Память святого Апостола Иуды, брата Господня по плоти

Saint Apostle Jude is one of the 12 disciples of the Lord. He came from the tribe of David and Solomon. Saint Jude was born in the Galilean city of Nazareth from the righteous Joseph, to whom the Most Pure Virgin Mary was later betrothed. It is not known with certainty who Judas' mother was. According to some, this was Salome 4041, the daughter of Haggai, son of Barachias, brother of Saint Zechariah, father of the holy prophet and forerunner of the Lord John. This Judas was the brother of the holy Apostle James the Righteous, primate of the Jerusalem church 4042. The Holy Apostle Jude is usually called Judas of Jacob, that is, the brother of the Apostle James 4043. He accepted this name out of humility, for he considered himself unworthy to be called the brother of the Lord according to the flesh, especially since he sinned before the Lord, firstly, by his lack of faith, and secondly, by his lack of brotherly love. That Judas sinned through lack of faith, Saint John the Theologian testifies to this, saying: “For even His brothers did not believe on Him” (John 7:5). Explaining this passage of the Gospel, Saint Theophylact 4044 here means the children of Joseph by the brothers of Christ. Namely, he says: - The brothers, the children of Joseph (among whom was this Judas) also brought reproach to Him - that is, to Christ; Where did they get such unbelief towards Him? - From one’s own bad will and from envy, for relatives tend to envy their own more than strangers. So, from here it is clear that Judas sinned before the Lord through his lack of faith. But Judas, in addition, showed unbrotherly love to Christ, as is written about in the life of Jacob, the brother of God. When Joseph, upon returning from Egypt, began to divide his land between his children born from his first wife, he wanted to give a part to the Lord Jesus, born prenaturally and incorruptibly from the Most Pure Virgin Mary, who was then still a small child. But the three sons of Joseph did not want to accept Christ as their share, as born from another mother; only the fourth son, Saint James, accepted Him into joint ownership of his part and therefore was later called the brother of God. Realizing these past sins of his - lack of faith and unbrotherly love - Judas did not dare to call himself the brother of God, but only called himself the brother of James, as he writes in his epistle: “Judas, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James” (Jude 1:1-25). In addition to the name Judas Jacob, the Apostle Judas also has other names. The Evangelist Matthew calls him Levway and Thaddeus. These names were given to the Apostle Jude not without a reason, namely: the word “Levvey” means: “cordial.” In relation to the Apostle Judas, this name will mean that he is Judas, after the sins he committed out of ignorance against Christ God, when he was convinced that Jesus is the true Messiah - Christ God, he united with Him with all his heart. The Apostle Jude is also called Thaddeus, which means “one who praises,” for he glorified and confessed Christ God and proclaimed the Gospel to many nations. We know very little about the life and work of Saint Apostle Jude. It is only known that at the end of the reign of Domitian 4045, two grandsons of Judas, who were engaged in cultivating the land with their own hands, were brought, through the slander of heretics, to this emperor, as descendants of David and relatives of the Lord; but when the emperor was convinced that they did not pose any political danger to him, they were released. The Apostle Jude, like other “brothers of the Lord” according to the flesh, carried out many evangelistic labors, spreading the Gospel of Christ. Soon after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, Apostle Judas, like all the Apostles of Christ in general, went to preach the Gospel. According to the testimony of the church historian Nicephorus 4046, “The Divine Judas, not Iscariot, but another, who had the double name Thaddeus and Levway, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jacob, thrown from the roof of the Temple of Jerusalem, preached the Gospel and spread Christianity first in Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Idumea, then in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia finally came to the city of Edessa, which belonged to King Abgar 4047, where even before him another Thaddeus, one of the seventy Apostles, preached the Gospel. Here the Apostle Jude finished and corrected what was not completed by that Thaddeus” 4048. There is news that the holy Apostle Jude preached Christianity in Persia, from where he wrote his conciliar epistle in Greek. The motivation or reason for writing this message was the fact that wicked people crept into the society of believers, who turned the grace of God in cases of lawlessness and, under the guise of Christian freedom, allowed themselves all sorts of vile deeds. This short message contains many profound thoughts and edifying teachings. It contains part of the dogmatic teaching: about the sacrament of the Holy Trinity, about the incarnation of Jesus Christ, about the difference between good and evil Angels and about the future Last Judgment; partly the teaching is moral: an exhortation to avoid sinful uncleanness - carnal, blasphemy, pride, disobedience, envy, hatred, deceit and guile; The Apostle advises everyone to be constant in their duties, in faith, in prayer, in love - he advises them to take care of the conversion of the lost, to preserve themselves from