The Catholic Encyclopedia suggests that the nicknames refer to nothing more profound than the relative stature of the two apostles. If there's another theory, I'm not aware of it.
That's it. One was taller, therefore, "greater." They say Paul was short. I wonder if he was as short as the "less?"<<
I was just looking over the past postings and it is surprising to me that nobody has mentioned the original topic for a long time: the tsunami. I just looked at a website that claims there was no earthquake at all, but some kind of large explosion, at the bottom of the Sumatra trench: For a speculative update, go to vialls(dot)com, download 'Did New York Orchestrate the Asian Tsunami'. At first read, it sounds like sci-fi until one realizes that the technology was first entertained during WWII and deemed plausible. Enter the Brave New World.