after reading one of the church fathers.  Regardless, we must be ready for the call, and we must be willing to follow His lead.

Like the brothers, Peter and Andrew, Philip was a native of Bethsaida on Lake Genesareth.  He was called by our Saviour to follow Him on the day after St. Peter and St. Andrew.  He was at that time a married man, and had several daughters.  Though he was married St. Philip followed Christ, as St. John Chrysostom observes, by meditating continually on the law and the prophets, which disposed St. Philip to believe in the arrival of the Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ.  In obedience to Christ’s command, he forsook all to follow him, and became from then on the inseparable companion of His ministry and labors.  Philip had no sooner discovered the Messiah, than he was desirous to make his friend Nathanael a sharer in his happiness, saying to him: We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, that is, the Messiah; Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth.  Nathanael was not so ready to accept this assertion of his friend, because the supposed Messiah was reported to be of Nazareth.  Philip therefore asked Nathanael to come himself to Jesus himself and see; not that Philip doubted but, because of his personal acquaintance with the Son of God, he was convinced that Nathanael would arrive at the truth as well.  Nathanael complied, and Jesus, seeing him approach, said, within his hearing: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.  Nathanael asked him, how he came to know him: Jesus repined: Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig-tree, I saw you.  Nathanael, as two holy fathers explain, calling realized that no human creature could have seen him under the tree, addresses Christ as the Son of God, and the King of Israel, or, in other words, the Messiah, foretold by Moses and the prophets.  The marriage at Cana of Galilee happened three days afterward and Jesus and his disciples were invited.  St. Philip was present at it with the rest.  The following year, when our Lord declares His closest 12 the college of apostles, Philip was selected one of that number, and from the several passages of the gospel, he appears to have been particularly dear to his divine Master.  In St. John’s Gospel, there are three situations that directly involve St. Philip.  When Jesus was about to feed five thousand people, who had followed him into the wilderness, Christ turns towards Philip with the question: "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" to which the Apostle answers: "Two hundred penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little".  This trial was meant to strengthen St. Philip’s faith, as Jesus knew the difficulty of feeding them and also knew how He would perform the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  And a little before our Saviour's passion, certain Gentiles, desirous to see the Christ, made their first request to Philip who spoke with St. Andrew and both brought these to see Christ.  Our Saviour, in the discourse He made to his disciples immediately after his last supper promised them a more clear and perfect knowledge of his heavenly Father than they had until then. St. Philip cried out, with a holy eagerness and impatience: Lord, show us the Father, and it will suffice us.  In response, our Saviour took occasion to reaffirm a steady belief of his divinity, and perfect equality with the Father, saying: So long a time have I been with you, (teaching you who I am both by my words and actions,) and have you not known me?  (If you beheld me with the eyes of faith such as I really am, in seeing me you would see the Father also, because) I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.

After our Lord's ascension, the gospel was to be preached to the whole world by a few persons, who had been eye-witnesses of his miracles, and were enabled, by the power of the Holy Spirit through the miracle of Pentecost, to confirm their testimony concerning Him by performing wonderful works themselves.  In order that this be done, it was necessary that the disciples should quickly disperse themselves into all parts of the world.  St. Philip began his preaching in his home area of Galilee.  There he restored to life a dead infant in the arms of its mother.  Then he traveled to Greece.  While in Greece, some scribes arrived in Greece from Jerusalem, with one of the Jewish chief priests at their head, to interrogate the Apostle Philip.  The Apostle Philip exposed the lie of the chief priest, who said that the disciples of Christ had stolen away and hidden the body of Christ.  Philip told instead how the Pharisees had bribed the soldiers on watch, to deliberately spread this rumor.  When the Jewish chief priest and his companions began to insult the Lord and lunged at the Apostle Philip, they suddenly were struck blind.  By his prayer the Apostle restored everyone's sight.  Seeing this miracle, many believed in Christ. The Apostle Philip provided a bishop for them, by the name of Narcissos who is one of the Seventy Apostles, and is commemorated on January 4.  Afterward preached the gospel in the two Phrygias (part of modern Turkey), as Theodoret and Eusebius assure us in their accounts.  He went to the city of Azotus, where he healed an eye affliction of the daughter of a local resident named Nikoklides, who had received him into his home, and then baptized his whole family. 

From Azotus the Apostle Philip set out to Syrian Hieropolis (there were several cities of this name) where, stirred up by the Pharisees, the Jews burned the house of Heros, who had taken in the Apostle Philip, and they wanted to kill the apostle.  The apostle performed several miracles: the healing of the hand of the city official Aristarchos, withered when he attempted to strike the apostle; and restoring a dead child to life.  When they saw these marvels, they repented and many accepted holy Baptism.  After making Heros the bishop at Hieropolis, the Apostle Philip went on to Syria, Asia Minor, Lydia, Emessa, and everywhere preaching the Gospel and undergoing sufferings.  Both he and his sister Mariamne  were pelted with stones, locked up in prison, and thrown out of villages.

Then the Apostle Philip arrived in the city of Phrygian Hieropolis, where there were many pagan temples.  There was also a pagan temple where people worshiped an enormous serpent as a god.  The Apostle Philip by the power of prayer killed the serpent and healed many bitten by snakes.  Among those healed was the wife of the city governor, Amphipatos.  Having learned that his wife had accepted Christianity, the governor Amphipatos gave orders to arrest St. Philip, his sister, and the Apostle Bartholomew traveling with them.  At the urging of the pagan priests of the temple of the serpent, Amphipatos ordered the holy Apostles Philip and Bartholomew to be crucified.  Suddenly, an earthquake struck, and it knocked down all those present at the place of judgment.  Hanging upon the cross by the pagan temple of the serpent, the Apostle Philip prayed for those who had crucified him, asking God to save them from the ravages of the earthquake.  Seeing this happen, the people believed in Christ and began to demand that the apostles be taken down from the crosses.  The Apostle Bartholomew was still alive when he was taken down, and he baptized all those believing and established a bishop for them and then fell asleep in the Lord.  But the Apostle Philip, through whose prayers everyone remained alive, except for Amphipatos and the pagan priests, died on the cross.  Mariamne his sister later buried his body, and went with the Apostle Bartholomew to preach in Armenia, where the Apostle Bartholomew was crucified (June 11); Mariamne herself then preached until her own martyrdom.  Because his relics were buried here, the city was preserved by continual miracles.  St. John Chrysostom speaks of miracles attributed to the relics of St. Philip in a sermon on the twelve apostles.  St. Polycarp, who was only converted in the year 80, enjoyed St. Philip’s conversation for some time.  From this we can discern that St. Philip must have lived to a very advanced age.  The emperor Theodosius, received a vision from St. John the Evangelist, and St. Philip, where he was assured of victory over the tyrant Eugenius, the morning before the battle, in 394, as Theodoret relates.  His body was later transferred to the church of Ss. Philip and James, in Rome, which was dedicated in 560.  The Orthodox Church commemorates St. Philip on the 14th of November and also on June 30^th the feast of the Synaxis of all the 12 Apostles. 

From St. Philip we must particularly learn an ardent love of God, and desire to see the Father.  He asked little; only this favor, because this was his only desire.  We need to ask ourselves, is it ours as well? Do we feel it so perfectly that we lay aside all earthly cares, as we pray in the Cherubic Hymn?  One way to make this our only desire is follow this apostle's lead and ask him in our prayers to help us in this goal  Only by disengaging our hearts from corruption and vanity, can we become, in desires and affections, citizens of heaven. 

May all glory, honor and worship be unto You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto to ages of ages.  Amen.

The apostle Bartholomew was led to Christ in the region of Galilee, by the apostle Philip and his latter ministry belongs more to the eastern churches than it does to the western churches.  "Bar-tholomew" is a patronymic (i.e. referring to the father), meaning "son of Tolmai (or Talmai)."  This would explain why the apostle is also referred to as Nathaniel.  The synoptic evangelists, Matthew, Luke and Mark list him as Bartholomew, whereas St. John refers to him as Nathaniel in the same setting, i.e. the friend of Philip whom Christ described as, an Israelite without guile.

There is a very interesting personal description of Bartholomew which says that He had black curly hair, white skin, large eyes, a straight nose, hair that covered his ears and a long grizzled, middle-height beard.  Bartholomew is said to have worn a white robe with a purple stripe and a white cloak with four purple gems at the corners.  For twenty-six years he wore these and it is said that they never grew old.  It has also been reported, that his shoes lasted the same as his clothing.  Tradition has it that he prayed a hundred times a day and a hundred times a night.  It is also said that his voice was like a trumpet, angels waited upon him and that he was always cheerful and knew all languages.

Traversing the cities of Syria and Myzia with St. Philip and St. Philip’s sister, St. Mariamne, they underwent much hardship and tribulations, they were stoned and they were locked up in prison. In one of the villages they met up with the Apostle John the Theologian, and together they set off to Phrygia. In the city of Hieropolis by the power of their prayers they destroyed an enormous viper, which the pagans worshipped as a god. We heard about this event last week.  It was here that the Apostle Philip was martyred. The holy Apostles Bartholomew and Philip with his sister confirmed their preaching with many miracles.

