- Orthodox Remembrance Day: 2nd Sunday of Easter, October 6
- Name means: the twin (Hebrew)
- Apostle, messenger of faith in India, martyr
- Attributes: the Resurrection grasping at the wound marks, beard, sword, lance, angular measure
- Patron: of the East Indies, the architects, surveyors, masons, carpenters, all construction workers, the stonecutter, field knives and – because of his doubts – the theologians, for back pain and eye ailments, for good marriage.
- Born in Galilee, Israel
- Died 72 in Kalamina, Mailapur, today’s district Mayilapuram in Madras/Chennai, India
Thomas was a fisherman until his calling as a disciple. The Gospel of John describes the devotion that Thomas felt for Jesus: when he wanted to return to Judea, where Jews had wanted to stone him, Thomas joined him with the words: Let us go with him to die with him. (11, 5 – 16). In the Gospel of John 21:2,
Thomas is even named second in the list of disciples directly after Peter. Thomas became famous for his doubts about the resurrection of Jesus and his desire to check the resurrection tangiblely: only after Jesus asked him to touch his wounds did he believe the incomprehensible and known: My Lord and my God!
