BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE APOSTLES

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE APOSTLES
In the preceding chapters we have given a minute detail of the transactions of those two great apostles, Peter and Paul, as related by the evangelist St. Luke, together with an account of the persecutions and sufferings of St. Stephen, and St. James the Less, bishop of Jerusalem. We shall therefore in this chapter proceed to relate the particulars concerning their fellow-laborers in the cause of Christ; in doing which we shall begin with the Apostle[515]
[515] With the exception of Peter and Paul, the notices of the lives and labors of the apostles, as contained in the sacred narrative, are very meager. They were alike commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; and they were all endued with power from on high, when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. The center of their first field of missionary labor was Jerusalem, when Peter was the prominent character in the apostolic circle. Thence their mission extended to Samaria, and the center of their second field of activity was Antioch, in which Paul was the principal actor to the time of his martyrdom at Rome. From this time the third period of apostolic missionary agency begins. From this period, during which the apostles and fellow-laborers were actively employed in various and distant fields in the Gentile world, very little is found recorded in the sacred narrative concerning their lives and labors, and other historic sources are incomplete, and not in all respects reliable.
The historic sketches given in the following chapter are derived, with the exception of a very few Scripture notices, from the early ecclesiastical writers, as Nicephorus, Tertullian, Eusebius, and others. Though the verity of some of their statements lacks authentic confirmation, yet the current traditions, generally received at the time, doubtless had a basis of historic facts, and may therefore, be accepted in the main as credible. It is not incredible that miraculous incidents are contained among these traditionary records, for the age of miracles continued during the life-time of the apostles. Supernatural protection and power were promised them by the Savior, as may be seen, Luke 10:19, Mark 16:17-18. It is evident that they regarded the whole world as embraced in their great commission; and by a mutual arrangement designating their respective portions of the field, they went forth to their missionary labors. Such was their zeal and success, that at the close of the first century Christianity had been preached and embraced in most or all the provinces of the Roman empire--Ed.
ST. ANDREW
PREACHES IN SCYTHIA
After the ascension of our blessed Lord into heaven, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the apostles, to qualify them for the great business they were about to undertake, St. Andrew was appointed to preach the gospel in Scythia and the neighboring countries. Accordingly, he departed from Jerusalem, and first travelled through Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, instructing the inhabitants in the faith of Christ, and continued his journey along the Euxine sea, into the deserts of Scythia. On his arrival at a place called Amynsus, he was received with great civility by a distinguished Jew of that town; upon which he went into the synagogue, preached to them concerning Jesus, and, from the prophecies of the Old Testament, proved him to be the Messiah and Savior of the world. During his stay here he converted many to the true faith, having done which, previous to his departure, he ordained them priests, and settled the times of their public meetings for the performance of divine worship.
Leaving Amynsus, he proceeded to Trapezium, a maritime city on the Euxine sea, whence, after visiting many other places, he went to Nice, where he stayed two years, preaching and working miracles with great success. From Nice he proceeded to Nicomedia, and thence to Chalcedon, where he took shipping, and sailing through the Propontis, passed the Euxine sea to Heraclea, and afterward to Amastris; in all which places he met with very great difficulties, but overcame them by an invincible patience and resolution.
VICIOUS BEATING AT SINOPE
From Amastris, Andrew went to Sinope, a city situated on the Euxine sea, and famous both for the birth and burial of King Mithridates. The inhabitants of this city were chiefly Jews, who, partly from a zeal for their religion, and partly from their barbarous manners, were exasperated against Andrew, and entered into a confederacy to burn the house in which he lodged. But being disappointed in their design, they treated him with the most savage cruelty, throwing him on the ground, stamping upon him with their feet, pulling and dragging him from place to place: some beating him with clubs, and others pelting him with stones, till at length, apprehending they had entirely deprived him of life, they cast him out into the fields. But he miraculously recovered, and returned publicly into the city; by which, and other miracles he wrought among them, he converted many from the errors of their ways, and induced them to become disciples of the blessed Jesus.
Departing from Sinope, he returned to Jerusalem, and after staying a short time in his own country, went again into the province allotted for the service of his ministry, which greatly flourished through the power of the Divine grace that attended it. He travelled over Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, and Epirus,[516] preaching the gospel, propagating Christianity, and confirming the doctrine he taught with signs and miracles. At length he arrived at Patrea,[517] a city of Achaia, where he gave his last and greatest testimony to the gospel of his Divine Master, by cheerfully sealing it with his blood.
[516] Epirus was a province of Greece, lying along the coast of the Ionian sea, and having for its bounds, Albania on the north, Thessaly on the south, Achaia on the southeast, and the ocean on the west.
[517] Patrea was situated on a hill near the sea, about ten miles from the mouth of the gulf Lepanto. The goddess Diana was worshipped here in the most diabolical manner, having a most beautiful young man and maid, every year, sacrificed to her, till, by the preaching of St. Andrew, one Eurypilus, a great man of the place, being converted to Christianity, occasioned that barbarous custom to be totally laid aside.
ANDREW IS MARTYRED
It happened that Aegenas, the pro-consul of Achaia, came at this time to Patrea, where, knowing that many of the people had abandoned the heathen religion and embraced the gospel of Christ, he had recourse to every method, both of favor and cruelty, to reduce the people to their old idolatry. The apostle, whom no difficulties or dangers could deter from performing the duties of his ministry, addressed himself to the pro-consul, calmly putting him in mind that, being only a judge of men, he ought to revere Him who was the supreme and impartial Judge of all, pay him the divine honors due to his exalted majesty, and abandon the impieties of his idolatrous worship; observing to him, that if he would renounce his idolatries, and heartily embrace the Christian faith, he might, with him and the members who had believed in the Son of God; receive eternal happiness in the Messiah's kingdom.
The pro-consul told St. Andrew, he would never embrace the religion he had mentioned, and that if he did not sacrifice to the gods (in order that all those whom he had seduced might, by his example, be brought back to the ancient religion they had forsaken) he would cause him to be immediately put to death. The apostle replied, that he saw it was in vain to endeavor to persuade a person incapable of sober counsels, and hardened in his own blindness and folly, to forsake his evil ways; and that, with respect to himself, he might act as he pleased, and if he had any torment greater than another, he might inflict it upon him; as the stricter constancy he showed in his sufferings for Christ, the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master after his departure from this wicked world.
ANDREW'S SCOURGING
This so irritated Aegenas, that he immediately condemned him to death. Accordingly, after being scourged in the most unmerciful manner by seven lictors, he was led away to be crucified. As soon as he approached the cross, he knelt down and saluted it in words to this effect: “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it, and adorned with his members as with so many inestimable jewels. I therefore come joyfully and triumphantly to it, that it may receive me as a disciple and follower of him who once hung upon it, and be the means of carrying me safe to my Master, being the instrument on which he redeemed me.”
