Okay...So I'm kind of borrowing this idea from my friend Romanos, in which He (a Greek Orthodox) put together a synopsis of sorts of his patron saints name. I'm doing this because it it All Saints Day and instead of waiting till 'his day' (August 24th) of sorts, I've decided to do it because it is ASD. Enjoy!

Βαρθολομαίος = Bartholomew/Nathanael



From what I know about St. Nathanael, I don't know much besides what I've read in the Bible (so it's expanded via www.wikipedia.com)

Nathanael was one of Jesus' disciples, he was the one who questioned if the Messiah had really come, when his good friend Philip came to tell him the good news. When approaching Jesus, Jesus told Nathanael the scenario he was in prior to coming to him, this caused Nathanael to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and that the Messiah had come.
From Wikipedia: "Tradition has it that after the ascension, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew.

Bartholomew, along with Saint Jude Thaddeus is reputed to have brought the new religion of Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus the Armenian Church is called the Armenian "Apostolic" Church, as both saints are considered to be the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

In works of art he is often represented with a large knife, or, as in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, with his own skin (Michaelangelo's) hanging over his arm, tradition holds that in Armenia he was flayed alive and then crucified with his head upside down. This fate has led to him being adopted as the patron saint of tanners."

Yes, the one who I share a name with suffered for the name of Christ, suffered in a very painful way. I don't know if I will ever suffer for the name of Christ in such a way, but if so, I am willing to suffer for what I believe as a follower of Christ. He who suffered for me before I knew him, before I was born, before the foundation of the world... I would be His.

n:v:-11/1/2006