ST. BARTHOLOMEW (AUG. 24TH)

 

St. Bartholomew 

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

Blessed Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle, Missionary and Martyr for the Gospel of Christ!

Today, August 24th, the Western Church celebrates the life and work of one of the greatest saints of the Early Church, St. Bartholomew. The Eastern Orthodox commemorate him on June 11th. St. Bartholomew’s name is an interesting combination of Greek and Aramaic, in many ways representing the mixed Hebrew-Greek foundations of the Church itself. “Bar” means “Son of” and “Talamai” is the Aramaic pronunciation of Ptolemy, a Greek name associated with the Alexandrian rulers of Egypt. In the Synoptic Gospels, Bartholomew is the companion of Andrew, while in the Gospel of John, Nathaniel takes his place. Because of this, ancient Latin and Mesopotamian Church Fathers believed “Bartholomew” to be a surname, and for his personal name to be Nathanial. 

St. Bartholomew’s earliest accounts occur in the “Ecclesiastical Histories” of Eusebius. The Histories insist that he went to India, following the example of Thomas, where he converted many to the Christian Faith. This story is echoed in India as well, sung in the Mar Thoma Kali Margum, where St. Bartholomew is also said to have given a witness to the people of China. There is a record of an old man coming to the Eastern Han Empire, speaking of a Savior, and who was hosted in the Court of Emperor Ming (approx. 57-75AD, 后汉书-第九卷), but this account does not give a name or doctrinal specifics. St. Bartholomew, regardless of where he actually evangelized, left a large and permanent mark in the hearts and imagination of Christians everywhere, and is still exerting influence in many cultures today. 

An Armenian Icon of St. Bartholomew

By the 4th century AD, the Armenian Nation was already thoroughly evangelized and their local tradition was that Thaddeus and Bartholomew evangelized their country immediately after Pentecost, appropriating aspects of the story of Bartholomew’s death by making the Greco-Indian official, named Polymius, into an Armenian king (although there is no such king mentioned in secular histories of Armenia). The tradition grew over time, and the Armenian Orthodox Church believes its Apostolic Succession to come from these two important saints. In Armenian accounts of St. Bartholomew’s martyrdom, he was crucified upside-down like St. Peter in Rome.

St. Bartholomew’s traditional means of death, flayed by pagan officials for the conversion of King Polymius, led to many creative depictions of exposed veins and musculature that were able to circumvent the Church’s ban on the mutilation of the human body, and therefore was used as a medical illustration long before medical textbooks were available. In this way, modern science can call St. Bartholomew the patron saint of anatomy and medicine. 

A Western Illustration of the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew 

“St Bartholomew Skinned”, by Marco d’Agrate, 1562, at the Veneranda Fabbrica, Duomo, Milan

St. Bartholomew’s fame grew in the West throughout the Middle Ages and he was celebrated through commemorations in places as far afield as Sicily and Canterbury. The Golden Legend, by Jacobus de Varagin, was one of the most important works of western hagiography ever written, and it gave a special pride of place to the story of St. Bartholomew’s martyrdom. Illustrated copies of this work formed the Western imagination for centuries. In Sicily, they believed that his flayed skin had come to rest upon a beach, where a saintly priest was led in a dream to find his holy relic. In England, they believe that an early saint brought St. Bartholomew’s right arm to the seat of episcopal authority, where it was used for blessing and veneration. 

An Illuminated Page of the Golden Legend

St. Bartholomew’s Day became an extremely important summer festival in England, where it marked the beginning of the harvest, and represented the bounty of Christian Faith. This is why Bartlemytide is still one of the great feasts of the Anglican Patrimony and one of the ways we English-speaking Christians celebrate our connection to the Orthodox Church!

Holy St. Bartholomew, Apostle, Missionary to the East and Martyr, pray for us!