August 21: Saint Thaddeus the Apostle celebratestranslated

Today, August 21, the Church honors the memory of Apostle Judas Thaddeus or Levvaius, one of the seventy disciples.

By LAMBROS K. SKONZOU, Theologian - Professor

Among the devoted and faithful disciples of the Lord was also the apostle Thaddeus, as the evangelist Mark calls him (3,16), who is also referred to by the names Levbaeus by the evangelist Matthew, but also as Judas (John 14,22).

Some argue that the name Thaddeus is a surname. Combining the lists of the Gospel of Luke (6,16) and Acts (1,13) we conclude that the three apostolic names Thaddeus, Levite and Judas obviously belong to the same person. So his real name was Judas and Leviaeus and Thaddeus was his surname. The surname Thaddeus, as mentioned by the evangelist Matthew (10.3), means "brave" or according to others "great-hearted".  This hypothesis is strengthened, because "Thaddeus" seems to be a pronoun from the Aramaic Taddai = "the one with a heart", i.e. the one who "says his heart". After all, many figures in the New Testament have more than one name (e.g. Simon-Peter, Barnabas-Joseph).

The name Judas…