Martyrium Iudae Thaddaei
Standard abbreviation: Mart. Judas Thadd.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 337
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Doctrine of Addai, Martyrdom of Thaddaeus, Preaching of Judas Thaddaeus
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of Judas Thaddaeus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-judas-thaddaeus/
Created May 2026.
1. SUMMARY
Mart. Judas Thadd. is extant in a single, fragmentary manuscript that yields very little text. Most of what can be deciphered are the title—“The martyrdom of the holy apostle Judas, who is called Thaddaeus, who completed his ho[nored] struggle”—followed by the context of the story: “It came to pass, when the holy apostle Thaddeus had finished preaching in the land of Syria and Mesopotamia, that he left them and went to Phrygia. He preached to them the word of life. And when he saw that they had been strengthened in the faith, he built them a church, gathered them together, gave them . . .” The second page mentions a king bringing false accusations against him and then brief mention of the apostle’s death: “the holy apostle Thaddaeus . . . Jerusalem . . . body . . . James.” It is possible that Mart. Judas Thadd. was composed as a companion text to the Preaching of Judas Thaddaeus but the two texts do not appear together in any of the extant manuscripts.
Perhaps related is the entry for Jude in the Copto-Arabic and Ethiopic Synaxaria. The two identify Jude as a son of Joseph and one of the seventy disciples (but not explicitly as Thaddaeus). He journeyed to Edessa to heal Abgar, king of Edessa. After, he preached in Araz (perhaps Artaz, as in the Armenian Martyrdom of Thaddaeus) but ran afoul of the local governor who tortured him by nailing his sandals to his feet and making him run a mile. Then he had him hanged and pierced with arrows. Before he died, he sent the canonical Epistle of Jude to the believers. No mention is made of his body being transported to Jerusalem.
Named historical figures and characters: Abgar, James (the Righteous), Joseph (of Nazareth), Thaddaeus (apostle).
Geographical locations: Araz (Artaz), Edessa, Jerusalem, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, Syria.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (CPC 0587; PAThs entry)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M635 (=MICH.CG), fols. 16r–17r (10th cent.)
3.1.1.2 Copto-Arabic Synaxarion: includes some details of the story for June 19 (25 Baouna).
Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte) V: les mois de Baounah, Abib, Mésoré et jours complémentaires.” Patrologia orientalis 17 (1923): 525–782 (edition and translation of the summary of the text in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, p. 595).
3.1.3.1 Ethiopic Synaxarion: includes some details of the story for June 19 (25 Sane).
Budge, Ernest A. W. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (English translation of summary of the text from the Ethiopic Synaxarion, vol. 4, pp. 1032–33).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.3 General Works
