St Thomas the Apostle

On the 26th day of the Coptic month of Pashons we celebrate the life of St. Thomas the apostle.
The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas was born in the Galilean city of Pansada and was a fisherman. Hearing the good tidings of Jesus Christ, he left all and followed after Him. When the Lord wanted to go to raise Lazarus from the dead, Thomas said to the other disciples: "Let us also go that we may die with Him.” (John 11:16). And it was to Thomas the Lord Jesus clarified "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). And lastly, when the Lord Christ appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, it was Thomas that proved it was the resurrected Christ in the flesh. (John 20:24-28).
After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in the Upper room in Zion, the apostles dispersed everywhere to preach the Gospel. Thomas went to India. He worked there as a slave to a friend of the Indian Prefect for the city of Melipur, whose name was Lukios. Thomas was brought before the Prefect who inquired about his profession. Thomas said: "I am a builder, a carpenter and a physician.” He preached in his master's palace, and Lukios' wife and all his household believed.
The Prefect asked Thomas about his achievements, to which he replied, "The palaces that I built were the souls that have become the temples of the King of Glory; the carpentry that I did was the Gospel that removes the thorns of sin; and the medicines I practiced are the Holy Mysteries which heal the poison of the evil one.” Lukios became angry and tortured him, and bound him among four poles, cut off his skin and rubbed his wounds with salt and lime. The apostle Thomas endured the pains with humility and prayer. Lukios' wife saw him suffering, and she fell from the window and died. Lukios came to him and said: "If you raise my wife from the dead, I will believe in your God." Thomas went to the room where the dead body was, and said, "Arsonia, rise in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ." She rose instantly and bowed to the apostle. When her husband saw that, he believed as did many more from the city. Thomas baptized them.
Once the sea drove a huge tree to the shore that no one could lift it up. Thomas asked the Prefect for permission to lift it up and to use its wood in building a church. Lukios granted permission. Thomas made the sign of the cross, raising the huge tree, from which he later built a church, to which he ordained a bishop and priests in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thomas left and went to a city called Kontaria, where he found an old man weeping bitterly because the prefect of that city had killed his six children. The apostle prayed over them, and the Lord raised them up. The idol priests were angry, and wanted to stone him. The first raised a stone to throw it at Thomas, and his hand was paralyzed. Thomas prayed over his hand, and he was healed instantly. All the idol priests believed in the Lord Christ. Then Thomas went to the city of Parkenas and other cities, where he preached in the Name of Jesus Christ. The prefect heard about him, and he put him in prison. When he found out that he was teaching the prisoners the way of God, he tortured him, and at last he cut off his head.
According to Church Tradition, the holy Apostle Thomas founded Christian churches in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Ethiopia and India.

Lessons from this story
In his homily on the Apostle Thomas (Homily 87) St John Chrysostom points out a very important aspect. In having Thomas verify that it was the resurrected Christ in the flesh, he solidifies in the minds of these uneducated fisherman, that the Christ resurrected in the flesh was one and the same with the Christ that walked on water, before the crucifixion. That neither were an apparition but real and tangible. Chrysostom uses the word “condescension”, which means “that which was so...