James Alpheus – preached in Syria, Egypt and other various countries. In one of them he was crucified on the cross, having accepted a martyr's death for Christ. St. Up. Judas Jacob (Thaddeus or Levius) – preached in Judea, Galilee, Samaria and Idumea, in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia. In the Ararat country he was hanged on a tree of the cross, and shot with arrows. St. Up.

Simon the Zealot or the Canaanite preached in Mauritania and Africa. He was also in England (formerly called Britain). For preaching the faith in Christ, he was crucified on the cross, according to some sources in Georgia, by order of the Iberian king Aderkius, and according to other sources – in Persia. St. Up. Matthias, chosen from among the 70, in place of the fallen Judas.

He preached in Judea and in outer Ethiopia. Returning to Judea, he accepted suffering for Christ, being first stoned and then beheaded. St. Up. the Evangelist Mark is one of the 70, a companion and collaborator of the Apostles. Peter. He also preached on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. He accepted a martyr's death in Alexandria. St. Up. the Evangelist Luke is one of the 70, a companion and collaborator of Ap. Paul.

He then preached in Libya, Egypt, the Thebaid and Thebes. He ended his exploits with a martyr's death. St. Up. James, the Righteous, of the 70. The first Bishop of Jerusalem, ordained by the Lord Himself. He is called the Brother of the Lord. According to legend, he was the son of Joseph the Betrothed, from his first marriage. St. James was thrown by the Jews from the roof of the Jerusalem Temple, and then killed by a blow to the head. It was about 62 years old. St. Up.

James was the first to set forth the rite of the Divine Liturgy, which is the basis of the Liturgies of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, which are now celebrated. St. Up. James (of the 70), brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem. The Liturgy of St. Ap. St. James is still celebrated in Jerusalem on the day of his commemoration. General persecution of Christians.

During the first three centuries (about three hundred years), Christians endured almost constant persecution, first from unbelieving Jews and then from Gentiles. The Destruction of Jerusalem The Jews, who did not accept the Saviour promised by God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and betrayed Him to death, with mad cries: "His blood be on us and on our children," and killed many Christians, received retribution for all their iniquities.

Jerusalem and the temple of God were razed to the ground by Roman troops when the Jews rebelled. Thus was fulfilled in the year 70, the Lord's prophecy about this. The place where the temple of God used to stand was ploughed with a plough, so that not one stone was left there. The Jewish people were scattered throughout the whole earth. More than a million Jews were exterminated. Several tens of thousands of them were sold into slavery.

Instead of the Jews, people from other nations settled in Palestine and rebuilt the devastated cities, including the city of Jerusalem. The faith of Christ began to be affirmed among the pagans. The spread of the Christian faith among the pagans caused persecution of Christians by the Roman pagan emperors. Adherents of paganism convinced the emperors that Christians were enemies of the state, enemies of the emperors and of all mankind.

The persecution of Christians was so cruel that it is difficult to describe; Christians were subjected to the most terrible, incredible tortures. The first cruel persecution began in the year 64 after the Nativity of Christ (30 years after the Resurrection of Christ), under the emperor Nero. Nero set fire to the city of Rome for his amusement and then laid all the blame on the Christians.

By his order, Christians were sought out and seized, given to circuses to be torn to pieces by beasts, sewn into animal skins and poisoned by dogs, crucified on crosses, doused with tar and lit instead of torches at night to illuminate the gardens of Nero. During this persecution, the Apostles Peter and Paul suffered in Rome (in 67 A.D.). Paul was beheaded with the sword, and Peter was crucified on the cross, but, at his own request, he was crucified upside down, because he considered himself unworthy to die as the Lord Jesus Christ died.

The most terrible was the last persecution of Christians under the emperor Diocletian. This persecution lasted from 303 to 313 A.D. Hundreds of thousands of Christians were then killed, with the most diverse types of torture. During this persecution, the books of the Holy Scriptures were taken away and burned. A contemporary of the persecutions, a well-known Christian writer and teacher of philosophy in Nicomedia, Lactantius writes: "If I had hundreds of lips and an iron breast, then even then I would not be able to count all the kinds of tortures endured by believers."

In one place they tortured from ten to a hundred people a day; many of the tormented and mutilated were again treated in order to be tortured again. Christians were tortured without distinction of sex and age. "I myself was an eyewitness to this," writes the historian Eusebius, "so that the iron was blunted and broken, and the murderers themselves, tired of it, alternately succeeded one another." But the sufferings and feats of the martyrs strengthened and spread the faith of Christ among other people.

Many pagans, seeing the faith and feats of the Christian martyrs and the miracles that took place at the time, were themselves convinced of the truth of the Christian faith, and accepted Christianity. The more Christians were persecuted and tortured, the more the Christian faith was strengthened. Cessation of persecution. Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord The persecution of Christians ceased only at the beginning of the fourth century, under the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.

Emperor Constantine himself was convinced of the power and glory of the sign of the cross of Christ. Once, on the eve of a decisive battle, he and all his army saw in the sky the sign of the cross, composed of light, with the inscription: "In this conquer you" (in Greek: NICA). On the following night, Jesus Christ Himself appeared to the emperor with the Cross in His hand and said that by this sign he would defeat the enemy; and he gave orders to build a military banner with the image of the Holy Cross.