ANDREW'S CRUCIFIXION
After offering up his prayers to the throne of grace, and exhorting the people to constancy and perseverance in the faith he had delivered to them, he was fastened to the cross, on which he hung two whole days, teaching and instructing the people. In the meantime, great interest was made with the pro-consul to save his life; but the apostle earnestly begged of God that he might then depart, and seal the truth of his religion with his blood. His prayers were heard, and he soon after expired on the last day of November, but in what year is not certain.
ST. ANDREW'S CROSS
The cross on which he was fixed was made of two pieces of timber, crossing each other in the middle, in the shape of the letter X (which has ever since been known by the name of St. Andrew's Cross”), and to this he was fastened, not with nails, but cords, to make his death more painful and lingering.
ANDREW'S BURIAL
His body being taken down from the cross; was decently and honorably interred by Maximilla, a lady of great quality and estate, and whom Nicepborus tells us was wife to the pro-consul. Constantine the Great afterward removed his body to Constantinople, and buried it in the great church he had built to the honor of the apostles. This structure being taken down some hundred years after by the emperor Justinian, in order to be rebuilt, the body of St. Andrew was found in a wooden coffin, and again deposited in the same place it had been before, which was afterward reverenced by all true professors of the Christian religion.
ST. JAMES, THE GREAT
PREACHING AT JUDEA, SAMARIA, THEN SPAIN
This apostle was surnamed the Great, to distinguish him from that James (another of the apostles) who was bishop of Jerusalem. After the ascension of the blessed Jesus he preached to the dispersed Jews; that is, to those converts who were dispersed after the death of Stephen. He first preached the gospel in several parts of Judea and Samaria, after which he visited Spain, where he planted Christianity, and appointed some select disciples to perfect what he had begun.
HEROD ORDERS HIS DEATH
After this he returned to Judea, where he continued preaching in different parts for some time, with great success; till at length Herod (who was a bigot to the Jewish religion, and desirous of acquiring the favor of the Jews) began a violent persecution against the Christians, and to such a degree did his zeal animate him, that, after a short trial, he ordered James to be put to death.
JAMES IS BEHEADED WITH CONVERTED ACCUSER
As he was led to the place of execution, the officer that guarded him to the tribunal, or rather his accuser, having been converted by that remarkable courage and constancy shown by the apostle at the time of his trial, repented of what he had done, came and fell down at the apostle's feet, and heartily begged pardon for what he had said against him. The holy man, after recovering from his surprise, tenderly embraced him. “Peace,” said he, “my son, peace be to thee and the pardon of thy faults.” Upon which the officer publicly declared himself a Christian, and both were beheaded at the same time.
Thus fell the great apostle St. James, taking cheerfully that cup of which he had long before told his Lord and Master he was both ready and willing to drink.
ST. JOHN, THE EVANGELIST
THE CLOSEST DISCIPLE
Though this apostle was by much the youngest of the whole, yet he was admitted into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any. He was one of those to whom our Lord communicated the most private passages of his life; one of those whom he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead; one of those to whom he gave a specimen of his divinity in his transfiguration on the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and Elijah, and heard that voice which declared him “the beloved Son of God;” and one of those who were companions in his solitude, most retired devotions, and bitter agonies in the garden.
GIVEN CARE OF MARY
These instances of particular favor our apostle endeavored in some measure to answer, by returns of particular kindness and constancy; for though he at first deserted his Master on his apprehension, yet he soon discovered the impropriety of his conduct: he therefore went back to seek his Savior; confidently entered the high priest's hall; followed our Lord through the several particulars of his trial; and at last waited on him at his execution, owning him, as well as being owned by him, in the midst of armed soldiers, and in the thickest crowds of his inveterate enemies. Here it was that our Great Redeemer committed to his care his sorrowful and disconsolate mother with his dying breath. And certainly our blessed Lord could not havegiven a more honorable testimony of his particular kindness and respect to John, than by leaving his own mother to his trust and care, and substituting him to supply that duty he himself paid her while he resided in this vale of sorrow.
Smyrna

CARED FOR MARY UNTIL HER DEATH
When the apostles made a division of the provinces among them after our Savior's ascension into heaven, in order to circulate the doctrine of their Lord and Master, that of Asia fell to the share of St. John, though be did not immediately enter upon his charge, but continued at Jerusalem till the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension.
SENT TO ASIA
After being thus released from the trust committed to his care by his dying Master, he went into Asia, and industriously applied himself to the propagation of Christianity, preaching where the gospel had not then been known, and confirming it where it was already planted. Many churches of note and eminence were founded by him, particularly those of Smyrna,[518] Philadelphia, Laodicea, and others; but his chief place of residence was at Ephesus, where St. Paul had founded a church, and constituted Timothy its pastor.
[518] A city of Asia Minor, about forty miles south of Ephesus, famous for its having been thought the birthplace of Homer, but more so as having contained one of the seven churches of Asia specially addressed by Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:11.) Polycarp is supposed by some to have been the angel or bishop of this Christian congregation addressed by John, as he sustained that office some years afterward, and was martyred here, A.D. 160, at the age of ninety-five. Smyrna is now the principal emporium of trade in the Levant; it is called by the Turks Ismir, and the population is estimated to include 80,000 Turks, 40,000 Greeks, 15,000 Armenians, 10,000 Jews, 5,000 Franks, etc.
REVELATION WRITTEN
After John had spent several years at Ephesus, an accusation was laid against him before the emperor Domitian (who had then begun a persecution against the Christians) as being an asserter of false doctrine and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire. In consequence of this, and in conformity to the orders of Domitian, the pro-consul of Ephesus sent him bound to Rome, where he met with that treatment which might have been expected from so barbarous a prince, being thrown into a caldron of boiling oil. But the Almighty, who reserved him for farther service in the vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat, as he did in the fiery furnace of old, and delivered him from this seemingly unavoidable destruction. And surely one would have thought that so miraculous a deliverance might have been sufficient to have persuaded any rational man that the religion he taught was from God, and that he was protected from danger by the hand of Omnipotence. But miracles themselves were not sufficient to convince this cruel emperor, or abate his fury. He ordered St. John to be transported to a desolate island in the archipelago, called Patmos, where he continued several years, instructing the poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Christian faith; and here, about the end of Domitian's reign, he wrote his book of Revelation, exhibiting, by visions and prophetical representations, the state and condition of Christianity that would take place in the future periods and ages of the church.
