Who is Saint Barnabas?

Saint Barnabas, the Patron Saint of our parish and one accounted an Apostle of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament (Acts of the Apostles 14.14), was a Jewish Levite from Cyprus, a deacon of the Jewish community, who became one of the earliest Christian disciples and followers at Jerusalem. He was well known to the Jerusalem Church. His original, given name was Joseph, but, like many of the other Apostles, he was given a Christian name and was surnamed Barnabas by the Apostles. Saint Luke in Acts 4.36 tells us the name means, ‘son of consolation’ or ‘son of encouragement,’ (uios parakleseos). The root word of Saint Luke’s description is Paraclete, Comforter, Strengthener, which term Our Lord uses to describe the Holy Ghost in the Gospel according to Saint John. Barnabas served as a quintessential helper and support in and for the primitive Church. He sold his goods and gave the money to the Apostles at Jerusalem.

Saint Barnabas is particularly important because he first introduced Saint Paul to the Twelve Apostles after Paul’s conversion (Acts 9.27). Saint Barnabas had known Saint Paul for a long time, as both men were possibly students of the Rabbi Gamaliel at the same time. Barnabas was also sent by the Twelve to investigate a situation in Antioch, where the Gospel of Jesus Christ was being preached to and received by the Gentile population at an unprecedented level (Acts 11.22 and following). Many ‘God-fearing’ Gentiles who attended the Jewish synagogues were converting in large numbers to Christ. Subsequently, Saint Barnabas approved of this mission and so was overwhelmed with the work that he brought Saint Paul from Tarsus to assist him in the first missionary journey of the Apostolic duo, which effort began at Cyprus (Acts 13 and 14). At one point, Barnabas and Paul returned to Jerusalem with donations given to the Jerusalem Church’s poor by the wealthier Antiochene congregation.

Saint Barnabas and Saint Paul would return again to Antioch with Saint Mark, who is traditionally identified as Barnabas’s cousin. Originally, Saint Barnabas was the clear leader and director of the missionary project, but Saint Paul would rise to prominence very quickly. Our Patron Saint defended the rights and claims of Gentile Christians at the great Apostolic Council of Jerusalem in opposition to Judaisers and a theology that would have Gentile Christians subject to the Jewish ceremonial Law (Acts 15), and after the conclusion of the Council, which was resolved in favour of the Gentile believers, he returned with Saint Paul to Antioch.  The Council assigned Barnabas and Paul to the ministry of preaching to the Gentiles.  Eventually, Saint Paul and Saint Barnabas entered into a strident dispute over the role of Mark, called John Mark in the narrative, and as a result, ‘they parted asunder one from the other’ (Acts 15.39). The two great missionary Apostles had what we would today colloquially call ‘a falling out’ with each other. After this debacle, Barnabas sailed for Cyprus. Although Saint Paul proved to be the more eloquent preacher and evangelist of the pair, Saint Barnabas stands out as an indefatigable worker and labourer. He continued to travel wide and far, covering much of the eastern Mediterranean region, and made a total of at least four different missionary trips to Antioch. Like Paul, Barnabas also worked a secular job in order to fund his missions. Saint Paul insinuates that Barnabas was known to the Galatians (Galatians 2.1, 13), the Corinthians (I Corinthians 9.6), and the Colossians (Colossians 4.10).

Holy Tradition reckons Saint Barnabas the founder of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and that he was martyred in AD 61 in Salamis, Cyprus by being stoned to death by Jews after preaching in local synagogues and debating opponents. In the Great Tradition, Barnabas is often numbered one of the seventy disciples mentioned in Saint Luke 10.1. He may also have been the founder of the Church of Milan and its first bishop. Interestingly, Tertullian, the famous second/third-century Latin theologian, identifies Barnabas as the author of the canonical Epistle to the Hebrews.

Please join us for the Holy Eucharist at Noon on the Feast of Saint Barnabas the Apostle, our patronal festival, on Saturday 11^th June.

Sancte Barnaba, ora pro nobis!

God bless you!

+Chad