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Biography
Other usesInfobox saint|name=Barnabas|birth_date=unknown|death_date=61 AD |feast_day=June 11|venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church , Eastern Orthodox Churches , Oriental Orthodox Churches , Anglican Communion , Lutheran Church |image=Barnabas.jpg|imagesize=180 px|caption= Icon of Saint Barnabas |birth_place= Cyprus |death_place= Salamis, Cyprus |titles=Apostle to Antioch and Cyprus|beatified_date=|beatified_place=|beatified_by=|canonized_date= Pre-congregation|Pre-Congregation |canonized_place=|canonized_by=|attributes=Pilgrim's staff; olive branch; holding the Gospel of Matthew|Gospel of St Matthew |patronage=Cyprus, Antioch , against hailstorms, invoked as peacemaker|major_shrine=Monastery of St Barnabas in Famagusta , Cyprus * http://www.whatson-northcyprus.com/interest/famagusta/salamis/barnabas.htm St Barnabas Monastery |suppressed_date=|issues= Barnabas (lang-grc| wikt:?a??aß??|?a??aß?? ), born Joseph , was an Early Christian , one of the earliest Disciple (Christianity)|Christian disciples in Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem .Harris names him as a "prominent leader" of the early church in Jerusalem. Stephen L Harris|Harris, Stephen L. , Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. According to bibleverse||Acts|4:36 Barnabas was a Cyprus|Cypriot Jew . Named an Twelve Apostles|apostle in bibleverse||Acts|14:14, he and Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against a faction promoting Gentile circumcision (see also Judaizers ). They gained many converts in Antioch#Late_Antiquity|Antioch ( c 43-44), traveled together making more converts ( c 45-47), and participated in the Council of Jerusalem ( c 50). Will Durant|Durant, Will . Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972 Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the Godfearers|"God-fearing" gentiles who attended synagogue s in various Hellenization|Hellenized cities of Anatolia (modern day Turkey ). Stephen L Harris|Harris, Stephen L. , Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.
Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles , and Paul mentions him in some of his epistle s."Barnabas." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews , but this and other attributions are conjecture."Hebrews, Epistle to the" Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 Clement of Alexandria ascribed an early Christian epistle to Barnabas ( Epistle of Barnabas ), but that is highly improbable."Epistle of Barnabas." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are, as yet, historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyr ed at Salamis, Cyprus , in 61 AD. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church|Cypriot Church . The feast day of St Barnabas is celebrated on June 11.
Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of Colossians 4.Mark: Images of an Apostolic Interpreter p55 C. Clifton Black - 2001 "infrequent occurrence in the Septuagint (Num 36:11; Tob 7:2) to its presence in Josephus (JW 1.662; Ant 1.290, 15.250) and Philo (On the Embassy to Gaius 67), anepsios consistently carries the connotation of "cousin," though ..." Some traditions hold that Aristobulus of Britannia , one of the Seventy Disciples , was the brother of Barnabas.
Etymologies
His Greeks|Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph (although the Byzantine text-type calls him lang|grc|??s??, Ioses , 'Joses', a Greek language|Greek variant of 'Joseph'), but when he sold all his goods and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem , they gave him a new name: Barnabas. This name appears to be from the Aramaic language|Aramaic lang|arc|?? ????, transl|sem|bar na?ya , meaning 'the son (of the) prophet'. However, the Greek text of the Bibleref2|Acts|4:36 explains the name as lang|grc|???? pa?a???se??, hyios parakleseos , meaning "son of consolation" or "son of encouragement". A similar link between ”prophecy” and ”encouragement” is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:3)
Barnabas appears mainly in Acts , a Christian history of the early Christian church. He also appears in several of Paul's epistles.