Three traveled to Hieropolis where there lived a man by the name of Stachys or Heros, who had been blind for 40 years. When he received healing, he then believed in Christ and was baptized. News of this spread throughout the city, and a multitude of the people thronged to the house where the apostles were staying. The sick and those beset by demons were released from their infirmities, and many were baptized. The city governor gave orders to arrest the preachers and throw them in prison, and to burn down the house of Stachys. At the trial pagan priests came forth with the complaint that the strangers were turning people away from the worship of the ancestral gods.

Thinking that perhaps some sort of magic power was hidden away in the clothes of the apostles, the governor gave orders to strip them. But St. Mariamne became like a fiery torch before their eyes, and none dared touch her. They sentenced the saints to death. The Apostle Philip was crucified upside down. Suddenly there was an earthquake, and a fissure in the earth swallowed up the governor of the city, together with the pagan priests and many of the people. Others took fright and rushed to take down the apostles from the crosses. Since the Apostle Bartholomew had not been suspended very high, they soon managed to take him down. The Apostle Philip, however, had died. After making Stachys Bishop of Hieropolis, the Apostle Bartholomew and St. Mariamne left the city and moved on.

Preaching the Word of God, Mariamne arrived in Lykaonia, where she fell asleep in the Lord on February 17. The Apostle Bartholomew went to India, where he translated the Gospel of Matthew into their language, and he converted many pagans to Christ. He also visited Greater Armenia (the country between the River Kura and the upper stretches of the Tigrus and Euphrates Rivers), where he worked many miracles and healed the daughter of King Polymios from the demons afflicting her. In gratitude, the king sent gifts to the apostle, who refused to accept them, saying that he sought only the salvation of the souls of mankind.

Then Polymios together with his wife, daughter, and many of those close to them accepted Baptism. And people from more than ten cities of Greater Armenia followed their example. But through the intrigues of the pagan priests, the Apostle Bartholomew was seized by the king's brother Astiagus in the city of Alban (now the city of Baku), and crucified upside down. But even from the cross he did not cease to proclaim the good news about Christ the Savior. Finally, on orders from Astiagus, they flayed the skin from the Apostle Bartholomew and cut off his head. Believers placed his relics in a leaden coffin and buried him.

In about the year 508 the holy relics of the Apostle Bartholomew were transferred to Mesopotamia, to the city of Dara. When the Persians seized the city in 574, Christians took the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew with them when they fled to the shores of the Black Sea. But since the enemy overtook them there, they were compelled to leave the coffin behind, and the pagans threw it into the sea. By the power of God the coffin miraculously arrived on the island of Lipari. In the ninth century, after the taking of the island by the Arabs, the holy relics were transferred to the Neapolitan city of Beneventum in Italy, and in the tenth century part of the relics were transferred to Rome.

The holy Apostle Bartholomew is mentioned in the Life of St. Joseph the Hymnographer. Having received from a certain man part of the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew, St. Joseph conveyed them to his own monastery near Constantinople, and he built a church in the name of the Apostle Bartholomew, placing in it a portion of the relics. St. Joseph ardently desired to compose hymns of praise in honor of the saint, and he fervently besought God to grant him the ability to do so. On the Feast day in memory of the Apostle Bartholomew, St. Joseph saw him at the altar. He beckoned to Joseph and took the holy Gospel from the altar table and pressed it to his bosom with the words, "May the Lord bless you, and may your song delight the whole world." And from that time St. Joseph began to write hymns and canons to adorn not only the Feast day of the Apostle Bartholomew, but also the Feast days of many other saints, composing about 300 canons in all.

We may not be able to have clothing that never wears out, nor do many have voices like trumpets. Few of us are linguists with the ability to know many languages but there are other attributes of the Apostle that we can emulate. We can pray with the same fervor as he and we can always be cheerful, regardless of what comes our way. In the latter, we can radiate with the light of faith and bring others to the truth.  The Orthodox Church commemorates the Apostle Bartholomew on June 11^th and together with all the Apostles on June 30^th.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Christ is in our midst!

