Today we commenorate Saint Matthias

 

Saint Matthias (1st centuryAD- 80), according to the New Testament Acts of the Apostles, was the Apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following Judas’s betrayal of Jesus and his suicide (Acts 1:18-26).

There is no mention of a Matthias among the lists of disciples in the three synoptic gospels. According to Acts 1, in the days following the Ascension of Jesus, Peter proposed to the assembled disciples, who numbered about one hundred and twenty, that they choose one to fill the place of the traitor Judas in the apostolate:

So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

No further information about Matthias is to be found in the canonical New Testament.

Even his name is variable: the Syriac version of Eusebius calls him throughout not Matthias but “Tolmai”, not to be confused with Bartholomew (which means Son of Tolmai) who was originally one of the twelve Apostles; Clement of Alexandria says some identified him with Zacchaeus; the Clementine Recognitions identify him with Barnabas; Hilgenfeld  thinks he is the same as Nathanael in the Gospel of John.