An equal-to-the-apostles is a saint whose work for the Gospel matched the scope and impact of the original Apostles. These are men and women who brought entire nations into the Church, established Christian life where it didn’t exist, or changed the course of history through their witness to Christ.
The Greek term is isapostolos. It’s not a formal rank like bishop or presbyter. It’s an honorific title the Church gives to saints whose missionary work was so fruitful, so foundational, that it deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as the work of Peter, Paul, and the Twelve.
Think about what the Apostles did. They took the Gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the known world. They baptized thousands. They planted churches, ordained bishops, wrote Scripture, gave their lives. Some saints did work that looks remarkably similar, just centuries later and in different places.
St. Nina brought Christianity to Georgia in the fourth century. She’s called equal-to-the-apostles because she didn’t just convert a few people, she evangelized a nation. Churches rose where there’d been none. Bishops were consecrated. A whole culture was transformed by the faith she preached.
St. Constantine and his mother St. Helen get the title too. Constantine ended the imperial persecution of Christians and made it possible for the Church to worship openly across the Roman Empire. Helen traveled to Jerusalem and found the True Cross. Their actions didn’t just affect individuals. They changed the entire relationship between the Church and society.
St. Mary Magdalene is called equal-to-the-apostles because she was the first to see the risen Christ and the first to proclaim the Resurrection. Tradition says she later traveled and preached the Gospel widely. Her witness stands at the very foundation of our faith.
St. Vladimir of Kiev baptized himself and then led his people into the Church in 988. The entire Kievan Rus’ became Christian. That’s not just personal piety, that’s apostolic-scale mission work. Same with Sts. Cyril and Methodius, who created an alphabet so the Slavic peoples could hear the Gospel in their own language.
You’ll notice something about these saints. They’re diverse. Emperors and peasant girls. Myrrh-bearing women and princes. Monks and mothers. The title isn’t reserved for one type of person. What they share is the fruit of their labor: churches established, peoples brought to baptism, the faith handed on in a way that lasted.
This matters because it shows us that the apostolic mission didn’t end in the first century. The Church keeps growing. New lands hear the Gospel. New peoples are baptized. And some Christians do this work so faithfully, so effectively, that the Church looks at their lives and says, “This is what the Apostles did. This is apostolic work.”
When you see “equal-to-the-apostles” in a saint’s title, you’re seeing the Church honor someone who didn’t just live a holy life in private. They changed the world. They brought Christ to people who’d never heard His name. They built something that lasted.
We venerate these saints not just because they were holy but because they were missionaries in the fullest sense. They show us what it looks like when someone takes the Great Commission seriously. And they remind us that the work isn’t finished. There are still people in Beaumont who don’t know Christ. There are still neighbors who’ve never heard the Gospel preached with power and love. The apostolic mission continues, and these saints are our examples.
If you want to read more about specific equal-to-the-apostles saints, the OCA website has excellent feast day entries for St. Mary Magdalene (July 22), Sts. Constantine and Helen (May 21), and St. Nina (January 14). Their stories are worth knowing.
