What happened to the 12 disciples of Jesus ?

New Testament Apostolic Lists

Matt 10:2	Mark 3:16	Luke 6:14	Acts 1:13
Andrew	Andrew	Andrew	Andrew
Bartholomew	Bartholomew	Bartholomew	Bartholomew
James son of Alphaeus	James son of Alphaeus	James son of Alphaeus	James son of Alphaeus
James son of Zebedee	James son of Zebedee	James	James
John	John	John	John
Judas Iscariot	Judas Iscariot	Judas Iscariot	(not named)
Matthew	Matthew	Matthew	Matthew
Philip	Philip	Philip	Philip
Simon (who is called Peter)	Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter)	Simon (whom he named Peter)	Peter
Simon the Zealot	Simon the Zealot	Simon who was called the Zealot	Simon the Zealot
Thaddaeus	Thaddaeus	Judas son of James	Judas son of James
Thomas	Thomas	Thomas	Thomas

• Hippolytus of Rome:
  • Birth unknown, died around 236 AD
  • See his entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia: click here
  • Here is a page on the Internet containing his writings: click here

• Eusebius:
  • Was the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, known as the "Father of Church History" because he wrote about the church history.
  • Lived around 260-341 AD
  • See his entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia: click here

• A very nice write up on the disciples (my source for this webpage): click here

We all know what happened to him...

• According to Hippolytus:
  Andrew preached to the Scythians [modern day Georgia] and Thracians [modern day Bulgaria], and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patrae, a town of Achaia [Greece]; and there too he was buried.

• According to Hippolytus, Bartholomew preached in India:
  Bartholomew, again, preached to the Indians, to whom he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew, and was crucified with his head downward, and was buried in Allanum, a town of the great Armenia [modern day southern Georgia].

• Eusebius, in his Church History, confirms the ministry of Bartholomew in India, and adds an eye witness account:
  About that time, Pantaenus, a man highly distinguished for his learning, had charge of the school of the faithful in Alexandria... Pantaenus...is said to have gone to India. It is reported that among persons there who knew of Christ, he found the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival. For Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left with them the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language, which they had preserved till that time. ---- (Book 5, Chapter 10)

• Hippolytus identifies that James was stoned to death in Jerusalem:
  And James the son of Alphaeus, when preaching in Jerusalem, was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple.

James was the brother of John, the disciple "that Jesus loved".

• According to Hippolytus:
  James, his brother, when preaching in Judea, was cut off with the sword by Herod the tetrarch, and was buried there.

• Eusebius descibed more precisely what was cut off of James:
  First Stephen was stoned to death by them, and after him James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John, was beheaded... (Book 3, Chapter 5)

  Yep... James' head was cut...

John was one of the few disciples that did not die a cruel death, but of "old age".

• Eusebius discusses the reason that John wrote his Gospel:
  "Matthew and John have left us written memorials, and they, tradition says, were led to write only under the pressure of necessity...And when Mark and Luke had already published their Gospels, they say that John, who had employed all his time in proclaiming the Gospel orally, finally proceeded to write for the following reason. The three Gospels already mentioned having come into the hands of all and into his own too, they say that he accepted them and bore witness to their truthfulness; but that there was lacking in them an account of the deeds done by Christ at the beginning of his ministry." (Book 3, Chapter 24)

• According to Hippolytus, John was banished by Domitian to the Isle of Patmos, and later died in Ephesus:
  John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos, in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the apocalyptic vision; and in Trajan's time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found.

• Eusebius referenced to Bishop Papias of Hierapolis, as early as c. 110 A.D., bearing witness to Matthew's authorship of his gospel:
  ....Matthew put together the oracles [of the Lord] in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as best he could." (Eusebius, Book 3, Chapter 39)

• According to Hippolytus:
  Matthew wrote the Gospel in the Hebrew tongue, and published it at Jerusalem, and fell asleep at Hierees, a town of Parthia.\224 [Parthia is near modern day Tehran]

• Eusebius, quoting Papias of Hierapolis (c. 110 A.D.), records a tradition that the Gospel of Mark preserved the Gospel as preached by Peter:
  "Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered.... he accompanied Peter..." ---- (Book 3, Chapter 39)

• Irenaeus (c. 180 A.D.) records a similar tradition, and mentions that Peter and Paul founded the Church in Rome:
  "Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter..." ---- (Irenaeus, "Against Heresies", Book 3, Chapter 1)

• Eusebius records that Peter was put to death under Nero in Rome:
  It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself, and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero. This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day. ---- (Book 2, Chapter 25)

  (Paul was a Roman citizen can cannot be crucified but got an "easier" death sentence)

• Hippolytus confirmed the fact that Peter was crucified by Nero in Rome:
  Peter preached the Gospel in Pontus, and Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Betania, and Italy, and Asia, and was afterwards crucified by Nero in Rome with his head downward, as he had himself desired to suffer in that manner.

• According to Hippolytus, Philip preached and was executed in what today is eastern Turkey:
  Philip preached in Phrygia, and was crucified in Hierapolis with his head downward in the time of Domitian, and was buried there.

• According to Hippolytus, Simon the Zealot was the second Bishop of Jerusalem:
  Simon the Zealot, the son of Clopas, who is also called Jude, became bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just, and fell asleep and was buried there at the age of 120 years.

According to Mat 10:3 (KJV): Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus.... Thaddaeus is also known as Lebbaeus.

• Hippolytus records:
  Jude, who is also called Lebbaeus, preached to the people of Edessa, and to all Mesopotamia, and fell asleep at Berytus, and was buried there.

• Hippolytus records that Thomas was an active missionary, and that he met his fate in India:
  And Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians, and was thrust through in the four members of his body with a pine spear at Calamene, the city of India, and was buried there.

• Many of Jesus disciples died cruel deaths for preaching the gospel
• From other sources (e.g., Paul's letters, Pliny's letters to Trajan ( click here ), all they need to do escape such a cruel death was to denounce their faith.
• Yet, they decided not to.
• People do not die for a lie - these disciples must have seen something that made them choose their cruel death over denouncing their faith.
• Remember that these disciples are Jews - and the ultimate promise of God to the Jews was the coming of a Messiah....
• Maybe, just maybe, they were convinced of having seen and touch the Messiah ? The ressurection of the death may have given them the necessary push that made them overcome their doubt ?