Barnabas, born Joseph, was an early Christian, one of the earliest Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36 Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Named an apostle in Acts 14:14, he and Paul the Apostle undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against the Judaizers. They traveled together making more converts (c 45-47), and participated in the Council of Jerusalem (c 50). Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the “God-fearing” gentiles who attended synagogues in various Hellenized cities of Anatolia.
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, but this and other attributions are conjecture. Clement of Alexandria ascribed the Epistle of Barnabas to him, but that is highly improbable.
Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus, in 61 AD. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. The feast day of Barnabas is celebrated on June 11.
Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of Colossians 4. Some traditions hold that Aristobulus of Britannia, one of the Seventy Disciples, was the brother of Barnabas.
Antioch, the third-most important city of the Roman Empire, then the capital city of Syria province, today Antakya, Turkey, was where Christians were first called thus. It was indeed the site of an early Christian community, traditionally said to be founded by Peter. 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.
Barnabas 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 circumcised.
Icon of St. Herakleidios (and Sts. Paul and Barnabas) from the Monastery of the same name, painted by the fathers of Vatopaidi Monastery
Barnabas appears mainly in Acts, a Christian history of the early Christian church. He also appears in several of Paul’s epistles.
Traditional Tomb of St. Barnabas
Barnabas,
