Deepest Desire of the Human Heart: What Happened to the Apostles after Pentecost? (Part four)

St. Simon

St. Simon the Zealot was one of the original followers of Jesus.
Traditions from the West say that he preached in Egypt, and then
went on to Persia with St. Jude Thaddeus. Both of them suffered
martyrdom in Persia. Another tradition, this time from the East,
tells a different story. It reports that St. Simon died
peacefully at Edessa. Other traditions say that St. Simon also
went in his missionary journeys to Libya and into present-day
Tunisia. And there is also evidence that this apostle took the
gospel with him to Britain, where Christianity took root because
of him, before Britain became a colony of Rome in 42 A.D. The
most popular tradition commonly believed by many, is that Simon
died a martyr together with St. Jude Thaddeus. The two were
stoned to death by a mob led by pagan leaders.

St. Jude Thaddeus

St. Jude was a relative of Jesus. He preached the gospel in
Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Libya.
He is the author of a New Testament epistle bearing his name. As
he preached in many places, he strongly attacked the heresies of
the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. It was in Armenia (which
was under Persian rule) where he suffered martyrdom. His death
as a martyr however bore much fruit, because Armenia was finally
converted to Christianity in the third century. St. Jude is
known to have performed many miracles. These were due to his
powerful intercession. He has been made the patron saint of lost
causes and hopeless cases.

St. Matthias

We all know what happened to Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed
Jesus to the chief priests. After the Ascension of Jesus, St.
Peter addressed the assembly of Christ's followers and said that
someone must take the place of Judas Iscariot to fulfill the
Scripture. At first, the choice was narrowed down to two: Joseph
Barsabbas and Matthias. After the whole assembly prayed for
guidance before drawing lots, Matthias was selected. Tradition
handed down by historians Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, and
St. Jerome, tell us that St. Matthias first preached in Judaea,
then to Cappadocia, and to the shores of the Caspian Sea. In his
preaching, he was remarkably insistent upon the necessity of
mortifying the flesh to subdue temptations - an important lesson
he learned from Jesus and which he himself practiced faithfully.
Because of this, he suffered great persecutions and ill-treatment
and was eventually martyred in Colchis.

Summary and conclusion

Writers have taught people many times over saying that Jesus is
not a myth or a legend, but One who actually walked the earth and
became part of our human history. One truth of faith that attests
to this strongly, is the zeal by which the apostles preached the
Gospel, and their readiness to suffer even death for their love
of God-in-Jesus. And after this era of the apostles, the early
Christians likewise did what the apostles have taught them by
both word and deed. The first centuries of early Christianity
were marked strongly by famous martyrs who sacrificed their very
lives, in the same spirit as Jesus, so that the Good News of
salvation may be brought to as many people as possible. This
tradition of martyrdom that began with the apostles, continues to
this very day. Those who are called by God to witness to the
saving power of Jesus, through death as martyrs, are all great
gifts to the Church - influencing the Church to become stronger
in their faith in God.