Matthias

Who was Matthias?
Notes by Thomas Madron

Within a day or two of the Ascension, when the Apostles and others were meeting together, Peter called those in attendance (about 120 people) together for the purpose of filling the position left open by the betrayal and death of Judas, saying, "... we need someone else to help us tell others that Jesus has been raised from the dead. He must also be one of the men who was with us from the very beginning." (Acts 1:21-22) There were two who qualified, Joseph Barsabbas (also called Justus) and Matthias. The selection was accomplished essentially by lot rather than by modern electoral techniques and Matthias was chosen. Several days later (the 50th day after the Resurrection) Pentecost occurred. The election of Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot took place, therefore, sometime during the year 30 A.D.

Jesus' choice of 12 Apostles points to a consciousness of a symbolic mission--originally there were 12 tribes of Israel--that the community maintained after the Crucifixion. Acts reveals that Matthias accompanied Jesus and the Apostles from the time of the Lord's Baptism to his Ascension. St. Jerome and the early Christian writers Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea attest that Matthias was among the 72 disciples paired off and dispatched by Jesus. Soon after his election, Matthias received the Holy Spirit with the other Apostles (Acts 2:1- 4). He is not mentioned again in the New Testament. The thirteen apostles are remembered today in the notion of a "baker's dozen." The thirteenth item in a backer's dozen recognizes Matthias as the "thirteenth" Apostle.

There is virtually no reliable information concerning the life and death of Matthias. What is available is vague and contradictory. He preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (that is to say, Colchis) and was crucified. He preached the Gospel to barbarians and cannibals in the interior of Ethiopia, at the harbour of the sea of Hyssus, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun. Still another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. Greek tradition states that he Christianized Cappadocia, a mountainous district now in central Turkey, later journeying to the region about the Caspian Sea, where he was martyred by crucifixion and, according to other legends, chopped apart. His symbol, related to his alleged martyrdom, is either a cross or a halberd. Traditionally Matthias is thought to have died in Colchis, Armenia.

Printer Friendly Version