Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/June 11 2007

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Saint Barnabas was an early Christian mentioned in the New Testament. His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph, (although the Byzantine text-type calls him Joses, the Aramaic version of Joseph) but when he sold all his goods and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, they gave him a new name: Barnabas, which means huios parakleseos (Greek: υιος παρακλήσεως) "son of exhortation," or 'man of encouragement.' see Acts 11:23) and connotes a prophet in the early Christian sense of the word (see Acts 13:1; 15:32). His feast day is June 11.

Barnabas is one of the first prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1). Luke speaks of him as a "good man" (11:24). He was born of Jewish parents of the tribe of Levi. His aunt was the mother of John, surnamed Mark (Colossians 4:10), widely assumed to be the same Mark as the person traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. He was a native of Cyprus, where he possessed land (Acts 4:36, 37), which he sold, and gave the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem. When Paul returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, Barnabas took him and introduced him to the apostles (9:27); it is possible that they had been fellow students in the school of Gamaliel.

The prosperity of the church at Antioch led the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to superintend the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year (Acts 11:25, 26). At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (AD 44) with the contributions the church at Antioch had made for the poorer members of the Jerusalem church (11:28-30).

Shortly after they returned, bringing John Mark with them, they were appointed as missionaries to Asia Minor, and in this capacity visited Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia (Acts 13:14). 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 (Acts 15:2; Galatians 2:1). According to Gal. 2:9-10, Barnabas was included with Paul in the agreement made between them, on the one hand, and James, Peter, and John, on the other, that the two former should in the future preach to the pagans, not forgetting the poor at Jerusalem. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, bringing the agreement of the council that Gentiles were to be admitted into the church.

Having returned to Antioch(15:35), Paul asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey (15:36) but Barnabas took his younger cousin, John Mark, to visit Cyprus (15:36-41).

He is not again mentioned by Luke in the Acts. However, in Gal. 2:13 a little more is learned about him, and his weakness under the taunts of the Jewish Christians is evident; and from 1 Corinthians 9:6 it may be gathered that he continued to labor as missionary.

He returned to Cyprus and at Salamis was stoned to death, allegedly by Jews. Around his remains was built a monastery named after him. He is venerated as the Patron Saint of Cyprus.

attributes:Pilgrim's staff, olive branch, holding St. Matthew's Gospel patronage:Cyprus, Antioch, against hailstorms, invoked as peacemaker