St. Simon
St. Simon the Zealot was one of the original followers of Jesus. Story-traditions from the West say that he preached in Egypt, and then went on to Persia with St. Jude Thaddeus. Both of them suffered martyrdom in Persia. Another tradition, this time from the East, tells a different story. It reports that St. Simon died peacefully at Edessa. Other story-traditions say that St. Simon also went in his missionary journeys to Libya and into present-day Tunisia. And there is also evidence that this apostle took the gospel with him to Britain, where Christianity took root because of him, before Britain became a colony of Rome in 42 A.D. The most popular tradition commonly believed by many, is that Simon died a martyr together with St. Jude Thaddeus. The two were stoned to death by a mob led by pagan leaders.
St. Jude Thaddeus
St. Jude was a relative of Jesus. He preached the gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Libya. He is the author of a New Testament epistle bearing his name. As he preached in many places, he strongly attacked the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. It was in Armenia (which was under Persian rule) where he suffered martyrdom. His death as a martyr however bore much fruit, because Armenia was finally converted to Christianity in the third century A.D. St. Jude is known to have performed many miracles. These were due to his powerful intercession. He has been made the patron saint of lost causes and hopeless cases.
St. Matthias
We all know what happened to Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus to the chief priests. After the Ascension of Jesus, St. Peter addressed the assembly of Christ's followers and said that someone must take the place of Judas Iscariot to fulfill the Scripture. At first, the choice was narrowed down to two: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. After the whole assembly prayed for guidance before drawing lots, Matthias was selected. A story-tradition handed down by historians Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, and St. Jerome, report that St. Matthias first preached in Judaea, then to Cappadocia, and to the shores of the Caspian Sea. In his preaching, he was remarkably insistent upon the necessity of mortifying the flesh to subdue temptations - an important lesson he learned from Jesus and which he himself practiced faithfully. Because of this, he suffered great persecutions and ill-treatment and was eventually martyred in Colchis.
Summary and conclusion
Writers have repeated many times in their works that Jesus is not a myth nor a legend but walked with the people of His time and became part of human history. One truth that attests strongly to what these writers report, is the zeal by which the apostles preached the Gospel, and their readiness to suffer even death for their love of Christ. After this era of the apostles, the early Christians who knew the apostles likewise did what the apostles have taught them by both word and deed. The first centuries of early Christianity were marked by strong martyrs who sacrificed their lives, in the same spirit as Jesus, so that the Good News of salvation may be brought to as many people as possible. This tradition of martyrdom that began with the apostles, continues to this day. Those who are called by God to witness to the saving power of Jesus, through death as martyrs, are all great gifts to the Church - influencing the Church to become stronger in their faith in God.
Resources of these blog posts
- Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
- A Year with the Saints, by Don Bosco Press, Inc.
- Saints for Our Times, by Ed Ransom
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