Barnabas is one of the first teachers of the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1). Barnabas was a Levite . He was a native of Cyprus , where he possessed land (Acts 4:36, 37), which he sold, giving the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem. When Paul of Tarsus|Saint Paul returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, Barnabas took him and introduced him to the apostles (9:27). Easton, in his Bible Dictionary, supposes that they had been fellow students in the school of Rabbi Gamaliel .Citation needed|date=June 2008 The prosperity of the church at Antioch led the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to superintend the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus (city)|Tarsus in search of Paul, "an admirable colleague", to assist him. F.F. Bruce ,New Testament History,p.233, New York: Doubleday, 1969 Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year (Acts 11:25, 26). At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (AD 44) with the contributions the church at Antioch had made for the poorer members of the Jerusalem church.
Shortly after they returned, bringing John Mark with them, they were appointed as missionaries to Asia Minor , and in this capacity visited Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia , Pisidia , and Lycaonia (Acts 13:14). With the conversion of Sergius Paulus , Paul begins to gain prominence over Barnabas from the point where the name "Paul," his Roman name, is substituted for "Saul" (13:9); instead of "Barnabas and Saul" as heretofore (11:30; 12:25; 13:2, 7) we now read "Paul and Barnabas" (13:43, 46, 50; 14:20; 15:2, 22, 35); only in 14:14 and 15:12, 25 does Barnabas again occupy the first place, in the first passage with recollection of 14:12, in the last two, because Barnabas stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. St. Paul appears as the preaching missionary (13:16; 14:8-9, 19-20), whence the Lystra ns regarded him as Hermes , St. Barnabas as Zeus http://www.covenantseminary.edu/worldwide/en/CC310/CC310_T_14.html Covenantseminary.eduNote that the King James version uses Jupiter (god)|Jupiter instead of Zeus (14:12). Returning from this first missionary journey to Antioch, they were again sent up to Jerusalem to consult with the church there regarding the relation of Gentiles to the church (Acts 15:2; Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians 2:1). According to Gal. 2:9-10, Barnabas was included with Paul in the agreement made between them, on the one hand, and James the Just|James , Saint Peter|Peter , and John the Apostle|John , on the other, that the two former should in the future preach to the pagans, not forgetting the poor at Jerusalem. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, bringing the agreement of the Council of Jerusalem|council that Gentiles were to be admitted into the church.
It is quite likely, however, that the epistle of Galatians was written prior to the Jerusalem council, and that it refers to a meeting between Paul, Barnabas, and Peter, James, and John that happened earlier. Much of the scholarship of the 1800s assumes that Galatia was a province to the north of the first missionary journey churches started through Paul and Barnabas' ministry as described in Acts 13-14. But archeology and recent scholarship accepts the fact that the province of Galatia included many of the first missionary journey churches. It would have been very strange indeed for Paul to have omitted the fact that the apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church had not laid circumcision as a requirement upon the Gentiles considering the topic of the epistle after it became a controversy in Galatia. It is more likely that Paul the epistle was written some time before the Jerusalem council, and that teachers came from Jerusalem to Antioch teaching the need for it after Paul wrote his epistle to the Galatians, churches from the first missionary journey, addressing this issue.
After they had returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem council and after spending some time there (15:35), Paul asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey (15:36). Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the former journey (15:37-38). The dispute ended by Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes. Paul took Silas as his companion, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia ; while Barnabas took John Mark to visit Cyprus (15:36-41). According to Hippolytus of Rome , John Mark is not Mark the Cousin of Barnabas , and Barnabas did not dispute with Paul because of personal favor to a blood relative, but due to his character as his nickname Barnabas ("Son of Encouragement") indicates.
Barnabas is not mentioned again by Luke the Evangelist|Luke in the Acts of the Apostles . However, in Gal. 2:13 a little more is learned about him, that he followed Peter's example of not eating with Gentiles;Citation needed|date=June 2008 and from First Epistle to the Corinthians|1 Corinthians 9:6 it may be gathered that he continued to labor as missionary. It is believed that his argument with Paul was resolved.
Barnabas and Antioch
Antioch , the third-most important city of the Roman Empire,Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article Antioch then the capital city of Syria (Roman province)|Syria province , today Antakya , Turkey, was where Christians were first called thus.Bibleverse||Acts|11:26 It was indeed the site of an early Christian community, traditionally said to be founded by Peter Citation needed|date=August 2008. A considerable minority of the Antioch church of Barnabas's time belonged to the merchant class, and they provided support to the poorer Jerusalem church.
Main|Council of JerusalemBarnabas participated in the Council of Jerusalem, which dealt with the admission of gentiles into the Christian community, a crucial problem in early Christianity. Paul and Barnabas proposed that gentiles be allowed into the community without being Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|circumcised .
Martyrdom
Main|Christian martyrsChurch tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas. It relates that certain Jews coming to Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and, after the most inhumane torture s, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body."The Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: And the Lives and Sufferings of His Holy Evangelists and Apostles," p.455, 1857 AD, Miller, Orton & Co., 25 Park Row, New York.
According to the History of the Cyprus Church,Church of Cyprus, History of Cyprus Church, The Autocephaly of the Cyprus Church http://www.churchofcyprus.org.cy/article.php? articleID=92 churchofcyprus.org in 478 Barnabas appeared in a dream to the Archbishop of Constantia ( Salamis, Cyprus ) Anthemios and revealed to him the place of his sepulchre beneath a carob -tree. The following day Anthemios found the tomb and inside it the remains of Barnabas with a manuscript of Matthew's Gospel on his breast. Anthemios presented the Gospel to Emperor Zeno (emperor)|Zeno at Constantinople and received from him the privileges of the Cypriot Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus , that is, the purple cloak which the List of archbishops of Cyprus|Greek Archbishop of Cyprus wears at festivals of the church, the imperial sceptre and the red ink with which he affixes his signature.
Anthemios then placed the venerable remains of Barnabas in a church which he founded near the tomb. Excavations near the site of a present day church and monastery, have revealed an early church with two empty tombs, believe to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios.Cyprus Commemorative Stamp issue: 1900th Death Anniversary of Apostle Barnavas, http://www.philatelism.com/details.php? issueid=22 philatelism.com
St. Barnabas is venerated as the Patron Saint of Cyprus .
Other sources
Although many assume that the biblical Mark the Cousin of Barnabas ( Colossians 4:10) is the same as John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15: 37) and Mark the Evangelist , the traditionally believed author of the Gospel of Mark , according to Hippolytus of Rome ,Ante-Nicean Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleaveland Coxe, vol. 5 (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 255-6 the three "Mark"s are distinct persons. They were all members of the Seventy Disciples|Seventy Apostles of Christ , including Barnabas himself. There are two people named Barnabas among Hippolytus' list of Seventy Disciples, one (#13) became the bishop of Milan, the other (#25) the bishop of Heraclea. Most likely one of these two is the biblical Barnabas; the first one is more likely, because the numbering by Hippolytus seems to indicate a level of significance. Clement of Alexandria ( Stromata , ii, 20) also makes Barnabas one of the Seventy Disciples that are mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 10:1ff.
Other sources bring Barnabas to Rome and Alexandria, Egypt|Alexandria . In the Clementine literature|"Clementine Recognitions" (i, 7) he is depicted as preaching in Rome even during Christ's lifetime.
Not older than the 3rd century is the tradition of the later activity and martyrdom of Barnabas in Cyprus , where his remains are said to have been discovered under the Emperor Zeno (emperor)|Zeno . The Cypriot Orthodox Church|Cypriot Church claimed Barnabas as its founder in order to rid itself of the supremacy of the Patriarch of Antioch , as did the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan|Archbishop of Milan afterwards, to become more independent of Rome. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02300a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Barnabas In this connection, the question whether Barnabas was an apostle became important, and was often discussed during the Middle Ages.Compare C. J. Hefele , Das Sendschreiben des Apostels Barnabas, Tübingen, 1840; Otto Braunsberger , "Der Apostel Barnabas," Mainz, 1876. The statements as to the year of Barnabas's death are discrepant and untrustworthy.
