A Homily from St. John’s Russian Orthodox Christian Mission Church in Winfield, PA, for the Sunday of the Synaxis of the 12 Apostles, 7533 (2025), by Priest Paul Siewers.
Brothers and Sisters,
We may have learned the names of members of our favorite band or sports team growing up in popular culture.
However, can we name the 12 Apostles whom we commemorate today?
The Gospel reading for today names them, but there are also some known by more than one name.
The twelve are listed as Peter, Andrew, James, and John, Philip, Bartholomew (also considered to be Nathaniel), Matthew, Thomas, James the Son of Alphaeus (considered to be brother of Matthew), Thaddaeus also known as Jude, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who later was replaced by Matthias.
So Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James Son of Alphaeus, Jude, Simon the Zealot, and Matthias in the final form of the list, so to speak.
But there is another way to remember them.
Peter was crucified upside down in Rome.
Andrew wascrucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece.
James the son of Zebedee was beheaded in Judaea.
John died in Ephesus in miraculous circumstances.
Philip and Batholomew were crucified upside down in what is now southwestern Turkey.
But Bartholomew survived only to be crucified, skinned, and beheaded in Armenia.
Thomas was tortured and pierced by five spears to be martyred in India.
Matthew was set on fire and martyred in Ethiopia.
James son of Alphaeus crucified in Egypt
Jude was crucified and shot with arrows in the Ararat region of ancient Armenia
Simon, the bridegroom at Cana, was crucified in Georgia.
Mathias was stoned to death by order of Jewish religious leaders
Their missionary work spanned three continents—Europe, Africa, and Asia.
It ranged from Simon’s work as an Apostle to Britain all the way to Thomas in India and Matthew in Ethiopia, and Andrew who was said to have reached the Slavic lands that later would be part of Russia.
Their martyrdoms were part of their sacrifice, their self-emptying in Christ. Of the 12, Holy Scripture only records that the Evangelist John remained at the Cross with the Theotokos during the Crucifixion of their Lord. His life ended after he received the Revelation from Jesus Christ in exile at an old age, and had taken care of the Theotokos at Ephesus. According to tradition his body vanished from his tomb and miracle-working dust from the tomb appeared on the day of his repose thereafter.
But the Apostle Peter had denied our Lord prior to the Crucifixion, and Judas Iscariot had betrayed Jesus to the authorities. Later, Peter repented with bitter tears, and Jesus showed the acceptance of his repentance in His telling the leader of the Apostles after His Resurrection three times to “Feed my Sheep.” Judas for his betrayal turned on himself and lost his life at his own hand and his place among the 12, lacking the repentance in faithful self-sacrificing love in Christ shown by Peter, which is the key still for us to turning around our own lives today.
Today we commemorate the 12’s Synaxis, on the day after the Feast of the leaders of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Note however that Paul is not on the list of the original 12 either.
His hands when we meet them first are stained with blood for his persecution of Christians as a leading young activist Pharisee Jew.
But the Apostle Paul was brought into the Apostles band by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself even after His Ascension, in His appearance to Paul. And Paul became renowned, although Jewish himself, as the Greek-speaking Roman citizen who became the Apostle to the Gentles. Often in fact Paul is presented as one of the 12 in the iconography of the Orthodox Church, along with the Evangelists Mark and Luke, who complete the inclusion of the Four Evangelists in the group.
They were all martyrs too.
Paul was martyred under Nero with Peter in Rome, by beheading.
Mark was killed in Alexandria, Egypt, by being dragged across rocks.
Luke was killed in Greece, hung from a tree.
The inclusion of Paul and the two remaining Evangelists in the iconography of the 12 is not to denigrate those then left off the iconography, namely James the son of Alphaeus, Jude or Thaddeus, and the later Apostle Matthias, who are honored today in the Synaxis of the 12. But it is to recognize that the Council or coming-together of the 12 in effect includes others.
In mystical understanding of Scripture in Orthodoxy, the 12 also are identified with the 12 gates of the City of the New Jerusalem, outlined in the prophecy to Ezekiel and described fully in the Revelation to the Evangelist John. They are related to the 12 tribes of Israel, most of which however had effectively disappeared to history in the exile to Assyria, despite some claims to remnants of them. The prophesied restoration of the 12 tribes, like the re-assembly of the bones in Ezekiel, typifies both the resurrection of all humanity in shared human nature (although not universal salvation) at the return of Christ, and also the coming together of all nations in the Church as the full realization of Israel following the first coming of Christ.
Yet we do not ignore the historical reading of the 12 in Orthodoxy. As usual we read the account as both historical and symbolic.
The Evangelists together and Paul included in the iconography of the 12 authored most of the New Testament Scripture. All four Evangelists are understood by the Church as symbolized in the prophecy to Ezekiel of the Four Creatures, the Cherubim as the Chariot of God, so important is their role as authors of the Gospels.
But on an historical and moral level of lessons we note, too, the family relations in the 12. Brothers after the flesh Peter and Andrew, and also James and John, and Matthew and James, family people together who however left their homes to follow Jesus Christ. They were also people of humble working backgrounds as fishermen in the main, although Matthew was a tax collector, considered a dishonorable profession.
They were not renowned as scholars or religious leaders, although Paul, who later became counted among them, was, while persecuting Christians, also a student of Gamaliel the grandson of the prominent Jewish scholar Hillel the Elder.
Yet a Synaxis is a gathering or council, and the Apostolic Canons of the Church still testify to the inspired teachings of the Apostles, of whom the Holy Scriptures also record the Seventy Apostles sent out by our Lord to all nations. After the Resurrection, the Gospel of John also tells how our Lord appeared to his close disciples in a closed room, presumably including the remaining 12, and breathed the Holy Spirit on them to remit sins. The Holy Spirit then came to the congregation of the whole Church at Pentecost.
On the Church calendar, from the period after Pentecost, as we commemorated all saints and then the local saints of the Church, we follow in the Apostles Fast to honor the lead Apostles and today the 12.
The Synaxis or Council of the 12 is also a reminder of the combined conciliarity and hierarchy of Orthodoxy. Apostle means messenger. The 12 as a council show the spiritual unity or sobornost of the Church, and her spiritual power as the united body of Christ. They come together as the one holy catholic and apostolic Church we attest in the Creed, as the Body of Christ inspired by the Holy Spirit, indicating the apostolic succession of the Orthodox Church, in the consecration of Bishops and the ordination of clergy in a line all the way back to the Synaxis of the 12.
The other Gospel today for this Sunday bears relation to our honoring the Synaxis of the 12 today also. The chaos of the demons who go into the swine, and their fierceness, is vanquished by the exorcism of Jesus, who cared about the possessed men and saved them. So too the Church as represented by the Synaxis of the 12 is given power over sin and demons through our spiritual unity as the Body of Christ and our receiving the Holy Spirit that appeared like tongues of fire over each of the disciples at Pentecost. That dual spiritual power of unity and personal effect still rests with us today as members of the Orthodox Church. We said the exorcism prayers reflecting this for the newly illumined Cecelia yesterday and for catechumen Camron today before Church.
The Gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church of our Lord, as He promised us. No matter the challenges we may face individually or collectively as Orthodox Christians, through the Synaxis of the 12 let us remember how He breathed the Holy Spirit on His close disciples, how he restored Peter and transformed the life of Paul, as well as recalling the miracle-working earthly end of the faithful Evangelist John, and the glorious martyrdoms of the Apostles who took the Orthodox Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Synaxis of the 12 is still with us in our Church family and as our intercessors here in our mission toNorthern Appalachia and in our daily lives as Orthodox Christians. Holy Synaxis of the Apostles, pray to God for us! Amen.