Saint Bartholomew

On this day also, the holy Apostle Bartholomew, one of the twelve disciples, was martyred. To this Apostle fell the lot to go to the oasis (the great oasis, Al-Khargah), in Egypt. He entered the city with Peter, who sold him as a slave. There he proceeded and preached to the people. He called them to the knowledge of God, after performing before them signs and wonders that amazed their minds.

He worked in the vineyards of a rich man and whenever he trimmed the vine branches, they immediately bore fruit.

It happened that the son of the governor of that city died, and Bartholomew the Apostle raised him up from the dead. The people believed and he strengthened them in the knowledge of God.

Later on, the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory, commanded St. Bartholomew to go to the land of the Berbers and sent St. Andrew, His disciple, to help him. The people of that city were exceedingly wicked, and would not accept any of the signs or wonders the disciples performed. Yet the two disciples continued to preach to them and teach them until they entered the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, they appointed priests over them, and built churches for them, and soon after they left.

St. Bartholomew went to the cities on the Mediterranean coast, where the inhabitants knew not God. He preached and converted them to the knowledge of God and the belief in the Lord Christ. He taught them to perform the works which were worthy of Christianity and commanded them to be pure and chaste. When King Agrippa heard of him, he was exceedingly enraged and commanded his servants to put him in a hair sack, to fill the sack with sand, and cast it into the sea. And so were consummated the struggle and martyrdom of St. Bartholomew.

Bartholomew

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bartholomew was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. Bartholomew (Greek Βαρθολομαιος) comes from the Aramaic bar-Tôlmay, meaning son of Tolmay or son of the furrows (perhaps a ploughman).

He is generally supposed to have been the same person as Nathanael. In the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together, while Nathanael is never mentioned; in the gospel of John, on the other hand, Philip and Nathanael are similarly mentioned together, but nothing is said of Bartholomew.

According to Syrian tradition, Bartholomew's original name was Jesus, which caused him to adopt another name.

According to scripture, Bartholomew was one of the disciples to whom Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberias after the resurrection (John 21:2). He also witnessed the ascension (Acts 1:4, 12, 13).

Tradition has it that after the ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. In works of art he is often represented with a large knife, or, as in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, with his own skin hanging over his arm, tradition holds that in Armenia he was flayed alive and then crucified with his head upside down. This fate has led to him being adopted as the patron saint of tanners.

Bartholomew, along with Saint Jude Thaddeus is reputed to have brought the new religion of Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus the Armenian Church is called the Armenian "Apostolic" Church, as both saints are considered to be the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The festival of St. Bartholomew is celebrated on August 24.

The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle.

Bartholomew

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.