Apostles in the New Testament

The Christian Apostles were Jewish men who were (as indicated by the greek word apostolos) "sent forth", by Jesus after his resurrection, to preach the gospel to Jerusalem, Judaea and to the uttermost parts of the world (according to Acts chapter 1). The original twelve included Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Philip, Bartholemew, Matthew (a.k.a. Levi), Thomas (a.k.a. Didymus or "the twin"), James son of Alphaeus, Jude (a.k.a. Thaddaeus), Simon the Canaanite, and Matthias.

Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve disciples, but was never an apostle, since he killed himself before Christ's resurrection. Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot. In his writings, Paul also claimed to be an apostle chosen by God; this claim has been generally recognized by the Church. He is often known as the "Apostle to the Gentiles." In the eighth century, the Anglo-Saxon St. Boniface was named the "Apostle to the Germans."

Some saints are given the title "equal-to-the-apostles." The myrrh-bearing women, who went to anoint Christ's body and first learned of his resurrection, are sometimes called the "apostles to the apostles" because they were sent by Jesus to tell the apostles of his resurrection.

Some Jews and Christians believe that the apostles were anti-semitic. This may be due to, arguably, out-of-context readings of the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke & John and the common misconception that these were written by the original apostles, who were of course all Jewish anyway.