Thaddeus was one of the Seventy Apostles of Christ, not to be confused with Thaddeus of the Twelve Apostles.

Thaddeus of the Seventy Disciples (=Judas Jacobi?, or Judas Simon?) was born as a Jew in Edessa.

According to Eusebius, it was he who instructed King Abgar in the Christian Faith and baptised him: "Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, under divine impulse sent Thaddeus, who was also numbered among the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa, as a preacher and evangelist of the teaching of Christ." (Historia Ecclesiastica, I, xiii)

After Pentecost, Thaddeus of the Seventy preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia, and built up the Church there, supported, as some hagiographies note, by the other Thaddeus, Jude the Brother of the Lord. He was martyred for his faith in the Artaz region in the year AD 50, according to an ancient Armenian tradition. But according to other sources he reposed peacefully in Edessa or Beirut in September 3, 44.

External links

• Thaddeus, Apostle of the Seventy - further Information