Why is this significant? Well, because John writes of a disciple named Nathanael who is mentioned nowhere else, except in John 21 when the resurrected Jesus appears to several disciples including him by the Sea of Tiberias (i.e. Galilee). Is Nathanael one of the 12? The record is unclear. Is he Bartholomew? Maybe. The evidence in favor of that supposition, if you can call it evidence, is of the type one associates with the "Pepe Silvia Conspiracy Board" meme, pictured above regardless of copyright because, dude, it's a meme. But let's go over it briefly anyway.
So, in John 1 it's Philip of Bethsaida who brings Nathanael (also of Bethsaida) to see Jesus. And though John never gives us a list of the 12 apostles, the emphasis he places on Nathanael (who actually does get some dialogue and character development in this scene, and shows up later among other known apostles) suggests he's a disciple of some signifiance, perhaps even one of the 12. Meanwhile, John never mentions Bartholomew (whose name literally means "son of Tolmai"), so it's kind of like Clark Kent and Superman never being seen together at the same time and place; maybe they're the same guy. There are other cases of differences between the lists of apostles suggesting, or even outright stating, that someone went by two or more different names; for example, Matthew and Mark know of an apostle named Thaddaeus (perhaps also called Lebbaeus) while Luke (in both the third gospel and Acts) seems to replace him with Judas the son of James (a.k.a. "not Iscariot," John 14:22). So if John pulled a Luke and mentioned Bartholomew by his other name, that wouldn't be without precedent.
To put a bit more of a point on it, three of the four lists of the apostles (Matthew, Mark and Luke) put Bartholomew right behind Philip on the list; Matthew and Luke, who list the 12 in pairs, actually pair them with an "and" between their names, suggesting an association somewhat on the level of "Peter and Andrew" and "James and John." You know, sort of like how Philip and Nathanael were scene partners in John. To be sure, Acts pairs Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew (while the synpotics all pair Thomas and Matthew), so this coincidence may not be worth much; but it's there.
Wiki declareth that "most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael," which seems to be the opinion of whoever picked the John passage as an option for the gospel lesson for Bartholomew's day. Various traditions, dating back as far as the fourth century and up to more recent scholarship, suggest Bartholomew/Nathanael (whether one man or two) evangelized quite a few different regions, including India, Ethiopia and what are now Turkey, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Algeria and perhaps even France. Busy guy! He supposedly died in Armenia by being flayed alive while continuing to preach until he died, and his relics seem to have ended up scattered all over the place. The legend strains credibility more tha deeper one looks into it. So let's just fall back on the readings, eh? And so I propose:
Peace and long life be yours,
Disciples of the Lord,
Forsaking not His word
Where truth and mercy pours.
Your steps to it devote;
Inscribe it on your heart,
And bind no name apart
From His upon your throat.
Entrust your heart to Him.
Lean not on your own mind:
A sure way you will find
And so gain man's esteem.
Fear God and flee from sin,
Nor with conceited eyes
Regard yourself as wise:
He is your Health within.
For stormy is the hour,
The vessels plain and frail
Whereby salvation's tale
Is borne to us with power.
Hard-pressed yet never crushed,
Struck down but not destroyed,
With hope our hearts are buoyed,
Our prayer and praise unhushed.
For our afflicted frame,
Our strained and stuttered breath
Bear marks of Jesus' death
And manifest His name;
His triumph, like His trials,
We boldly verify
And stake our prize on high
Against the devil's wiles.
In peace, Lord Jesus, keep
This last and little while
Nathanael without guile
And all who with him sleep.
At last, God's Son, our King,
The heavens open wide
And raise us to Your side,
A glad new song to sing.
