Apostles: 1 Corinthians 4:9-16, especially vs. 9: "God has displayed us, the Apostles, last, as men condemned to death, for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men." Traditionally, the Church divides the Apostles into two groups, the "Great Apostles," who are celebrated on June 30th and the "Seventy," who are remembered on January 4th. St. Paul, author of the two Corinthian letters of the New Testament, always is included among the Great Apostles along with the "Twelve." The Seventy served as assistants to the Great Apostles, both in proclaiming the Gospel and in planting churches throughout the world, and they suffered the same sort of hardships which St. Paul mentions in today's reading: 'hunger and thirst," inadequate "clothing," beatings and homelessness, reviling, persecution, and death (vss. 11-13).
The Twelve were appointed by the Lord Jesus Himself (Mt. 10:2-4; Mk. 3:16-19; and Lk. 6:13-16), as were the Seventy whom He sent out two by two (Lk. 10:1). Later, some of the original Seventy, out of human weakness and lack of faith, withdrew from the Ministry (see Jn. 6:66); but their ranks were refilled, much as that place among the Twelve originally assigned to Judas Iscariot the betrayer was refilled by Matthias (Acts 1:23-26).
Foremost in the ranks of the Apostles are "two great luminaries of exceeding radiance," Peter and Paul, who have "been manifested as heads of the Disciples, radiating with the fire of the divine Spirit, and burning up the darkness of error." These two "all-wise Apostles," as were most of the Apostles, were "condemned to death" (1 Cor. 4:9) and martyred at Rome during the persecution by the mad Emperor Nero. St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, was executed by beheading. St. Peter, as a non-Roman citizen, as was the Lord Jesus, was crucified, although he did beg and was granted crucifixion upside down, not counting himself worthy to die upright as had the Lord.
Among the Twelve, James the son of Zebedee and brother of John the "Beloved" Apostle was the first from the Apostolic group to die for the Lord, being beheaded by Herod in 44 AD (Acts 12:1-2). Andrew, originally a disciple of John the Forerunner, was the first to be called by the Lord Jesus (Jn. 1:36,40). He preached the Gospel in Byzantium, prophesied a Christian future for the Russian people, and, in the end, was martyred at Patras in Greece in 62 AD.
Philip, like Andrew, early responded to the call of Christ (Jn. 1:45-51). He preached in many regions of Asia. In Hierapolis, together with the Apostle John, his own sister Mariamna, and the Apostle Bartholomew, Philip labored against a cult which worshiped a huge snake. The Apostles destroyed this beast by prayer, for which the pagans crucified Philip and Bartholomew. Some of the kinder people at Hierapolis removed them from their crosses, but Philip already was dead. Bartholomew went on to India and Armenia, where the King of that nation beheaded him.
Thomas went to India also, and founded the Church there. He was slain by the lances of five soldiers on orders from an Indian Prince, because he had converted the Prince's wife. Matthew, called Levi, whose Feast we celebrate today, preached in Persia for a time, but then went to Ethiopia. While in Africa, like Bartholomew, he was executed on the orders of another prince who was enraged because of his wife's Baptism. He burned fires on Matthew's chest.
Another Apostle who took the Gospel to Armenia and Mesopotamia was Jude, also called Thaddeus. He was seized by pagans in Armenia, crucified and shot through with arrows. James the son of Alphaeus preached in Egypt where he was crucified by pagans in the town of Ostracina. Simon the Zealot was crucified like Levi and James, son of Alphaeus, dying in Africa. Only John the Theologian reposed in old age, following exile to the prison island of Patmos.
O Holy Apostles, intercede with the merciful God that He grant salvation to our souls.