Jude the Apostle

Jude the Apostle “St. Jude” redirects here. For other uses, see St. Jude as “Jude, son of James” (in the New International Ver- (disambiguation). sion translation, for example). The Gospel of John also once mentions a disciple called “Judas not Iscariot” (John 14:22). This is often accepted For Thaddeus of Edessa also known as Adai to be the same person as the apostle Jude,[4] though some Mar Addai, see Thaddeus of Edessa scholars see the identification as uncertain.[5] According to the New Testament, Jude was one of the In some Latin manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, he is called Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally identified with Judas the Zealot. Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Je- 1.2 Possible identity with Thaddeus sus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. The Armenian Apostolic Church honors Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints. In the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. Saint Jude’s attribute is a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Another common attribute is Jude holding an image of Jesus Christ, in the image of Edessa. In some instances, he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter’s rule. St. Thaddeus, St. Sandukht and other Christians in Sanatruk’s 1 Identity prison 1.1 New Testament In the comparable apostle-lists of Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude is omitted, but there is a Thaddeus (or in Jude is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, another some manuscripts of Matthew 10:3, “Lebbaeus who was apostle and later the betrayer of Jesus. Both “Jude” and surnamed Thaddaeus”) listed in his place. This has led “Judas” are translations of the name Ιούδας in the Greek many Christians since early times to harmonize the lists original New Testament, which in turn is a Greek variant by positing a “Jude Thaddeus”, known by either name. of Judah (Y'hudah), a name which was common among This is made plausible by the fact that “Thaddeus” seems Jews at the time. In most Bibles in languages other than to be a nickname (see Thaddeus). English and French, Jude and Judas are referred to by the A further complication is the fact that the name “Judas” same name. was tarnished by Judas Iscariot. It has been argued that “Jude of James” is only mentioned twice in the New Tes- for this reason it is unsurprising that Mark and Matthew tament: in the lists of apostles in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13. refer to him by an alternate name.[6] The name by which Luke calls the Apostle, “Jude of Some Biblical scholars reject this theory, however, hold- James”, is ambiguous as to the relationship of Jude to ing that Jude and Thaddeus did not represent the same this James (Jacob). Though such a construction some- person.[7] Scholars have proposed alternate theories to times connoted a relationship of father and son, it has explain the discrepancy: an unrecorded replacement of been traditionally interpreted as “Jude, brother of James” one for the other during the ministry of Jesus because of (Luke 6:16)[3] although Protestants usually identify him apostasy or death;[7] the possibility that “twelve” was a 1 2 4 ICONOGRAPHY symbolic number and an estimation;[8] or simply that the of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Linked to this tra- names were not recorded perfectly by the early church.[9] dition is the Saint Thaddeus Monastery (now in northern Thaddeus one of the twelve apostles is generally seen as Iran) and Saint Bartholomew Monastery (now in south- a different person from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the eastern Turkey) which were both constructed in what was Seventy Disciples.[10] then Armenia. 1.3 Brother of Jesus 3 Death and remains Opinion is divided on whether Jude the apostle is the same as Jude, brother of Jesus, who is mentioned in Mark 6:3 and Matthew 13:55-57, and is the traditional author of the Epistle of Jude.[11] Some Catholics believe the two Judes are the same person,[12] while a number of Protes- tants do not.[13] 2 Tradition and legend Symbol of his martyrdom According to tradition, Saint Jude suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, in the Roman province of Syria, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. The axe that he is often shown holding in pictures symbolizes the way in which he was killed.[16] Their acts and martyrdom were recorded in an Saint Thaddeus Armenian Monastery Acts of Simon and Jude that was among the collection of passions and legends traditionally associated with the leg- Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel endary Abdias, bishop of Babylon, and said to have been in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and translated into Latin by his disciple Tropaeus Africanus, [17] Libya.[14] He is also said to have visited Beirut and according to the Golden Legend account of the saints. Edessa, though the emissary of latter mission is also iden- Sometime after his death, Saint Jude’s body was brought tified as Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy. The from Beirut to Rome and placed in a crypt in St. Peter’s 14th-century writer Nicephorus Callistus makes Jude the Basilica which was visited by many devotees. Now his bridegroom at the wedding at Cana. The legend reports bones are in the left transept of St. Peter’s Basilica under that St. Jude was born into a Jewish family in Paneas, a the main altar of St. Joseph in one tomb with the remains town in Galilee later rebuilt by the Romans and renamed of the apostle Simon the Zealot. According to another Caesarea Philippi. popular tradition, the remains of St. Jude were preserved In all probability he spoke both Greek and Aramaic, like in an Armenian monastery on an island in the northern almost all of his contemporaries in that area, and was a part of Issyk-Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan at least until the farmer by trade. According to the legend, St. Jude was a mid-15th century. Later legends either deny that the re- son of Clopas and his mother Mary, a cousin of the Virgin mains are preserved there or claim that they were moved Mary.[15] Tradition has it that Jude’s father, Clopas, was to a yet more desolate stronghold in the Pamir Mountains. martyred because of his forthright and outspoken devo- tion to the risen Christ. Although Saint Gregory the Illuminator is credited as 4 Iconography the “Apostle to the Armenians”, when he baptized King Tiridates III of Armenia in 301, converting the Arme- Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus nians, the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are tradition- in his hand or close to his chest, betokening the legend of ally believed to have been the first to bring Christianity to the Image of Edessa, recorded in apocryphal correspon- Armenia, and are therefore venerated as the patron saints dence between Jesus and Abgar which is reproduced in 3 Church of Saints Simon and Jude Thaddeus in Rudno, Poland. Eusebius' History Ecclesiastica, I, xiii. Eusebius relates that King Abgar of Edessa (now Şanlıurfa in southeast Turkey) sent a letter to Jesus seeking a cure for an illness afflicting him. With the letter he sent his envoy Hannan, the keeper of the archives, offering his own home city to Jesus as a safe dwelling place. The envoy painted a likeness of Jesus with choice paints (or alternatively, im- pressed with Abgar’s faith, Jesus pressed his face into a cloth and gave it to Hannan) to take to Abgar with his an- swer. Upon seeing Jesus’ image, the king placed it with great honor in one of his palatial houses. After Christ’s execution, Thomas the Apostle sent Jude to King Ab- gar and the king was cured. Astonished, he converted to Christianity, along with many of the people under his rule. Additionally, St. Jude is often depicted with a flame above his head, representing his presence at Pentecost, when he was said to have received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Statue of St. Jude in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran by Lorenzo Ottoni. 5 Veneration team in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). His other patronages include desperate situations and hospitals. One of his According to tradition, after his martyrdom, pilgrims namesakes is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in came to his grave to pray and many of them experienced Memphis, Tennessee, which has helped many children the powerful intercessions of St. Jude. Thus the title, with terminal illnesses and their families since its found- 'The Saint for the Hopeless and the Despaired'. St. Brid- ing in 1962. His feast day is October 28 (Roman Catholic get of Sweden & St. Bernard had visions from God ask- Church, the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Church) ing each to accept St. Jude as 'The Patron Saint of the and June 19 (Eastern Orthodox Church). Impossible'.[16][18] A common Roman Catholic prayer to St Jude is: The Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) began work- ing in present day Armenia soon after their founding in “O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful 1216.

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