Holy Apostle Jude, Brother of the Lord according to the Flesh (+c. 80)

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

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

After the Ascension of Jesus Christ the Apostle Jude set out to preach the Gospel. He spread the true faith first in Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumea, then travelled through the lands of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and finally came to the city of Edessa, where he completed the work begun by Thaddaeus, the apostle of the Seventy. There is a record that Jude also preached Christianity in Persia and wrote his Catholic Epistle there, in Greek. The holy apostle died a martyr in the Armenian city of Arat. The lawless crucified him and pierced him with arrows.