The Apostles of Jesus – The Traditional Story
The Twelve Apostles
Everybody “knows” that there were twelve Apostles. In fact there were thirteen as Matthias replaced Judas.
1. Simon Peter
2. Andrew
3. James, the son of Zebedee
4. John
5. Philip
6. Bartholomew
7. Thomas
8. Matthew
9. James, son of Alphaeus
10. Jude Thaddaeus
11. Simon the Canaanite
12. Judas Iscariot
13. Matthias
Simon Peter is one of the best known Apostles (after Paul who was not one of the inner circle). Jesus changed his personality from something as unstable as water to something more like a rock. The first time they met Jesus said: “You are Simon, the son of Jona: from now on you will be called Cephas (which is interpreted being a stone)” (John 1:42) This does not mean that Jesus wanted to build his Church on Peter but upon Himself, as Peter (I Peter 2:4-9) and Paul (I Cor. 3:11) tell us. Simon Peter was born in a house in Kfar-Nachum, at present known by Christians as Capernaum. From the first day Jesus visited Capernaum, this house has been known as “the home of Simon Peter and Andrew” (Mark 1:29).Here, Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and many other sick people (Mark 1:33). Here, too, the miracle of the healing of the paralytic occurred (Mark 2:1-12). He also spent some nights there (Mark 1:35). He returned to this house many times, including after his journeys around the Lake and after the election of the twelve Apostles (Mark 3:19). Peter’s brother, Andrew, introduced him to Christ when he was a young man. They were both fishermen of the Sea of Galilee. When Andrew told Peter that he had found the Messiah he left his work and went to see for himself, but he came back.
Later on Jesus came back to the shores of Galilee and he invited Peter to follow him: “Follow me and I will make you to become a fisher of men” (Matt.4:19). Peter and Andrew left their work and family and followed him. It is known that Peter was married and that his mother-in-law was living with him and his wife. Peter was not a modest man, on the contrary. He was the apostles’ spokesman until Paul outshines him. With John and Paul he was among the Apostle best liked by the early Christians. In the list of the Apostles his name always comes first. He was very impulsive, very often acting before thinking; however his character was not as firm as it seemed. After shouting his loyalty to Jesus, he denied knowing him the night Jesus was put to death, only to change his mind again soon after. He was a combination of courage and cowardice, of great strength and instability. Christ spoke more often to Peter that to any other Apostles, both to blame him and to praise him. He was also the only one who dared to reprove Jesus. His character was brought under control later on and, after Pentecost, he was the image of faithfulness to Christ. Peter was a great sinner. Peter cursed Him but he repented, Judas sold Jesus but he did not repent. From the start Peter took a prominent position in the church, as told in the Book of the “Acts”. The first part of this book is in fact the “Acts” of Peter” and the second part, the “Acts” of Paul”. It shows the transition of Christianity from a Jewish sect to a universal church, with Peter as the main actor at first until Paul took over. Paul is known as the Apostle of the Gentiles. It was Peter who proposed to replace Judas by Matthias, it was him who spoke to the people on the day of Pentecost, and it was again him who performed a miracle healing the lame man. In Galatians 2:9 Paul describes Peter, James and John as the pillars of the church. Peter also took the public defense of the Gospel when the Jewish authorities attacked the Apostles. In addition, he maintained church discipline in the congregation when required. The common people had great faith in the miraculous healing power of Peter or even of his shadow. He was delegated by the Apostles to go to Samaria to control the local spiritual renewal introduced there by Philip. He also went on missionary duties in Lydda, Joppa and Caesarea before defending the inclusion of the Gentiles before the Apostolic Council. From that point the Book of the “Acts” switches to Paul who even criticizes Peter in his Epistles for his behavior in Antioch; there, Peter was afraid of the Jews who wanted to separate the Jewish from the Gentile Christians. Peter changed his mind when faced by Paul. Peter went also to Corinth after Paul had founded a church in this town. There are strong historical proofs that Peter founded the See of Antioch, the capital of the East at that time, before he went to Rome. St. Gregory the Great even goes to say that Peter was the Bishop of that city for seven years from 33 to 40 CE. As the Apostles preferred to preach to the Jews, their countrymen, they started their missionary work in Mesopotamia where many rich Jews from the lost tribes were living and St. Peter went to Babylon around 44 CE. However there are some doubts about this as Rome was also called “Babylon” by the early Christians. However there is little doubt that Peter spent some time in Babylon as the Eastern Churches proclaim and where he wrote his first Epistle. Some references to Peter going to Britain and Gaul exist. In Gaul he became the Patron Saint of Chartres where he liked to preach in the “Grottes des Druides”, the oldest known Druid site in Gaul, on which the oldest cathedral of France is built. His presence in Trier (Trèves), Germany, is also well documented. However Peter is best known for his stay in Rome. It is, nevertheless, not proved that he founded the church at Rome. In the Book of the “Acts”, Paul tells us that Peter left Jerusalem in 43 CE, but he does not say where he went, and he is mentioned again in 49 at the Council of Jerusalem. Where did he go in between? No canonical book offers any answer. Eusebius, however, says that he came to Rome in 44 CE during Claudius’ reign (HE II,14,61). It