JUDE THE APOSTLE

1 The Apostolic Community lived in anticipation of the imminent Second Coming of the Lord. Therefore, apart from the canonical Scriptures of the New Testament, where the words about the Apostles were written down by the Holy Spirit, very little information about the biographies of Christ’s disciples has been preserved.

2 It is from the Scriptures that we know that the Apostle Jude was one of the twelve disciples. The name “Judas” was very popular and loved by the biblical people of that time. It was widespread to such an extent that even among the Apostles of Christ there were two disciples with that name.

3 One of them, Judas Iscariot, turned out to be a traitor. Scripture and Tradition were especially careful to emphasize that the “other Judas,” not a traitor, was also known by other names: Lebbaeus and Thaddeus. Evangelist Luke calls him “Judas of Jacob,” that is, the son or brother of Jacob (Luke 6:16). Neither church tradition nor biblical science give a clear answer to the question of whether this Jacob was one of the Apostles or just a person known to the Evangelist.

4 Among the canonical books of the New Testament, Judas has his own Epistle. It has only one chapter and twenty-five verses. From the Epistle we learn about the coming judgment of the fallen angels (6), the prophecy of Enoch (14) and the mysterious dispute of Michael the Archangel with the devil about the body of Moses (9). The power of the moral conviction of the Epistle is awe-inspiring.

5 One tradition says that after Pentecost, Judas Thaddeus preached Christ in Palestine and Mesopotamia and was in the city of Edessa. There he met the local King Abgar, who was converted to the faith by the Miraculous Image of Jesus. Another tradition claims that this story with the image of Christ relates to another apostle. The latter was supposedly named Thaddeus, but not Jude Thaddeus, and was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus Christ.

6 A third tradition states that there was a third apostle named Judas. This time it was simply Judas, not Judas Thaddaeus. According to this tradition, he was one of the seventy disciples, the author of the Epistle, and even a relative of the Lord. All of this has been difficult to interpret for both ancient commentators and modern professional exegetes, equipped with the scholarly tools of centuries of historical and biblical research.

7 The Gospel of John conveys the dialogue of Judas Thaddeus with the Lord at the Last Supper. “Judas—not Iscariot—said to Him: Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world” (John 14:22). In these words of Judas one can hear the thirst of the righteous of the Jewish people for messiahship. From these words it also becomes obvious that Jude Thaddeus did not understand that by the time of the Last Supper, Israel’s rejection of Jesus the Messiah had already become final and irrevocable. This is what Jesus himself spoke about.

8 In answer to Judas’ question, Jesus said that keeping His words is the true proof and genuine manifestation of love. From now on, the divine word becomes not law, but love. “The word which you hear is not Mine, but that of the Father who sent Me” (John 14:24). Jesus’ suffering was not forced, but voluntary. The sign of this voluntariness was the Last Supper.

9 Discussing the meaning of Christ’s prophecy of his Resurrection on the third day, a very important Father of the Church Gregory of Nyssa (335-394) believed that it was with the Last Supper that the “final countdown” to the three days and three nights of Christ’s death began. According to Gregory, Christ did not wait for betrayal, trial and death on the cross, but designated the bread and wine of the Last Supper as His Body and Blood, and, thus, voluntarily descended into the heart of the earth to kill Satan and save everyone.

10 Continuing his answer to the Apostle Jude, the Lord announced to the disciples about the Coming of the Holy Spirit: “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have said to you” (John 14:26). It was the Holy Spirit, after the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, who answered the “messianic bewilderment” of Judas, and revealed Jesus as the Messiah not only to the disciples, but to the whole world.

11 “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). This prophecy of the Lord in the dialogue with Saint Jude must be fulfilled constantly. It must be visible in the life of the Church. For it is the criterion that the piety of the faithful is truly biblical. It is a sign that the Church, as a human Society of Pilgrims to the Heavenly City, remains faithful to God and His Christ.

12 On the feast day of St. Jude, the Church prayerfully thanks the Apostle for his remarks and questions at the Last Supper, which in the true biblical sense “forced” the Lord to pronounce all these great prophecies. How can one not recall the words of the Gospel: “The kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it” (Luke 16:16).

13 History has preserved the memory of the Apostle Judas from oblivion in various, often paradoxical ways. Thus, the medieval Catholic saint Brigid of Sweden (1303-1373) mystically called on her contemporaries to honor the memory of the Apostle Judas Thaddeus. Adam Mickiewicz, who died in 1855 in Constantinople, called his famous poem “Pan Tadeusz”. Tadeusz is the Polish pronunciation of the name Thaddeus. Mickiewicz’s works became culturally formative for the Polish nation. All this gave a strong impetus to the veneration of Saint Jude Thaddeus in the Austrian Empire, Poland, and elsewhere.