St Matthias the Apostle

Matthias had followed the Lord from the baptism of John to the Ascension, one of the wider company of disciples. After the betrayal and death of Judas, Peter stood up among the brethren and declared from the Psalms that another must take the traitor's office; two were put forward, and after prayer the lot fell on Matthias, 'and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.' He is thus the only apostle chosen after the Ascension, elected by the whole Church in prayer — a witness that the apostolic ministry continues. He received the Holy Spirit with the others at Pentecost. Of his later labors Scripture is silent, but early traditions tell of preaching in Judea and then in more distant lands, most often Colchis on the Black Sea coast, and of his death as a martyr, by stoning according to the most common account. Fragmentary sayings attributed to him were quoted by early Church writers.