Patmos

JOHN RETURNS TO EPHESUS
On the death of Domitian, and the succession of Narva (who repealed all the odious acts of his predecessors, and by public edicts recalled those whom the fury of Domitian had banished), St. John returned to Asia, and again fixed his residence at Ephesus, on account of Timothy, their pastor, having some time before been put to death by the people of that city. Here, with the assistance of seven other bishops or pastors, he took upon himself the large diocess of Asia Minor, spending his time in an indefatigable execution of his charge, travelling from one part to another, and instructing the people in the principles of that holy religion he was sent to propagate. In this manner did John continue to spend his time, till death put a period to his labors, which happened in the beginning of the reign of the emperor Trajan. His remains were deposited in the city of Ephesus, where several of the fathers observe that his tomb, to their time, was remaining in a church, which was built to his honor and called by his name. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death; notwithstanding which he is deemed a martyr on account of his having undergone the mode of an execution, though it did not take effect. He lived the longest of any of the apostles, being nearly a hundred years of age at the time of his death.
HIS HUMILITY AND FOCUS ON LOVE
St. John, having been brought up to the business of a fisherman, never received a liberal education; but what was wanting from human art was abundantly supplied by the excellent constitution of his mind, and that fulness of Divine grace with which he was adorned. His humility was admirable, always studiously concealing whatever tended to his own honor. In his epistles he never styles himself either apostle or evangelist; the title of “presbyter,” or “elder,” is all he assumes, and probably as much in regard to his age as his office. In his Gospel, when he speaks of “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” he conceals his own name, leaving the reader to discover whom he meant. He practised charity to the utmost extent, and affectionately recommended it to all mankind. This, and the love of our neighbor, is the great vein that runs through all his writings, more especially his epistles, wherein he urges it as the great and peculiar law of Christianity, and without which all pretensions to our blessed Savior are vain and frivolous, useless and insignificant. When age and the infirmities of nature had rendered him so weak that he was unable to preach to the people any longer, he was led, at every public meeting, to the church at Ephesus, were he generally addressed himself to the people in these words “Little children, love one another.” When his hearers, tired with the constant repetition of the same thing, asked him the reason of it, he told them that to love one another was the command of our blessed Savior.
The greatest instance of our apostle's care for the souls of men is displayed in the inimitable writings he left to posterity; the first of which in point of time, though he placed last in the sacred canon, is his Apocalypse, or book of Revelation, which he wrote during his banishment in the island of Patmos.
JOHN'S EPISTLES
Next to the Apocalypse, in order of time, are his three epistles, the first of which is catholic, calculated for all times and places, containing the most excellent rules for the conduct of a Christian life, pressing to holiness and pureness of manners, and not to be satisfied with a naked and empty profession of religion--not to be led away with the crafty insinuation of seducers; and cautioning them against the poisonous principles and practices of the Gnostics. The apostle here, according to his usual modesty, conceals his name, it being of more consequence to a wise man what is said than who says it. It appears from St. Augustine that this epistle was anciently ascribed to the Parthians, because in all probability St. John preached the gospel in Parthia. The other two epistles are but short, and directed to particular persons; the one to a woman of honorable quality, encouraging her and her children to charity, to perseverance in good works, and to show no countenance to false teachers and deceivers. The other epistle is directed to the charitable and hospitable Gaius, the kindest friend and the most courteous entertainer of all indigent Christians. Before he undertook the task of writing his gospel, he caused a general fast to be kept in all the churches throughout Asia, to implore the blessing of Heaven on so great and momentous an undertaking. When this was done, he set to work and completed it in so excellent and sublime a manner, that the ancients generally compared him to an eagle soaring aloft among the clouds, whither the meek eye of man was not able to follow him.
In respect to the writings of this apostle, it may be said, “Among all the evangelical writers, none are like St. John for the sublimity of his speech, and the height of his discourses, which are beyond any man's capacity fully to reach and comprehend.” This is corroborated by Epiphanius, who says, “St. John, by a loftiness and speech peculiar to himself, acquaints us, as it were out of the clouds and dark recesses of wisdom, with the divine doctrine of the Son of God.”
Such is the character given of the writings of this great apostle and evangelist, who was honored with the endearing title of being the beloved disciple of the Son of God; a writer so profound as to deserve, by way of eminence, the character of St. John the Divine.
ST. PHILIP
UPPER ASIA ASSIGNMENT
In the distribution made by the apostles of the several regions of the world in which were to preach the gospel after our Lords ascension, the upper Asia fell to Philip, where he labored with the most indefatigable diligence to propagate the doctrine of his Master in those arts. From the constancy and power of his preaching, and the efficacy of his miracles he gained numerous converts, whom he baptized in the Christian faith, curing at once their bodies of infirmities and distempers, and their souls of errors and idolatry. Here he continued a considerable time, and, before he left the place, settled the churches and appointed Christian pastors over those whom he had converted.
PRAYS DRAGON AWAY
After Philip had for several years successfully exercised his apostolic office in upper Asia, he went to Hierapolis in Phrygia, a city remarkably rich and populous, but at the same time overrun with the most enormous idolatry. Philip was greatly grieved to see the people so wretchedly enslaved by error and superstition; he, therefore repeatedly offered up his prayers to Heaven in their behalf, till, by his prayers, and often calling on the name of Christ, he procured the death, or at least the vanishing of a dragon, or enormous serpent, to which they paid adoration.
Having thus demolished their deity, Philip clearly demonstrated to them how ridiculous and unjust it was to pay divine honors to such odious creatures: he told them that God alone was to be worshipped as the great parent of all the world, who, in the beginning made men after his glorious image, and when fallen from that innocent and happy state, sent his own Son into the world to redeem them. That, in order to perform this glorious work, he died on the cross, and rose again from the dead, and at the end of the world would come again to raise all the sons of men from the chambers of the dust, and either sentence them to everlasting punishment, or reward them with everlasting felicity.
PHILIP'S MARTYRDOM
This discourse roused them from their lethargy, insomuch that great numbers, being ashamed of their idolatry, immediately forsook it, and embraced the doctrine of the gospel. But the success attending Philip's endeavors proved fatal to him. The magistrates were so incensed at his having obtained such a number of converts, that they resolved to put an effectual stop to his proceedings. They accordingly ordered him to be seized, and thrown into prison, whence, after being severely scourged, he was led to execution, and put to death, the manner of which, according to some, was by being hanged against a pillar, and, according to others, by crucifixion.
PHILIP'S BURIAL
As soon as he was dead, his body was taken down by Bartholomew, his fellow-laborer in the gospel, and Mariamne his sister, the constant companion of his travels, and decently interred in a private place near the city, both of whom, for performing this friendly office, barely escaped with their lives.
The martyrdom of St. Philip happened about eight years after that of St. James the Great.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW
This apostle is mentioned among the immediate disciples of our Lord, under the appellation of Bartholomew, though it is evident, from divers passages in Scripture, that he was also called Nathaniel.[520]
[520] That Nathaniel and Bartholomew were only two names for one and the same person, the one his proper and the other his relative name, is beyond all doubt; but then the question is, upon what account it was that he had his relative name conferred on him. That several sects in the Jewish church denominated themselves from some famous person of that nation (as the Essenes did from Enoch, and the Sadducess from Sadoc), can not be denied; and therefore, if we may suppose that there were others who called themselves Tholmaeans, from Tholmai, scholar to Heber, the ancient master of the Hebrews, who flourished in Debir and Hebron, it will be no hard matter to make Nathaniel of this order and institution, and thereupon to give him the name of Bartholomew, i.e., a scholar of the Tholmeans, and so create him, as he is said to nave been, a doctor of the Jewish law. But an easier explanation of this matter will appear from this following observations. That, as the first syllable of his name signifies a son, the word Bar-tholomew will import no more than the son of Tholomew, or Tholmai, which was no uncommon name among the Jews. And, that it was a usual thing among them for the son thus to derive his name, is evident from the instance of Bar-timaeus, which is interpreted the son of Timaeus (Mark 10:46), and that of Bar-jona (Matthew 16:17) which St. John makes the same with Simon, son of Jonas. (John 21:15).
TIED TO CROSS AND THEN LIBERATED
After our Lord's ascension into heaven, Bartholomew visited different parts of the world, in order to propagate the gospel of his Master, and at length penetrated us far as the Hither India. Here he remained a considerable time, and then went to Hierapolis in Phrygia, where he labored (in conjunction with Philip) to plant Christianity to those parts; and to convince the blind idolaters of the evil of their ways, and direct them in the paths which lead to eternal salvation. This enraging the bigoted magistrates, they sentenced Bartholomew to death, and he was accordingly fastened to a cross; but their consciences staring them in their faces for the iniquity they were about to commit, they ordered him to be taken down and set at liberty.
HORRIBLE TORTURE TO DEATH IN ALBANIA
In consequence of this our apostle left Hierapolis, and went to Lycaonia, where he obtained a great number of converts, whom he instructed and trained up in the principles of the Christian religion. From Lycaonia he went to Albania, a city on the Caspian sea, a place miserably overrun with idolatry, from which he labored hard to reclaim the people. But his endeavors to “turn them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God,” instead of proving effectual, only procured his destruction. The magistrates were so incensed against him, that they prevailed on the governor to order him to be put to death, which was accordingly done with the most distinguished cruelty. It is the general opinion of most writers, that he was first severely beaten with sticks, then crucified, afterward flayed while still alive, and lastly, that his head was severed from his body.
ST. MATTHEW
GOSPEL WRITER
During the first eight years after our blessed Lord's ascension into heaven, Matthew continued to preach the gospel with great assiduity in different parts of Judea; after which he left the country of Palestine in order to convert the Gentile world. But before his departure, at the earnest solicitation of the Jewish converts in Judea, he wrote the history of the life and actions of the blessed Jesus, which he left among them as a standing monument of what he had so often delivered to them in his sermons.
MARTYRED IN ETHIOPIA
After Matthew left Judea, he travelled into various parts, but the particular places he visited are not certainly known. However, after laboring indefatigably in the vineyard of his Master, he suffered martyrdom at a city called Nadabar in Ethiopia; but the particular manner of his death is not certainly known, though it is the general opinion that he was slain with a halberd. His martyrdom is commemorated by the church on the 21st day of September.
MATHEW'S DRAMATIC CONVERSION
St. Matthew was a remarkable instance of the power of religion, in bringing men to a proper temper of mind. If we reflect upon his circumstances while he continued a stranger to the great Redeemer of mankind, we shall find that the love of the world had possessed his heart. But notwithstanding this, no sooner did Christ call him, than he abandoned, without the least scruple or hesitation, all his riches; nay, he not only renounced his lucrative trade, but ran the greatest hazards of displeasing the masters who employed him, for quitting their service without giving them the least notice, and leaving big accounts in confusion. Had our blessed Savior appeared as a secular prince, clothed with temporal power and authority, it would have been no wonder for him to have gone over to his service; but when he appeared under all the circumstances of poverty, when he seemed to promise his followers nothing but misery and sufferings to this life, and to propose no other rewards than the invisible encouragements of another world, his change appears truly wonderful and surprising. But divine grace can subdue all opposition.
His contempt of the world was fully manifested in his exemplary temperance and abstemiousness from all delights and pleasures; insomuch that he even refused the ordinary conveniences and accommodations of life. He was remarkably modest in the opinion he entertained of himself, always giving the preference to others, even though their abilities were not so conspicuous as his own. The rest of the evangelists are careful to mention the honor of his apostleship, but speak of his former sordid, dishonest, and disgraceful course of life, only under the name of Levi; while he himself sets it down with all its circumstances, under his own proper and common name; a conduct which at once commends the prudence and candor of the apostle, and suggests to us this useful reflection, that the greatest sinners are not excluded from divine grace; nor can any, if penitent, have just reason to despair, when publicans and sinners find mercy at the throne of grace.
GOSPEL IN HEBREW
The Gospel which St. Matthew wrote at the entreaty of the Jewish converts before he left Judea, was penned in the Hebrew language, but soon after translated into Greek by one of his disciples. After the Greek translation was admitted, the Hebrew copy was chiefly owned and used by the Nazaræi, a middle sect between Jews and Christians; with the former, they adhered to the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, and with the latter, they believed in Christ, and embraced his religion; and hence this Gospel has been styled, “The Gospel according to the Hebrews,” and “The Gospel of the Nazarenes.”
ST. THOMAS
THOMAS LEADS MAGI TO GOSPEL
The apostle Thomas, after our Lord's ascension, continued to preach the gospel in various parts of Judea; till at length, being interrupted by the dispersion of the Christian church in Jerusalem, he repaired into Parthia, the province assigned him for his ministry. He afterward preached the gospel to the Medes, Persians, Carmans, Hyrcani, Bractarians, and the neighboring nations. During his preaching in Persia, he is said to have met with the Magi, or wise men, who had taken that long journey at our Savior's birth to worship him, whom he baptized, and took with him, as his companions and assistants in propagating the Gospel.
MINISTRY IN ETHIOPIA
Leaving Persia, he travelled into Ethiopia, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel, healing the sick, and working other miracles, to prove he had his commission from on high.