Alleged writings
Tertullian and other Western writers regard Barnabas as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews . This may have been the Roman tradition—which Tertullian usually follows—and in Rome the epistle may have had its first readers. But the tradition has weighty considerations against itClarify|reason=what considerations|date=June 2010.
According to Photios I of Constantinople|Photius ( Quaest. in Amphil., 123), Barnabas wrote the Acts of the Apostles. (Current consensus ascribes the book to the author of Luke.)
He is also traditionally associated with the Epistle of Barnabas , although modern scholars think it more likely that that epistle was written in Alexandria in the 130s. The 5th century Decretum Gelasianum includes a Gospel of Barnabas amongst works condemned as apocrypha l; but no certain text or quotation from this work has been identified.
Another book using that same title, the " Gospel of Barnabas ", survives in two post-medieval manuscripts in Italian and Spanish.Compare T. Zahn , Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, ii, 292, Leipsig, 1890. Contrary to the canonical Christian Gospel s, and in accordance with the Islamic view of Jesus , this later "Gospel of Barnabas" states that Jesus was not the son of God, but a prophet and messenger. The book also says Jesus rose alive into Heaven without having been crucified and mentions Mohammad by name. http://numerical19.tripod.com/muhammad_in_barnabas.htm Numerical119.tripod.com Though the exact dating is disputed, it is not regarded as authentic by any scholar.Cyril Glass. The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Harper & Row, 1989, p. 64. Quoted at http://answering-islam.org/Barnabas/
See also
Lectionary 214 - apocryphal Apodemia of Barnabas
Notes
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References
Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints," 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
Literature: Epistle of Barnabas
Die Apostolischen Väter. Griechisch-deutsche Parallelausgabe. J.C.B. Mohr Tübingen 1992. ISBN 3-16-145887-7
Der Barnabasbrief. Übersetzt und erklärt von Ferdinand R. Prostmeier. Series: Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern (KAV, Vol. 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1999. ISBN 3-525-51683-5
EastonsSchaff-Herzog
External links
Commons category|Saint Barnabas
http://www.saintbarnabaschurch.org.uk/stbarnabasbiog.htm Biography of St Barnabas
http://www.barnabas.net Gospel of Barnabas
CathEncy|wstitle=St. Barnabas
CathEncy|wstitle=Epistle of Barnabas
Cite EB1911|wstitle=Barnabas
http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/glossary/barnabas.html The Ecole Glossary about Barnabas
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-41.htm The Epistle of Barnabas
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb12.htm St. Barnabas the Apostle
Persondata|NAME=Barnabas |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Barnabas the Apostle, Saint Barnabas |SHORT DESCRIPTION=New Testament figure and missionary, Christian saint and martyr |DATE OF BIRTH=unknown |PLACE OF BIRTH=Cyprus |DATE OF DEATH=61 |PLACE OF DEATH=Salamis, Cyprus DEFAULTSORT:Barnabas Category:Seventy disciples Category:61 deaths Category:Ancient Jewish Greek history Category:1st-century writers Category:Christian writers Category:Cypriot non-fiction writers Category:Cypriot saints Category:Cypriot Roman Catholic saints Category:People from Famagusta Category:Eastern Orthodox saints Category:Eastern Catholic saints Category:Saints from the Holy Land Category:Jewish writers Category:Jews and Judaism in Cyprus Category:New Testament people Category:Roman Catholic saints Category:Anglican saints Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar Category:1st-century bishops Category:Prophets in Christianity Category:Biblical apostles Category:Christian martyrs of the Roman era Category:1st-century Christian martyr saints Category:Saints of the Golden Legend Category:Early Hebrew Christians Category:Judeo-Christian topics Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Book of Acts
