Memorial Day of St. Apostle Matthias

On August 22, the entire Christian world celebrates the feast day of St Apostle Matthias He was one of Jesus' disciples Matthias is one of the twelve apostles, among whom he took the place of Judas the traitor During his life, the saint was a pious man, and Jesus noticed him because of the purity of his thoughts He preached throughout his life, and then died at the age of 63 The life story of Matthias begins in Bethlehem, where he was born As soon as the child grew up a little, his parents sent him to study in Jerusalem, where Saint Simeon the God-Receiver took over the boy He taught theology and guided the student to a virtuous life Matthias was pure in heart and strictly followed the commandments Meanwhile, Jesus turned thirtieth and revealed himself to the world by beginning to preach Matthias became one of the disciples of Christ He listened to his every word and decided to abandon worldly concerns, following his teacher Jesus immediately noticed Matthias No heart could hide anything before Christ, so he knew how pure the disciple's intentions were Jesus first chose Matthias to be one of the seventy lesser apostles After the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, execution and resurrection, one place among the 12 apostles was empty It was this that Matthias occupied The choice was approved by the Lord himself He sent down the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire that descended on the new apostle God gave him grace, just like the eleven other disciples before him Soon the apostles had to choose who should go in which direction They decided to cast lots, and Matthias got Judea, where he went He tirelessly toured all Jewish cities with his sermons Matthias carried the word of God not only for Christians, but also for pagans The apostle was not afraid to turn to the people of Ethiopia who did not accept his faith In this country, Matthias was subjected to various types of torture, but he withstood them all He was beaten, dragged along the ground with ropes and hung from a pole The apostle's skin was repeatedly burned and bleeding wounds were inflicted on him, but he withstood all these tests, since his faith in Christ was stronger than ever According to one version, the apostle went to Macedonia Here he was also given a cruel reception The Greeks did not believe in the teachings that Matthias preached, so they decided to punish him They gave the apostle poison to drink, which blinded the man However, the disciple of Christ not only did not lose his sight, but also miraculously cured everyone who suffered from this poison The devil also repeatedly tried to kill the apostle He set the wicked against him, but God protected the saint Matthias walked among those who persistently looked for him, but they did not see him He was put in prison, from which he miraculously freed himself the next day When the wicked tried to kill the apostle again, they were swallowed up by the earth After his journey among the pagans, Matthias returned to Judea Here he continued to preach, but the Jewish high priest Anan decided to execute the disciple of Christ Previously, on his orders, James, one of the seventy lesser apostles, had already been killed Matthias was stoned to death After this, his head was cut off, and the believers buried his body with honors