Saint Barnabas | St. Barnabas'

St. Barnabas' Anglican Church
Saint Barnabas, the Prophet
and Teacher at Antioch

St. 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
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). With the conversion
of Sergius Paulus, Paul begins to gain prominence over Barnabas from the point
where the name "Paul" is substituted for "Saul" (13:9); instead of "Barnabas and Saul"
as heretofore (11:30; 12:25; 13:2, 7) we now read "Paul and Barnabas" (13:43, 46, 50;
14:20; 15:2, 22, 35); only in 14:14 and 15:12, 25 does Barnabas again occupy the first
place, in the first passage with recollection of 14:12, in the last two, because Barnabas
stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. St. Paul appears as the
preaching missionary (13:16; 14:8-9, 19-20), whence the Lystrans regarded him as
Hermes, St. Barnabas as Zeus (14:12). 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, St. Peter, and St. 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 and spent some time there (15:35), St. Paul asked
Barnabas to accompany him on another journey (15:36). Barnabas wished to take
John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the former journey
(15:37-38). 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
his younger cousin, John Mark, to visit Cyprus (15:36-41).

St. Barnabas is not mentioned again by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. 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.

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 in a cave, where it remained till the time of the
Emperor Zeno, in the year 485 AD. A monastery built in his name at Salamis, Cyprus,
is where a tomb reputed to hold his remains was found in 488. He is venerated as the
Patron Saint of Cyprus.

Source: www.wikipedia.org , found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barnabas

Who Was St. Barnabas?

Acts 12: 24 – 13: 5a; Psalm 67;
John 12: 44-50.