Judas (VI)

VI. JUDAS or Jude, sirnamed Thaddæus or Lebbæus, and the Zealot, is likewise called sometimes the Lord’s brother, because he was, as is believed, the son of Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin, and brother to S. James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem. He was married and had children; for Hegesippus speaks of two Martyrs, who were his grand-sons. Nicephorus says, his wife’s name was Mary. In the last supper, he asked Jesus, why he was to manifest himself to his Apostles, and not to the world. S. Paulinus tells us, that he preached in Lybia, and seems to say, that his body remained there. S. Jerom upon S. Matthew, chap. x. ver. 4. says, that after the Ascension he was sent to Edessa, to King Abgarus. The modern Greeks affirm likewise, that he preach’d in the city of Edessa, and throughout all Mesopotamia. Some will have it, that he preached likewise in Judea, Samaria, Idumea, Syria, and principally in Armenia and Persia. But we know no particulars of his life with any great certainty. We have a canonical Epistle written by him, which is addressed to no particular Church, but to all the faithful who are beloved by the Father, and called by the Son our Lord. It appears by the 17th verse of this Epistle, wherein he cites the second Epistle of S. Peter, and throughout the whole Letter wherein he imitates the expressions of this Prince of the Apostles, as already known to those he is speaking to, that it was his design to write to the converted Jews, who were scattered throughout all the Provinces in the East, in Asia Minor, and beyond the Euphrates. He contends against false teachers, who, as is believed, were the Gnosticks, Nicolaitans, and Simonians, who corrupted the sound doctrine, and disturbed the peace of the Church.

We do not know at what time this Epistle was written, but it was certainly penn’d after the appearance of those hereticks, whom we have mentioned; and S. Jude speaks of the Apostles, as persons who had been dead some time. He quotes the second Epistle of S. Peter, and alludes to S. Paul’s second Epistle to Timothy. From whence it is determined, that it was not written till after the death of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul, and consequently after the 66th year of J.C. It is pretty credible, that he did not write it till after the destruction of Jerusalem. Some of the Ancients¹ have questioned its being canonical and authentick. Eusebius testifies, that it was very seldom quoted by Ecclesiastical writers: but he observes at the same time, that it was publickly read in many Churches. That which has contributed most to its being rejected by many is, that the Apostle cites the book of Enoch, or at least his prophecy. He cites also a particular fact of Moses’s life, which is not to be met with in the canonical books of the Old Testamen, and is thought to have been taken out of an Apocryphal work intitled, The Assumption of Moses. The authorities which he borrows from these two books, were the reasons that for some time it was disputed, whether this Epistle should be received into the Canon of Scripture; but at length it was generally received, and has been so for many ages. S. Jude might know from some other places what he quotes of these Apocryphal writings; or, as he was inspired by the Holy Ghost, he might be able to distinguish the several truths which in these books were blended with many errors. See our Dissertations on the Book of Enoch, and upon the death of Moses.

Grotius was of opinion, that this Epistle was not S. Jude’s the Apostle, but Judas’s, the fifteenth Bishop of Jerusalem, who lived in the reign of Adrian; a little before the appearance of Barchochebas. He believes that these words, the brother of James, which we read in the beginning of this Epistle, were added by the transcribers; and that S. Jude would never have forgotten to have styled himself Apostle, which however he does not do: Lastly, that if it had been believed that this Epistle had been written by an Apos tle, it would have been received from the beginning. But this Author produces no proof of the supposed addition of these words, the brother of James: S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. John do not always insert their quality of Apostles in the front of their Epistles. Lastly, the doubts which some Churches have entertained concerning the genuine authority of this book, ought to be no more a prejudice against it, than the same suspicions with relation to other canonical books of the Old and New Testament.

There has been a spurious Gospel ascribed to S. Jude which was condemned by Pope Gelasius. We have already observed, that S. Jude had two grandsons who were martyred in the reign of Domitian. They were accused and carried to Rome, as persons descended from Euseb.Hist. Eccl. l. iii. c. 19, 20.David, and related to Christ. They who said our S. Jude preached at Edessa, and in Mesopotamia, seem to have confounded him with Thaddæus, one of the seventy Disciples, a person very different from the Apostle S. Jude. Thaddæus was indeed sent to Abgarus by S. Thomas, as EusebiusEuseb. l. i. c. 13. and l. ii. c. 1. Hist. Eccl. testifies in several places. Abdias, Fortunatus, Bede, and the Latin martyrologists inform us, that S. Jude suffered martyrdom, and was buried in Persia. Some of the Greeks say, that he died peaceably at Berytus. Their menologies, which place his festival on June the 19th, declare, that he was shot to death with arrows at Arara, probably in Armenia, where is mount Ararat, and the city of Ariaratha. The Armenians by tradition maintain, that he suffered martyrdom in their country.

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