Apostle Apostle Matthias

Apostle Matthias was born in Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, and from early childhood was raised and instructed in the Law of God under the guidance of the righteous elder Simeon the God-Receiver. He later became a disciple of Christ and was numbered among the Seventy Apostles sent out by the Lord (Luke 10), witnessing the Savior's ministry, death, and Resurrection.

After the Ascension, when the community of disciples numbered about 120, the Apostle Peter proposed replacing the fallen Judas Iscariot so that the number of the Twelve would be restored, citing Old Testament prophecy. Two candidates were put forward who had accompanied Christ from His baptism to His Ascension — Joseph called Barsabas (surnamed Justus) and Matthias. The apostles prayed and cast lots, and the lot fell on Matthias, who was thus numbered among the Twelve (Acts 1:15-26).

Tradition on his missionary field and death diverges considerably across sources. The most widespread Orthodox account holds that Matthias first preached in Judea alongside the other apostles, then traveled to Cappadocia and the region of Pontus on the Black Sea coast, including Colchis (roughly modern Georgia/Caucasus), where he endured persecution, imprisonment, and an attempted poisoning, from which he was miraculously preserved. Accounts of his death also diverge: one, more common in Orthodox hagiography, holds he was stoned and then beheaded by the Jews in Jerusalem (sometimes placed at the time of his return to Judea); another — including some Greek menaia — describes his crucifixion; a third places his death (whether martyrdom or peaceful repose) in Colchis/the Caucasus among difficult, partly cannibalistic tribes he evangelized. Orthodox sources explicitly note that this divergence is genuine and unresolved, not a single settled narrative.

His feast is kept on August 9/22 (main), and also June 30/July 13 in the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles.