On 21 August, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus of the Seventy, one of the early disciples entrusted with carrying the message of Christ beyond Jerusalem and into the ancient cities of the Near East.
Thaddaeus is closely associated with Edessa, the ancient city in Mesopotamia where Christian tradition places some of the earliest missionary activity beyond the Holy Land. According to the tradition of the Church, he was of Hebrew descent and came from Edessa before travelling to Jerusalem, where he became a follower of Christ.
He is counted among the Seventy Apostles, the larger group of disciples described in the Gospel of Luke whom Christ sent out in pairs to preach before Him. The distinction is an important one. Thaddaeus of Edessa, commemorated today, is not to be confused with Saint Jude Thaddaeus, one of the Twelve Apostles. Orthodox tradition maintains this distinction even though the similarity of their names has sometimes led the two figures to be identified with one another.
After the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, ancient Christian tradition records that the Apostle Thomas sent Thaddaeus to preach in Edessa. There his mission became bound to the story of King Abgar, the ruler whose conversion occupies an important place in the early traditions of the Church.
Thaddaeus is said to have preached the Gospel to Abgar and the people of Edessa, baptising the king and helping establish the Christian community there. The story also connects him with one of Orthodoxy’s most enduring traditions, the Holy Mandylion, or Image of Edessa. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese records that after Christ’s Ascension, Thaddaeus came to Edessa and baptised Abgar and his household, completing the king’s healing associated with the miraculous image of Christ.
From Edessa, the Apostle continued his missionary work through Syria and Mesopotamia. Church traditions differ over the final circumstances and location of his death. The Greek Orthodox account commemorating him on 21 August holds that his earthly life ended in martyrdom, while other Orthodox traditions preserve accounts placing his death in Beirut or Edessa. What remains constant is his place among the first generation of Christians who carried the Gospel into communities far beyond Jerusalem.
His feast also falls during the Afterfeast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, giving 21 August a particularly rich place in the Orthodox calendar. The Church continues during these days to contemplate the Dormition while also remembering the apostles, martyrs and saints whose lives bore witness to Christ.
The commemoration of Thaddaeus is ultimately that of an apostle sent out to teach, baptise and build the early Church. Nearly two thousand years later, his feast remembers a faith carried not through power or position, but through witness, perseverance and the willingness to go where the Gospel had not yet been heard.
On his feast day, Orthodox Christians ask the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus to intercede before God for mercy and the forgiveness of sins.
Χρόνια Πολλά to all those celebrating today.
See also Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis Asks Patriarch Bartholomew to Officiate at His Son’s Wedding
