Holy Apostle Bartholomew

Life

On this day is celebrated the translation of the relics of Saint Bartholomew, while his principal feast is on June 11. When this great Apostle was crucified on a cross in Albanopolis in Armenia, the Christians took down his body and honorably buried it in a leaden coffin. Since numerous miracles occurred at the tomb of the Apostle, especially healings of the sick, and the number of Christians thereby increased, the pagans took the coffin with the relics of Bartholomew and cast it into the sea. At the same time they also cast four other coffins with the relics of four martyrs: Papian, Lucian, Gregory, and Acacius. But by the Providence of God the coffins did not sink; rather, borne by the water they floated: the coffin of Acacius to the city of Askalon, that of Gregory to Calabria, that of Lucian to Messina, that of Papian to the other side of Sicily, and that of Bartholomew to the Lipari Islands. By a mysterious revelation, Agathon, the Bishop of Lipari, learned of the approach of the relics of the holy Apostle Bartholomew. Agathon went with his clergy and people to the shore and received the coffin with great joy. On that occasion many healings of the sick took place through the relics of the holy Apostle. Those relics were placed in the Church of Saint Bartholomew, and there they lay until the time of Theophilus the Iconoclast (around 839), and since at that time the Muslims threatened the Lipari Islands, the apostolic relics were translated to the city of Benevento. Thus the Lord glorified His Apostle with miracles both during his life and after death.

From the Hymn of Praise

Only an immature spirit delights in fables;Fables help not him who seeks the truth.Titus was a virgin on unclean Crete.A longing for truth led him to Christ.