Bartholomew the Apostle, the one who “was under the fig tree”

Bartholomew, also called Nathanael, was one of the apostles of Jesus and appears in the Synoptic Gospels with his Greek name that comes from the Aramaic patronymic bar-Tôlmay, "son of Tôlmay" or "son of Ptolemy." In the Gospel of John, however, he appears with a Hebrew name, Nathanael. The Hebrew etymology of his name means "God has given."

Bartholomew is one of the 12 Apostles (Mt 10:3). The apostle Philip brought him to Jesus. Bartholomew is the same person as Nathanael, mentioned in the Gospel of Saint John, where he tells us that he was from Cana (Jn 21:2). The Acts of the Apostles also mention his presence at Pentecost (1:13). “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the law wrote, and also the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathanael coming and said of him, Behold, a true Israelite in whom there is no guile. Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered: Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. Jesus answered saying: Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? And he added: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. (Jn 1,45-51). inhabitants: that is why he was skeptical when his friend Felipe told him about Jesus of Nazareth and asked with great irony if something good could have come out of the case of the poor town of Nazareth. Philip did not try to convince him with words, but instead invited him to have his own personal encounter with Jesus. Bartholomew agreed and went to look for Jesus, but when he found him, it was Jesus who surprised him by telling him that before Philip had called him, it had been Jesus who already knew that Bartholomew was “a sincere and unduplicated Israelite.” Jesus also revealed to him that he had known him since “he was under the fig tree” and at this point, Bartholomew, a concrete man attached to tradition who meditated daily on the Scriptures, made a true confession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah expected by Israel: “You are the Son of God and the King of Israel!” All of them gathered to pray assiduously with some women, with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers” (cf. Acts 1:12-14).