The Apostles (Elgar) many delays, Elgar finally started formal composition of the music in mid-December 1902. Composition of the work in vocal-score format was complete by the end of June 1903, with scoring complete on 17 August. "The Apostles "is a narrative work, dealing with the calling of the Apostles and their experiences of Jesus' preaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. "The Kingdom" would carry the story onward. Elgar was more interested in human motivations than philosophical underpinnings, and two of the most prominent characters in the work are the two sinners Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot. Elgar's conception outgrew the confines of
Canons of the Apostles John of Antioch (Joannes Scholasticus), Patriarch of Constantinople from 565 to 577, published a collection of synodal decrees in which he included these eighty-five canons, and this number was finally consecrated for the Greek Church by the Trullan or Quinisext Council of 692, which stopped short of affirming their apostolic authorship, instead referring to them as having been handed down in the name of the Apostles. On the other hand, the Latin Church, throughout the Middle Ages, recognized only fifty canons of the Apostles. This was the number finally adopted by Dionysius Exiguus, who first translated these canons into Latin