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Legends of the Apostles: Fact or Fiction?
As I drudge through the writings of the ancient Church, I find many exciting details about the Apostles, Yeshua, and the early believers not found in the four canonical Gospels or the book of Acts. (It goes without saying that some--if not most--of it is simply fabrication and baseless legend).
These stories can be found mostly in the apocryphal Acts of the Holy Apostles. Each Apostle is attributed a work such as the Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas, Acts of the Holy Apostle Matthew, Philip, and so on. They read like a Christian midrash on the deeds and lives of the apostles.
I was reading these accounts, and I came across a wonderful story in the, Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus. The story is well-attested in that it appears in different forms in a variety of early Christian apocrypha.
According to the legend the Governor of Edessa, Abgar by name, hears of the fame of Yeshua and desires to know what this man is about and what he looks like, he sends one of his servants, Ananias, to inspect this Yeshua, but Ananias is unable to explain this remarkable man. After Yeshua's ascension, the apostles choose Thaddeus to go the land of Edessa and to speak to the governor of Edessa about Yeshua.
We pick up in the middle of the story:
And after the passion, and the resurrection, and the ascension, Thaddeus went to Abgarus; and having found him in health, he gave him an account of the incarnation of Christ, and baptized him, with his entire house. And having instructed great multitudes, both of Hebrews and Greeks, Syrians, and Armenians, he baptized them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having anointed them with the holy perfume; and he communicated to them of the undefiled mysteries of the sacred body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered to them to keep and observe the law of Moses, and to give close heed to the things spoken by the Apostles in Jerusalem. For year by year they came together to the Passover, and again he imparted the Holy Spirit.
And Thaddeus along with Abgarus destroyed idol-temples and built Churches; ordained as bishop of one of his disciples, and presbyters, and deacons, and gave them the rule of the psalmody and the holy liturgy. (Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus)
The apostles of Yeshua impacted the world, in this case the apostle Thaddeus. The impact that the holy apostles had on the world, bringing it out of the darkness of idolatry and into the realization of Hashem, serves as a blessing. It will also serve as a blessing to all those Gentiles who have heeded the call of the apostles to come out of idolatry and discover the beauty and life found within the Law of Moses, as Thaddeus instructed the governor of Edessa.
Jeremiah Michael
11 Shevat 5770
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