How did the apostles die?

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michaelp

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Here is a topic that we can all agree on!!

I don’t know to what degree I would be intellectually convinced of the resurrection of Christ without the witness of the apostles in their deaths. Their confession in the face of death, their blood testimony, is a great inspiration to me and, in a very real sense, a gift from God. Finding an explanation for their deaths outside of the fact of the resurrection of Christ is very far-reaching for any unbeliever and, in my opinion, hopeless. If they all died (or at least most) confessing to have seen Christ die and then alive three days later, then one only has a few options to explain this:
  1. They died for a lie: But why would they die for a lie? They had nothing to gain either in popularity (since the majority of the world thought it foolishness to preach of a “resurrection from the dead” and the Jews had rejected Christ) and they could not gain any riches from it. All it brought to them was rejection and death.
  2. They died because they thought they saw Christ either die or rise. But how could all of them have been unified in their mistake when they all confessed to have seen him dead and buried, and then alive and victorious for 40 days.
  3. Christ really did raise from the grave. The only reasonable explaination for their death.
But how do we know that they died a martyr’s death? I know that we can be certian of James, John’s brother, died a martyrs death for it is recorded in Acts 12. But what about the rest. How did the rest of the apostles die? There seems to be some conflicting historical accounts about many of their deaths.
  1. Peter
  2. Andrew
  3. James (Killed with the sword Acts 12:2)
  4. John (died a natural death)
  5. Philip
  6. Bartholomew
  7. Matthew
  8. Thomas
  9. James
  10. Simon who was called the Zealot
  11. Judas of James
  12. Judas Iscariot (killed himself)
  13. Matthias
Please take this list and give me references (as #3) to the historical documentation of their deaths.

Thanks,

Michael
 
John is the only one not martyred.You need to make a statement on Terri I am surprised I have not seen you on one thread:nope: I was hungry,you gave me to eat,I was thirsty you gave me to drink-Jesus:crying:
 
Peter
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5358
It is certain that Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, probably in 64. Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus. According to rich tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was then buried on Vatican Hill, and excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica have unearthed his probable tomb, and his relics are now enshrined under the high altar of St. Peter’s

**Andrew
**catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=109He is said to have been put to death on a cross, to which he was tied, not nailed. He lived two days in that state of suffering, still preaching to the people who gathered around their beloved Apostle.

Simon
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=747
he was brought before Atticus, the Roman governor. He was condemned to death and, after being tortured, was crucified. He was extremely old - tradition reports him to have attained the age of 120.

Luke
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=76
The reports of Luke’s life after Paul’s death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died at 84 Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel.

Paul
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=91
We gather, however, from the Pastoral Epistles and from tradition that at the end of the two years St. Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment, and then traveled to Spain, later to the East again, and then back to Rome, where he was imprisoned a second time and in the year 67, was beheaded.
 
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michaelp:
Here is a topic that we can all agree on!!

I don’t know to what degree I would be intellectually convinced of the resurrection of Christ without the witness of the apostles in their deaths. Their confession in the face of death, their blood testimony, is a great inspiration to me and, in a very real sense, a gift from God. Finding an explanation for their deaths outside of the fact of the resurrection of Christ is very far-reaching for any unbeliever and, in my opinion, hopeless. If they all died (or at least most) confessing to have seen Christ die and then alive three days later, then one only has a few options to explain this:
  1. They died for a lie: But why would they die for a lie? They had nothing to gain either in popularity (since the majority of the world thought it foolishness to preach of a “resurrection from the dead” and the Jews had rejected Christ) and they could not gain any riches from it. All it brought to them was rejection and death.
  2. They died because they thought they saw Christ either die or rise. But how could all of them have been unified in their mistake when they all confessed to have seen him dead and buried, and then alive and victorious for 40 days.
  3. Christ really did raise from the grave. The only reasonable explaination for their death.
But how do we know that they died a martyr’s death? I know that we can be certian of James, John’s brother, died a martyrs death for it is recorded in Acts 12. But what about the rest. How did the rest of the apostles die? There seems to be some conflicting historical accounts about many of their deaths.
  1. Peter
  2. Andrew
  3. James (Killed with the sword Acts 12:2)
  4. John (died a natural death)
  5. Philip
  6. Bartholomew
  7. Matthew
  8. Thomas
  9. James
  10. Simon who was called the Zealot
  11. Judas of James
  12. Judas Iscariot (killed himself)
  13. Matthias
Please take this list and give me references (as #3) to the historical documentation of their deaths.

Thanks,

Michael
Click to expand...
Peter was hung upside down, Paul was beheaded, James the bishop of Jerusalem was stoned. I don’t know if there is any knowledge of the death of the others.
 
according to various legends and Tradition Peter Andrew, and Philip were crucified. Bartholemew was flayed and beheaded. Simon was sawed in two. James the greater was killed by the sword, James the lesser was clubbed to death, Matthew and Thomas by the spear,Jude and Matthias by the halberd an axe like weapon]. The only apostle to have died a natural death was John.
MAY THE HOLY APOSTLES PRAY FOR US!!!🙂
 
I always thought one was boiled alive (in oil?). I may have just made this up :o . Anyone know?
 
