Barnabas
Milan and Cyprus | |
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Successor | St. Anathalon of Milan |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Died | Salamis, Roman Cyprus |
Alma mater | School of Gamaliel |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 11 June |
Venerated in | |
Canonized | Famagusta, Cyprus |
Barnabas (.
Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles. Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews,[3] but this and other attributions are conjecture. The Epistle of Barnabas was ascribed to him by Clement of Alexandria and others in the early church[4] and the epistle is included under his name in Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest extant manuscript of the complete New Testament.[5] A few modern scholars concur with this traditional attribution[6] but it is presently a minority view.[7]
Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was
Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of
Name and etymologies
His
Biblical narrative
Barnabas appears mainly in
Barnabas, a native of Cyprus and a Levite, is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, who sold the land that he owned and gave the proceeds to the community.[1] When the future Paul the Apostle returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the apostles. Easton, in his Bible Dictionary, supposes that they had been fellow students in the school of Gamaliel.[12]
The successful preaching of Christianity at Antioch to non-Jews led the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to oversee the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to
They returned to Antioch taking John Mark with them, the cousin or nephew of Barnabas. Later, they went to Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. After recounting what the governor of Cyprus Sergius Paulus believed, Acts 13:9[14] speaks of Barnabas's spiritual brother no longer as Saul, but as Paul, his Roman name, and generally refers to the two no longer as "Barnabas and Saul" as heretofore, but as "Paul and Barnabas". Only in Acts 14:14[2] and Acts 15:12–25[15] does Barnabas again occupy the first place, in the first passage with recollection of Acts 14:12,[16] in the last 2, because Barnabas stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. Paul appears as the more eloquent missionary, whence the Lystrans regarded him as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus.[13]
Acts 14:14
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.
After they had returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem council, they spent some time there. Peter came and associated freely there with the Gentiles, eating with them, until criticized for this by some disciples of James, as against Mosaic law. Upon their remonstrances, Peter yielded apparently through fear of displeasing them, and refused to eat any longer with the Gentiles. Barnabas followed his example. Paul considered that they "walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel" and upbraided them before the whole church.
Paul then asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey. Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the earlier journey. 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.[18]
Little is known of the subsequent career of Barnabas. He was still living and labouring as an Apostle in 56 or 57, when Paul wrote
Barnabas and Antioch
Some of those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went to Antioch, which became the site of an early Christian community.[22] 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.[23]
Martyrdom
hailstorms , invoked as peacemaker |
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Church tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas.[24] 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 tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body.[25]
Although it is believed he was martyred by being stoned, the apocryphal Acts of Barnabas states that he was bound with a rope by the neck, and then being dragged only to the site where he would be burned to death.
According to the History of the Cyprus Church,
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, believed to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios.[27]
St. Barnabas is venerated as the patron saint of Cyprus. He is also considered a patron saint in many other places in the world, highlighting Milan in Italy. On the island of Tenerife (Spain), St. Barnabas was invoked in historical times as patron saint and protector of the island's fields against drought, together with St. Benedict of Nursia.[28]
Barnabas the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a festival on 11 June.[29]
Other sources
Although many assume that the biblical
Other sources bring Barnabas to
Cypriots developed the tradition of his later activity and martyrdom no earlier than the 3rd century. The question whether Barnabas was an apostle was often discussed during the Middle Ages.[35]
Alleged writings
"Photius of the ninth century, refers to some in his day who were uncertain whether the Acts was written by Clement of Rome, Barnabas, or Luke. Yet Photius is certain that the work must be ascribed to Luke."[37]
He is also traditionally associated with the Epistle of Barnabas, although some modern scholars think it more likely that the epistle was written in Alexandria in the 130s.
The 5th century
Another book using that same title, the
The Barnabites
In 1538, the Catholic religious order officially known as "Clerics Regular of St. Paul" (Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli), gained the grand old Monastery of Saint Barnabas by the city wall of Milan as their main seat. The Order was thenceforth known by the popular name of Barnabites.[39]
See also
- Catholic Church in Cyprus
- Lectionary 214 – apocryphal Apodemia of Barnabas
- List of early Christian saints
- Saint Barnabas, patron saint archive
Notes
- ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Toy, Crawford Howell; Kohler, Kaufmann (1901–1906). "Barnabas: Joses". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls."Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c Acts 14:14
- ^ Tertullian, De Pudicitia (On Modesty), 20.2
- ^ Origen (Contra Celsum, 1.63; De Principii, 3.2.4), Serapion of Thmuis (Concerning Father and Son), Didymus the Blind (Commentary on Zechariah), Jerome (Lives of Illustrious Men, 6), et al.
