The Apostle Bartholomew / Nathanael

Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is generally supposed to have been the same person as Nathanael. In the Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together, while Nathanael is never mentioned; in the gospel of John, on the other hand, Philip and Nathanael are similarly mentioned together, but nothing is said of Bartholomew.

John cites Nathanael (Bartholomew) as being the one who, skeptical of what Philip had told him of Jesus Christ asked, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Nevertheless, he follows Philip and goes on to become one of the Twelve.

Tradition holds that he was flayed alive in Armenia, and then crucified upside down.

Not much is known of him, which probably accounts for the lack of biographies of this Apostle. There is an apocryphal gospel credited to him, known as the Gospel of St. Bartholomew, but its authenticity and authorship is in doubt.