is also believed that Rome was evangelized between 43 to 49. In 50 CE Claudius expelled all the Jews who were becoming nervous by the growing influence of Christianism. Paul met some converted Jews expelled from Rome to Corinth in 51. In 57 and 60 Paul addressed some important gathering of Christians in Rome. It is probable that Peter was in Babylon from 44 to 49 CE and not in Rome since the “Acts” do not mention his name. It now looks more or less certain that Peter was not in Rome before Paul wrote the Book of Romans for the Christian community there. But the early tradition that Peter died as a martyr, and was buried in Rome, although not proved, is very probable. The Gospel of John tells us that Peter was crucified, head down, in Rome by Nero on the Vatican Hill in 64 CE (John 21:18) after being tortured for about nine months in the dreadful Mamertine prison. His body was they embalmed in the Jewish manner and buried in the Vatican. A small church was erected above his tomb. Peter did not write much personally and he relied on Mark who is considered as his ghostwriter after being his translator, when he preached in Rome. From this experience Mark collected a lot of information on Jesus. Although they were not first hand information, his source was very reliable and well informed. For this reason Mark was able to write a credible Gospel after Peter’s death, even if he never met Jesus. Later on Matthew and Luke relied on Mark’s Gospel to speak about Jesus’ life and, if only for this, we can say that the source of our Gospels is Peter. An excavation made recently under the church of Peter in Rome has led to the discovery of his grave. It was in fact empty but some bones found nearby have been identified as those of Peter and the Catholic Church, through the Pope Paul VI, agreed. It is now thought that when Constantine had the first Peter church built, he had the precious bones moved to a safer place a few feet away. Capernaum the hometown of Peter remained completely Jewish until the middle of the fourth century. Count Joseph, a Christian Governor of Tiberias, was authorized by the Emperor Constantine The Great, just a few years before his death (337 CE), to build a church on the traditional site of Peter’s house. The actual construction work of a modest church started in 352. A beautiful octagonal Byzantine basilica that was not only a place of worship, but also a memorial replaced it later on (middle of the fifth century). Excavations have shown that under the basilica there were the well-kept remains of many small very old buildings (they are thought to be from the first century CE). Peter’s house was venerated by the first generations of Jewish Christians.
Andrew accepted that Jesus was Christ and, leaving John the Baptist, he then followed Jesus. John, the future Apostle, was also a follower of John the Baptist and he probably followed Jesus at that time too. Later on Andrew introduced his brothers Simon, Peter, and Philip to Jesus. Jesus took Peter, Andrew, Philip and John back to Nazareth with him after spending forty days in the wilderness after his baptism. They went with him to a wedding ceremony in Ca’na of Galilee, six miles from Nazareth, and saw him perform his first miracle. They then went on a preaching tour in Galilee and from there to Jerusalem, where they saw Him Cleanse the Temple. Finally they went back to Galilee, fishing for an unknown period of time. One day Jesus came back to the coasts of Galilee and saw Peter and Andrew and told both of them: “Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men”. Andrew was the first Apostle chosen by Jesus, he was a kind of successor to John the Baptist. In the same way that John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the nation, Andrew introduced Jesus to individuals. Andrew had about two and one half years of instruction while following Jesus. He was present at the feeding of the five thousand by the Sea of Galilee, and it was him who introduced to Jesus the boy who had the five loaves and the two fishes. He was also present at the feast of the Passover where he also introduced many people to Jesus. He was present with Peter on the Mount of Olives. His name is in the Book of the “Acts” and this is the last reference to his name in the New Testament. However he was present in Jerusalem for a long time. We do not know when he left, and if he did it on his own decision to preach elsewhere or driven out by the repression. According to Eusebius Andrew went to Scythia in Southern Russia, near the Black Sea. He became the patron Saint of Russia. Another tradition has Andrew preaching in Greece, or in Macedonia, where he was imprisoned and crucified in Patras around 69 CE on an “X-shaped” cross now known as “St. Andrew’s Cross”. He was buried near by. Still another tradition has him preaching in Ephesus in Asia Minor, where John is also assumed to have written his Gospel as consequence of a revelation given to Andrew. These three traditions seem at first contradictory but all three could have happened too. At the time of the Emperor Justinian some relics of Andrew have been located in Constantinople where Constancius, the son of the Emperor Constantine, had removed Andrew’s body from Greece. These relics were stolen from Constantinople in 1210 and taken to Amalfi, Italy. In 1462 the Pope Pius II had the head transferred to Peter church in Rome. In 1964 the Pope gave it back to the Greek Orthodox Church in Patras, Greece, where Andrew was martyred. A fool destroyed the gold reliquary to steal the skull. After recovery it is now kept in a silver reliquary. A Christian called Regulus has taken some of his bones to Scotland in the fourth or fifth century. They were buried in the place called now Andrews. Andrew is the Saint patron of Scotland and the “ Andrew’s cross” is its symbol. He is also the patron saint of the Russian, Romanian and Greek Christians.
