Although in their faith Russians are not inferior to any other people, still not many of our people can boast that they are well acquainted with church terminology. And what is there to be surprised, because all the subtleties of the Orthodox faith can only be learned in a theological seminary. Nevertheless, many are still interested in the question: who is the apostle? Is it a disciple of Christ or a holy messenger?
Well, let's try to understand the meaning of this word, so that in the future such misunderstandings no longer arise. And for this we need to look into the past and find out where the first apostle appeared and who he was.
Disciples of Jesus Christ
So, let's start with the fact that initially there were twelve apostles. These were ordinary people who later became disciples of Jesus Christ and always followed him. From this we can derive the first meaning of the word: the apostle is one of the first disciples of Christ.
The life of the twelve apostles is well known, as it is described in holy scripture. However, most of the chapters in the New Testament are written by these same students. So, there is a gospel from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and also John. Because of this, they are also called the four evangelists of the Lord God.
Bearing the word of God
A little later, people began to see a different meaning in the word apostle. This was due to the fact that the disciples of the son of God themselves turned into teachers. After all, as you know, Jesus was crucified on the cross, after which he was resurrected and appeared to his apostles. He ordered them to convey his words to people around the world, so that they would learn about the Kingdom of God.
The apostles obeyed their teacher. They threw lots, which determined the route of each, and hit the road. Thanks to their work and faith, the world found out who Jesus Christ was, what he believed and taught.
That is why many people believe that the apostle is the messenger of God preaching the good news. But in reality, both meanings are true, but at the same time, when we hear the word apostle, for some reason twelve disciples of Christ always come to mind.
And were there other apostles?
Nevertheless, the apostles were not only the disciples of Jesus. Thus, the church attributed this title to St. Paul, although he was not familiar during his life with Christ. Moreover, in some Christian denominations, his doctrines are an order of magnitude higher than the gospel.
Also, according to the scripture of Luke, Jesus sent seventy-two apostles to all the lands of the world, with various assignments and assignments. Eastern Christians revere them in the same way as true disciples of Christ.
So it turns out that the exact number of apostles is quite difficult to determine. With confidence we can only say that the first were the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ.