The Apostles – Ministry & Death

Son of Jonas, aka Cephas (Aramaic), aka Peter (Greek: Petros meaning “Rock”)
From: Bethsaida (John 1:44) and lived in Capernaum (Mark 1:29)
Occupation: Fisherman (family owned several fishing boats and even hired servants)
Ministry: Jerusalem, Sebaste in Samaria, Lydda (Lod in OT and Tel Aviv), Joppa (Jaffa), Caesarea, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Betania
 
Year of death: Around 66 AD
Location: Rome
Cause: Crucified upside down (his own request because he felt unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus)

Son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), aka Saul of Tarsus (before conversion)
From: Tarsus of Cilicia (eastern Turkey), from the tribe of Benjamin
Occupation: Tent-maker, Pharisee in training
Ministry: Jerusalem, Miletus, Ephesus, Neapolis, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Tarsus, Galatia, Phrygia, Antioch in Pisidia, Mysia, Troas, Asia Minor, Macedonia, Greece, Rome
 
Year of death: Around 68 AD
Location: Rome
Cause: Beheaded

Son of Jonas, brother of Peter, disciple of John the Baptist, he brought Peter to Jesus (John 1:25-42)
From: Bethsaida (John 1:44)
Occupation: Fisherman
Ministry: Kiev (Ukraine), Novgorod (Russia), Thrace (Bulgaria), Byzantium, Trapezus, Nice, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Heraclea, Amastris, Sinope, Amynsusm, Jerusalemm, Abasgi, Asiatic Scythia or Sarmatia (Georgia), Cherson and Patras
 
Year of death: Around 61 AD – 70 AD
Location: Patras, western Greece
Cause: Scourged, and bound to a x-shaped cross (not nailed) by the Roman proconsul Aegeates. Andrew suffered / lived for two more days, during which he preached to passersby

Son of Zebedee and Salome, older brother of John, disciple of John the Baptist
From: Bethsaida, lived in Capernaum, Galilee
Occupation: Fisherman – business partner with Peter and Andrew (Luke 5:10)
Ministry: Caesaraugusta (Spain), Galicia, a city in Rome (Zaragoza)
 
Year of death: Around 44 AD
Location: Judea
Cause: Killed with a sword (Acts 12:1-2) persecuted by Herod Agrippa I. After he was arrested and led to the place of execution, his unnamed accuser moved by his courage not only repented, converted on the spot, but asked to be executed alongside him. They were beheaded simultaneously. James is the first of the Apostles to be martyred.

Son of Zebedee and Salome, younger brother of James the Greater, disciple of John the Baptist
From: Bethsaida, lived in Capernaum, Galilee
Occupation: Fisherman – business partner with Peter and Andrew (Luke 5:10)
Ministry: Gaul (France), Asia Minor (Turkey) – Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatira, island of Patmos
 
Year of death: Around 97 AD
Location: Passed away peacefully in Ephesus
Cause: Old age. Tradition has it that he was poisoned, thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, miraculously survived and before being banished to Patmos

First of Jesus’ disciples, close friend of Andrew and Peter, brought Nathaniel to Jesus (John 1:45-51)
From: Bethsaida (John 1:44)
Occupation: Fisherman (family owned several fishing boats and even hired servants)
Ministry: Greece, Syria, and Phrygia
 
Year of death: Around 54 AD
Location: Hierapolis in the Roman province of Asia (western Turkey)
Cause: Scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified

Son of Talmai, aka Nathanael, Philip brought him to Jesus (John 1:45-51)
From: Cana, Galilee
Ministry: Parthian Empire, Armenia and Upper Phrygia in Asia Minor, India
 
Year of death: Around 70 AD
Location: Derbent (Azerbaijan, near Russia)
Cause 1: Flayed / skinned alive and then beheaded
Cause 2: Beaten and crucified by the impatient idolaters

Didymus Judas Thomas aka Doubting Thomas (John 20:25), Didymus “the twin” (John 11:16, 20:24, 21:2)
From: Galilee
Occupation: Fisherman
Ministry: Babylon (Iraq), Syria, Persia (Iran), and India (possibly China too)
 
Year of death: Around 72 AD
Location: Mylapore in India
Cause: According to tradition, he was stabbed with a spear by local authorities / jealous Hindu priests of Kali whom he angered.

Son of Alpheus, aka Levi
From: Capernaum
Occupation: Publican or Tax Collector
Ministry: Jewish community in Judea, Macedonia, Syria and Parthia (northeast Iran), Ethiopia (Africa), Egypt
 
Year of death: Around 60 – 70 AD
Location: Ethiopia
Cause 1: Stabbed in the back by a swordsman sent by King Hertacus, after he criticized the king’s morals
Cause 2: Died a natural death
Cause 3: Nailed onto a bed, his whole body was being covered with paper, oil, brimstone, asphalt and brushwood and was set ablaze by a local king

Son of Alpheus / Cleophas and Mary, half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55), brother of Jude (Jude 1:1), aka James the Just/Righteous, first Bishop of Jerusalem
From: Galilee
Occupation: Unknown
Ministry: Damascus, Syria, Jerusalem
 
Year of death: around 62 AD
Location: Jerusalem
Cause: Thrown off the pinnacle of the temple, survived the fall but was stoned and clubbed to death (in the head with a fullers club)

Son of Alpheus / Cleophas and Mary, brother of James (Jude 1:1), aka Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18), aka Lebbaeus (Matthew 10:3), aka Judas (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13)
From: Galilee
Occupation: Farmer
Ministry: Judea (Israel), Persia (Iran), Samaria (Israel), Galilee, Idumea (near Jordan), Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia (Iran), Libya and Armenia
 
Year of death: Around 67 – 72 AD
Cause 1: Persia – Clubbed / axed / sawn to death (together with Simon the Zealot)
Cause 2: Crucified at Edessa, Turkey

aka Simon the Cananaean (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:18) / Zealot (Luke 6: 15; Acts 1:13) – Greek translation for Cananaean is “Kananaios” means “the Zealot”, it does not mean “from Canaan”
Ministry: Middle East, North Africa, Egypt, Mauritania and even Britain
 
Year of death: Around 65 – 74 AD
Cause 1: Persia – Sawn / axed in half (together with Jude Thaddeus)
Cause 2: Crucified at Edessa / Samaria
Cause 3: According to St Basil the Great, Greek bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor, Simon died peacefully at Edessa

Son of Simon Iscariot (Iscariot means “man of Kerioth,” a city in Judea), aka the Traitor
From: Judea (the only Judean)
 
1. Cause of death in Matthew 27:5: Committed suicide by hanging himself
2. Cause of death in Acts 1:18-19: He tripped and fell on field, head first
 
The two accounts are explained by Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis (an author and Apostolic Father 60-130 AD, disciple of John), from a passage in Cramer’s catena ascribed to Apollinaris of Laodicea, “Judas did not die by hanging, but lived on, having been cut down before choking. And this the Acts of the Apostles makes clear, that falling headlong his middle burst and his bowels poured forth. And Papias the disciple of John records this most clearly, saying thus in the fourth of the Exegeses of the Words of the Lord:” For original text reference, click here