heretics, whose spiritually harmful morals he clearly depicted and declared that those heretics would perish, like the inhabitants of Sodom (Jude 1:7). In addition, in his epistle, the holy Apostle Jude says that for salvation it is not enough to be converted from paganism to Christianity, but with faith one must do good deeds, befitting Christianity and worthy of salvation, and cites as an example the Angels and people punished by God. God bound the angels with eternal bonds in darkness and preserves them for His Last Judgment because they did not preserve their dignity (Jude 1:6). God destroyed the people brought out of Egypt in the desert because they fell into depravity, living not according to the law of God (Jude 1:5). Thus, the Apostle Jude, in brief words, reveals to us great truths in his epistle. The holy Apostle Jude visited many different countries, preaching the Gospel, converting peoples to the faith of Christ and instructing them on the path of salvation. In such labors he reached the countries of Ararat and here, having turned many people away from idolatry, he made them Christians. By this the Apostle strongly armed the priests of idols against himself: they seized him and, after various tortures, hung him on a cross and pierced him with arrows. This is how the holy Apostle Judas ended his feat and his life and departed to Christ God in order to receive from Him the crown of eternal reward in heaven 4049. We sacredly praise you, O Judas, a kinsman of Christ, and a strong martyr, having corrected delusion and keeping your faith: so today we celebrate your all-holy memory, the resolution of sins through your prayers is acceptable. The interlocutor of the Apostle appeared to Paul, and hereby you proclaimed to us a sermon of Divine grace, O blessed Judas, for this reason we cry out to you: do not stop praying for us all. You appeared as a chosen disciple with a strong mind, and you became an invincible pillar of the Church of Christ: you preached the word of Christ with your tongue, believing, saying, in one Godhead: having glorified yourself from the Unworthy, you received the gift of healing, to heal the ailments of those who come to you, the Apostle of Judas, the All-Valuable One. One should also distinguish from this Salome the old woman Salome, a resident of Bethlehem (the betrothed grandmother of the Lord); this Salome was a relative of the Most Holy. Virgin Mary and rights. Joseph; see about her in the legend of the Nativity of Christ - month of December, 25th The Holy Apostle James, the Lord's brother in the flesh, according to legend, accompanied his father Joseph, the Ever-Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus during their flight to Egypt. After the Ascension of the Savior, he was appointed bishop of the Jerusalem church; he was the first to compose the Divine Liturgy. He died, having been overthrown by the Jews from the wing of the church, in 61 or 62 AD; he owns the conciliar epistle bearing his name. The memory of this St. Apostle - October 23. However, some distinguish Judas of Jacob (mentioned in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13) from Judas, the brother of the Lord, and the following circumstance reported in the Gospel is attributed to this Apostle. During His last farewell conversation with the disciples, the Lord, having announced to them about His departure to God the Father, said to them in consolation: “I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you. A little more and the world will no longer see Me; and you will see Me, for I live, and you will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and show myself to him” (John 14:18–21); then Judas said to the Lord: “Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22). From this question it is clear that the Apostle Jude had not yet parted with the favorite idea of ​​the Jews about the Messiah as an earthly king, and understood the promised appearance of the Lord in the sense of a visible, sensory appearance, in the glory of an earthly king and conqueror. The Lord, by His answer, made him understand that He is not an earthly king, and His appearance in His Kingdom is not a visible, external, bodily phenomenon, but an internal, spiritual one - His mysterious communication with believers (John 14:23). Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ahrida in Bulgaria, is known for his interpretation of the Four Gospels, in which he follows in many respects St. John Chrysostom. Died around 1085 The Roman Emperor Domitian reigned from 81 to 96. Nikephoros Callistus is a 14th century Greek historian who left us the History of the Church. According to legend, Jesus Christ sent His image not made by hands to this Abgar. Edessa is a city in Mesopotamia. The memory of this St. Apostle Thaddeus - August 21, as well as January 4 St. ap. Judas died around 80 A.D. - According to the monthly imp. Vasily ap. Judas was in Mesopotamia in Edessa, where he healed Abgar, and then in the city of Aratus he was pierced by an arrow on the cross; according to the Slavic prologue of the ap. Judas suffered on the island of Arad. There is a city and island of Arad, but in Phenicia, not in Mesopotamia. According to Armenian legend, ap. Judas arrived in Armenia around 60 and met here with the Apostle Bartholomew in the city of Artashat on the Araks; He enlightened many, and was nailed to the cross in 72 in Ormia in Greater Armenia, now Urmia. In this case, Arat should be sought near the Ararat Mountains. (Month of Arch. Sergius, vol. 2, deputy under June 19). You might be interested in: