Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew (+60); Righteous Fulvian, Prince of Ethiopia, in Holy Baptism Matthew (I)
The holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, son of Alphaeus, was a native of the Galilean city of Capernaum. He worked as a publican, that is, a tax-collector, and lived in considerable comfort. His fellow countrymen despised him, as they did all other publicans, and shunned him as a man in the service of the Roman occupiers. But Matthew, though a sinner, was still far better than the Pharisees, those hypocritical Jews who prided themselves on their outward show of piety. And lo, it was on him, the publican despised by all, that the Lord Jesus Christ fixed His divine gaze. Once, when the Lord was in Capernaum, He went out of the city and made His way to the seashore, accompanied by a great crowd. There Matthew was sitting at the receipt of custom. The Lord came up to him and said:
“Follow Me!”
The publican Matthew heard these words not only with the ears of the body but with the ears of the heart, and at once rose from his place at the receipt of custom to leave everything and follow the Lord. Matthew did not begin to reason that here was a great teacher and wonderworker calling him, of all people, a sinner and a publican despised by all; he heard the Lord’s call with his whole being and followed Him without a word. What is more, he was overjoyed and resolved to invite Jesus Christ to his house to entertain Him fittingly. And the Lord did not disregard his invitation, but visited Matthew’s house. That day many of Matthew’s neighbours, relatives and friends gathered at his home, most of them sinners and publicans; they sat at table with our Lord and Saviour, talking with Him and listening to Him. Some scribes and Pharisees were there too. When they saw that the Lord was not ashamed to be with sinners and publicans and to share their table, they murmured and said to Jesus’s disciples:
“Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?!” (Matthew 9:11).
But the Lord, hearing their words, said:
“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (ibid., 12–13).
From that time Matthew left all his property and possessions, followed Christ, and never again parted from Him, as a faithful disciple. Soon he was counted worthy to be numbered among the Lord’s twelve most chosen apostles. With the other disciples he accompanied the Lord as He went round Galilee and Judaea; he listened to His divine teaching, saw the countless miracles He worked, went out himself preaching to the lost sheep of Israel, and at last he too became a witness of the Saviour’s Passion on the Cross and His redeeming death, and then of His all-glorious and radiant Resurrection and His Ascension into heaven.
After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Lord’s holy apostles, Saint Matthew, together with the other apostles, was at first in Palestine and preached the Gospel in Jerusalem and the country round about. But then the time came when the apostles were to leave Jerusalem and preach the word of God to the nations scattered over the whole world, to convert them to the true faith. Before Saint Matthew left Jerusalem, the Jews there who had become Christians asked him: set down for us in writing the deeds and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may always be able to remember them, even in your absence. The other apostles who were there at the time agreed to this request of the faithful of Jerusalem, and Saint Matthew set about this great work. His Gospel was written eight years after the Lord’s Ascension.
It is the earliest written of the sacred books of the New Testament (completed around AD 41), and so it also holds the first place among them. Matthew’s Gospel was written in the Syro-Chaldean, or Aramaic, dialect of the Hebrew language, which was then the common language of the people throughout Palestine, and it was intended at first for Jews converted to Christianity. That is why attention in it is focused on the law, and on Jesus being the true Messiah promised by God to the patriarchs of the Hebrew people. That is also why Matthew’s Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ as the descendant of David and Abraham, and in general it speaks chiefly of Christ’s taking flesh and becoming man. This feature of Matthew’s Gospel is reflected in the icons of the holy apostle too, on which he is depicted with a figure like an angel in human form, which symbolically characterises the Gospel he wrote.
After leaving Jerusalem the holy Apostle Matthew preached the word of God in many lands. He went through Macedonia (north of Greece), Syria, Persia, Parthia (a large country in Asia south-east of the Caspian Sea), Media (a country west of Persia and south of the Caspian Sea) and the whole of Ethiopia, the enlightening of which with the Gospel fell to him when the apostles cast lots as to who should preach the true faith where. In this land he enlightened many with the wise light of the Gospel, and at last came to the country of a dark-skinned people known for cannibalism, where people were like wild beasts in their ways and behaviour. There the holy Evangelist Matthew entered a city called Myrmena, converted several people to faith in Christ, founded a small church for them and appointed his companion and fellow labourer Plato as their bishop, while he himself went up a nearby mountain, fasted strictly and earnestly besought God for the conversion of this savage, unbelieving people. And lo, to the holy apostle in his solitude on the deserted mountain the Lord Himself appeared in the form of a beautiful youth, holding a staff in His right hand, and greeted His disciple. Then He handed him the staff and commanded him: go down from this mountain into the city and set up this staff at the gate of the church you have founded; and He added:
“This staff by My divine power shall grow into a great tree and bear good fruit in abundance, far surpassing the fruit of other trees in size and sweetness; washed in the water of the spring that shall rise at its root, these cannibals shall gain beauty of countenance, and all who taste the fruit of the tree shall forget their beastly ways and become good and harmless people!”
The holy Apostle Matthew received the staff from the Lord’s hands, went down into the city and set about carrying out the command. The wife and son of the prince of that city, Fulvian, were possessed by evil spirits. Mother and son happened to meet the apostle as he walked along the street, and began to shout in a fierce, frightening voice:
“Who has sent you here with that staff?! Why do you want to destroy us?!”
Saint Matthew forbade the unclean spirits to cry out and drove them away. The healed mother and son bowed down to the apostle and followed him quietly. Bishop Plato learned of Matthew’s arrival and came out to meet him with the clergy. Saint Matthew went to the church and did everything as the Lord had commanded him: at the doors he set up the staff he had received from Christ, which at once, before the eyes of those present, turned into a great tree with widespread branches, laden with excellent, large and sweet fruit, while from its root a spring of water flowed. At the sight of this everyone was dumbfounded and greatly amazed. The whole city gathered to see the miraculous tree; they all ate of its fruit and drank the clear water. Meanwhile the holy Apostle Matthew stood on a raised place and preached the word of God to the citizens in their own language. That day everyone believed in Jesus Christ as the true God, and the holy apostle baptised them there, in the water of the miraculously sprung spring. And indeed, according to the Lord’s word, all the cannibals came out of the waters of baptism with their countenances made beautiful; even their black skin was changed to white. Together with bodily purity and beauty they gained spiritual beauty too, for they put off the old man and put on the new, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the head of the city learned of the healing of his wife and son and of the miracle that had taken place, he rejoiced at first, but then, at the devil’s prompting, he was filled with anger against the apostle, because the inhabitants of the whole city were going to him and being baptised and turning their backs on their former idols. For this reason Fulvian resolved to kill him.
But that same night the Saviour appeared to Saint Matthew and commanded him: take courage; in the trial to come I will be at your side and help you. The next morning, while the holy apostle was in the church with the faithful singing praise and glory to God, the prince of the city sent four soldiers to seize him. When the armed soldiers reached the church of the Lord, darkness at once enveloped them, and in terror they barely managed to get back. Fulvian asked why they had not seized Matthew and brought him there. And they answered:
“We could hear him speaking, but we could see nothing. That is why we could not seize him or bring him!”
Then Fulvian grew still angrier and sent many armed soldiers to the church: bring him here by force, and if anyone resists you and defends Matthew, kill him on the spot. But these soldiers too came back put to shame, for when they drew near the church a heavenly light suddenly shone upon the holy apostle, so that the soldiers could see nothing; in terror they threw down their weapons there and went back half dead with fear to their prince to tell him everything. Fulvian flew into a terrible rage, gathered all his subordinates and set out furiously for the church to seize the apostle himself. But when he reached the church, as soon as he came near Saint Matthew, he was suddenly struck blind on the spot; in terror he rushed this way and that, begging: help me, give me a guide; and when no one dared go near him, he began to beseech the apostle: forgive my sin and give me back my lost sight. Then Saint Matthew, in the sight of all, made the sign of the cross over the prince’s eyes, and at once they were opened. But the prince’s eyes of the body alone were opened, for great malice had utterly blinded him: he attributed so great a miracle not to divine power but to sorcery. He took the apostle by the hand and led him towards his house, as if to honour him, while in his heart he craftily intended to burn the Lord’s apostle alive as a wicked magician. Saint Matthew understood the wicked prince’s secret intention and exposed Fulvian’s treachery.
“O deceitful tormentor!” he said to the prince. “Will you soon do to me what you have planned? Do what Satan has put into your mind! As for me, as you see, I am ready to endure death for my God!”
Then Fulvian ordered the soldiers to seize the holy apostle, throw him on his back on the ground and nail him hand and foot to a stake. When this had been done, the servants, also by the prince’s order, gathered a great heap of brushwood and branches, brought pitch and sulphur too, heaped it all on top of the apostle and set it alight. But when the fire had blazed up high and everyone thought Matthew had been burned up completely, suddenly the fire died down and went out, and the holy apostle appeared alive, unharmed and glorifying God the Creator. But at this sight Fulvian grew still more furious. He would not acknowledge in what had happened the power of God, which had kept Christ’s holy preacher alive and preserved him completely unharmed from the fierce fire. Fulvian brought unjust accusations against Saint Matthew and called him a wicked sorcerer and magician.
“By his wicked sorcery Matthew put out the fire!” he told the people. “And by his magic he stayed alive!”
Then he ordered the servants to bring still more firewood, branches and brushwood, heap them on Matthew and set them alight, and to pour pitch over them. Besides this, he had his twelve golden idols brought and set round the pyre, so as to counter Matthew’s “magic” by them; and he himself stood by the blazing pyre and called on his “gods” for help: let Matthew not escape the burning power of the fire, let him be turned to ashes! But the holy apostle, even in the flames, prayed to the Lord of powers and dominions to show His invincible almighty power to the people gathered there, to reveal the utter powerlessness of the pagan idols, and to put to shame the foolish people who trusted in them.
And lo, suddenly the flames fell with a terrible roar upon the golden idols, and they at once melted like wax from the heat of the fire; at the same time the fire burned many of the pagans standing there too; and from the melted idols a flame in the shape of a serpent shot out and rushed at Fulvian; the dumbfounded prince could not flee and so escape the danger. He fell down helpless, and with humble entreaty besought the holy apostle: save me from destruction. And indeed, as soon as Saint Matthew rebuked the fire, it died down at once, and the serpent-shaped flame vanished too. Then Fulvian wished to bring Matthew out of the fire with honour. But the holy apostle finished his prayer and committed his holy soul to the Lord (this happened around AD 60).
Then the prince Fulvian ordered a golden bed to be brought and the holy apostle’s precious body, preserved completely unharmed by the fire, to be laid on it; then he had it clothed in costly garments, raised it up himself together with his nobles, and carried it into the palace. Yet he had not yet gained perfect faith, and so he ordered an iron chest to be forged, sealed on every side with poured tin, and thrown into the sea. And he said to his nobles:
“If He who preserved Matthew unharmed from the fire also preserves him from sinking in the water, then let us believe that He is the true God, let us worship Him, and turn our backs on all our ‘gods’, who could not save even themselves from destruction in the fire!”
After the iron chest with the apostle’s precious relics had been thrown into the sea, Saint Matthew appeared at night to Bishop Plato and said to him:
“Tomorrow go to the seashore, east of the prince’s palace, and there you will find my relics cast up on the land!”
In the morning the bishop went to the place named with a great multitude of the faithful, and indeed found there the iron chest with the holy apostle’s precious relics, as had been revealed to him in the vision.
The prince Fulvian too learned of this and came to the seashore with his nobles. This time he believed finally and wholly in our Lord Jesus Christ, and confessed in the hearing of all that He is the one true God, who preserved His servant Matthew unharmed both in life, from burning in the fire, and after death, from vanishing in the depths of the seas. With tears in his eyes he kissed the chest in which the holy relics lay, and begged forgiveness both for his former sins and for having insulted and tormented the apostle himself; and he expressed an ardent desire to receive holy baptism. Bishop Plato, seeing Fulvian’s faith and zeal, prepared him for baptism, instructed him in the true faith, and then baptised him. And when he laid his hand on the newly baptised man to give him a new name, suddenly he heard a voice from on high saying to him:
“Call him not Fulvian, but Matthew!”
And indeed, having received through holy baptism the name of this apostle of the Lord, the prince of the city always tried to imitate his life: soon he handed over his princely authority to another, utterly renounced the cares of this world, and gave himself wholly to prayer in the church of God. For this he was counted worthy to be ordained priest by Bishop Plato. And three years later, when the hierarch Plato died, the holy Apostle Matthew appeared in a vision to the former prince, now a priest of the Church of Christ, and urged him: it is you who must take the episcopal throne after the blessed Plato.
And indeed Matthew became bishop and laboured well in proclaiming the faith: he drew many away from the darkness of idol-worship and brought them to the true God; and at last, after a long life pleasing to God, he himself went to the Lord, and now, together with the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, stands before the throne of God and prays the Lord for us, that we may all become heirs of His eternal Kingdom and glorify Him for ever together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The Lives of the Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, Tbilisi, 2004.
The Pharisees formed one of the Jewish sects, which arose in the third to second centuries before the Nativity of Christ. The word itself means “special”, “separated”, “set apart”, and they received this name because they tried to distinguish themselves above others by zealous keeping of the law. In the course of time, in the form of additions to and explanations of the law, the Pharisees compiled many traditions, chiefly concerning the outward, ritual side of the law; they gave these traditions divine authority and made them equal to the law of Moses. Little by little the Pharisees formed a special community, that is, took shape as a separate sect, and, to keep the traditions just mentioned better, avoided contact with the rest of the Hebrew people as being superior to them. The people too regarded them as special people, strict keepers of the divine law, who supposedly laboured to preserve faith and piety among the people, and held them in great respect. But under the cover of outward piety and zeal there lurked outrageous hypocrisy, indifference, heartlessness and immorality, as was plainly expressed in the Lord’s words of rebuke. The Pharisees did not receive the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and crucified Him. In modern times the sect of the Pharisees, in the opinion of some scholars, took the name of the Hasidim.
Among the Jews the name of scribes was given in general to the most lettered and educated people, who explained the law to the people and taught and instructed them publicly; that is, these were the so-called rabbis (teachers) and teachers of the law. The name of scribes was also given to men learned in the law, whose task was to settle disputed questions, doubtful cases and matters, which required both knowledge of the law and practical experience; and the scribes were also the writers and notaries who served in the synagogues and sanhedrins. In the New Testament these learned Jews are presented as a separate class, distinct from the Pharisees; but they often join with the Pharisees and are connected with the high priests. The great majority of the scribes were guided only by tradition and did not understand the spirit of the divine law; therefore they explained the law falsely and were blind guides of the people, who kept the divine commandments hypocritically, only for show before others and to receive the glory of men.
