Joey Vahedi portrays St. Thomas, The Apostle in the global phenomenon, ‘The Chosen,’ now streaming on their app and coming to The CW on Ecclesiastical New Year, Sunday, September 1, 2024.
The timing could not have been more perfect for Season Four of ‘The Chosen,’ to return to standard television, as Sunday, September 1, 2024, is the Ecclesiastical (Church) New Year as declared at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
Persian-Lebanese-American actor, Joey Vahedi (similar ethnic mix background to myself as my father was Assyrian from Iran and my mother is from Lebanon), plays St. Thomas, the Apostle, AKA ‘Doubting Thomas’ in Western Christianity. In Eastern Christianity, calling someone, “Thomas” or in Aramaic, “Tooma,” means you are calling them stubborn, now doubtful. It was St. Thomas’ stubbornness that is described in the Gospel According to St. John, 20:24-29 (NRSV):
But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ 29 Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
What is exciting, at least for me on a personal note, about this is that St. Thomas on his way to India brought Christianity to the Assyrians, Armenians and Persians, making myself a direct descendent of St. Thomas’ disciples on my paternal side.
“I do think he’s (St. Thomas) been given the wrong title. Thomas is someone that was there by His (Jesus) side the entire time the reason he leaves is because of how much he cares and he’s too traumatized to be able to stay in a circumstance where somebody that is his best friend, his mentor, father figure and in his, eyes the Messiah. He’s a really important person so when someone wants to do their best or is always worrying or might have some anxiety, it’s because they care so much,” said Vahedi about St. Thomas’ character in ‘The Chosen.’
‘The Chosen,’ has had over 200 million viewers and is one of the most-watched shows in the world. The series is consistently a top performer across streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Netflix, and it is a top-rated broadcast weekly on The CW. What started as a crowd-funded project has now garnered over 770 million episode views and more than 13 million social media followers.
What gives greater depth to St. Thomas as a person and not just as a historical or religious figure is that “Thomas” in Semitic languages (Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic, e.t.c.) translates to “Twin.” In order for St. Thomas to leave everything behind, including a twin sibling in Antiquity is virtually unheard of by ancient tradition.
“The way ‘The Chosen,’ has written Thomas, I think really does justice by him because you see the reason for his anger with Jesus particularly in Season Four. We see that journey heading towards, ‘Doubting Thomas‘ and I think it’s really justified in a very human way,” said Vahedi, about St. Thomas’ angst in ‘The Chosen.’
Vahedi believes that one of the reasons for ‘The Chosen,’ success is that a lot of people see themselves in these Biblical figures. They are people who have hopes, dreams and love. They deal with emotions of hatred and jealously not just against the Romans, but of the other disciples. He feels that people connect to the series in a loving and powerful way.
As ‘The Chosen,’ comes to The CW on Ecclesiastical New Year’s, the anticipation for Season Five has already been building with the acclaim the series has well deservedly received; Vahedi gives a slight tease of what is to be expected:
“I’m very excited to see what fans think of Season Five because it’s essentially going to be picking up with the fallout of everything that has happened with Thomas in Season Four, so we’re on this journey now to see what he decides how he makes the decisions that he makes,” said Vahedi about St. Thomas and the direction of what’s to come in ‘The Chosen.’
Follow Joey Vahedi on Instagram @joeyvahedi.
Follow ‘The Chosen‘ on Instagram @thechosentvseries.
‘The Chosen,’ is now streaming all four seasons on their app. Season Four of ‘The Chosen,’ comes to The CW on Ecclesiastical New Year, Sunday, September 1, 2024.
