Jesus taught His Apostles for 40 days after His Resurrection. He instructed them to continue with the work. They went out teaching His gospel and they all suffered death except for one who miraculously survived.
Matthew suffered in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by Horses through the streets until he was dead.
Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous teaching.
John faced death 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 Revelations on Patmos. The Apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edesia in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
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.
James, 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.
James, the 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 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.
Bartholomew also knows as Nathaniel was a missionary in Asia. He witnessed for our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia where he was whipped to death.
Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in 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 there 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 his death.
Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his jissinarary troops to establish the church in the subcontinent.
Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
Mathias who replaced Judas Iscariot was stoned and beheaded.
Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in 67 A.D. He endured a lengthily imprisonment, which allowed him to write his many epistles to the congregations he had formed through the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught the foundational Doctrines of Christianly, form a large portion of the New Testament.
Remembering those men of God is a reminder that our sufferings are indeed minor compare to the intense persecution and cold cruelty faced by the Apostle and disciples during their time for the sake of the faith. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. " All the ancient Apostles are now enjoying paradise, like Jesus said they would if they remained faithful.
The Apostles of today are not exempt from ridicule, mockery and persecution as well but no death penalty has incurred to any of them so in that regard the world has become more tolerant of Christians. I sometimes have wonder, if I had lived at the time of Christ would I have been that brave?
Con amor,
Vero
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