The Holy Apostles Nathanael, Luke and Clement

The church calendar records the missionary work of the apostles Bartholomew, Luke and Clement, whose fates spanned vast territories from Asia Minor to India and Armenia.

Bartholomew, a native of the Galilean Cana and one of the twelve closest disciples of Christ, after Pentecost went to Syria and Asia Minor with the Apostle Philip and his sister Mariamna. In the Phrygian Hierapolis, their mission was marked by the destruction of a giant serpent, revered by the pagans, and the healing of forty years of blind Stachius. Mass appeals provoked a conflict with the authorities: the preachers were imprisoned, and Philip was executed by crucifixion upside down. Bartholomew, miraculously avoiding death, ordained Stachius bishop and left the city.

The further route of the apostle ran through India, where he translated the Gospel of Matthew into the local dialect, and Great Armenia. There he healed the possessed daughter of King Polymy, which led to the baptism of the ruler himself, his family and the population of ten cities. The final of the mission came in Alban (modern Baku), where the brother of the king Astiagus subjected Bartholomew to crucifixion, skin peeling and beheading. The relics of the saint subsequently traveled a long way: from Mesopotamia across the Black Sea coast to the island of Lipara, and then to the Italian cities of Benevent and Rome.

The Companion of the Apostle Paul Luke, a native of Syriac Antioch, a physician and one of the seventy disciples, began his ministry during the earthly life of the Savior. After Paul’s martyrdom, he continued preaching on his own, passing through Achaia, Libya, Egypt and Thebaid, where he died in the city of Thebes. Church tradition attributes Luke to the creation of the first iconographic images of the Virgin, as well as the apostles Peter and Paul. Under Paul’s guidance in Rome, he wrote the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, laying the historical and theological foundation for understanding the universal character of the Christian mission.

The third apostle, Clement, mentioned by Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians as a collaborator whose name is inscribed in the Book of Life, served as bishop in the Lydian city of Sardica. Details of his writings remain scant, but the apostolic testimony highlights his role in the early Christian community.