The Life and Passion of the Holy Apostle Thomas

 

The Sixth Day
of the Month of October
The Life and Passion of the
Holy Apostle Thomas
From The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Volume 2: October,
compiled by St. Demetrius of Rostov

The holy Apostle Thomas, who was called "The Twin," was from the city of Paneada in Galilee. When our Lord Jesus Christ, during His sojourn on earth with men, passed through cities and villages, teaching the people and healing all manner of disease, Thomas hearkened unto His preaching and saw His miracles. Cleaving unto the Lord fervently, he followed Him, filling himself with the Lord’s words and with the sight of His most holy countenance. Thomas was vouchsafed by Him to be numbered in the choir of the twelve apostles, with whom he followed Christ even until the time of the saving Passion.

After the Lord’s Resurrection, the faith of the Church in Christ was increased through Saint Thomas’ unbelief. When the other apostles told him that they had seen the Lord, Thomas would not believe them until he himself had beheld and touched Christ’s wounds. Eight days after the Resurrection, the disciples gathered together and Thomas was with them; and the Lord appeared and said, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.

When Thomas had beheld and touched the life-giving side of Christ, he exclaimed, My Lord and my God!

Thus did Thomas confirm for all that the risen Lord was no specter and that He had not assumed another body, but that He arose and appeared to the disciples in the same flesh which suffered for our salvation.

After the Ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the holy apostles cast lots to determine where each would preach the word of God. To Saint Thomas fell the lot to go to India, that he might enlighten that benighted land and teach its various peoples: the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and the Brahmans, who lived in the most distant parts of the country of India. He was grieved to be sent to such barbarous peoples, but the Lord appeared unto him in a vision and strengthened him, commanding him not to fear. He promised to abide with Thomas and showed him the way to those lands in the following manner: