Житие и страдания святого апостола Варфоломея

The Holy Apostle Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Christ. After receiving the Holy Spirit, who descended on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire (Acts 1:13, 2:1–4), the lot fell to Saint Bartholomew, together with the Apostle Philip, to go preach the Gospel to Syria and Asia Minor. There they both went - sometimes preaching together, sometimes diverging separately to different cities, then converging again and leading people to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Preaching the Gospel in Asia Minor, Saint Philip separated from Saint Bartholomew for some time and converted the wild and rebellious inhabitants of Lydia and Moesia to Christ 3825. At this time, Saint Bartholomew, who was preaching Christ in neighboring cities, was commanded by the Lord to go to the aid of Saint Philip. Having joined him, Saint Bartholomew, together with him, unanimously labored in apostolic labors and exploits. Philip was also followed by his sister, the maiden Mariamne, and together they began to serve the cause of saving the human race. Passing through the cities of Syria and Moisia and preaching the word of God, they suffered from the infidels many misfortunes, beatings and sorrows, they were imprisoned, beaten with stones, but despite all the persecution, by the grace of God, they remained alive for the upcoming work of spreading the faith of Christ. In one of the Lydian villages they met the beloved disciple of Christ, Saint John the Theologian, and together with him they went to the Phrygian country. Entering the city of Hierapolis 3826, they preached Christ there. This city was overflowing with idols, which all its inhabitants worshiped; among other false deities there was one huge viper 3827, for which a special church was built; there they brought her food and performed numerous and varied sacrifices; madmen also revered other reptiles and vipers. Saint Philip, first of all, together with his sister, armed themselves with prayer against the viper, in which Saint John the Theologian, who was with them at that time, also helped them. All of them, together, through prayer, as if with a spear, they defeated that viper and by the power of Christ, they killed it. After this, John the Theologian separated from them, leaving Hierapolis to them to preach the word of God, and he himself went to other cities, spreading the holy gospel everywhere. Saint Philip with Bartholomew and Mariamne remained in Hierapolis, diligently trying to destroy the darkness of idolatry, so that the light of the knowledge of truth would shine on the lost; This is what they worked on day and night, teaching the unfaithful the word of God, admonishing the foolish and directing the lost to the true path. In that city there lived a man named Stachy, who had been blind for forty years. The holy apostles, with the power of prayer, enlightened his bodily eyes, and with the preaching of Christ they enlightened his spiritual blindness. Having baptized Stachy, the saints stayed in his house. And the rumor spread throughout the city that the blind Stachys had received his sight. Crowds of people began to gather at his house. The holy apostles taught everyone who flocked to them to believe in Christ Jesus. They brought many sick people there, and the holy apostles healed everyone with prayer and cast out demons, so that a large number of people believed in Christ and were baptized. The wife of the chief of that city, named Nikanora, was bitten by a snake and lay sick, near death. Having heard about the holy apostles who were in the house of Stachy, that they healed all sorts of illnesses with one word, she, in the absence of her husband, commanded her slaves to take herself to them and received double healing: bodily - from the bite of a snake and mental - from demonic seduction, for, taught by the holy apostles, she believed in Christ. When the mayor returned home, the slaves told him that his wife had been taught to believe in Christ by some strangers living in the house of Stachy. Terribly angry, Nikanor ordered to immediately seize the apostles and burn the house of the Stachievs, which was done. A multitude of people gathered - and the holy apostles Philip, Bartholomew, as well as the holy virgin Mariamne, were dragged around the city with beatings, mocked at them, and finally thrown into prison. After this, the chief of the city sat down in the judgment seat to judge the preachers of Christ: and all the priests of the idols and the priests of the dead viper gathered to him, bringing complaints against the holy apostles and saying: “Chief! Avenge the dishonor of our gods, since since these strangers appeared, the altars of our great gods have been deserted in our city, and the people forget to make the usual sacrifices to them, our famous viper goddess died, and the whole city was filled with