Apostle of the Twelve
Apostle Matthias
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The disciple chosen by the Church to take the place of Judas among the Twelve Apostles.
Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — Apostle Matthias, Bibliographic reference — The Lives of the Holy Apostles, drawn from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes, Orthodox Church in America — Apostle Matthias. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
Chosen to Complete the Twelve
Matthias followed Christ from the Baptism in the Jordan through the Ascension and became a witness of the Resurrection. After Judas fell away, the apostles sought one who had accompanied the Lord throughout His ministry.
Following prayer, the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the Eleven. The choice restored the apostolic Twelve before Pentecost.
Apostolic Preaching
Ecclesiastical traditions place his preaching in Judea and in regions beyond it. Accounts differ about the precise geography, but all preserve his labor in proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ.
He endured hostility and completed his mission through martyrdom. The Church honors his authority as received within the apostolic council, prayer and the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Relics and Feast
Traditions associate portions of his relics with Trier and with the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome; historical claims are presented cautiously because translations occurred over many centuries.
August 9 — Holy Apostle Matthias.
In the Hagiographical Tradition
The wider Orthodox hagiographical tradition concerning the Apostles is also preserved in The Lives of the Holy Apostles, an English collection drawn chiefly from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church.
Historical Record and Ecclesiastical Tradition
Acts 1:15–26 is the controlling primary source for Matthias's selection by lot to complete the Twelve after Judas's fall. Accounts of his later preaching in Judea, Ethiopia or Colchis and the differing traditions of his martyrdom belong to the Church's later hagiographical memory and are identified as such rather than harmonized into a false certainty.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Church in America — Apostle MatthiasBibliographic reference — The Lives of the Holy Apostles, drawn from the Menology of Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great SynaxaristesOrthodox Church in America — Apostle MatthiasHoly Scripture — Acts 1:15–26The Lives of the Holy Apostles — from Saint Dimitri of Rostov and the Great Synaxaristes