James, The Son of Zebedee – Of the three men who formed the inner-ring of the disciples, Peter, James and John, we know the least about James. Very little is written about him in the Scriptures. His death is recorded, however, as he was the first Apostle to die as a martyr. James was the oldest brother of John, the beloved disciple. He was a partner with John, Andrew and Peter in the fishing trade along with his father Zebedee. He was also known as “James the Elder or “James the Great”. Together they owned several boats and employed hired fishermen so they must have been affluent. There are also some indications that James was Jesus’s first cousin and that they had known each other from childhood. James was asked to follow Jesus at the same time as his brother John and the two other brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew. At that time the Christ was walking along the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 4:18,21,22). It is known that John had been a disciple of John the Baptist whom he left to follow Jesus. No such evidence is to be found for James. James was present at the healing of Peter’s mother at Capernaum.After that he became one of the Apostles and a prominent one too. With Peter and John he also witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the miraculous draught of fishes at the Sea of Tiberias and the transfiguration and the agony in the garden of Gethsemane. As we know it was Peter who was the main responsible Apostle for the dissemination of the word of God as recorded in the Gospel. John outlived all the apostles up to around the year 100 CE. He died of natural death after writing five books and preaching successfully in Asia Minor.
On the other hand James was executed when the Church was still very young. Once, when Jesus’ preaching was heavily contested, James and John asked him to destroy these people with the fire from Heaven. Jesus rebuked them, and from then on they were known as “Boanerges” or “sons of Thunder”. Their mother asked Jesus to let them sit on both his sides when He came into His glory but here again Jesus rebuked this ambition as ungodly (Mark 10:42-45). James was one of the four disciples who questioned Jesus when he delivered His address on the Mount of Olives. He was present when the risen Christ appeared for the third time to the disciples. King Herod Agrippa I murdered James with a sword about the year 44 CE (”Acts” 12:1,2). Like for all the other Apostles, many legends deal with James. According to the “Acts of James in India” and the “Martyrdom of James” he preached in India with Peter as well as to the twelve Jewish tribes scattered all other the world. According to Eusebius James was led to the final judgement seat in Jerusalem and, when the judge requested Peter’s testimony, he admitted that James was a Christian. He begged James to forgive him and both were beheaded together. The artists of the 14th and 15th century used James as the theme of many paintings making him very popular. In Spain the legend goes says that James’s father, Zebedee, was a noble. No Spanish was ready to accept a simple fisherman as a patron Saint. It is also thought that James came to Spain to try to convert the population but he was not very successful. He was told by the Virgin Mary to build a chapel and that all the region of Saragosa would become Christian. He did as required by Mary and the church he built is known as “Our Lady of the Pillar”. James went back to Judea to preach and perform miracles but he was soon arrested and beheaded. His disciples took his body and, being afraid to bury it on the spot took it to Joppa, put it on a ship that sailed to Iria Flavia (now Padron), Galicia, and Spain. His body caused many people, including the local Queen, to become Christians. She also built a beautiful church to receive the sacred remains. After the invasion of Spain by the Moslems, the body of the Apostle was lost until the year 800 when its location was revealed to a holy friar. The remains were then taken to Compostela that became a well-known pilgrimage place due to the many miracles performed by the relic. James became the patron saint of Spain and Compostela. It is very unlikely that James visited Spain during his lifetime due, in part, to the fact that he died young. A very old tradition has it that he preached there; however, it is more probable that his body relics or bones have been carried in Spain in the 7th century. They were the reason for the creation of the town of Santiago de Compostela where many pilgrims, even now, are going every year. Some more proofs of the authenticity of his relics were found in 1879 in the Cathedral of Santiago (St. James) de Compostela, first built in 899 CE, destroyed by the Moors in 997, and rebuilt in 1078 on the same site. Tests were made on the old bones with the agreement of the Catholic Church and they were finally identified as those of James. He was executed by Herod Agrippa I in 44 CE and his original grave was in or near Jerusalem. In 70 CE the Romans