Holy Apostle Bartholomew
Nathanael Under the Fig Tree
Selected passages from the Gospel of John
An Israelite indeed
Editor's note
Three of the Gospels list among the Twelve a Bartholomew of whom they say nothing further; John's Gospel never names a Bartholomew but tells in detail of a Nathanael whom no synoptic mentions. From an early date the tradition identified the two as the same man, Bartholomew being a patronymic, 'son of Tolmai,' and Nathanael his given name. He was a friend of Philip, who brought him to the Lord on the day of his own call.
John 1:47-51 (KJV)
ScriptureVerbatim Scripture.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
The mission and the martyrdom
Editor's note
The tradition sends Bartholomew on some of the longest journeys of any of the Twelve. He preached, the historians say, in India, in Mesopotamia, in Lycaonia, and in Armenia; the Armenian Church honors him together with St. Thaddaeus as its founding apostle. The accounts agree that he was martyred for the Faith, though they differ on the manner.
In Armenia, where he had converted the king Polymius and many of the royal household, the brother of the king turned against the new faith and ordered Bartholomew arrested. He was flayed alive, the oldest accounts relate, and then beheaded, at the town of Albanopolis on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.
Iconography depicts him often holding his own skin, a witness to the cost of the Gospel he had carried so far. His relics were translated in stages to Lipari, then to Benevento, and at last to Rome, where they remain at the church of St. Bartholomew on the Tiber Island.