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist, and Beloved Friend of Christ, John the Theologian was the son of Zebedee and Salome, a daughter of St. Joseph the Betrothed.  Ss. John and Andrew were the disciples of the Baptist who witnessed the Baptist say “Behold the Lamb of God”.  Saint John records this event in his Gospel.  He was called by our Lord Jesus Christ to be one of His Apostles at the same time as his elder brother James the Greater.  This took place at Lake Genesareth (i.e. the Sea of Galilee).  Leaving behind their father, both brothers followed the Lord.  The Apostle John was especially loved by the Savior for his sacrificial love and his virginal purity.  After his calling, the Apostle John did not part from the Lord, and he was one of the three apostles who were particularly close to Him.  St. John the Theologian was present when the Lord restored the daughter of Jairus to life, and he was a witness to the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor.  During the time of the Last Supper, he reclined next to the Lord, and laid his head upon His breast. He also asked the name of the Savior's betrayer.  The Apostle John followed after the Lord when they led Him bound from the Garden of Gethsemane to the court of the High Priest Caiphas.  He was there in the courtyard of the High Priest during the interrogations of his Teacher and he resolutely followed after him on the way to Golgotha, grieving with all his heart.  At the foot of the Cross, he stood with the Theotokos and heard the words of the Crucified Lord addressed to Her from the Cross: "Woman, behold Thy son." Then the Lord said to him, "Behold thy Mother" (John 19:26-27).  From that moment the Apostle John, like a loving son, concerned himself over the Most Holy Virgin Mary, and he served Her until Her Dormition.  If Mary had had other sons, there would have been no need for Jesus to have another man protect her for the rest of hr life.  This was because it was the Jewish law that no woman could live alone and her eldest living son was to care for her when she was widowed.  John and Peter were the first of the Apostles to receive the good news of the resurrection from Mary Magdalene.  In the interval between the resurrection and the Ascension, Peter and John were inseparable, as we read from the Book of Acts.  When Jesus appears on the lake shore in the dusk of the evening, John is the first to recognize Him.  As the day of the Ascension drew near, Jesus tells Peter what his fate will be.  The closeness of Peter’s relationship with John compels him to ask Christ what fate lies ahead for John.  Jesus then reveals in a somewhat cryptic way that John will not experience martyrdom. 

After the Dormition of the Theotokos, which St. Irenaeus wrote occurred after the martyrdom of Ss. Peter and Paul at Rome, the Apostle John went to Ephesus and other cities of Asia Minor to preach the Gospel, taking with him his own disciple Prokhoros.  They boarded a ship, which floundered during the time of a terrible tempest.  All the travelers were cast up upon dry ground, and only the Apostle John remained in the depths of the sea.  Prokhoros wept bitterly, bereft of his spiritual father and guide, and he went on towards Ephesus alone.  On the fourteenth day of his journey he stood at the shore of the sea and saw that the waves had cast a man ashore.  Going up to him, he recognized the Apostle John, whom the Lord had preserved alive for fourteen days in the sea.  Teacher and disciple went to Ephesus, where the Apostle John preached incessantly to the pagans about Christ.  His preaching was accompanied by such numerous and great miracles, that the number of believers increased with each day.  During this time there had begun a persecution of Christians under the emperor Nero (AD 56-68).  They took the Apostle John for trial at Rome.  St. John was sentenced to death for his confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord preserved His chosen one.  The apostle drank a cup of deadly poison, but he remained alive.  Later, he emerged unharmed from a cauldron of boiling oil into which he had been thrown on orders from the torturer.  After this, they sent the Apostle John off to imprisonment to the island of Patmos, where he spent many years.  Proceeding along on his way to the place of exile, St. John worked many miracles.  On the island of Patmos, his preaching and miracles attracted to him all the inhabitants of the island, and he enlightened them with the light of the Gospel.  He cast out many devils from the pagan temples, and he healed a great multitude of the sick.  Sorcerers with demonic powers showed great hostility to the preaching of the holy apostle.  He especially frightened the chief sorcerer of them all, named Kinops, who boasted that they would destroy the apostle.  But the great John, by the grace of God acting through him, destroyed all the demonic artifices to which Kinops resorted, and the haughty sorcerer perished in the depths of the sea.  The Apostle John withdrew with his disciple Prokhoros to a desolate height, where he imposed upon himself a three-day fast.  During the time of the Apostle John's prayer the earth quaked and thunder rumbled.  Prokhoros fell to the ground in fright.  The Apostle John lifted him up and told him to write down what he was about to say.  "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev 1:8), proclaimed the Spirit of God through the Apostle John.  Thus in about the year 67 the Book of Revelation was written, known also as the "Apocalypse," of the holy Apostle John the Theologian.  In this Book were predictions of the tribulations of the Church and of the end of the world.  After his prolonged exile, the Apostle John received his freedom and returned to Ephesus, where he continued with his activity, instructing Christians to guard against false teachers and their erroneous teachings.  In the year 95, the Apostle John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus.  He called for all Christians to love the Lord and one another, and by this to fulfill the commands of Christ.  The Church calls St. John the "Apostle of Love", since he constantly taught that without love man cannot come near to God.  In his three Epistles, St. John speaks of the significance of love for God and for neighbor.  Already in his old age, he learned of a youth who had strayed from the true path to follow the leader of a band of robbers, so St. John went out into the wilderness to seek him.  Seeing the holy Elder, the guilty one tried to hide himself, but the Apostle John ran after him and besought him to stop.  He promised to take the sins of the youth upon himself, if only he would repent and not bring ruin upon his soul.  Shaken by the intense love of the holy Elder, the youth actually did repent and turn his life around.  St. John far outlived the other eyewitnesses of the Lord, and for a long time he remained the only remaining eyewitness of the earthly life of the Savior.  When he was more than a hundred years old, it was time for the departure of the Apostle John.  He went out beyond the city limits of Ephesus with the families of his disciples.  He bade them prepare for him a cross-shaped grave, in which he lay, telling his disciples that they should cover him over with the soil.  The disciples tearfully kissed their beloved teacher, but not wanting to be disobedient, they fulfilled his bidding.  They covered the face of the saint with a cloth and filled in the grave.  Learning of this, other disciples of St. John came to the place of his burial.  When they opened the grave, they found it empty.  Each year from the grave of the holy Apostle John on May 8 came forth a fine dust, which believers gathered up and were healed of sicknesses by it.  Therefore, the Church also celebrates the memory of the holy Apostle John the Theologian on May 8.  

            The Lord bestowed on His beloved disciple John and John's brother James the name Sons of Thunder as an awesome messenger in its cleansing power of the heavenly fire.  And precisely by this, the Savior pointed out the flaming, fiery, sacrificial character of Christian love, the preacher of which was the Apostle John the Theologian.  The eagle, symbol of the lofty heights of his theological thought, is the iconographic symbol of the Evangelist John the Theologian. The appellation "Theologian" is bestowed by Holy Church only to St. John among the immediate disciples and Apostles of Christ, as being the seer of the mysterious Judgments of God.  In the two thousand year history of the church, she has only bestowed this title on one other – St. Simeon the New Theologian.

            Tradition tells us that John was a teenager at the time of the Last Supper.  Age was no impediment for Christ’s selection of His disciples.  St. John was a teen and St. Andrew was middle age.  This is a valuable lesson for all of us.  Regardless of our age, we have a place in God’s plan.  This place always includes discipleship and witness.  Whether our peers are youthful or elderly, our actions must demonstrate our commitment to Christian living.  That is the light upon the hill, that all who are seeking it can see.  Let us not believe that only those who know Christ will see the Lord.  The Three Magi, the Wise Men, worshipped a pagan god, and yet, they were drawn to the Saviour of the world.

            May all glory, honor and worship be unto the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.  Christ is in our midst!

The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was the first of the Apostles to follow Christ.  Andrew at once recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and he later brought his younger brother, the holy Apostle Peter, to Christ (Jn 1:35-42). From then on the two brothers were Disciples of Christ.  The name "Andrew" comes from the Greek andreia and means manhood or valour.  Like other Greek names, Andrew appears to have been common among the Jews from the second or third century B.C.  The future apostle was son of Jonah, or John (Matt., xvi, 17; John, i, 42), was born in Bethsaida of Galilee (John, i, 44).  From the time of his youth he turned with all his soul to God.  He did not enter into marriage, and together with his brother he worked as a fisherman.  At the beginning of Our Lord's public life both Andrew and Peter occupied the same house at Capharnaum (Mark, i, 21, 29). From St. John the Theologian’s Gospel we learn that when the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John began to preach, St. Andrew became his closest disciple. St. John the Baptist himself sent his own two disciples the future Apostles Andrew and John the Theologian to Christ, declaring Christ to be the Lamb of God.

In the various lists of Apostles given in the New Testament (Matt., x, 2-4); Mark, iii, 16-19; Luke, vi, 14-16; Acts, i, 13) St. Andrew is always numbered among the first four. The only other explicit reference to him in the Synoptists occurs in Mark, xiii, 3, where we are told he joined with Peter, James and John in putting the question that led to Our Lord's great eschatological discourse. In addition to this scanty information, we learn from the fourth Gospel that on the occasion of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, it was Andrew who said: "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes: but what are these among so many?" (John vi, 8, 9); and when, a few days before Our Lord's death, certain Greeks asked Philips that they might see Jesus, Philip referred the matter to Andrew as to one of greater authority, and then both told Christ (John, xii, 20-22). Like the majority of the Twelve, Andrew is not named in the Acts except in the list of the Apostles, where the order of the first four is Peter, John, James, Andrew.

Church tradition holds that after the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, St. Andrew went to the Eastern lands preaching the Word of God. He went through Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, he reached the River Danube, went along the coast of the Black Sea, through Crimea, the Black Sea region and along the River Dniepr he climbed to the place where the city of Kiev now stands. He stopped overnight on the hills of Kiev. Rising in the morning, he said to those disciples that were with him: "See these hills? Upon these hills shall shine forth the beneficence of God, and there will be a great city here, and God shall raise up many churches." The apostle went up around the hills, blessed them and set up a cross. Having prayed, he went up even further along the Dniepr and reached a settlement of the Slavs, where Novgorod was built. From here the apostle went through the land of the Varangians towards Rome for preaching, and again he returned to Thrace, where in the small village of Byzantium, the future Constantinople, he founded the Church of Christ. The name of the holy Apostle Andrew links the mother, the Church of Constantinople, with her daughter, the Russian Church.

