Gradually, the number of disciples of Jesus Christ
increased. One day, while in Galilee, Jesus Christ went out into a mountain to pray and
continued all night in prayer to God. When it was daylight, He called His
disciples to Him and chose twelve of them whom He named apostles, that
is, messengers, as He sent them to preach His teaching. The names of the twelve
apostles are as follows:
1. Simon, whom the Saviour called Peter;
2. Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, known as
the "First-called;"
3. James, the son of Zebedee;
4. John, the son of Zebedee, brother of
James, called the Theologian (these two brothers, James and John, the
Saviour called "sons of thunder" because of their fiery zeal);
5. Philip;
6. Nathaniel, son of Tolmai, and,
therefore, called Bartholomew;
7. Thomas, also
called Didymus, which means "the twin;"
8. Matthew, also known as Levi, a
former tax collector;
9. James, son of Alphaeus, also known as
Cleophas, called "the less, or younger, or smaller," in contrast to
James the son of Zebedee;
10. Simon, named
the Canaanite, otherwise known as the Zealot;
11. Judas, son of James, who also bore
another name, Lebbaeus, called Thaddeus;
12. Judas Iscariot (from the city of Karioth), who later betrayed Jesus Christ.
To the apostles the Lord gave power to heal the
sick, to cast out unclean spirits, and to resurrect the dead.
In addition to these twelve chief apostles, Jesus
Christ also chose another seventy apostles: Mark, Luke, Cleophas and
others. He also sent them out to preach.
When the seventy apostles returned from preaching,
they said with joy to Jesus Christ, Lord, "Even the devils are subject
unto us through Thy name" (Luke 10:17).
He said to them, "Do not rejoice that the
spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven" (Luke 10:20). That
is, do not rejoice over the miracles, which are given to you for your
preaching, but rejoice over the fact that you will receive blessings and
eternal life with God in the Kingdom
of Heaven.
Besides the disciples, there constantly
accompanied Jesus Christ some women who had been healed by Him, Mary
Magdalene (from the city of Magdala) of whom Jesus cast seven devils out; Joanna,
the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others.
Note: See
the Gospels of Matthew 10:2-14; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16; 8,1-3.
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