A-pŏs'tle, n.

(-pŏs'sl), n. [Lat. apostolus, Gr. ἀπόστολος, sent forth or away, from ἀποστέλλειν, to send off or away, from ἀπό and στέλλειν, to send; akin to Ger. stellen, to set; Pr. apostol, O. Fr. apostole, apostele, apostle, apostre, N. Fr. apôtre.]

1Sense 1. A person sent forth or deputed to execute some important business; specifically, one of the twelve disciples of Christ sent forth to preach the gospel.

☞ The title of apostle is also applied to others, who, though not of the number of the Twelve, yet were equal with them in office and dignity; as, “Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, and Barnabas, his fellow-laborer.” In Heb. iii. 1, the name is given to Christ himself, as having been sent from heaven to publish the gospel. In the primitive ages of the church, other ministers were called apostles (Rom. xvi. 7); as were persons sent to carry alms from one church to another (Philip. ii. 25). This title has also been given to persons who first planted the Christian faith in different parts of the world, and to those who have initiated any great moral reform, or first advocated any important belief. Thus Dionysius of Corinth is called the apostle of France, and John Eliot the apostle to the Indians, and Theobald Matthew the apostle of Temperance. The Jesuit missionaries are called apostles.

Apostles' creed, a creed ascribed to the apostles, and certainly of great antiquity, being found in the writings of Ambrose in the fourth century.

2Sense 2. (Civ. & Admiralty Law.) A brief letter dismissory sent by a court appealed from to the superior court, stating the case, &c.; a paper sent up on appeals in the admiralty courts. Wharton. Burrill.