Saint Thaddeus the Apostle
Date of celebration: 21/08
The Apostle Thaddeus, a Jew from Edessa and highly educated in the Holy Scriptures, had gone up to Jerusalem for a pilgrimage at the time of John the Baptist. When she heard his preaching and saw his angelic life, she was so impressed that she sought out and was baptized by him. But then, when he heard the teaching and saw the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ, he followed him until the saving Passion. After the Ascension of the Lord, he returned to his hometown of Edessa.
There he cleansed the parish priest Avgaros of leprosy and then baptized him as a Christian. After teaching and enlightening many with the word of truth and founding many churches in the cities of Syria, he arrived in Beirut. Thaddeus also there with the grace of God taught the Gospel and baptized many. Finally, there he peacefully surrendered his spirit, after fully implementing in his life the commandment that the Lord gave to His disciples:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 19). That is, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
M. Galanos, about this Apostle, says: “Some assume that this is one of the 70 apostles, who came from Edessa, but was a Jew. However, it can be considered certain that the apostle Thaddeus is the one under this name among the 12. He was also called Levbaeus and was the brother of James the Younger.
The letter Jude in the Gospel also belongs to him. For that is why he was called Judas, and the other two names were additional, as is always the case with the Jews to this day. Thaddeus preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia, where he was martyred.”