occupied Judea and it is probable that it was then that the remains of James were taken to Galicia, Spain. Other less credible legends say that the relics were removed earlier from Jerusalem. The discovery of the relics of James in Santiago de Compostela happened in the first quarter of the ninth century during the reign of Alphonso II (791-842). The relics could have arrived in Spain at the beginning of the ninth century or before the Arab invasion of 711 as it is difficult to believe that they arrived during the Arab occupation. The first story seems more likely and, in this case, the relics must have transited through Sinai and the town of Menas. Still another legend has it that he is buried in James cathedral in Jerusalem although it seems more probable that it is Jesus’ brother, James, who is buried there. What seems certain is that James lived fourteen more years after the resurrection of Jesus. Considering that it was easy to travel in these days, nothing prevented James to have been to Spain to preach to the Jews living there. It is more unlikely that he preached to the Gentiles, as Paul had not yet opened that way. As the Book of “Acts” does not mention James in relation to Spain it is difficult to believe that he ever went there.
John was one of the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee, and of Salome, who was probably a sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother. He grew up in Galilee and was in a fishing partnership with his brother James and with Andrew and Peter. With Andrew he was a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:34-40). He went with Jesus on his first tour of Galilee and, later on, left the fishing business to become a disciple of Christ. He was with Jesus at the wedding in Ca’na (John 2:1-11) and also in Jerusalem in His early ministry. He owned a house in Jerusalem. With Peter and James he was a witness to the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37) and at the transfiguration (Matt.17). He was near to Jesus too at the agony of Gethsemane as he was one of his closest disciples. With his brother James they were called “Sons of Thunder” after they asked Jesus to destroy a Samaritan village that refused to give hospitality them (Mark 3:17). At the Last Supper he sat next to Jesus (John 13:23). He was present at Jesus’ trial, being known to the high priests as he had been his father fishing business’ representative in Jerusalem. He was present at the crucifixion where Jesus asked him to take care of Mary (John 19:26). He was also present with Peter when Jesus was buried, and he was there too when they saw that the tomb was empty, three days later (John 20:8), He was with Peter at the gate of the Temple when a lame man was healed (”Acts” 3:10). He went to Samaria to impart the Holy Spirit to the new converts (”Acts” 8:12). With Peter and James, the lord’s brother, they were called “pillars” of the Church. He is also known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 12:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20). From his Gospel we know that he lived a long time after Jesus’ death, he was in fact the last Apostle to die peacefully around 100 CE whereas his brother James was the first to die. He reached a prominent position in the worldwide Christianity. Before the destruction of Jerusalem he moved to Ephesus in Asia Minor and became the pastor of the local church. He died in this town.Mary stayed with John in Jerusalem and later on moved with him to Ephesus where she died. While living in Ephesus John was exiled to Patmos, a penal colony off the coast of Turkey. Some historians say that he wrote his Gospel there while a prisoner; although this seems to be a legend, Patmos has been an important pilgrimage until the seventh century when Islam took over. After being released, John went back to Ephesus and resumed his responsibilities as head of the churches that had been founded by Paul in Asia. The Scriptures record of John ends with the seven letters to the Seven Churches (See Revelations) and Augustine’s mention that John preached to the Parthians (Eastern Turkey near the borders of Russia and Iran). Another legend has it that John was in Rome with Peter, and that he was tortured. It is also said that there was an attempt to poison him there but when he took the cup the poison disappeared in the form of a serpent. This explains the Roman Catholic symbol for John, a cup with a serpent coming out of it. John died on 26 September around 100 CE. The disciples of John built a chapel above his tomb. Pilgrims visited it in such a large number that a bigger church had to be build by Emperor Justinian and his wife in the sixth century. It was built in the shape of a cross, was 130 meters long and had three naves. The tomb of the Apostle was under the big dome and the dust from this room was supposed to have healing powers. A Temple in memory of Mary was built on a hill near-by. The bones of the Apostle have disappeared as well as all his relics and nobody knows where they are.