Which apostle was the first to be martyred?

James the Greater was the first of the Twelve Apostles recorded as martyred. Acts 12:1–2 says that Herod Agrippa I had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.

James was the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of John the Apostle. Along with Peter and John, he belonged to Jesus’ especially prominent inner circle and witnessed events such as the raising of Jairus’s daughter, the Transfiguration, and Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane.

His death is usually dated to about AD 44, during the reign of Herod Agrippa I. The account in Acts is brief and does not describe a trial or provide details about the execution beyond the sword. It nevertheless makes James the only member of the original Twelve whose martyrdom is explicitly narrated in the New Testament.

The wording can cause confusion because Stephen is called the first Christian martyr, but he was not one of the Twelve Apostles. James “the Greater” is also distinguished from James the son of Alphaeus and James, the brother of Jesus.