MINISTRY IN INDIA
After travelling through these countries, he entered India, and went first to Socotora, an island in the Arabian sea, and then to Cranganor, whence, having converted many from the error of their ways, he travelled farther into the east. Having successfully preached the gospel here, he returned back to the kingdom of Coromandel, where, at Malipur, the metropolis of the kingdom, not far from the mouth of the Ganges, he began to erect a place for divine worship, but was interrupted by the idolatrous priests, and Sagamo, prince of the country. However, after he had performed several miracles, he was suffered to proceed in the work, and Sagamo himself embraced the Christian faith, whose example was soon followed by great numbers of his friends and subjects.
MURDERED BY BRAHMANS
This remarkable success alarmed the Brahmans, who plainly perceived that their religion would be soon extirpated unless some method could be found of putting a stop to the progress of Christianity; they therefore resolved to put the apostle to death. At a small distance from the city was a tomb, whither St. Thomas often retired for private devotion. Hither the Brahmans and their armed followers pursued him; and while he was at prayer, they first threw at him a shower of darts, after which one of the priests ran him through the body with a lance. His corpse was taken up by his disciples, and buried in the church he had caused to be erected, and which was afterward improved into a fabric of very great magnificence.
St. Chrysostom says, that St. Thomas, who at first was the weakest and most incredulous of all the apostles, became, through Christ's condescension to satisfy his scruples, and the power of the divine grace, the most active and invincible of them all; travelling over most parts of the world, and living without fear in the midst of barbarous nations, through the efficacy of that Almighty power, which can make the weakest vessels to perform acts of the greatest difficulty and moment.
ST. SIMON, COMMONLY CALLED THE ZEALOT
SIMON THE CANAANITE
This apostle, in the catalogue of our Lord's chosen disciples, is styled “Simon the Canaanite,” whence some are of opinion that he was born at Cana, in Galilee, and it is generally thought that he was the bridegroom mentioned by St. John, at whose marriage our blessed Savior turned the water into wine.
The name of this apostle is derived from the Hebrew word knah, which signifies zeal, and denotes a warm and sprightly disposition. He did not, however, acquire this name from his ardent affection to his Master, and the desire of advancing his religion in the world, but from his zealous attachment to a particular sect of religion before he became acquainted with his great Lord and Master.
THE ZEALOTS
In order to explain this matter more clearly to the understanding of our readers, it is necessary to observe, that as there were several sects and parties among the Jews, so there was one, either a distinct sect, or at least a branch of the Pharisees, called the sect of the Zealots. This sect took upon them to inflict punishments in extraordinary cases; and that not only by the connivance, but: with the leave both of the rulers and people, till, in process of time, their zeal degenerated into all kinds of licentiousness and wild extravagance; and they not only became the pests of the commonwealth in their own territories, but were likewise hated by the people of those parts which belonged to the Romans. They were continually urging the people to shake off the Roman yoke and assert their natural liberty, taking care, when they had thrown all things into confusion, to make their own advantage of the consequences arising therefrom. Josephus gives a very long and particular account of them, throughout the whole of which he repeatedly represents them as the great plague of the Jewish nation. Various attempts were made, especially by Ananias, the high-priest, to reduce them to order, and oblige them to observe the rules of sobriety; but all endeavors proved ineffectual. They continued their violent proceedings, and, joining with the Idumeans, committed every kind of outrage. They broke into the sanctuary, slew the priests themselves before the altar, and filled the streets of Jerusalem with tumults, rapine, and blood. Nay, when Jerusalem was closely besieged by the Roman army, they continued their detestable proceedings, creating fresh tumults and factions, and were indeed the principal cause of the ill success of the Jews in that fatal war.
This is a true account of the sect of the Zealots; though, whatever St. Simon was before, we have no reason to suspect but that after his conversion he was very zealous for the honor of his Master, and considered all those who were enemies to Christ as enemies to himself, however near they might be to him in any natural relation. As he was very exact in all the practical duties of the Christian religion, so he showed a very serious and pious indignation toward those who professed religion, and a faith in Christ, with their mouths, but dishonored their sacred profession by their irregular and vicious lives, as many of the first professing Christians really did.
MAY HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED IN BRITAIN
St. Simon continued in communion with the rest of the apostles and disciples at Jerusalem, and at the feast of Pentecost received the same miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; so that he was qualified with the rest of his brethren for the apostolic office. In propagating the gospel of the Son of God, we can not doubt of his exercising his gifts with the same zeal and fidelity as his fellow-apostles, though in what part of the world is uncertain. Some say he went into Egypt, Cyrene, and Africa, preaching the gospel to the inhabitants of those remote and barbarous countries; and others add, that after he had passed through those burning wastes, he preached the gospel to the inhabitants of the western parts, and even in Britain, where, having converted great multitudes, and sustained the greatest hardships and persecutions, he was at last crucified, and buried in some part of that island, but the exact place where is unknown.
ST. JUDE
APOSTLES USE OTHER NAMES
It is very observable of this apostle that the evangelists commonly call him, not Jude, but either Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus; the reason of which, in all human probability, is from the particular dislike they had to the name, which was so nearly similar to that of the base and perfidious Judas Iscariot, who treacherously sold and betrayed his Master.
SCRIPTURE IS VAGUE ABOUT JUDE
Jude was brother to James the Less, afterward bishop of Jerusalem, being the son of Joseph by a former wife. It is not known when or by what means he became a disciple of our blessed Savior, there not being anything said of him till we find him in the catalogue of the twelve apostles; nor afterward till Christ's Last Supper, when discoursing with them about his departure, and comforting them with a promise that he would return to them again, meaning after his resurrection from the dead.
OTHER RECORDS CONFLICT
The sacred records are so very short in their accounts of this apostle, that we must be beholden to other ecclesiastical writers for information relative to his conduct after the ascension of our blessed Lord into heaven. Paulinus tells us that the part which fell to his share in the apostolic division of the provinces was Lybia; but he does not tell us whether it was the Cyrenian Lybia which is thought to have received the gospel from St. Mark, or the more southern parts of Africa. But, however that be, in his first setting out to preach the gospel, he travelled up and down Judea and Galilee; then through Samaria into Idumea, and to the cities of Arabia and the neighboring countries, and afterward to Syria and Mesopotamia. Nicephorus adds, that he came at last to Edessa, where Agabarus governed, and where Thaddeus, one of the seventy, had already sown the seeds of the gospel. Here he perfected what the other had begun; and having by his sermons and miracles established the religion of Jesus, he died in peace: but others say that he was slain at Berites, and honorably buried there. The writers of the Latin church are unanimous in declaring that he travelled into Persia, where, after great success in his apostolical ministry for many years, he was at last, for his freely and openly reproving the superstitious rites and customs of the Magi, cruelly put to death.
