Apostle Nathanael (Apostle Bartholomew)

IMPORTANT DATE CORRECTION: the previously listed date "December 24" is not supported by any source (Julian or Gregorian calendar) — it appears to have been an arbitrary placeholder; it has been corrected to the genuine, consistently attested feast date under the name "Nathanael" — April 22/May 5.

Orthodox tradition, following St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Epiphanius of Cyprus, and other Fathers, identifies Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, mentioned in the Gospel of John (1:45-51; 21:2), with the Apostle of the Twelve, Bartholomew ("Bar-Tholomew" — literally "son of Tholomai/Talmai," i.e., a patronymic, while "Nathanael" is his given name). This is the dominant Orthodox identification (Blessed Augustine in the Latin West held a different opinion, but this is not the mainstream Orthodox position).

NOTE ON THE CALENDAR: the Byzantine liturgical calendar preserves TWO separate commemorations of the same person — "Nathanael" (April 22/May 5, together with Apostles of the Seventy Luke and Clement) and "Bartholomew" (June 11/24 — the main feast of his apostolic ministry and death; also August 25/September 7 — translation of relics). Both dates are kept separately in the calendars because they took shape historically before the identification of the two names was fully settled in patristic tradition.

According to tradition, Apostle Bartholomew preached in India, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Armenia, where he suffered a painful death (tradition holds he was flayed alive, then crucified or beheaded).

His feast under the name Nathanael is kept on April 22/May 5.