St Barnabas (1st century) apostle
Barnabas, whose name means "son
of encouragement" and was said to be a Levite of Cypriot origin, first
appears in the Acts of the Apostles (4:36) when he sold a piece of land
he owned and brought the money to the apostles for the common purse.
At Antioch
He next appears at Antioch where he
takes Saul under his wing and with him they bring money from the
relatively wealthy community in Antioch to aid the church in Jerusalem
(Acts 11:25-30).
First missionary journey with Paul and John Mark in Cyprus and Asia Minor
Back
again in Antioch, Barnabas, Paul and John Mark went on a missionary
journey to Cyprus (Acts 13:1-12) and from there to Asia Minor, where
John left them to go back to Jerusalem and they preached first to the
Jews and then to the pagans.
Their proclaiming the good news and their
success in healing a cripple had the pagans acclaiming them as gods.
Protesting they were only human beings like themselves, they were barely
able to stop the crowd offering them sacrifice. After some Jews came to
disrupt their successs and stoned Paul, Paul and Barnabas returned to
Antioch where they called the church to tell them how God had "opened
the door of faith to the pagans" (Acts 13:13-14:28).
Should pagans be circumcised?
Tensions then arose
in Antioch because a Jerusalem faction was insisting on the necessity
of circumcision for all converting to Christianity.
This was debated by
the leaders of the Church at what came to be known as the Council of
Jerusalem.
The outcome was that converts from paganism did need not be
circumcised. Paul and Barnabas were delegated to go back to Antioch with
the good news (Acts 15:1-35).
Quarrel with Paul
Paul then proposed another
missionary journey and Barnabas suggested taking John Mark, but this
occasioned a violent quarrel between them. Barnabas sailed with John
Mark to Cyprus.
Paul recruited Silas and Timothy and went back to Asia
Minor (Acts 15:39-40). They seem to have been subsequently reconciled
and to have worked together again (around 56 or 57 AD) since Paul asks
the Christians at Corinth (1 Cor 9:6): "Are Barnabas and I the only ones
who must work for a living?"
Death in Cyprus
Barnabas is thought to have been
stoned or burned to death in Cyprus in 61 AD; he was buried near
Salamis.
There is still today a monastery of St Barnabas and icon museum
near Salamis, Famagusta, in North Cyprus.