THE EPISTLE
St. Jude wrote only one epistle, which is placed the last of those seven styled catholic in the sacred canon. It has no particular inscription, as the other six have, but is thought to have been primarily intended for the Christian Jews in their several dispersions, as were the epistles of the apostle Peter. In it he informs them that he at first intended to have wrote to them concerning the “common salvation,” in order to confirm them in their belief; but, finding the doctrine of Christ attacked on all sides by heretics, he thought it more necessary to exhort them to stand up manfully in defence of the “faith once delivered to the saints,” and to oppose those false teachers who so earnestly labored to corrupt them; and that they might know these the better, he describes them in their proper colors, and foretells their future if not impending danger; but, at the same time, he endeavors to exhort them, by all gentle methods to save them, and to take them “out of the fire” into which their own folly had cast them.
It was some time before this epistle was generally received in the church. The author indeed, like St. James, St. John, and sometimes St. Paul, does not call himself an apostle, but only “the servant of Christ.” But he has added what is equivalent, Jude “the brother of James,” a character which can only belong to himself and surely the humility of a follower of Christ should be no objection to his writings.
ST. MATTHIAS
REPLACED JUDAS
Matthias was one of the seventy disciples whom our blessed Lord made choice of to assist him in the discharge of his public ministry. After his death, Matthias was elected into the apostleship, to supply the place of Judas, who was so struck with remorse at having betrayed his Master, as to put a period to his existence.
STONED AND KILLED IN ETHIOPIA
After our Lord's ascension into heaven, Matthias spent the first year of his ministry in Judea, where he was so successful as to bring over a prodigious number of people to the Christian faith. From Judea he travelled into other countries, and, proceeding eastward, came at length to Ethiopia. Here he likewise made many converts, but the inhabitants in general being of a fierce and untractable temper, resolved to take away his life, which they effected by first stoning him, and then severing his head from his body.
ST. MARK
MINISTERS IN EGYPT
In the dispersion of the apostles for propagating the gospel in different parts of the world, after our Lord's ascension into heaven, St. Mark was by Peter sent into Egypt, where he soon planted a church in Alexandria, the metropolis; and such was his success, that he converted prodigious multitudes of people, both men and women, to the Christian religion.
St. Mark did not confine himself to Alexandria and the oriental parts of Egypt, but removed westward to Lybia, passing through the countries of Marmarcia, Pentapolis, and others adjacent, where, though the people were both barbarous in their manners and idolatrous in their worship, yet by his preaching and miracles he prevailed on them to embrace the tenets of the gospel; nor did he leave them till he had confirmed them in the faith.
MARK IS DRAGGED TO DEATH
After this long tour he returned to Alexandria, where he preached with the greatest freedom, ordered and disposed of the affairs of the church, and wisely provided for a succession by constituting governors and pastors of it. But the restless enemy of the souls of men would not suffer our apostle to continue in peace and quietness; for while he was assiduously laboring in the vineyard of his Master, the idolatrous inhabitants, about the time of Easter, when they were celebrating the solemnities of Serapis, tumultuously seized him, and, binding his feet with cords, dragged him through the streets and over the most craggy places to the Bucelus, a precipice near the sea, leaving him there in a lonesome prison for that night, but his great and beloved Master appeared to him in a vision, comforting and encouraging him under the ruins of his shattered body.
Early the next morning the tragedy began afresh; and they dragged him about the same cruel and barbarous manner till he expired. But their malice did not end with his death, for they burnt his mangled body after they had so inhumanly deprived it of life; but the Christians gathered up his bones and ashes, and decently interred them near the place where he used to preach. His remains were afterward, with great pomp, removed from Alexandria to Venice, where they were religiously honored, and he was adopted the titular saint and patron of that state.
He suffered martyrdom on the 25th of April, but the year is not absolutely known; the most probable opinion is that it happened about the end of the reign of Nero.
MARK'S GOSPEL
His Gospel, the only writing he left behind him, was written at the entreaty and earnest desire of the converts at Rome, who, not content with having heard St. Peter preach, pressed St. Mark, his disciple, to commit to writing an historical account of what he had delivered to them, which he performed with equal faithfulness and brevity, and being perused and approved by St. Peter, it was commanded to be publicly read in their assemblies. It was frequently styled St. Peter's gospel, not because he dictated it to St. Mark, but because the latter composed it from the accounts St. Peter usually delivered in his discourse to the people. And this is probably the reason of what St. Chrysostom observes, that in his style and manner of expression he delights to imitate St. Peter, representing a great deal in a few words.
ST. LUKE
DOCTOR AND PAINTER
The Evangelist St. Luke was a native of Antioch in Syria, and by profession a physician; and it is the general opinion of most ancient historians, that he was also well acquainted with the art of painting.
PAUL'S COMPANION
After our Lord's ascension into heaven, he spent a great part of his time with St. Paul, whom he accompanied to various places, and greatly assisted in bringing over proselytes to the Christian faith. This so endeared him to that apostle, that he seems delighted with owning him for his fellow-laborer, and in calling him “the beloved physician,” and the “brother whose praise is in the gospel.”
DIED BY HANGING
St. Luke preached the gospel with great success in a variety of places, independent of his assisting St. Paul. he travelled into different parts of Egypt and Greece, in the latter of which countries the idolatrous priests were so incensed against him that they put him to death, which they effected by hanging him on the branch of an olive-tree. The anniversary of his martyrdom is held on the 18th of October.
WRITINGS TO THEOPHILUS
St. Luke wrote two books for the use of the church; namely his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles. Both these he dedicated to Theophilus, which many of the ancients suppose to be a feigned name, denoting a lover of God, a title common to all sincere Christians. But others think it was a real person, because the title of “most excellent” is attributed to him; which was the usual form of address, in those times, to princes, and other distinguished characters.
LUKE AND ACTS WRITTEN
His Gospel contains the principal transactions of the life of our blessed Redeemer; and in his Acts of the Apostles, which it is probable he wrote at Rome about the time of Paul's imprisonment, are recorded the most material actions of the principal apostles, especially St. Paul, whose activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a very great part in the labors of his Master; and St. Luke, being his almost constant attendant, and privy to his most intimate transactions, was consequently capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account of them than any other of the apostles.
In both these treatises his manner of writing is exact and accurate; his style noble and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous, flowing with an easy and natural grace and sweetness, admirably adapted to an historical design. In short, as an historian he was faithful in his relations, and elegant in his writings; as a minister, careful and diligent for the good of souls; as a Christian, devout and pious; and to crown all the rest, he laid down his life in testimony of the gospel he had both preached and published to the world.