- ^ GA 01 (א), London: Sinaiticus, library BL, folio 334. Dated to c. 340 AD. [1]
- ^ J.B. Burger, "L'Enigme de Barnabas," 180-193; and Simon Tugwell, The Apostolic Fathers, 44; cf. Lardner, Wake, Pearson, Gieseler, et al.
- ^ Joseph Tixeront, Handbook of Patrology: First Period, Section I: The Apostolic Fathers
- ^ "Apostle Aristobulus of the Seventy the Bishop of Britain". Calendar of Saints. Orthodox Church in America. Archived from the original on 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ Stern 1992, p. 235–236.
- ^ "Barnabas". BibleHub. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-06. Gives Thayer's Greek
Lexicon and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
- ^ "Acts 4". BibleHub. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-06.
- ^ "Barnabas". eastonsbibledictionary.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- ^ a b c ""Saint Barnabas", Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media". Archived from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
- ^ Acts 13:9
- ^ Acts 15:12–25
- ^ Acts 14:12
- ^ "Acts 14 with the Greek-English intelrinear text". Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
- ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Fenlon, John Francis (1907). "St. Barnabas". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Galatians 2:11–13
- ^ Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 78, Antioch.
- ^ Acts 11:26
- ^ Arbez 1907.
- ^ Durant 1944, p. 583.
- ^ Cross & Livingstone 2005, p. 160, Barnabas.
- ^ Fleetwood 1874, p. 600.
- ^ Church of Cyprus, History of Cyprus Church, The Autocephaly of the Cyprus Church churchofcyprus.org Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cyprus Commemorative Stamp issue: 1900th Death Anniversary of Apostle Barnabas, philatelism.com Archived 2012-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "San Benito, patrón por sorteo de los frutos y ganados de Tenerife desde 1535. Por Carlos Rodríguez Morales (y III)". 29 June 2018.
- ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
- Colossians 4:10
- ^ Acts 12:12, 25; 13:5, 13; 15:37
- ^ Ante-Nicean Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleaveland Coxe, vol. 5 (Peabody MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 255–6
- ^ Stromata, ii, 20
- ^ 10:1ff
- C. J. Hefele, Das Sendschreiben des Apostels Barnabas, Tübingen, 1840; Otto Braunsberger, "Der Apostel Barnabas," Mainz, 1876.
- ^ Mitchell, Alan C. Hebrews (Liturgical Press, 2007) p. 6.
- ^ Commentary on the Acts Archived 2014-06-18 at the Wayback Machine Edwin Wilbur Rice, 1900, p.7. Adolf Harnack mistakenly wrote that Photius believed Barnabas was the author in the 1908 Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Volume 1, p. 487
- T. Zahn, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, ii, 292, Leipsig, 1890.
- New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 1 (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
References
- Arbez, Edward Philip (1907). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints," 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4
- ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
- Durant, Will (1944). Caesar and Christ: The Story of Civilization. Vol. III. Simon and Schuster.
- Fleetwood, John (1874). The Life of Our Blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: And the Lives and Sufferings of His Holy Apostles and Evangelists. Garretson. Archived from the original on 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
- Harnack, A. (1908). "Barnabas". In Jackson, Samuel Macauley (ed.). New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Vol. 1 (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls.
- ISBN 978-965-359-011-3. Archivedfrom the original on 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Fenlon, John Francis (1907). "St. Barnabas". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Further reading
- 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
- Ladeuze, Paulin (1907). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
- Bartlet, James Vernon (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. . In
- Ragg, Lonsdale; Ragg, Laura (1907). The Gospel of Barnabas. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
External links
- The Epistle of Barnabas
- St. Barnabas the Apostle
- St Barnabas Monastery and Icon Museum, Famagusta, Cyprus
- St. Barnabas at the Christian Iconography web site.
- The Life of St. Barnabas the Apostle in Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend