Jude the Apostle
one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus; traditionally identified with Jude the brother of Jesus
Jude the Apostle (Koine Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου, romanized: Ioúdas Iakóbou) was one of the Apostles in the New Testament. He is generally identified as Thaddeus (Θαδδαῖος; Old Armenian: Թադէոս; Coptic: ⲑⲁⲇⲇⲉⲟⲥ) and is also variously called Judas Thaddaeus, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas son of James, Judas of James, Jude of James, or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Catholic writer Michal Hunt suggests that Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently abbreviated his forename. Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name.
The Armenian Apostolic Church honors Thaddeus along with Saint Bartholomew as its patron saints. In the Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes.
Jude Thaddeus is commonly depicted with a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles.
The public source identifies “Jude the Apostle” as one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus; traditionally identified with Jude the brother of Jesus. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jude, Apostle and Twelve.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q43945. VIAF identifies the subject as 47556758. The Library of Congress control number is n94049160. 3 of 9 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jude the Apostle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.