The Holy Apostle Jude, the Brother of the Lord According to the Flesh († c. 80)

The holy Apostle Jude, one of the Twelve, sprang from the line of David and Solomon: he was the son of righteous Joseph the Betrothed by his first marriage. In the Gospel, according to the custom of the time, Jude is also called by other names: Lebbaeus (Matt. 10:3); Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18); Barsabas (Acts 15:22).

According to tradition, when Joseph the Betrothed, after his return from Egypt, began to divide the lands that belonged to him among his sons, he wished to set aside a portion for Christ the Saviour too, who was born of the Virgin Mary. The brothers opposed their father’s intention, for, as John the Theologian writes, “neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7:5). Only the eldest of them, James, accepted Him as a co-owner of his own share. Later Jude came to believe in Christ as the promised Messiah, followed Him with a sincere heart and was numbered among the Saviour’s twelve closest disciples; but he did not count himself worthy to be called the Lord’s brother — in his own catholic epistle he calls himself only the brother of James.

After the Ascension of Jesus Christ the Apostle Jude set out to preach the Gospel. First he spread the true faith in Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumea, then travelled through the lands of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and at last came to the city of Ephesus, where he completed the work begun by Thaddaeus, the apostle of the Seventy. A record has survived that Jude preached Christianity in Persia too, and wrote his catholic epistle there in Greek. The holy apostle suffered martyrdom in the Armenian city of Arat. The lawless crucified him and pierced him with arrows.