Holy Apostle Thaddaeus of the Seventy — August 21 / September 3 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, August 21 according to the Julian Calendar (September 3 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus, one of the Seventy.

The Holy Apostle Thaddaeus was a Hebrew by birth, born in the Syrian city of Edessa. Having come to Jerusalem for a feast, he heard the preaching of John the Baptist, received from his hand the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan, and remained in Palestine. Afterward the blessed one beheld the Savior and became His disciple. The Lord chose him among the Seventy, whom He “sent two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to come” (Luke 10:1). After the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Thaddaeus preached in Syria and Mesopotamia. He came also to Edessa and converted to Christ the ruler Abgar, together with the people and the pagan priests.

According to tradition, when the saint first entered the chamber of Abgar, the ruler — astonished by the otherworldly light that shone from his face — came forward to meet him and bowed to the ground. His courtiers, to whom this radiance remained invisible, could not understand why their sovereign showed such honor to a poor pilgrim. The preaching of Thaddaeus was accompanied by many miracles, of which Abgar wrote to the Syrian king Nerses. The blessed apostle founded a church in Edessa. Abgar wished to reward him generously, but the saint refused every gift and hastened on to other cities to preach. At last Thaddaeus came to the Phoenician city of Berytus (Beirut), where he reposed in peace at the age of forty-four. According to the Slavonic Menaion this is so; by other testimonies the holy father reposed in Edessa, while Armenian tradition holds that, after manifold tortures, he was beheaded with a sword.