How the Apostles Died

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Do we have the strength and faith they did?

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Information sent to me in an email.

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1.  Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia , killed by a sword wound     
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2. Mark  died in Alexandria , Egypt , after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
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3. Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
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4.  John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos.

The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
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5. Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross. According to church tradition it was because he told his tormentors that he felt
unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
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6. James (the Just) The leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.

When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller’s club. * This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
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7.  James (the Great)  Son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem.  The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial.

Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian. 
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8.  Bartholomew (also known as Nathaniel) was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey . Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was flayed to death by a whip.
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9.  Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: ‘I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.’ He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
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10.  Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.
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11.  Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
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12.  Matthias the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
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13.  Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.
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Perhaps this is a reminder to us that our sufferings here are indeed minor compared to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the apostles/disciples during their times for the sake of the Faith.

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake:  But he that endures to the end shall be saved.  Matthew 10:22

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Scriptural note:

Mark and Luke were not part of the original apostles, but were close disciples of Jesus.

The list of apostles are given in Matthew 10:

Mat 10:2   Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James [the son] of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Mat 10:3   Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James [the son] of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

Mat 10:4   Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

The names Lebbaeus Thaddaeus and Simon are not listed in the original list sent me. 

Jude, who is listed, is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus.

According to the Armenian tradition, Saint Jude suffered martyrdom about 65 AD in Beirut, in the Roman province of Syria, together with the apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he is usually connected. Their acts and martyrdom were recorded in an Acts of Simon and Jude that was among the collection of passions and legends traditionally associated with the legendary Abdias, bishop of Babylon.

The apostle called Simon Zelotes, Simon the Zealot, in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13; and Simon Kananaios or Simon Cananeus was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus. Little is recorded of him aside from his name.

To distinguish him from Simon Peter, he is called Kananaios, or Kananites (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18), and in the list of apostles in Luke 6:15, repeated in Acts 1:13, Zelotes, the "Zealot".

Tradition has that he was martyred, but the type of death is speculated.