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 wr...