Finding St. Jude Thaddeus

St. Jude Thaddeus of the Secondhand Store

By Bishop Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Today we stopped by a secondhand store to look for some children’s items, and in the process, I looked over a huge stack of odds and ends that were all jumbled together on a shelf. 

Lying face down and feet out, a small wooden carving was at the bottom of a pile of cheap plastic dolls. When I pulled him out, I immediately knew who he was - St. Jude Thaddeus taking the first icon, the “Mandylion” (which, according to Eusebius, was made supernaturally by Christ to heal King Abgar of Edessa of leprosy), on the first missionary journey of Christianity... A missionary journey that ended with the people of Edessa, the Assyrians, becoming the first officially Christian people! 

It reminded me that Christianity is first an “Eastern Religion”, and that the first mission that Christ sent an Apostle to fulfill was to Edessa, the birthplace of Syriac Christianity, which later went to India and China, and is still blossoming there in an awesome work of the Holy Spirit today. 

When I took the little carving to the checkout, I was shocked to hear from the cashier, “That will be one dollar!” I asked again to make sure I heard correctly. “Yes, honey, we sell all our little figurines for that price.” So, I happily paid a dollar for a hundred-year-old wooden carving of a holy Christian apostle. 

St. Jude Thaddeus, often just called Thaddeus, and probably identical to “Mar Addai” of the East Syriac Tradition, now sits in a place of pride in my office, reminding me that his mission is not yet complete and that we have a lot to do in The Missionary Diocese of East and Southeast Asia! 

St. Jude Thaddeus, pray for us!

今天，去一家二手店找一些儿童用品，架子上堆着一大堆杂乱无章的东西，在一个廉价塑料娃娃的底下压着一个面朝下，脚朝上的小木雕。这一下子吸住了我的眼球，我立刻把他拉出来，这不就是——拿着第一张基督圣象的圣裘德·撒迪厄斯 (St. Jude Thaddeus)吗？ 据优西比乌斯说，这第一张基督圣象“曼迪利翁”，它是由基督超自然制造，来治愈埃德萨国王阿布加的麻风病。基督教第一次在此国传开......而亚述埃德萨人就成为第一个基督教国家！后来，圣象中基督的容貌就按此。这让我想起，基督教首先是一个“东方宗教”。基督派使徒们完成的第一个使命：从叙利亚基督教的发源地埃德萨出发，到了印度和中国，并在那里蓬勃发展 ，至今圣灵的奇妙工作还在那些地方运行。

当我把小雕刻带到收银台结账时，收银员告诉我是 $1，我不管相信自己的耳朵，我再次询问价格时，她告诉我说：“是$1。” 虽然孩子用品没买到，却喜出望外地花了$1买了这一个有百年历史的圣徒木雕。

St. Jude Thaddeus，通常简称为 Thaddeus，可能与东叙利亚传统中的“Mar Addai”相同。我把它放在我办公室显眼的地方，来提醒我圣裘德·撒迪厄斯的使命尚未完成，我们应该继续在东亚和东南亚跟随他的脚步。

圣裘德撒迪厄斯，为我们祈祷！