What happened to the apostles of Jesus after his ascension?
After Jesus' ascension the disciples went to Jerusalem and prayed for ten days,
as Jesus commanded: Acts 1:4. Then followed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
We call this event Pentecost (Acts 2).
About the beginning of the Christian church and the main events after that,
you can read in the Bible book Acts.
Apart from what we read in the Bible, we don't know much about the apostles.
Only the death of James is mentioned.
1. James, the son of Zebedee, was a leader of the first church. He was executed
by king Herod Agrippa (see Acts 12).
In other books written in that time we find the following:
2. Thomas is believed to have preached the Gospel to the Parthians, Medes and
Persians, and was killed with an arrow in India.
3. Simon Peter preached to Cornelius in Caesarea. He was the first to bring
the Gospel to gentiles (non-Jews) (Acts 10). He was in Antioch (Galatians 2:11)
and perhaps in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:12). According to tradition he was crucified
upside down.
4. Paul, the later apostle, was beheaded with a sword, and not crucified, because
he was a Roman citizen.
5. Andrew, it is believed, lived for a while near Ethiopia. Touring guides
in Greece point out his grave to tourists.
6. Simon the Zealot is believed to have done missionary work in Egypt. It is
also believed that he worked for the Lord Jesus in England. Tradition says he
was crucified by his enemies.
7. Matthew, the writer of the Gospel according to Matthew, also worked in Egypt.
It is said that king Hyrcanus ordered that he be killed with a spear.
8. Philip also became a missionary to various nations. He was killed by crucifixion
and stoning in Hierapolis in Phrygia (Turkey).
9. James, the brother of Jesus, is also believed to have died by stoning in
Jerusalem.
Please note: we cannot say that all of these stories are true. But that is
all we can deduct from information at our disposal.
You know from Biblical accounts that Judas Iscariot committed suicide (Matthew
27:1-10). He vanished from the scene before the Ascension of Christ.
We do not know what happened to the others.
Back | 