Who were the twelve apostles?

After a night of prayer, Jesus "called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles" (Luke 6:13). The word apostle means "one who is sent." The New Testament lists the Twelve four times (Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, and Acts 1:13), and Peter is always named first. They were Simon Peter and his brother Andrew; James and John, the sons of Zebedee; Philip; Bartholomew, whom many identify with the Nathanael of John 1; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector, also called Levi; James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus, also called Lebbaeus and "Judas the brother of James" (Luke 6:16); Simon, called "the Canaanite" in Matthew and Mark and "Zelotes" in Luke; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Several were fishermen from Galilee, and Peter, James, and John formed an inner circle who witnessed moments such as the Transfiguration. After Judas's death, the eleven chose Matthias to take his place, since the replacement had to be someone who had been with them from John's baptism onward and could be "a witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:22). The number twelve echoes the twelve tribes of Israel, and Jesus promised that the apostles would "sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28). Paul was later called to be an apostle as well, but he is not counted among the Twelve.

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