Calling and Selection
Matthias's place among the Twelve arose from the need to replace Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of Christ and his death. The Acts of the Apostles records that Peter set out the qualification for the role: the candidate must have been with the company of disciples throughout the Lord's ministry, from the baptism of John until the day He was taken up. Matthias met this criterion, having accompanied Jesus across the whole span of His earthly work.
The choice was made by the assembled disciples, numbering about 120. Two men were nominated, Joseph called Barsabbas (surnamed Justus) and Matthias. The apostles prayed, asking the Lord to show whom He had chosen, and then cast lots. The lot fell to Matthias, and he was reckoned together with the eleven apostles. His calling stands apart from that of the other apostles in being made after the Ascension and through the casting of lots, rather than by Christ during His earthly ministry.
Missionary Labors
Ancient sources give differing accounts of where Matthias preached. Greek tradition holds that he spread Christianity around Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, residing chiefly near the port of Hyssus. The historian Nicephorus relates that Matthias first preached in Judaea, then in Aethiopia by the region of Colchis, in what is now Georgia.
The Synopsis attributed to Dorotheus records that Matthias preached the Gospel in the interior of Ethiopia, near the sea harbor of Hyssus at the mouth of the river Phasis, and that he died at Sebastopolis and was buried there near the Temple of the Sun. A Coptic text, the Acts of Andrew and Matthias, sets his activity in a city of cannibals in Ethiopia.
Martyrdom
The sources preserve multiple traditions about Matthias's death. One prominent account holds that he was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. By this tradition he was brought before the council as a supposed seducer for preaching Christ as the Son of God; when he demonstrated by argument that Jesus was the Son of God, the authorities were enraged, sentenced him to be stoned, cast him out of the city, and finally a Roman soldier beheaded him while he was half-dead.
Other traditions differ. Hippolytus of Rome reports that Matthias died of old age in Jerusalem, while some sources hold that he was crucified.
Relics & Shrines
According to tradition, Saint Helena brought the relics of Saint Matthias to Rome, and a portion of them to Trier. The Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua, Italy, houses a portion of his relics, and the Abbey of St. Matthias in Trier, Germany, contains additional relics. Gonio-Apsaros in the Georgian region of Adjara claims to possess his burial site, marked by a stone at the ruins of a Roman fortress.
Scholarly uncertainty attaches to these relics: Bollandus questioned whether those venerated at Rome might rather belong to a Matthias who was Bishop of Jerusalem around 120 AD, whose history may have been confused with that of the Apostle.
Commemoration and Identity
The feast of Matthias varies across Christian traditions. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes August 9. The Roman Catholic Church moved his feast to May 14 in 1969, so as not to celebrate it during Lent but in Eastertide near the Ascension; the pre-1970 Roman Calendar kept February 24, or February 25 in leap years. Anglican and Lutheran traditions vary between February 24 and May 14.
The OCA commemorates the Apostle Matthias on August 9, listing him as Apostle Matthias of the Seventy alongside other saints of the day, including Venerable Herman of Alaska. Several questions of name and identity surround him: the Syriac version of Eusebius calls him Tolmai rather than Matthias; Clement of Alexandria mentions a possible identification with Zacchaeus, while the Clementine Recognitions identify him with Barnabas. A Gospel of Matthias survives only in fragments and was attributed by early Church Fathers to heretical second-century writings.