40.png
Genesis315:
I always thought one was boiled alive (in oil?). I may have just made this up :o . Anyone know?
Click to expand...
Yes one was boiled alive in oil. It was John. But he survived intact.
 
Saint Thomas the Apostle: The story itself runs briefly as follows: At the division of the Apostles, India fell to the lot of Thomas, but he declared his inability to go, whereupon his Master Jesus appeared in a supernatural way to Abban, the envoy of Gundafor, an Indian king, and sold Thomas to him to be his slave and serve Gundafor as a carpender. Then Abban and Thomas sailed away until they came to Andrapolis, where they landed and attended the marriage feast of the ruler’s daughter. Strange occurences followed and Christ under the appearence of Thomas exhorted the bride to remain a Virgin. Coming to India Thomas undertook to build a palace for Gundafor, but spend the money entrusted to him on the poor. Gundafor imprisoned him; but the Apostle escaped miraculously and Gundafor was converted. Going about the country to preach, Thomas met with strange adventures from dragons and wild asses. Then he came to the city of King Misdai (Syriac Mazdai), where he converted Tertia the wife of Misdai and Vazan his son. After this he was condemed to death, led out of city to a hill, and pierced through with spears by four soldiers. He was buried in the tomb of the ancient kings but his remains were afterwards removed to the West.

newadvent.org/cathen/14658b.htm
 
Saint Andrew the Apostle: When the Apostles went forth to preach to the Nations, Andrew seems to have taken an important part, but unfortunately we have no certainty as to the extent or place of his labours. Eusebius (H.E. III:1), relying, apparently, upon Origen, assigns Scythia as his mission field: Andras de [eilechen] ten Skythian; while St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Or. 33) mentions Epirus; St. Jerome (Ep. ad Marcell.) Achaia; and Theodoret (on Ps. cxvi) Hellas. Probably these various accounts are correct, for Nicephorus (H.E. II:39), relying upon early writers, states that Andrew preached in Cappadocia, Galatia, and Bithynia, then in the land of the anthropophagi and the Scythian deserts, afterwards in Byzantium itself, where he appointed St. Stachys as its first bishop, and finally in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, and Achaia. It is generally agreed that he was crucified by order of the Roman Governor, Aegeas or Aegeates, at Patrae in Achaia, and that he was bound, not nailed, to the cross, in order to prolong his sufferings. The cross on which he suffered is commonly held to have been the decussate cross, now known as St. Andrew’s, though the evidence for this view seems to be no older than the fourteenth century. His martyrdom took place during the reign of Nero, on 30 November, A.D. 60); and both the Latin and Greek Churches keep 30 November as his feast.

newadvent.org/cathen/01471a.htm
 
Saint Bartholomew the Apostle: No mention of St. Bartholomew occurs in ecclesiastical literature before Eusebius, who mentions that Pantaenus, the master of Origen, while evangelizing India, was told that the Apostle had preached there before him and had given to his converts the Gospel of St. Matthew written in Hebrew, which was still treasured by the Church. “India” was a name covering a very wide area, including even Arabia Felix. Other traditions represent St. Bartholomew as preaching in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Armenia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and on the shores of the Black Sea; one legend, it is interesting to note, identifies him with Nathaniel. The manner of his death, said to have occurred at Albanopolis in Armenia, is equally uncertain; according to some, he was beheaded, according to others, flayed alive and crucified, head downward, by order of Astyages, for having converted his brother, Polymius, King of Armenia. On account of this latter legend, he is often represented in art (e.g. in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment) as flayed and holding in his hand his own skin. His relics are thought by some to be preserved in the church of St. Bartholomew-in-the-Island, at Rome. His feast is celebrated on 24 August. An apocryphal gospel of Bartholomew existed in the early ages.

newadvent.org/cathen/02313c.htm
 
mommy said:
Peter
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5358
It is certain that Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, probably in 64. Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus. According to rich tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was then buried on Vatican Hill, and excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica have unearthed his probable tomb, and his relics are now enshrined under the high altar of St. Peter’s

Andrew
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=109He is said to have been put to death on a cross, to which he was tied, not nailed. He lived two days in that state of suffering, still preaching to the people who gathered around their beloved Apostle.

Simon
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=747
he was brought before Atticus, the Roman governor. He was condemned to death and, after being tortured, was crucified. He was extremely old - tradition reports him to have attained the age of 120.

Luke
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=76
The reports of Luke’s life after Paul’s death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died at 84 Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel.

Paul
catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=91
We gather, however, from the Pastoral Epistles and from tradition that at the end of the two years St. Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment, and then traveled to Spain, later to the East again, and then back to Rome, where he was imprisoned a second time and in the year 67, was beheaded.
Click to expand...

Excellent! Thank you for your diligent effort. This is great.
 
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