The Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle: An Anglican Perspective

• The Biblical Portrait and the Nathanael Tradition
• The Appointed Readings
• The Collect of the Day
• The Proper Preface
• Saint Bartholomew in Anglican Worship
• Observing the Feast
• Conclusion

Feast Day: August 24

The Anglican calendar is ordered by a hierarchy of holy days, each carrying a different weight of observance. At the top sit the seven Principal Feasts, the highest days of the liturgical year. Below them are the Holy Days listed in the BCP 2019, often called Red-Letter Days because of the traditional practice of printing their names in red. The Feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, observed on August 24, is one of these Holy Days. The BCP 2019 provides its collect on page 631, proper preface on page 155, and its appointed readings on page 731.

Bartholomew’s feast invites comparison with Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi. In Matthew 16:16 Peter confesses, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” (Matthew 16:16, ESV) while Nathanael confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49, ESV). The two confessions arise in different settings, but both point to the identity of Christ and to the shared apostolic vocation of bearing witness to him.

Bartholomew is among the most obscure of the Twelve in terms of what Scripture tells us directly. His name appears in all four apostolic lists: Matthew 10, Mark 3, Luke 6, and Acts 1. In each list he appears beside Philip. The New Testament records no individual saying or deed under the name Bartholomew. He is present. He is numbered. He is sent. The Church remembers him precisely because the kingdom of God does not depend upon prominence.

§The Biblical Portrait and the Nathanael Tradition

The name Bartholomew means “son of Tolmai,” a patronymic (derived from a person’s father) rather than a given name. For centuries Christians have therefore identified him with Nathanael, who appears in John’s Gospel but not in the Synoptic apostolic lists. The identification is not proved by Scripture, but it is ancient and widely held. Bartholomew appears beside Philip in the apostolic lists, while Nathanael is brought to Jesus by Philip, and John never names Bartholomew. If the identification is correct, John 1 gives us a traditional portrait of the apostle whom the Synoptics simply call Bartholomew.

Philip finds Nathanael and says, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45, ESV). Nathanael replies with skepticism: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip does not argue. He simply says, “Come and see.”

Nathanael comes. Jesus sees him approaching and says, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asks, “How do you know me?” Jesus answers, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:47–48, ESV). Nathanael then confesses, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49, ESV).

Jesus’ description of Nathanael as an Israelite “in whom there is no deceit” likely invites us to hear an echo of Jacob, Israel’s patriarch whose story is marked by deception. The connection becomes even stronger when Jesus promises Nathanael that he will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, language that recalls Jacob’s vision in Genesis 28. John does not explicitly call Nathanael Jacob’s opposite, but the allusion is suggestive.

The fig tree also carries biblical echoes. In the Old Testament, sitting beneath one’s vine and fig tree is an image of peace and security. John does not tell us what Nathanael was doing beneath the tree, so we should resist filling in the details. What matters is what Jesus reveals: he had seen Nathanael before Nathanael ever came to him. The initiative belongs to Christ. Nathanael really comes, listens, believes, and confesses, but his response begins with the discovery that he was already known.

§The Appointed Readings

The BCP 2019 appoints Deuteronomy 18:15–18, Psalm 91, 1 Corinthians 4:9–16, and Luke 22:24–30 for the Feast of Saint Bartholomew.

Deuteronomy 18:15–18 contains Moses’ promise: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; it is to him you shall listen.” (Deuteronomy 18:15, ESV). Deuteronomy 18 provides an important Old Testament background for Philip’s announcement to Nathanael that they had found the one “of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote.” Philip does not quote Deuteronomy 18 directly, but his announcement resonates with its promise of the prophet whom God would raise up and whom Israel was commanded to hear.

Psalm 91 promises the presence and protection of God: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1, ESV). For the feast of an apostle remembered by the Church as a martyr, the psalm must not be read as a guarantee of immunity from suffering. Verse 15 gives the deeper promise: “I will be with him in trouble.” God’s protection is not always deliverance from suffering; it is his faithful presence through suffering and his final vindication of those who belong to him.

In 1 Corinthians 4:9–16 Paul describes the cost of apostolic ministry in stark terms: apostles displayed “as last of all,” “fools for Christ’s sake,” weak, dishonored, persecuted, and treated like “the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” Paul is describing his own apostolic experience, but his words give the Church a vivid picture of the cost that could accompany apostolic ministry. That makes the passage especially fitting for the feast of an apostle remembered as a martyr.

Luke 22:24–30 takes us to the Last Supper, where the disciples argue about greatness. Jesus reverses the world’s measure of status: “Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.” (Luke 22:26, ESV). Bartholomew is among the Twelve who hear this teaching. Apostolic greatness is not domination but service. Jesus then promises those who have stayed with him through his trials a kingdom, a table, and thrones. If Nathanael is indeed Bartholomew, then the man Jesus saw under the fig tree is also among those who hear this promise. The apostolic vocation runs from being known by Christ to being sent by Christ, and from being sent to serving in the manner of Christ.

§The Collect of the Day

The BCP 2019 appoints the following Collect for the Feast of Saint Bartholomew on page 631: “Almighty and everlasting God, you gave your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

The collect is notable for what it does not say. It does not rehearse the traditions about Bartholomew’s missionary journeys or the manner of his death. It names two things: he believed truly, and he preached. Then it asks two corresponding things of the Church: love what he believed, and preach what he taught. The whole apostolic vocation is compressed into a single petition.

The phrase “grace truly to believe” carries particular weight. The collect does not present faith as an achievement Bartholomew produced by his own strength. It begins with grace. The order matters: grace comes first, belief follows, and proclamation grows out of belief. Grace does not eliminate our response; grace creates and sustains it. Faith becomes confession, and confession becomes witness.

That pattern fits John’s portrait of Nathanael. Jesus sees before Nathanael confesses. Christ’s initiative comes first, and Nathanael’s response is real. He comes. He listens. He believes. He confesses. The Church therefore prays not merely for correct ideas about Christianity but for the grace to believe truly and then to speak faithfully from that belief.

§The Proper Preface

At the Holy Eucharist, the proper preface appointed for the Feast of Saint Bartholomew is “Apostles and Ordinations,” found on page 155 of the BCP 2019: “Through the great shepherd of your flock, Jesus Christ our Lord; who after his resurrection sent forth his apostles to preach the Gospel and to teach all nations; and promised to be with them always, even to the end of the ages.”

The Preface of Apostles and Ordinations places Bartholomew within the mission of the risen Christ. The apostles are sent by the great Shepherd to preach the Gospel and teach the nations, and the Shepherd promises to remain with them. Whatever the precise details of Bartholomew’s later ministry and death, the Church’s tradition remembers him as one who remained faithful to that apostolic calling.

§Saint Bartholomew in Anglican Worship

Red is the liturgical color for the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, as for the feasts of apostles and martyrs. Later Christian traditions connect Bartholomew’s missionary work with places including India and Armenia and give differing accounts of his death. The most famous later tradition associates him with flaying, which explains his distinctive representation in Christian art. These details cannot be established with certainty from Scripture.

The feast became established in the Western calendar during the medieval period and was retained in the Anglican calendar at the Reformation. In the BCP 2019, August 24 is observed as a Holy Day with its own collect and proper readings.

In Year A, Matthew 16:13–20, Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, appears in the Proper 16 lectionary. That offers a natural theological comparison with Nathanael’s confession in John 1, even though John 1 is not the appointed Gospel for Bartholomew’s feast. Peter confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” while Nathanael confesses him as “the Son of God” and “the King of Israel.” The two confessions are not identical, but both bear witness to the identity of Christ and to the apostolic vocation of confessing him before the world.

§Observing the Feast

To observe the Feast of Saint Bartholomew, begin with the collect and let its two petitions become your own prayer: love what he believed, and preach what he taught. Read the appointed lessons: Deuteronomy 18:15–18, Psalm 91, 1 Corinthians 4:9–16, and Luke 22:24–30. Then read John 1:43–51 as the traditional Nathanael portrait.

John 1 invites us to meet a skeptic who comes to Jesus and discovers that Jesus already knows him. Deuteronomy points to the prophet God would raise up. Psalm 91 teaches us to trust God’s presence in trouble. First Corinthians strips away romantic ideas about apostolic ministry. Luke 22 shows that greatness in Christ’s kingdom takes the form of service.

Then let the feast ask its questions. Do we believe truly, or has faith become merely nominal or cultural? Do we love what the apostles believed, or have we quietly substituted our own version of Christianity for the faith handed down to the Church? Are we willing to preach what they taught, not necessarily from a pulpit, but wherever Christ has placed us?

Bartholomew’s relative obscurity gives the feast a particular pastoral force. The kingdom of God is not built only through people whose names become famous. Much of the work of the Gospel is carried by Christians whose faithfulness is known more fully to Christ than to the world. Bartholomew’s feast can therefore encourage every quiet believer who prays, serves, bears witness, and remains faithful without applause.

§Conclusion

Bartholomew is an apostle the Church remembers without knowing very much about him. Perhaps that is part of the gift of his feast. The kingdom of God is not built only through those whose names become famous. Much of the work of the Gospel is carried by people whose faithfulness is known chiefly to Christ.

The collect therefore does not ask us to become remarkable apostles. It asks us to receive the same grace: to believe truly, to love what the apostles believed, and to preach what they taught.

We do not need to be famous to be faithful. We do not need to be prominent to be useful. We need to be faithful to the Christ who knows his people, calls them by grace, and sends them to bear witness.

“Almighty and everlasting God, you gave your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (BCP 2019, p. 631)