While not recorded in the Bible, you may still find these stories of the final day of the Apostles of interest. Most of these accounts have NOT been documented.
James: Killed by the sword, Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius both tell how the executioner witnessed the courage and un-recanting spirit of James and was then convinced of Christ resurrection and was executed along with James. Date of Martyrdom: 44-45 A.D.
Peter: Although, just before the crucifixion, Peter denied three times that he even knew Christ, after the resurrection he did not do so again. Peter, just as Jesus told him in John 21:18-19, was crucified by Roman executioners because he could not deny his master again. According to Eusebius, he thought himself unworthy to be crucified as his Master, and, therefore, he asked to be crucified “head downward.” Date of Martyrdom: 64 A.D.
Andrew went to join Peter with Christ in eternity six years after Peter’s death. After preaching Christ’s resurrection to the Scythians and Thracians, he too was crucified for his faith. As Hippolytus tells us, Andrew was hanged on an olive tree at Patrae, a town in Achaia. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
Thomas is known as “doubting Thomas” because of his reluctance to believe the other Apostles’ witness of the resurrection. After they told him that Christ was alive, he stated “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). After this, Christ did appear to him and Thomas believed unto death. Thomas sealed his testimony as he was thrust through with pine spears, tormented with red-hot plates, and burned alive. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
Philip evangelized in Phrygia where hostile Jews had him tortured and then crucified. Date of Martyrdom: 54 A.D.
Matthew, the tax collector, so desperately wanted the Jews to accept Christ. He wrote The Gospel According to Matthew about ten years before his death. Because of this, one can see, contained within his Gospel, the faith for which he spilled his blood. Matthew surely remembered his resurrected Savior’s words, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20), when he professed the resurrected Christ unto his death by beheading at Nad-Davar. Date of Martyrdom: 60-70 A.D.
Bartholomew suffered a hideous death. Unwilling to recant of his proclamation of a risen Christ, he was flayed and then crucified. Date of Martyrdom: 70 A.D.
James The Lesser: In order to make James deny Christ’s resurrection, men positioned him at the top of the Temple for all to see and hear. James, unwilling to deny what he knew to be true, was cast down from the Temple and finally beaten to death with a fuller’s club to the head. Date of Martyrdom: 63 A.D.
Simon: Historians tell of the many different places that Simon proclaimed the good news of Christ’s resurrection: Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Mauritania, Britain, Lybia, and Persia. He was crucified by a governor in Syria. Date of Martyrdom: 74 A.D.
Paul met his death at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero when he was beheaded in Rome. Date of Martyrdom: 67 A.D.
John is the only one of the twelve Apostles believed to have died a natural death. Some historians tell us that he was thrown into boiling oil before the Latin Gate, where he was not killed but undoubtedly scarred for the rest of his life. Date of Death: 95 A.D.
We all know what happened to the 12th (Judas). What is important to remember is that Jesus washed the feet of Judas, his soon to be betrayer.