On his journeys the First-Called Apostle endured many sufferings and torments from pagans: they cast him out of their cities and they beat him. In Sinope they pelted him with stones, but remaining unharmed, the persistent disciple of Christ continued to preach to people about the Savior. Through the prayers of the Apostle, the Lord worked miracles.  By the labors of the holy Apostle Andrew, Christian Churches were established, for which he provided bishops and clergy. The final city to which the Apostle came was the city of Patra, where he was destined to suffer martyrdom.

The Lord worked many miracles through His disciple in Patra.  The infirm were made whole, and the blind received their sight. Through the prayers of the Apostle, the illustrious citizen Sosios recovered from serious illness; he healed Maximilla, wife of the governor of Patra, and his brother Stratokles. The miracles accomplished by the Apostle and his fiery speech enlightened almost all the citizens of the city of Patra with the true Faith.

Few pagans remained at Patra, but among them was the governor of the city, Aegeatos. The Apostle Andrew repeatedly turned to him with the words of the Gospel. But even the miracles of the Apostle did not convince Aegeatos. The holy Apostle with love and humility appealed to his soul, striving to reveal to him the Christian mystery of life eternal, through the wonderworking power of the Holy Cross of the Lord. The angry Aegeatos gave orders to crucify the apostle. The pagan thought he might undo St. Andrew's preaching if he were to put him to death on the cross.

St. Andrew the First-Called accepted the decision of the governor with joy and with prayer to the Lord, and went willingly to the place of execution. In order to prolong the suffering of the saint, Aegeatos gave orders not to nail the saint's hands and feet, but to tie them to the cross. For two days the apostle taught the citizens who gathered about. The people, in listening to him, with all their souls pitied him and tried to take St. Andrew down from the cross. Fearing a riot of the people, Aegeatos gave orders to stop the execution. But the holy apostle began to pray that the Lord would grant him death on the cross. Just as the soldiers tried to take hold of the Apostle Andrew, they lost control of their hands. The crucified apostle, having given glory to God, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit." Then a blazing ray of divine light illumined the cross and the martyr crucified upon it. When the light faded, the holy Apostle Andrew had already given up his holy soul to the Lord. Maximilla, the wife of the governor, had the body of the saint taken down from the cross, and buried him with honor.  The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew's.  His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, A.D. 60).  The Orthodox Church keeps 30 November as his feast, as well as June 30^th the Synaxis of the 12 Apostles.

A few centuries later, under the emperor Constantine the Great, the relics of the holy Apostle Andrew were solemnly transferred to Constantinople and placed in the church of the Holy Apostles beside the relics of the holy Evangelist Luke and St. Paul's disciple St. Timothy.

St. Andrew's relics were translated from Patrae to Constantinople, and deposited in the church of the Apostles there, about A.D. 357. When Constantinople was sacked by the French during the fourth Crusade, in St. Andrew’s relics were brought to Italy and placed them in the cathedral of Amalfi, where most of them still remain. St. Andrew is honored as their chief patron by Russia and Scotland.

The Holy Apostle James, Son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the Twelve Apostles.  We learned last week that Salome was a daughter of Joseph the Betrothed from his first marriage.  He was called by our Lord Jesus Christ for apostolic service together with his younger brother, St. John the Theologian.  The two sons of Zebedee, as well as Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew with whom they were in partnership (Luke 5:10), were called by the Lord upon the Sea of Galilee, where all four with Zebedee and his hired servants were engaged in their ordinary occupation of fishing.  The sons of Zebedee "forthwith left their nets and father, and followed him" (Matthew 4:22), and became "fishers of men". It was to them and to the holy Apostle Peter that Jesus Christ revealed His Mysteries: at the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, on Mount Tabor (at the Transfiguration), and in the Garden of Gethsemane.  On our Lord’s last journey to Jerusalem, Salome came to the Lord and said to Him: "Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom" (Matt., xx, 21). And the two brothers, still ignorant of the spiritual nature of the Messianic Kingdom, joined with their mother in this eager ambition (Mark 10:37). And on their assertion that they are willing to drink the chalice that He drinks of, and to be baptized with the baptism of His sufferings, Jesus assured them that they will share His sufferings (Mark 5:38-39).

St. James, after the Descent of the Holy Spirit, preached in Spain and in other lands, and then he returned to Jerusalem. He openly and boldly preached Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and with the words of Holy Scripture he denounced the Pharisees and the Scribes, reproaching them with malice of heart and unbelief.  The Jews could not prevail against St. James, and so they hired the sorcerer Hermogenes to dispute with the apostle and refute his arguments that Christ was the promised Messiah Who had come into the world. The sorcerer sent to the apostle his pupil Philip, who was converted to belief in Christ. Then Hermogenes himself became persuaded of the power of God, he burned his books of magic, accepted holy Baptism and became a true follower of Christ.

James won the crown of martyrdom fourteen years after Christ’s prophecy in A.D. 44. Herod Agrippa I, son of Aristobulus and grandson of Herod the Great, reigned at that time as "king" over a wider dominion than that of his grandfather. His great object was to please the Jews in every way, and he showed great regard for the Mosaic Law and Jewish customs. In pursuance of this policy, on the occasion of the Passover of A.D. 44, he perpetrated cruelties upon the Church, whose rapid growth incensed the Jews. The zealous temper of James and his leading part in the Jewish Christian communities probably led Agrippa to choose him as the first victim.  The Jews persuaded Herod Agrippa (40-44) to arrest the Apostle James and sentence him to death. St. James calmly heard the death sentence and continued to bear witness to Christ.  One of the false witnesses, whose name was Josiah, was struck by the courage of St. James.  He came to believe in the truth about Christ the Messiah.  When they led the apostle forth to execution, Josiah fell at his feet, repenting of his sin and asking forgiveness.  The apostle embraced him, gave him a kiss and said, "Peace and forgiveness to you." Then Josiah confessed his faith in Christ before everyone, and he was beheaded with St. James.  "He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." (Acts 12:1-2).  The Orthodox Church commemorates St. James the Greater on April 30^th and on June 30^th with the Synaxis of the 12 Apostles.

Before Christ’s Resurrection, St. Matthew records the episode where Christ asks, Who do you say that I Am?  Peter replies that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And then Jesus says Though art Peter and upon this rock and so on.  It is significant to note that the oldest codices of the New Testament record that Christ used the word petra for rock and not the proper name Petros, which would mean both Peter and rock.  From this we understand that the rock, petra is Peter’s testimony of faith and not Peter himself.  After the Resurrection of the Saviour, Jesus asks of Peter three times, Peter do you love me?  Each time Peter responds in the affirmative and Christ tells him to feed His lambs, then to tend my sheep and finally after Peter protestations that Christ knows his heart, Jesus tells him to, Feed my sheep.  It is interesting to note that Christ said my sheep and not your sheep.  Many church fathers find this choice of words significant in that Christ is telling His disciples and us that the Church is His and no one else’s and He and only He is its Head.  Christ Peter and the Apostles and disciples who, after Christ's Ascension into Heaven from Mount Olivet, returned to Jerusalem to await the fulfillment of His promise to send the Holy Ghost.  Peter takes the initiative in the appointment to the Apostolic College of another witness of the life, death and resurrection of Christ to replace Judas (Acts 1:15-26). After the descent of the Holy Ghost on the feast of Pentecost, Peter standing at the head of the Apostles delivers the first public sermon to proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and wins a large number of Jews as converts to the Christian community (ibid. ii, 14-41). Afterward he worked a public miracle, when with John he went up into the temple and cured the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. To the people crowding in amazement about the two Apostles, he preaches a long sermon in the Porch of Solomon, and brings new increase to the flock of believers (ibid., iii, 1-iv, 4).

In the subsequent examinations of the two Apostles before the Jewish High Council, Peter defends the cause of Jesus and the obligation and liberty of the Apostles to preach the Gospel (ibid., iv, 5-21). When Ananias and Sapphira attempt to deceive the Apostles and the people, Peter appears as judge of their action, and God executes the sentence of punishment passed by the Apostle by causing the sudden death of the two guilty parties. By the power of God, Peter brings about numerous miracles God.  It is recorded that neighboring towns carried their sick in their beds into the streets so that the shadow of Peter might fall on them and they might be thereby healed. The ever-increasing number of the faithful caused the Jewish supreme council to adopt new measures against the Apostles, but "Peter and the Apostles" answer that they "ought to obey God rather than men".  Not only in Jerusalem itself did Peter labor in fulfilling the mission entrusted to him by his Master.  He also retained connection with the other Christian communities in Palestine, and preached the Gospel both there and in the lands situated farther north.  When Philip the Deacon had won a large number of believers in Samaria, Peter and John were deputed to proceed thither from Jerusalem to organize the community and to invoke the Holy Ghost to descend upon the faithful. Peter appears a second time as judge, in the case of the magician Simon, who had wished to purchase from the Apostles the power that he also could invoke the Holy Ghost. On their way back to Jerusalem, the two Apostles preached the joyous tidings of the Kingdom of God. Subsequently, after Paul's departure from Jerusalem and conversion before Damascus, the Christian communities in Palestine were left at peace by the Jewish council.

Peter now undertook an extensive missionary tour, which brought him to the maritime cities, Lydda Joppa, and Caesarea.  In Lydda he cured the palsied Eneas, in Joppa he raised Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead; and at Caesarea, instructed by a vision which he had in Joppa, he baptized and received into the Church the first non-Jewish Christians, the centurion Cornelius and his kinsmen.  On Peter's return to Jerusalem a little later, the strict Jewish Christians, who regarded the complete observance of the Jewish law as binding on all, asked him why he had entered and eaten in the house of the uncircumcised. Peter tells of his vision and defends his action, which was ratified by the Apostles and the faithful in Jerusalem.  This event is recorded by the Evangelist Luke in the Book of Acts.

From tradition we know that Peter made extensive missionary tours in the East.  It is certain that he remained for a time at Antioch; he may even have returned thither several times. The Christian community of Antioch was founded by Christianized Jews who had been driven from Jerusalem by the persecution.  Peter's residence among them is proved by the episode concerning the observance of the Jewish ceremonial law even by Christianized pagans, related by St. Paul. The chief Apostles in Jerusalem--the "pillars", Peter, James, and John--had unreservedly approved St. Paul's Apostolate to the Gentiles, while they themselves intended to labor principally among the Jews. While Paul was dwelling in Antioch, St. Peter came thither and mingled freely with the non-Jewish Christians of the community, frequenting their houses and sharing their meals. But when the Christianized Jews arrived in Jerusalem, Peter, fearing lest these rigid observers of the Jewish ceremonial law should be scandalized thereat, and his influence with the Jewish Christians be imperiled, avoided thenceforth eating with the uncircumcised.

His conduct made a great impression on the other Jewish Christians at Antioch, so that even Barnabas, St. Paul's companion, now avoided eating with the Christianized pagans. As this action was entirely opposed to the principles and practice of Paul, and might lead to confusion among the converted pagans, this Apostle addressed a public reproach to St. Peter, because his conduct seemed to indicate a wish to compel the pagan converts to become Jews and accept circumcision and the Jewish law. The whole incident is another proof of the authoritative position of St. Peter in the early Church, since his example and conduct was regarded as decisive. But Paul, who rightly saw the inconsistency in the conduct of Peter and the Jewish Christians, did not hesitate to defend the immunity of converted pagans from the Jewish Law. Concerning Peter's subsequent attitude on this question St. Paul gives us no explicit information. But it is highly probable that Peter ratified the contention of the Apostles of the Gentiles, and thenceforth conducted himself towards the Christianized pagans as at first. As the principal opponents of his views in this connection, Paul names and combats in all his writings only the extreme Jewish Christians coming "from James" (i.e., from Jerusalem). While the date of this occurrence, whether before or after the Council of the Apostles, cannot be determined, it probably took place after the council (see below). The later tradition, which existed as early as the end of the second century (Origen, "Hom. vi in Lucam"; Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", III, xxxvi), that Peter founded the Church of Antioch, indicates the fact that he labored a long period there, and also perhaps that he dwelt there towards the end of his life and then appointed Evodrius, the first of the line of Antiochian bishops, head of the community. This latter view would best explain the tradition referring the foundation of the Church of Antioch to St. Peter.

Peter returned occasionally to the original Christian Church of Jerusalem, the guidance of which was entrusted to St. James, the relative of Jesus.  The last mention of St. Peter in the Acts occurs in the report of the Council of the Apostles on the occasion of such a passing visit.  In consequence of the trouble caused by extreme Jewish Christians to Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, the Church of this city sent these two Apostles with other envoys to Jerusalem to secure a definitive decision concerning the obligations of the converted pagans.  In addition to James, Peter and John were then (about A.D. 50-51) in Jerusalem.  James, the chief representative of the Jewish Christians, proposed the view that the Judaizers were in error and the Apostles agreed with the proposals which were expressed in an encyclical to the converted pagans.

St. Peter labored in Rome during the last portion of his life, and there ended his earthly life in martyrdom. This has been attested to by several of the second and third century apostolic fathers, including Justin Martyr and Irenaeus.  The place of his death would have been known in widely extended Christian circles at the end of the first century which is clear from the Gospel of St. John.  St. John records Christ's prophecy that Peter was bound to Him and would be led whither he would not -- "And this he said, signifying by what death he should glorify God".  Tradition says that St. Peter was crucified upside down.  The date of his martyrdom has been traditionally accepted as June 29 and it is on this day that we commemorate St. Peter.