lawlessness. Kill these Magi!” Then the chief of the city ordered to take off the clothes from Saint Philip, thinking that they contained the spell of witchcraft, but when they took off his clothes, they found nothing. They did the same with Saint Bartholomew - and nothing was found in his clothes. When they, with the same intention, approached Mariamne to take off her clothes and expose her maiden body, suddenly she turned into a fiery flame in their eyes, and the wicked ran away from her in fear. The holy apostles were condemned by the ruler to crucifixion. Saint Philip was the first to suffer. Having drilled the steps of his legs and threaded ropes through them, the torturers crucified him on a cross upside down in front of the doors of the viper’s church and at the same time threw stones at him. Then they crucified Saint Bartholomew at the wall of the church. And suddenly there was a great earthquake: the earth opened up and swallowed up the mayor with all the priests and many unbelievers. All those who remained alive - both believers and pagans - came into great fear and with sobs asked the holy apostles to take pity on them and beg their One True God, so that the earth would not swallow them up in the same way as those. They hastily rushed to remove the crucified apostles from the crosses. Saint Bartholomew was hanged low and was soon removed. But they could not quickly remove Philip from the cross, because he was hung high, and especially because this was the special will of God, so that His apostle, through these sufferings and death on the cross, would pass from earth to heaven, where his feet had been directed all his life. Hanging in this way, Saint Philip prayed to God for his enemies, that the Lord would forgive them their sins and enlighten their minds to the knowledge of the truth. The Lord bowed to his prayer and immediately commanded the earth to uproot alive the victims it had swallowed up, with the exception of the mayor and the priests of the viper. Then everyone confessed and glorified the power of Christ with a loud voice, expressing a desire to be baptized. When they wanted to take Saint Philip down from the cross, they saw that he had already given up his holy soul to God, and they took him down dead. His own sister, Saint Mariamne, who all the time looked at the suffering and death of her brother Philip, lovingly hugged and kissed his body taken from the tree, and rejoiced that Philip was worthy to suffer for Christ 3828. Saint Bartholomew performed baptism on all those who believed in the Lord and appointed Stachys their bishop. The converts buried the body of St. Philip the Apostle with honor. In the place where the blood of the holy Apostle flowed, a vine grew in three days, as a sign that Saint Philip, for shedding his blood in the name of Christ, enjoys eternal bliss with his Lord in His Kingdom. After the burial of the Apostle Philip, Saint Bartholomew and the blessed virgin Mariamne spent several days in Hierapolis, confirming the newly founded church in the faith of Christ, and then each set off on their own journey. Saint Mariamne went to Lycaonia and here, amid the successful preaching of the word of God, she peacefully reposed in the Lord 3829. And the holy Apostle Bartholomew went to the Indian countries, where he stayed for quite a long time, working in the gospel of Jesus Christ, passing through cities and villages and healing the sick in His name. Having enlightened many of the pagans with his preaching and established churches, he translated the Gospel of Matthew into their language, which he carried with him and passed on to them. With them he left the Gospel, written in Hebrew, which, after a hundred years, was brought to Alexandria by Panten, the Christian philosopher 3830. From India, Saint Bartholomew went to Greater Armenia in 3831. When he appeared here, the idols, or, better to say, the demons that lived in the idols, fell silent, loudly shouting the last words that Bartholomew was tormenting them and would soon drive them out. And indeed, not only from idols, but also from people, unclean spirits were cast out at the mere approach of the apostle; and for this reason many turned to Christ. The king of that country, Polymius, had a demon-possessed daughter, through whose lips the demon cried: “Bartholomew, and you are driving us out of here!” The king, hearing about this, ordered to immediately find Bartholomew; and when the Apostle of Christ came to the demoniac, the demon immediately fled from her, and the princess received healing. After this, the king, wanting to thank the saint, sent camels loaded with gold, silver, pearls and other precious gifts. The apostle, filled with spiritual poverty (cf. Matt. 5:3), did not keep anything of what was sent, sending everything back to the king with the words: “I am not acquiring these things, but I am looking for human souls, and if I acquire them and bring them