ST. BARNABAS
PAUL'S COMPANION
After our Lord's ascension into heaven, Barnabas continued for a considerable time with St. Paul, being his constant attendant wherever he went. He travelled with him to a great variety of places in different parts of the world, and was of the most infinite service in helping him to propagate the gospel of his great Lord and Master. At length, however, a dispute arose between them while they were at Antioch, the issue of which was, that Barnabas left Paul at Antioch, and retired to Cyprus, his native country.
BARNABAS STONED TO DEATH
After this separation from St. Paul, the sacred writings give us no account of St Barnabas; nor are the ecclesiastical writers agreed among themselves with regard to the actions of our apostle, after his sailing for Cyprus. This, however, seems to be certain, that he did not spend the whole remainder of his life in that island, but visited different parts of the world, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel, healing: the sick, and working other miracles among the Gentiles. After long and painful travels, attended with different degrees of success in different places, he returned to Cyprus, his native country, where he suffered martyrdom in the following manner: certain Jews coming from Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and after the most inhuman tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body in a cave; where it remained till the time of the emperor Zeno, in the year of Christ 485, when it was discovered, with St. Matthew's Gospel, in Hebrew, written with his own hand, lying on his breast.
TIMOTHY
PAUL'S DISCIPLE
This great assertor of the cause of Christ was a disciple of St. Paul, and born at Lystra in Lyaconia. His father was a Gentile, but his mother was a Jewess. Her name was Eunice, and that of his grandmother Lois. These particulars are taken notice of, because St. Paul commends their piety, and the good education which they had given Timothy.
When St. Paul came to Derbe and Lystra, about the year of Christ 51 or 52, the brethren gave such an advantageous testimony of the merit and good disposition of Timothy, that the apostle took him with him, in order to assist him in propagating the doctrine of his great Lord and Master. Timothy applied himself to labor with St. Paul in the business of the gospel, and did him very important services, through the whole course of his preaching. St. Paul calls him not only his dearly beloved son, but also his brother, the companion of his labors, and a man of God.
This holy disciple accompanied St. Paul to Macedonia, to Philippi, to Thessalonica, to Berea; and when the apostle went from Berea, he left Timothy and Silas there, to confirm the converts. When he came to Athens, he sent for Timothy to come thither to him: and when he was come, and had given him an account of the churches of Macedonia, St. Paul sent him back to Thessalonica, whence he afterward returned with Silas, and came to St. Paul at Corinth. There he continued with him for some time, and the apostle mentions him with Silas, at the beginning of the two Epistles which he then wrote to the Thessalonians.
Some years after this, St. Paul sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia; and gave Timothy orders to call at Corinth, to refresh the minds of the Corinthians with regard to the truths which he had inculcated in them. Some time after, writing to the same Corinthians, he recommends them to take care of Timothy, and send him back in peace; after which Timothy returned to St. Paul into Asia, who there stayed for him. They went together into Macedonia; and the apostle puts Timothy's name with his own before the second Epistle to the Corinthians, which he wrote to them from Macedonia, about the middle of the year of Christ 57. And he sends his recommendations to the Romans in the letter which he wrote from Corinth the same year.
TIMOTHY AT EPHESUS
When St. Paul returned from Rome, in 64, he left Timothy at Ephesus to take care of that church, of which he was the first bishop, as he is recognized by the council of Chalcedon. St. Paul wrote to him from Macedonia the first of the two letters which are addressed to him. He recommends him to be more moderate in his austerities, and to drink a little wine, because of the weakness of his stomach, and his frequent infirmities. After the apostle came to Rome in the year 65, being then very near his death, he wrote to him his second letter, which is full of marks of kindness and tenderness for this his dear disciple; and which is justly looked upon as the last will of St. Paul. He desires him to come to Rome to him before winter, and bring with him several things which he had left at Troas. If Timothy went to Rome, as it is probable he did, he must have been an eyewitness of the martyrdom of Paul, which happened in the year of Christ 68.
TIMOTHY CLUBBED TO DEATH
After Timothy had visited Paul at Rome, he returned to Ephesus, where he continued to govern the church as its bishop, without the least interruption, for a considerable time, till at length he fell a victim to the malice of the pagans, who were his most inveterate enemies. These heathens made a great feast, to the celebration of which they carried in procession the images of their idols, being all masked, and armed with clubs and other offensive weapons. Timothy, seeing the procession, was so irritated at their idolatry and superstition, that he rushed in among them in order to stop their proceedings; upon which they immediately fell upon him, and, with their clubs, beat him in so unmerciful a manner that he soon expired. They left the body on the spot where they had murdered him, which was removed hence by some of his disciples, and decently interred on the top of a mountain at a small distance from the city. The Greeks commemorate his martyrdom on the 22d of January, the day on which it is supposed he gave up his life in defence of the doctrine he had long labored to propagate; and during which time he had brought over great numbers of people to embrace the truth of the Christian religion.
TITUS
A CONVERTED GENTILE
Titus was a native of Greece, and a Gentile by birth; but was converted to the Christian faith by the apostle Paul, who, in consequence of his strict adherence to the doctrine of Christ, calls him his son. St. Jerome tells us that he was St. Paul's interpreter; and that, probably, because he might write what Paul dictated, or translate into Greek what he had written in Latin.
JERUSALEM CONTROVERSY
Soon after the conversion of Titus, the apostle Paul took him with him to Jerusalem; which was at the time when he went thither about deciding the dispute then in agitation relative to the converted Gentiles being made subject to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law. On their arrival there, some of the people were desirous that Titus should be circumcised; but this was not only refused by Titus, but totally objected to by Paul.
WORK AT CORINTH
After this controversy was ended at Jerusalem, Paul sent Titus thence to Corinth, in order to adjust some disputes which had taken place in the church of that city. Titus was received by the people with the greatest marks of respect; and, from the various discourses he preached on the occasion, was so successful as effectually to discharge the business on which he was sent.
After staying some time at Corinth, Titus went thence into Macedonia, in order to inform Paul of the state of the church in that city. Paul was well pleased with the account he gave, and the success of his embassy; and intending himself to go to Corinth, desired Titus to return thither, to make some necessary preparations previous to his departure for that city. Titus readily undertook the journey, and immediately set off, carrying with him St. Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians.
WORK AT CRETE
Titus was made bishop of the island of Crete, about the sixty-third year after Christ, when St. Paul was obliged to quit that island, in order to take care of the other churches. The following year, Paul wrote him to desire, that as soon a he should have sent Tychicus to him for supplying his place in Crete, he would come to him to Nicopolis, in Epirus, where the apostle intended to pass his winter.
The subject of this epistle is to represent to Titus what are the qualities that a bishop should be endued with. As the principal function which Titus was to exercise in the isle of Crete was to ordain priests and bishops, it was highly incumbent on him to make a discreet choice. The apostle also gives him a sketch of the advice and instructions which he was to propound to all sorts of persons: to the aged, both men and women; to young people of each sex; to slaves or servants. He exhorts him to keep a strict eye over the Cretans; and to reprove them with severity, as being a people addicted to lying, wickedness, idleness, and gluttony. And, as many Jews were in the churches of Crete, he exhorts Titus to oppose their vain traditions and Jewish fables; and at the same time to show them that the observation of the law ceremonies is no longer necessary; that the distinction of meat is abolished; and that everything is pure and clean to those that are so themselves. He puts him in mind of exhorting the faithful to be obedient to temporal power; to avoid disputes, quarrels, and slander; to apply themselves to honest callings, and to shun the company of a heretic, after the first and second admonition.
DIED OF OLD AGE
Titus was deputed to preach the gospel in Dalmatia, where he was situated when the apostle wrote his second epistle to Timothy. He afterward returned into Crete, from which it is said he propagated the gospel into the neighboring islands. He died at the age of ninety-four, and was buried to Crete. The Greeks keep his festival of the 25th of August, and the Latins on the 4th of January.
JOHN MARK
DISCIPLE OF BARNABAS, SON OF MARY
John Mark, cousin to St. Barnabas and a disciple of his, was the son of a Christian woman named Mary, who had a house in Jerusalem, where the apostles and the faithful generally used to meet. Here they were at prayers in the night, when St. Peter, who was delivered out of prison by the angel, came and knocked at the door; and in this house the celebrated church of Sion was said to have been afterward established.
JOHN MARK LEAVES PAUL AND BARNABAS
John Mark, whom some very improperly confound with the Evangelist St. Mark, adhered to St. Paul and St. Barnabas, and followed them in their return to Antioch. He continued in their company and service till they came to Perga, in Pamphylia, but then, seeing that they were undertaking a longer journey, he left them and returned to Jerusalem. This happened in the year 45 of the common era.
JOHN MARK HELPED PAUL LATER
Some years after, that is to say to the year 51, Paul and Barnabas preparing to return into Asia, in order to visit the churches which they had formed there, the latter was of opinion that John should accompany them in this journey: but Paul would not consent to it; upon which occasion these two apostles separated. Paul went to Asia, and Barnabas with John Mark to the isle of Cyprus. What John Mark did after this journey we do not know, till we find him at Rome in the year 63, performing signal services for St. Paul during his imprisonment.
The apostle speaks advantageously of him in his epistle to the Colossians: “Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, saluteth you. If he cometh unto you, receive him.” He makes mention of him again in his epistle to Philemon, written in the year 63, at which time he was with St. Paul at Rome; but in the year 65 he was with Timothy in Asia. And St. Paul, writing to Timothy, desires him to bring Marcus to Rome, adding that he was useful to him for the ministry of the gospel.
DEATH UNCERTAIN
In the Greek and Latin churches, the festival of John Mark is kept on the 27th of September. Some say that he was bishop of Biblis, in Phoenicia. The Greeks give him the title of apostle, and say that the sick were cured by his shadow only. It is very probable that he died at Ephesus, where his tomb was very much celebrated and resorted to. He is sometimes called simply John, or Mark. The year of his death we are strangers to, and shall not collect all that is said of him in apocryphal and uncertain authors.
CLEMENT
SUCCEEDED PAUL IN ROME
Clement is mentioned by St. Paul in his epistle to the Philippians, where the apostle says that Clement's name is written in the book of life. The generality of the fathers and other interpreters make no question but that this is the same Clement who succeeded St. Paul, after Linus and Anaclet, in the government of the church of Rome; and this seems to be intimated when, in the office for St. Clement's day, that church appoints this part of the Epistle to the Philippians to be read.
RELUCTANT APOSTLE
We find several things relating to Clement's life in the recognition and constitutions called apostolic; in as those works are not all looked upon as authentic, though there may be truths in some of them derived from the tradition of the first ages, little stress is to be laid upon their testimony. St. Chrysostom thinks that Clement, mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians, was one of the apostle's constant fellow-travelers. Irenaeus, Origin, Clemens of Alexandria, and others of the ancients, assert that Clement was a disciple of the apostles; that he had seen them and heard their instructions. St. Epiphanius, Jerome, Rufinus, Bede, and some others, were of opinion, that as the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul could not be continually at Rome, by reason of the frequent journeys which they were obliged to make to other places, and it was not proper that the city of Rome should be without a bishop, there was a necessity to supply the want of them by establishing Linus, Anaclet, and Clement, there. The constitutions inform us that Linus was ordained by St. Paul; Tertullian and Epiphanius say that St. Peter ordained Clement. Rufinus tells us that this apostle chose St. Clement for his successor. But Epiphanius believes, that after he had been made bishop of Rome by St. Peter, he refused to exercise his office till, after the death of Linus and Anaclet, he was obliged to take upon him the care of the church; and this is the most generally-received opinion. Peter's immediate successor was Linus; Linus was succeeded by Anaclet, and Anaclet by Clement, in the year of Christ 91, which was the tenth of the reign of Domitian.
WROTE TO THE CORINTHIANS
During his government over the church of Rome, that of Corinth was disturbed by a spirit of division, upon which Clement wrote a letter to the Corinthians, which is still extant, and was so much esteemed by the ancients that they read it publicly in many churches, and some have been inclined to range it among the canonical writings.
POSSIBLE MARTYR IN NOVEMBER
In what manner Clement conducted himself, and how he escaped the general persecution under the emperor Domitian, we have not any certain accounts; but we are very well assured that he lived to the third year of the emperor Trajan, which is the hundredth of the Christian era. His festival is set down by Bede, and all the Latin martyrologists, on the 23rd of November, and the Greeks honor him on the 24th and 25th of the same month. Rufinus and Pope Zozimus give him the title of martyr; and the Roman church, in its canon, places him among the saints who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of Christ.
Thus have we given the most ample account of the followers of the blessed Jesus, the persons who spread, and caused to be spread, the light of the gospel over whole world, removed the veil of ignorance and superstition drawn over the kingdoms of the earth, and taught us the method of attaining eternal happiness in the courts of the New Jerusalem.
May we all follow their glorious examples! May we imitate their faith, their piety, their charity, and their love! Then shall we “pass through things temporal in such a manner that we shall finally gain the things eternal,” and, though the merits of an all-perfect Redeemer, be admitted as worthy guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb.