Who were the Twelve Apostles?
The apostles were the twelve men Jesus chose to be with him and to send out. The word apostle means one who is sent.
Matthew's Gospel lists them by name (Matthew 10:2–4): Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Thaddaeus is the same man Luke calls Jude.
After the Resurrection the eleven chose a twelfth to take Judas's place, and the lot fell on Matthias (Acts 1:26). That is why icons of the Twelve include Matthias.
Tradition tells how they carried the Gospel to the ends of the known world, and how all but John gave their lives for it. They were fishermen, a tax collector and ordinary working men. Christians honour them as the foundation the Church was built on, with Christ as the cornerstone.
Each of the Twelve has his own story and his own place in the life of the Church. Peter is remembered as the rock and the leader of the apostles, John as the beloved disciple who stood at the foot of the cross, Thomas as the one who doubted and then said "my Lord and my God," and Matthew as the tax collector who wrote a Gospel. Some, like Simon the Zealot and James the son of Alphaeus, are barely more than a name in the Bible. But the Church remembers all twelve, because together they carried the message out into the whole world.
About the icon
In the icon of the Twelve they stand together beneath Christ, each with his halo and his name written beside it, so you can tell Peter with his short grey beard from young, beardless John. They are painted as one body: different faces, one calling.
