Saint Barnabas

Description

Apostle Barnabas (?, Cyprus – 61 AD, Salamis, Cyprus) was one of the first Christians, who together with the twelve Apostles helped spread the Gospel. He followed the Apostle Paul on his tours and had his nephew the Evangelist Mark as his assistant. He was a prophet and teacher in Antioch. Although he was not one of the 12 apostles, he is described as an “Apostle” as he “was sent by the Holy Spirit.”
He is honored as a Saint by the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Churches.
He was probably one of the seventy apostles sent by Jesus Christ to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. He was born in Cyprus, but when he was called to serve the Lord, it seems that he was in Palestine, where the twelve apostles were. His real name was Josiah or Joseph and he was a Jewish Levite. The apostles gave him the name “Barnabas”, which means “son of supplication”, i.e. “son of consolation” , perhaps because he comforted the poor and needy such as in the case of Prax. 4:37 where he sold a farm he owned and gave the entire price to the common fund of the church. He was the uncle of the evangelist Mark , since Mark’s mother was the sister of Barnabas. His work begins when Barnabas was closely associated and collaborated for years with the apostle Paul from Tarsus. The Holy Spirit told the Apostles to set apart Paul and Barnabas to commission them to teach the world. So Barnabas followed Paul on his tours, although after a certain point they parted after a “lively disagreement”, so Paul continued his tour having the evangelist Luke with him, while Barnabas stayed in Cyprus with Mark where they organized the church there. The Apostle Barnabas came from Cyprus, he loved his country very much, when he came with the Apostle Paul, they passed together through Larnaca and Paphos where he converted the Roman commander Sergius Paul to Christianity, after he became blind, together with the Apostle Paul, the Magi Elymas, as a demonstration of the power of the Gospel.
The Orthodox Church of Cyprus considers Barnabas its founder and patron. Apostle Barnabas is considered to be the first bishop of Salamis who later met a martyr’s end after he died by stoning in Salamis. According to the apocryphal book “Acts of Barnabas”, supposedly written by the Evangelist Mark, the Apostle martyr was hastily buried, along with the manuscript Gospel of Matthew that he owned and used. Near the ancient city of Salamis, later Constantia and today Famagusta, is the monastery of Barnabas the Apostle. There is also the tomb of the Saint, where the handwritten Gospel of Matthew was found in his chest, following a vision of the Archbishop of Cyprus Anthemios in 477 AD, when the Church of Cyprus was confirmed as Autocephalous, as an Apostolic institution. The memory of the saint is celebrated on June 11. In Cyprus there are a number of churches dedicated to the Apostle Barnabas and the stauropigian monastery in Katechomena, outside Famagusta, founded by the emperor Zeno (474-491). In Byzantine iconography he is often shown together with the Apostle Paul holding a Church, or alone with the Gospel of Matthew in his hands.