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A POSTERIORI Al'OSTOLlCS. 



A POSTERIORI. See A priori. 

 APOSTLBJ ; such as art- sent ; (from the Creek - 

 rnXA.u, to send) ; in tin- ( 'liriMian churcli, the 12 

 men whom Jesus selected from his disciples as tlie 

 hot instructed in his doctrines, and the finest instru- 

 ments for the promulgation of his religion. Hence 

 they were regarded as the amlmssadors of Jesus to 

 the rest of the world, (Mutt. ch. xxviii. ver. 19.) 

 Their names were as follows : Simon Peter (Creek 

 for Caiapttas, the rock), and Andrew his brother ; 

 .1 nines the greater, and John his brother, who were 

 sons of Zebedee ; Philip of Uethsaida, Bartholomew, 

 Thomas, Matthew ; James the son of Alpheus, com- 

 monly called James the less ; Lebbeus, his brother, 

 who was surnained Thaddeus, and was called Judas 

 or .hull- ; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot. 

 Of this number, Simon Peter, John, James the great- 

 er, and Andrew were fishermen ; and Matthew, a 

 publican or tax-gatherer. When the apostles wen- 

 reduced to 11 by the suicide of Judas, who had be- 

 trayed Christ, they chose Matthias by lot, on the 

 proposition of St Peter. Soon after, their number 

 became 13, by the miraculous vocation of Saul, who, 

 under the name of Paul, became one of the most 

 zealous propagators of the Christian faith. Tiie Bible 

 gives the name of apostle to Barnabas also, who ac- 

 companied Paul on his missions (Acts of the Ap. ch. 

 xiv. ver. 13), and Paul bestows it also on Andronicus 

 and Junia, lus relations, and companions in prison. 

 Generally, however, the name is used, in a narrower 

 sense, to designate those whom Christ selected him- 

 self while on earth, and Paul, whom he afterwards 

 called. In a wider sense, those preachers who first 

 taught Christianity in heathen countries, are some- 

 times termed apostles ; e. g., St Denis, the A. of the 

 Gauls ; St Boniface, the A. of Germany ; the monk 

 Augustin, the A. of England; the Jesuit Francis 

 Xavier, the A. of the Indies; Adalbert of Prague, 

 A. of Prussia Proper. Paul was the only A. who had 

 received a scientific education ; the others were me- 

 chanics. Peter, Andrew, and John are called in the 

 scripture (Acts, ch. iv. ver. 13), homines sine litteris, 

 idiotae. Questions have often been started respecting 

 the domestic circumstances of the apostles. Were 

 they very poor ? Were they married ? &c. Our in- 

 formation on these points is very limited. Some emi- 

 nent theologians have thought that Christ was not 

 poor, and that the apostles had a common fund suffi- 

 cient to meet many expenses, of which some indica- 

 tions exist. Tradition reports that several of the 

 apostles were married. The wife of St Peter is said 

 to have accompanied him on his journeys, and died a 

 martyr. The tradition further states, that Peter had 

 a daughter, Petronilla, who was also a martyr ; thus, 

 at least, say St Augustin, St Epiphanius and St Cle- 

 ment of Alexandria. St Philip, also, is said to have 

 been married, and to have had several daughters, 

 among whom was St Hermione. Hegesippus speaks 

 of two martyrs, grandsons of Jude. His wife was call- 

 ed Mary. St Bartholomew is also said to have been 

 married. But tradition affords almost our only au- 

 th ority respecting their private lives. During the life 

 of the Saviour, the apostles more than once showed 

 a misunderstanding of the object of his mission, and, 

 during his sufferings, evinced little courage and firm- 

 ness of friendship for their great and benevolent 

 Teacher. After his death, they received the Holy 

 Ghost on the day of Pentecost, that they might be 

 enabled to fulfill the important duties for which they 

 had been chosen. Their subsequent lives the Cath- 

 olic church represents as follows, partly on the au- 

 thority of the book of Acts, mostly on that of tradi- 

 tion : - St John made some excursions into Asia, and 

 preached among the Parthians, and in India. In the 

 reign of Domitian, he was carried to Rome, tortured, 



and exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse. 

 Hi- died in Ephesiis. St Bartholomew travelled 

 through India, Persia, Abyssinia, Arabia Felix, and 

 finished his course in Armenia. St Philip preached 

 in Phryia ; Si Thomas in Media, Caramania, Bac- 

 tria, in India, and even in China ; but this last fact is 

 not positively asserted. St Matthew preached in 

 Ethiopia. St Simon, say the Greeks, after ha\ ing 

 baptized in Egypt, Cyrenaica, Libya, and Mauritania, 

 went to England, and thence to I'ersia, where he died. 

 St Jude preached in Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Ar- 

 menia, and Libya. St Peter, afterwards bishop of An- 

 tioch, anil then of Koine, visited Asia Minor, and also 

 Babylon, as one of his letters shows, provided Jluby- 

 lon, does not signify in that passage, A'o////-, as some, 

 critics have thought. St Paul visiled Asia Minor, 

 Greece, and Rome. The two Jameses seem not to 

 have gone far from Jerusalem ; yet the body of James 

 the greater is said to be buried at Conpostella in 

 Spain. According to Matthew (ch. xvi. ver. 18), 

 Christ considered St Peter the first in rank of th 

 apostles; and it is known, that the pope derives his 

 authority over the living and the dead from the power 

 which Christ gave to St Peter, of whom all the popes, 

 according to the Catholic dogma, are successors in 

 an uninterrupted line. In Venice, the 12 first fam- 

 ilies were called a/Mul/e, as are likewise 12 islands 

 in the straits of Magellan. 



APOSTLES' ISLANDS ; in the strait of Magellan, at 

 its entrance into the Pacific, near cape Deseado. They 

 are 12 in number, which circumstance gave them 

 their name. All are small, barren, and desert. Their 

 shores abound with shell-fish. Lon. 75 6' W. ; lat. 

 52" 34' S. 



APOSTOLICAL ; all that comes from the apostles, or 

 has relation to them. Thus the apostolical writings 

 are writings composed by the apostles. The earlier 

 Christian church was called the apostolical c/inn-f/, 

 because the apostles at first conducted it, and, after 

 their death, their spirit remained in it. So, also, the 

 papal see is called the apostolical see, because it is 

 supposed to have been founded by the apostle Peter. 

 The apostolical office, at Rome, is the name of the of- 

 fice which manages the J/tl pal revenues. The apos- 

 tolical blessing is the blessing bestowed by the pope, 

 as successor of Peter. The king of Hungary is 

 styled apostolical king, apostolical majesty. Pope 

 Sylvester II. bestowed this title on Stephen I., duke 

 of Hungary, A. D. 1000, because he not only greatly 

 promoted the Christian religion in Hungary, but 

 also in imitation of the apostles, preached himself. 

 Clement XIII. renewed the memory of this occur- 

 rence, by giving the empress-queen Maria Theresa 

 the title of apostolical queen, in 1758. The apostoli- 

 cal symbol is a short summary of the Christian faith, 

 and bears this name because it contains, in three ar- 

 ticles, the doctrines of the apostles. This apos- 

 tolical symbol is found even in the writings of 

 Ambrose, who lived in the beginning of the 4th 

 century. Peter Gnapheus, in the 5th century, or- 

 dered the constant repetition of the same in the 

 church service. 



APOSTOLICS, or APOSTOLICI ; the name of three 

 sects who professed to imitate the manners and prac- 

 tice of the apostles. The first flourished at the close 

 of the second century. They had all things in com- 

 mon. Little else is known of their peculiar tenets. 

 The second sect of this name existed in the twelfth 

 century. It was composed of people of the lower 

 class. They were numerous, and their lives, as Ber- 

 nard admits, were exemplary. Their peculiarities 

 were as follows : They held it to be unlawful tc 

 take oaths ; they suffered their hair and beards to 

 grow to an enormous length ; they preferred celibacy 

 to wedlock, calling themselves the chaste brethren 



