Replacement chosen by lottery and prayer

Today is the festival of the apostle Matthias. He was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. You can read the story here. It was Peter who spelled out the criteria. It must be a man. That ruled out Mary Magdalene and other women who would have qualified in other respects, except that in that culture the witness of a woman was thought unreliable. It had to be a man from the larger group of disciples who were with Peter and the others from the time of John's baptism to Jesus' ascension. It had to be someone who with the other apostles  would be a witness to Jesus' resurrection.


The 120 gathered believers proposed 2 people: Joseph called Barsabbas (also called Justus) and Matthias. They were presumably both suitable. They prayed that God's choice should be shown and then they cast lots,
"...and the lot fell on Matthias".
And that's really all we know about him. He's not mentioned by name again in the New Testament. Perhaps Theophilus, for whom Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, already knew a lot about Matthias, so didn't need any extra details? Various traditions recount that Matthias was an evangelist and it is rumoured he was eventually martyred. 
Almighty God, 
who in the place of the traitor Judas 
chose your faithful servant Matthias 
to be of the number of the Twelve: 
preserve your church from false apostles 
and, by the ministry of faithful pastors and teachers, 
keep us steadfast in your truth; 
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, 
who is alive and reigns with you, 
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
one God, now and for ever. Amen. 
Collect for Matthias, Apostle, Common Worship

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