Phenomenology
of World Religions ©
Chapter
45
Apostolic
Evangelists
This
is an introduction to a series of chapters dedicated to the
biographies of the original twelve disciples of Jesus
of Nazareth,
who came to be known as Jesus
Christ.
They became known as apostles
after Jesus left the earthly world.
The
number of apostolic biographies totals to thirteen, because Matthias
took the place of Judas
Iscariot
after the latter's tragic ending. The period during the lives of the
disciples-turned-apostles is referred to by theologians as the
Apostolic
Age.
The disciples had transformed from followers of the teacher to
evangelists of Christianity, the evangelism of the Word
and spreading the doctrine of Jesus Christ to the Jews and Gentiles
of the ancient world. The Apostles were the founders of the first
churches, the location of the first seven are mentioned in the New
Testament
of the Holy
Bible.
The primary apostles were also the authors of the Gospels, as well as
letters and books that were put together to make the addition to the
original Hebrew Bible text.
The
following is an early Christian Apostolic
Timeline,
adjusted according to historical chronological accuracy: i
AD 26: John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth begin ministry.AD 28: John the Baptist is executed by Herod Antipas.AD 30: Jesus Christ is crucified, rises, ascends; Pentecost.AD 35: Paul is converted.AD 46: Paul and Barnabas on first missionary journey.AD 49-51: Paul's second missionary journey.AD 53-57: Paul's third missionary journey.AD 64: Emperor Nero persecutes Christians.AD 67: Peter and Paul are martyred in Rome.AD 95: John is exiled to Patmos.AD 106: John, last disciple, dies.
Early
Christians did not leave much writing, at least that which has
survived, so there are gaps in documentation of historical events of
early Christian history.
Part
of the reason may be that Christians were forced to practice their
faith underground, literally in the case of the catacombs of Rome;
and any literature would be safeguarded from discovery by the ruling
pagans who persecuted the Christians. They did leave behind
pictographs and images on the walls of the catacombs and other secret
Christian meeting places and dwellings, but that did not reveal as
much as written text would. What remained were the texts that were
later collected for the New Testament Canon written by the apostles
in gospel and letter scriptures.
| Flavius Josephus |
Secular
historians didn't write much about Christians and there isn't much in
the Roman official records that survived time. Even the Jewish
historian, Flavius
Josephus,
who lived during the period, makes little mention of the Jewish sect
who called themselves Christians, but does mention
Jesus and the death of the Apostle James.
A
researcher or theologian can only rely upon later works when
Christianity became more established in Rome and other cities of the
Roman Empire by church historians like Hegesippus
and
Eusebius.
Archaeology
has aided the historical research of Christianity in recent times and
reveals, as well as verifies, information passed down from that
period when Christianity was becoming established and Peter,
Paul,
and John
preached there.
The
Roman Empire was an entity of several nations kept together by Roman
universal law and the language of Latin, enforced by the legions and
ruled by one central government that delegated authority by
appointment of governors, as well as the cooperation of puppet
monarchs in certain Roman-occupied territory, like Judah-Israel under
the regin of the Herod
dynasty.
All
roads and trade routes led to Rome – from Britain to Africa,
from Russia to France, and India to Spain; all conquered by Rome
before Caesar's
reign starting in 47 BC. Rome was the center of the ancient world and
except for the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, was the cultural
center, Latinizing the known western world.
Emperor
Constantine,
who established Christianity as the official religion in
Constantinople,
intended to construct the Church
of the Holy Apostles
ii
in their honor, whose purpose was to have the remains of the apostles
placed there to keep them centralized and to honor them. Constantine
was able to obtain the remains of Andrew,
Luke,
and Timothy;
but failed in obtaining the other apostle remains. Constantine had a
basilica built to honor the apostles and house relics of Paul
in Rome, but the Roman Church (early Vatican) was reluctant about
releasing artifacts and so Emperor Constantine did not push the issue
further. However, instead of the circle, six sacred coffins were
placed on each side of the Emperor's coffin instead of the circle
arrangement.
Some
historians believe, from certain evidence, that Constantine had
intended to have the apostles placed in crypts that circled his
crypt, which made him the thirteenth apostle.
Eusebius
wrote in The
Last Days of Constantine:
… He accordingly caused twelve coffins to be set up in this church, like sacred pillars in honour and memory of the apostolic band, in the centre of which is own was placed, having six of theirs on either side of it. Thus, as I said, he had provided with prudent foresight an honourable resting place for his body after death, and, having long before secretly formed this resolution, he now consecrated this church to the Apostles. … Planning the Church of the Apostles, Constantine had dreamed of resting there forever in the midst of the Twelve, not merely one of them, but a symbol of, if not substitute for, their leader. iii
John
Holland Smith
wrote:
Constantine celebrated the 30th anniversary of his accession in the summer of 335. Probably the most significant ceremonies at Rome that year were those accompanying the solemn translation of the bones venerated as relics of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul from the catacombs of St. Sebastian, where they had been venerated since 258, to the basilicas built to honour them at the traditional sites of their martyrdom, at the Vatican and on the Ostian Way. iv
| Vatican |
The
apostles were not just missionaries and evangelists, but were also
founders of the earliest churches, and those churches became the main
hub of continued evangelism efforts to spread Christianity and
established organized Christian doctrine that emanated from Rome and
the Vatican. The apostles encouraged converts to become part of their
local church, as well as Christian activities within their city; and
it was those efforts that retained and expanded the Christian
religion. To Christians, the disciples-turned-apostles have always
been heroes of the Christian faith. The Roman and Greek Catholic
bestowed them the title of “Saint”, which they were the original;
and gave them the status of demigods.
Long
before the Church established the Canon, collections of apostolic
literature
into
one volume became the New
Testament of
the Holy
Bible.
Twelve disciples remained after the defection of Judas Iscariot,
after Matthias replaced him; thus keeping the number at twelve, as
originally established.
As
far as the reasoning behind the number twelve, theologians
hypothesize that it represented the twelve
tribes of Israel, and Jesus represented the 13th
priestly tribe of Levi.
The
disciples were witnesses to Jesus' teaching and his miracles
performed, as well as witness to his resurrection; thus the choice of
Matthias to replace Judas who had been with Jesus and present when he
preached.
Saint
Paul is considered an apostle, but was not originally part of the
twelve disciples, because he had been converted after the
death/resurrection of Jesus Christ. He maintained that his calling
and instruction came directly from Jesus.
The
Book of Acts is
an important Christian historical text describing how Christianity
evolved from a sect of Judaism, and which expanded to the Gentiles
after Jesus' death and resurrection. As time went by, the Gentiles
dominated the Christian religion, and the church would end up
persecuting the Jews, even after the fact that the Old Testament was
created by the Hebrews, Jews, and the patriarchs
of the Bible were Jewish, as well as their Saviour
and founder being Jewish and who had honored the old customs and
traditions, such as Passover.
In reality and historically, Christianity had originally been a
Jewish religious sect, based upon the prophecy of the Messiah.
The
Book of Acts (of the Disciples) is a fragmentary source of
information, its main theme following the followers of Christ
breaking off from Jewish religious origins, especially in doctrine.
Other sects of Judaism remained for a time – Pharisees,
Sadducees,
and Essenes.
All three Jewish sects are mentioned in the history written by
Flavius
Josephus.
Thus,
the importance of Peter and Paul as evangelistic apostles became
embedded in the Church doctrine and history. It should be noted that
the majority of converts were Gentiles, who more readily gave up
their pagan religions than the Jews did, recognizing that Jesus was
the Messiah
that prophets of old had foreseen. v
This
historical examination of the apostles and their movement is an
introduction to the biographies of the twelve original apostles and
of Matthias
who took the place of Judas
Iscariot.
The
recent find of the Gospel
of Judas
is
of great historical significance, affording an opportunity to see the
view from Judas Iscariot's perspective. It is fragmented,
unfortunately, and considered a Gnostic text. This controversial
text translated from original Greek to the Coptic language around 300
AD will be closely examined in another chapter.
Other
references to the first few years in Jerusalem and the evangelical
missions of the apostles can be found in Epistles and Book of
Revelation, as well as traditions and legends established by the
Christian Church in its early period. Legends are less fantastic than
myths, but both contain elements of historical facts; usually based
upon the life of a real person deified or whose character and
biography has been embellished by the author or authors.
The
next chapter begins the apostolic biographies with Simon
Peter.
ENDNOTES
i Note
that “BC” traditional means “Before Christ”, also “BCE”
- Before Common Era; and “AD” traditionally designates 'After
Death'. However, after modern archaeological findings and historical
correlation, the dates reflected are not truly 'after death' but
corrected dates according to the dating system.
ii
It should be noted that other churches in honor of the Apostles were
built – in Russia,
for example. There are even Church
of the Apostles in America.
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