into the heavenly villages, then I will appear as a great merchant before the Lord.” King Polymius, touched by such words, believed in Christ with his entire household, received baptism from the holy apostle himself, together with the queen and his healed daughter and with many nobles and a great number of people from the people: for up to ten cities and more then, following the example of the king, received holy baptism. Seeing this, the idolatrous priests were indignant at the holy apostle, deeply saddened that their gods were being destroyed, idolatry was disappearing, and their churches, from where they received food, were falling into desolation. Having approached the king's brother, Astyages, they taught him to destroy Bartholomew and take revenge on him for the insults of their gods. The same, seizing a convenient time, seized the holy apostle and in the city of Alban 3832 crucified him on the cross head down. The holy apostle suffered with joy for Christ and, hanging on the cross, did not cease to proclaim the word of God; He confirmed believers in the faith, but exhorted non-believers to know the truth and turn from demonic darkness to the light of Christ. The tormentor could not hear this and ordered the apostle to be skinned, but the saint, enduring this torment with great patience, did not stop teaching everyone about God and offering praises to Him. Finally, the torturer ordered that the head of Saint Bartholomew be beheaded along with the skin. Then his god-speaking lips fell silent, but his body, when his head was taken away from him, remained hanging on the cross, with his legs facing upward, as if showing the procession of the apostle to heaven. This is how the Apostle of Christ Bartholomew died, after many illnesses and labors, passing into painless peace, into the joy of his Lord 3833. The believers who were at the death of the holy Apostle, having removed his body, head and skin from the cross, put them in a tin shrine and buried them in the same city, Alban, in Greater Armenia *. And miraculous healings were given from the relics of the apostles to the sick, for which many of the unbelievers turned to the Church of Christ. After quite a long time, the cruel persecutors who took possession of that country, darkened by idolatry, hearing from others and seeing for themselves the miracles performed from the relics of the saint, not wanting to know God’s power, took those holy relics in a tin shrine and threw them into the sea. The tin crayfish, floating on the water like a light boat, landed on the island of Liparu. 3834 The local bishop Agathon, having learned by revelation in a dream that holy relics had sailed to their island, went out with the clergy and all the people to the seashore. Seeing the relics of the holy apostle, the bishop and all those who came were greatly surprised how the tin shrine did not drown in the water, but sailed such a long sea route lighter than a boat. And everyone glorified God, who does such wondrous and wondrous works. Taking the reliquary with the holy relics, they with great joy transferred it with psalmody to their church 3835. It is not appropriate to remain silent about the following story, found in the life of St. Joseph the Songwriter, about the holy Apostle Bartholomew. Once in Thessaly, the Monk Joseph received from a virtuous man known to him part of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew. Having brought it to his monastery, located near Constantinople, and having built a special church there in the name of the holy Apostle Bartholomew, Joseph honorably placed in it part of his holy relics. Having great love and faith for the holy apostle, he was often honored to see him in dreams and therefore wanted to decorate the feast of the holy apostle with songs of praise, however, he did not dare to do this, doubting whether this deed would be pleasing to the holy apostle, and earnestly prayed to God and the Apostle of God to reveal this to him and to grant wisdom from above to create verses of praise worthy of St. Bartholomew. The Monk Joseph prayed with fasting and tears for forty days, and when the day of remembrance of the apostle approached, on the eve of the celebration he saw that Saint Bartholomew appeared at the altar, dressed in white vestments, and opened the altar curtain, calling him to himself. When the Monk Joseph came closer, the holy Apostle took the Holy Gospel from the throne and placed it on Joseph’s chest, with the words: “May the Right Hand of the Almighty God bless you, and may the waters of heavenly wisdom be poured onto your tongue: may your heart be a temple of the Holy Spirit, and may your hymns delight the universe.” So said the holy Apostle Bartholomew and became invisible, and the Monk Joseph, feeling the grace of wisdom within himself, was filled with inexpressible joy and gratitude. From that time on, he began to write church hymns and canons, with which he decorated the feast of not only the Holy Apostle Bartholomew, but also many saints, and he mainly honored the Most Pure Mother of God and St. Nicholas with many canons. He richly decorated the Holy Church with chants, for which he received the title of hymn-writer. For all this, glory to Christ our Savior with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Some think that Bartholomew is one and the same person with Nathanael, whom Philip led to Christ (John 1:45). It is believed that the name of this apostle of Christ was Nathanael, but by nickname, or better yet, by his father, he was called Bartholomew, that is, the son of Folomeev. For the word “var” is translated from Hebrew as son, as in another place Christ the Lord said to the Apostle Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah” (Matthew 16:17), that is, son of Jonah. And the blind man of Jericho was called Bartimaeus, that is, the son of Timaeus. This is how they interpret about Bartholomew, that after his father he was called Bartholomew - the son of Folomey; for Folomey among the Jews was an ancient and often used name, but the real name of Bartholomew, it is believed, was Nathanael. This is assumed on this basis. First of all, the Gospel does not say anywhere about the call to the apostleship of Bartholomew, unless one considers the name Nathanael instead. Then, the first three evangelists: Matthew, Mark and Luke, who talk about Bartholomew, do not say anything about Nathanael, and the Evangelist John, who talks about Nathanael, does not talk about Bartholomew, and speaking about fishing at the appearance of the risen Savior, he names Nathanael among the persons close to the apostles - namely, he says: “Simon Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanael, and sons of Zebedee" (John 21:2). But other interpreters do not agree with this and, in accordance with the Prologue, believe that Simon the Zealot is one person with Nathanael, and some believe that Nathanael is one of the 70 disciples of Christ. You appeared as the great sun of the universe, with radiant teachings and terrible miracles, a light guide who worshiped you, Bartholomew the Lord's Apostle. Lydia and Mysia are the northwestern regions of Asia Minor. The city of Hierapolis (from Greek sacred city) was located in the Asia Minor region of Phrygia. Hierapolis once had a bishop who was present at the 1st Ecumenical Council in 325. Currently there are only ruins here, and this place serves as a haven for lepers. Echidna is a poisonous snake, more than a fathom in size, its bite is very dangerous and in most cases ends in quick death. Memory of St. Apostle Philip (out of 12) is celebrated on November 14 The memory of Saint Mariamne is celebrated on February 17 Panten (lived in the 3rd century) one of the famous teachers of the Alexandrian school, in which many of the Church Fathers received Christian education. Great Armenia is a mountainous country between the Kura River and the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; it was called Great Armenia in contrast to Little Armenia - the region between the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Galas rivers, which was part of the kingdom of Mithridates of Pontus, and from 70 AD - part of the Roman Empire. Alban (or Albanopol, also Abarnopol) is a city on the western shore of the Caspian Sea - present-day Baku. Holy Apostle Bartholomew died in 71 A.D. In this case, the compiler of the life of St. Demetrius of Rostov mistakenly places the city of Alban on the territory of Greater Armenia. Alban (modern Baku), where the site of the martyrdom of the Apostle Bartholomew is located, historically was never located on the territory that was part of Greater Armenia, but was a city in Caucasian Albania, as the name itself suggests. – Note “The ABCs of Faith”. Lipara is one of the Zolean islands between Italy and Sicily. Under Emperor Anastasia, around 508, the relics of St. The Apostle Bartholomew was transferred from Alban to the city of Dara (in Mesopotamia). When, in 574, the Persians captured this city, some of the Darish Christians took St. the relics of the apostle and withdrew with them to the shores of the Black Sea, where they were caught by enemies who threw the honest relics into the sea; but they did not drown, but miraculously sailed to the island of Liparu. Subsequently, the island was taken by the Arabs, who scattered the relics of the Apostle Bartholomew, but they were miraculously collected together; St. Bartholomew appeared to one monk and indicated the place where to find them. After this, the relics of St. the apostles were transferred to the Neapolitan city of Benevento (in the 9th century), from where they were transferred (at least part of the holy relics) in the 10th century to Rome. Transfer of the relics of St. Apostle to the island of Liparu is remembered by the Church on August 25 You might be interested in: