Lesson #45 How the Apostles died

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.
Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to
establish the church in the sub-continent.

Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, preached throughout Italy and
Cyprus. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica

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.
Jude was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.

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.

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.

Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.

Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt after being dragged by horses through the streets
until he was dead.

Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot,
was stoned and then beheaded.

Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.

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.

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 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.