Apostles

THE APOSTLES : M.M.NINAN
Mission
Tradition holds that Saint Jude preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria,
Mesopotamia and Libya. He is also said to have visited Beirut and Edessa, though the latter
mission is ccording to the "Genealogies of the Twelve Apostles" (compare Budge, Contendings of
the Apostles, II, 50), Thaddaeus was of the house of Joseph; according to the "Book of the Bee" he
was of the tribe of Judah. There is abundant testimony in apocryphal literature of the missionary
activity of a certain Thaddaeus in Syria, but doubt exists as to whether this was the apostle.
Thus (1) according to the "Acts of Peter" (compare Budge, II, 466 ff) Peter appointed Thaddaeus
over the island of Syria and Edessa.
(2) The "Preaching of the blessed Judas, the brother of our Lord, who was surnamed Thaddaeus"
(Budge, 357 ff), describes his mission in Syria and in Dacia, and indicates him as one of the
Twelve.
(3) The "Acta Thaddaei" (compare Tischendorf, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1851, 261 ff) refers
to this Thaddaeus in the text as one of the Twelve, but in the heading as one of the Seventy.
also attributed to Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy.