APOSTLE

APOSTLE. 1) From Greek meaning a “messenger” or “one sent,” it is most probably Biblically related to the Hebrew shaliach, which is used of Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel, who function as God’s ambassadors. Thus, Jesus identified himself as being “sent” by the Father and his followers became apostles when they were “sent out” by him to proclaim the Gospel and continue his ministry, previous to which they were only disciples. Noted apostles include the Twelve, Matthias who replaced Judas, and Paul and Barnabas as apostles to the Gentiles. Still, the Orthodox Church continues the list to include the Seventy (Lk 10), if not the 500 (1Cor 15), then all who subsequently function as apostles to other peoples, e.g., Mary Magdalene, Nina of Georgia, Constantine-Cyril and Methodius, Innocent Veniaminov (qq.v.), et al.

The significant difference between this reckoning and the Western definition is that many women are included in the Eastern list, possessing the same “authority” as apostle as their male counterparts. Also, the list of apostles is clearly distinguishable from the list of bishops, since the ministries function differently. Apostleship is clearly a ministry open to women in the Eastern Church. Further, the honorific “equal-to-the-apostles” is applied to temporal rulers responsible for establishing Christianity in their domains. Thus, the pairs Constantine and Helen, and Vladimir and Olga, are accorded the titles equal-to-the-apostles for making Christianity the state religion of the Roman-Byzantine and Rus’-Russian Empires, respectively. It is well known in the Orthodox ethos that the Christian commitment of the older matriarch in each of these two pairs preceded that of the male; and the conversions of two of the largest empires was initiated by and is dependent upon these women. 2) The name of the epistle reading during the Divine Liturgy, always taken from Acts or one of the epistles; similarly, it is the name of the liturgical book (q.v.) containing Acts and all the epistles.