Volume 46 - No. 49
December 15, 2016
By Friedrich Gomez
It is a grisly subject matter, to be sure. But how the thirteen apostles -- yes, there were thirteen, not twelve -- died is a most interesting question nonetheless, especially in light of the fact that few people actually know the answers.
For the record, the thirteenth apostle was Matthias (Hebrew translation: Mattityahu), not to be confused with the Apostle Matthew, aka Levi. Matthias was chosen by the remaining eleven after Judas Iscariot committed suicide by hanging himself after being overcome with personal guilt over betraying Jesus (Yeshua), known as the Christ, for thirty pieces of silver. The original apostles who lived, followed, ate, and slept in the company of the historical Jesus were a most unlikely assemblage of human flesh: crude fishermen, a corrupt tax collector, simple peasants and common tradesmen, all with questionable moral and ethical backgrounds.
Simply put, these original followers were – at best – a checkered group, even by the standards of their own day. A raggle-taggle compilation whose collective infidelity is embarrassingly well-known to Biblical and secular scholars alike. Their unofficial leader, Simon Peter (whom Jesus called ‘The Rock’), was anything but a rock when his faith was uprooted three times -- along with his integrity -- when Peter cowered and quickly denied to his accusers that he had any affiliation with the Nazarene Jesus -- not once -- but his denial was three times in succession within the span of thirty minutes.
Almost the entire group of disciples would eventually scatter like chaff in the wind when the ninth hour arrived for their Rabbi Jesus’ ignominious crucifixion at Calvary. However, this period of vacillation and tenuous loyalty was later replaced by a mysterious attribute of unwavering faith – but only after the death of their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, who had promised to send them a ‘comforter’ (or Holy Spirit) to strengthen and solidify their faith after his earthly departure. Whether this theological notion was a reality which came into play is impossible to prove or disprove; yet after Jesus’ death on the cross, the abandoned group, remarkably, for their remaining years – never faltered again even unto abominable torture and horrific death. How these apostles, individually, met their fate is not fodder for the weak or timid of heart. Historically, the methodology and bloodletting covered a wide range of torture, including being skinned alive, stoned, sawed into pieces, boiled, burned, and beheaded.
It is most compelling that such unimaginable, protracted suffering and excruciating painful death could have been avoided entirely, if only they had recant-
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ed their religious views.
Yet, all of them did not.
In absolute truth, and by the strictures of historical evidence, there is no authentic, reliable source – outside of the Christian Bible – which chronicles the deaths of the original apostles.
The only apostle whose death is actually recorded in the New Testament Bible, is James, the son of Zebedee, aka James the Greater (Acts 12:1-19). The deaths of all the remaining apostles are only cited through church tradition and apocryphal writings which remain unreliable sources not formally accepted as being sacred (or canonical) by mainstream Christology. Nevertheless, here is an enumeration of each apostle’s death, according to church tradition and non-Scriptural sources.
SIMON PETER. By trade, Peter was a fisherman. He was a married man whose wife would eventually accompany
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him on his missionary journeys (1 Corinthians 9:5). His marriage is well acknowledged by mainstream Christian and Jewish scholars, however, this is an extremely sensitive and incendiary viewpoint with the orthodox Catholic faith, which vehemently challenges that he was a married man, despite what is clearly found in Matthew 8:14 (“When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.”) Simon Peter, who was appointed leader of his own group of neophyte followers, was eventually martyred in Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero. He was sentenced to death for his rebellious religious views. The autocracy at the time pronounced Simon’s method of execution to be by crucifixion, a slow, painful, tortuous death.
Peter’s only request was shockingly unconventional, even for his turbulent, unpredictable era. Simon voiced that he was unworthy to be associated with his Messiah’s death of crucifixion and therefore only asked that he be crucified
upside down.
Few civilities were respected by the ancient, barbaric Romans. But courage was a brute attribute which even the Roman legionnaire, centurions and gladiators openly admired.
The Romans obliged and Simon Peter’s inner courage remained unbroken. His last breath was gasped with his head facing, lifeless, in the downward position.
ANDREW. According to non-Biblical ancient sources all the way up to the 15th-century religious historian, Dorman Newman, the Apostle Andrew (the brother of Simon Peter, mentioned above), met his most painful demise while visiting Patras, in Western Greece, in the year 69 A. D. As history retraces the events, Andrew engaged in long heated religious debates with the Roman proconsul, Aegeates. These ongoing debates would prove to be his undoing. Andrew’s immovable religious views finally wore-down Aegeates’ patience. Aegeates had repeatedly tried to con-
How Did the Apostles Die? Continued on Page 2