Bartholomew the Apostle

As with most of the apostles, there is not much detail about Bartholomew in the New Testament. Bartholomew was probably a patronymic (‘son of Tolmai’), not his proper name; and some have identified him with the Nathanael mentioned in John, about whom Jesus said, “Behold, an Israelite in whom is no guile” (John 1:45-51; 21:2), because John mentions Nathanael along with the apostle Philip, where the other gospels mention Bartholomew along with Philip. The argument is plausible but not conclusive.

Where scripture is silent, however, Christian piety sought to fill the gap, with much picturesque detail. Somewhat vague claims are made that he preached the gospel in the Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and even India; and that in Armenia he was flayed alive and then decapitated. There are number of gruesomely realistic paintings by Baroque artists of his being flayed alive, and in altarpieces the curiously shaped flenching knife is his customary attribute. (Naturally, in the Middle Ages, his flaying led to his being adopted as the patron saint of tanners.) In Michelangelo’s last judgment in the Sistine Chapel, Bartholomew bears his own flayed skin over one arm, but the features of the flayed skin’s face are those of the artist, as an emblem of this deeply religious artist’s response to the apostolic exhortation, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation [i..e manner of life] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). Readers of C. S. Lewis will also remember the conversion of Eustace, in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

There may be grains of historic truth embedded in these legends, but attempts to fill in the blanks about Bartholomew’s particular history overlook what is most significant about him: and that is his calling by Christ to be an apostle, a witness to Christ of his death and resurrection, and his emissary to the world. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me” (St. John 13:20). As Paul says of the apostolic ministry, “God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). Apart from the apostolic witness we have no certain knowledge of Christ, and therefore in honoring the apostles we honor Christ, and indeed we cannot honor Christ aright if we refuse to honor the apostles he sent as his own emissaries. Fittingly, therefore, Cranmer’s collect for this feast acknowledge’s God’s giving “to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word”, and asks his grace for his Church “to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same”. In receiving the apostolic word in faith, we receive Christ himself, and thus “are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

One final note about Bartholomew: his relics are preserved in the basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Tiber island in Rome, built by the Emperor Otto III in 998 on the ruins of an ancient healing sanctuary of the pagan god of healing, Aesculapius. Nearby he founded a hospital that survives to this day, which was commonly called San Bartolomeo. While on pilgrimage in Rome, a high-status Anglo-Norman priest and monk named Rahere fell ill and had a vison of St. Bartholomew. On his return to London in 1123 and in obedience to the vision, Rahere founded the hospital of Saint Bartholomew the Great, to this day a famous teaching hospital, colloquially known as ‘Barts’. The association of Bartholomew with the healing miracles of the apostles is reflected in the ancient selection of Acts 5:12-16 as the epistle lesson, with its account of the saving and lifegiving power of the gospel manifested in the signs and wonders of healing done by the apostles. May it also be manifested in us, who have believed the gospel, in accord with the teaching of the apostles.