Troparion in Tone 3
O Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas,
Pray to the merciful God,
That He may grant to our souls
Remission of our transgressions!
Kontakion in Tone 3
O Barnabas, you became a perfect and faithful servant to the
Lord:
You were the first of the seventy disciples.
Worthy to be the companion of Paul in his preaching,
You proved to all that Christ was the Savior:
Therefore we celebrate your divine memory with hymns and songs!
Holy Apostle Barnabas of the
Seventy was born on the island of Cyprus into the family of the tribe of
Levi, and he was named Joseph. He received his education at Jerusalem,
being raised with his friend and fellow student Saul (the future Apostle
Paul) under the renowned teacher of the Law, Gamaliel. Joseph
was pious, he frequented the Temple, he strictly observed the fasts and
avoided youthful distractions. During this time period our Lord Jesus
Christ began His public ministry. Seeing the Lord and hearing His Divine
Words, Joseph believed in Him as the Messiah. Filled with ardent love
for the Savior, he followed Him. The Lord chose him to be one of His
Seventy Apostles. The other Apostles called him Barnabas, which means
"son of consolation." After the Ascension of the Lord to Heaven,
Barnabas sold land belonging to him near Jerusalem and he brought the
money to the feet of the Apostles, leaving nothing for himself (Acts
4:36-37).
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem
after his conversion and sought to join the followers of Christ,
everyone there was afraid of him since he had persecuted the Church only
a short while before. Barnabas, however, came with him to the Apostles
and reported how the Lord had appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus
(Acts 9:26-28).
Saint Barnabas went to Antioch to
encourage the believers, "Having come and having seen the grace of God,
he rejoiced and he urged all to cleave to the Lord with sincerity of
heart" (Acts 11:23). Then he went to Tarsus, and brought the Apostle
Paul to Antioch, where for about a year they taught the people.
It was here that the disciples
first began to be called Christians (Acts 11:26). With the onset of
famine, and taking along generous alms, Paul and Barnabas returned to
Jerusalem. When King Herod killed St James the son of Zebedee, and had
the Apostle Peter put under guard in prison to please the Jews, Sts
Barnabas and Paul and Peter were led out of the prison by an angel of
the Lord.
They hid out at the house of
Barnabas' aunt Maria. Later, when the persecution had quieted down, they
returned to Antioch, taking with them Maria's son John, surnamed Mark.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophets and teachers
there imposed hands upon Barnabas and Paul, and sent them off to do the
work to which the Lord had called them (Acts 13:2-3). Arriving in
Seleucia, they sailed off to Cyprus and in the city of Salamis they
preached the Word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
On Paphos they came across a
sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was close with the
proconsul Sergius. Wishing to hear the Word of God, the proconsul
invited the saints to come to him. The sorcerer attempted to sway the
proconsul from the Faith, but the Apostle Paul denounced the sorcerer,
who through his words suddenly fell blind. The proconsul believed in
Christ (Acts 13:6-12).
From Paphos Barnabas and Paul set
sail for Pergamum of Pamphylia, and then they preached to the Jews and
the Gentiles at Pisidian Antioch and throughout all that region. The
Jews rioted and expelled Paul and Barnabas. The saints arrived in
Iconium, but learning that the Jews wanted to stone them, they withdrew
to Lystra and Derben. There the Apostle Paul healed a man, crippled in
the legs from birth. The people assumed them to be the gods Zeus and
Hermes and wanted to offer them sacrifice. The saints just barely
persuaded them not to do this (Acts 14:8-18).
When the question arose whether
those converted from the Gentiles should accept circumcision, Barnabas
and Paul went to Jerusalem. There they were warmly received by the
Apostles and elders. The preachers related "what God had wrought with
them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts
14:27).
After long deliberations the
Apostles collectively resolved not to impose any sort of burden upon
Gentile Christians except what was necessary: to refrain from the
pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled,
and from blood (Acts 15:19-20). Letters were sent with Barnabas and
Paul, and they again preached at Antioch, and after a certain while they
decided to visit the other cities where they had visited earlier. St
Barnabas wanted to take Mark along with him, but St Paul did not want
to, since earlier he had left them. A quarrel arose, and they separated.
Paul took Silas with him and went to Syria and Cilicia, while Barnabas
took Mark with him to Cyprus (Acts 15:36-41).
Having multiplied the number of
believers, Saint Barnabas traveled to Rome, where he was perhaps the
first to preach Christ.
Saint Barnabas founded the
episcopal see at Mediolanum (now Milan), and upon his return to Cyprus
he continued to preach about Christ the Savior. Then the enraged Jews
incited the pagans against Barnabas, and they led him out beyond the
city and stoned him, and then built a fire to burn the body. Later on,
having come upon this spot, Mark took up the unharmed body of Saint
Barnabas and buried it in a cave, placing upon the saint's bosom, in
accord with his final wishes, the Gospel of Matthew which he had copied
in his own hand.
Saint Barnabas died in about the
year 62, at age seventy-six. In time, the burial spot was forgotten, but
numerous signs took place at this spot. In the year 448, during the time
of the emperor Zeno, St Barnabas appeared three times in a dream to
Archbishop Anthimus of Cyprus and indicated the place where his relics
were buried. Starting to dig at the indicated spot, Christians found the
incorrupt body of the saint, and upon his chest was the Holy Gospel.
It was during this time that the
Church of Cyprus began to be regarded as Apostolic in origin, and
received the right of choosing its head. Thus Saint Barnabas defended
Cyprus against the pretensions of the opponent of the Fourth Ecumenical
Council, the heretic surnamed Knapheios, who had usurped the patriarchal
throne at Antioch and tried to gain dominion over the Church of Cyprus.
