Apostle Barnabas

Barnabas, originally named Joseph (or Joses), was a Jewish Levite from the island of Cyprus and one of the most influential leaders of the earliest Christian movement outside the Twelve. The Acts of the Apostles records that he sold a field and laid the proceeds at the apostles' feet in Jerusalem, an act that exemplified the communal sharing of the first believers. The apostles gave him the Aramaic name Barnabas, commonly explained as son of encouragement or son of consolation, a designation that matched his later work as mediator, sponsor of converts, and missionary companion. He is counted among the apostles in a broader New Testament sense, though he was not one of the Twelve chosen by Jesus during the ministry in Galilee and Judea.

After the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, Barnabas was the figure who introduced the former persecutor to the still-fearful community in Jerusalem and attested that the change was genuine. When reports reached Jerusalem of large numbers of Gentile conversions at Antioch, the church sent Barnabas to investigate. He rejoiced at what he found, exhorted the believers to remain faithful, and then went to Tarsus to find Saul and bring him back to Antioch. The two taught together there for a year; it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. After prayer and fasting, the church of Antioch commissioned Barnabas and Saul (thereafter called Paul) for missionary work. Their journey, often termed the first missionary journey, took them through Cyprus, Barnabas's native land, where they preached in Salamis and Paphos, and then through Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia in Asia Minor.

A later disagreement over whether to take John Mark, who had withdrawn from the earlier journey, led Barnabas and Paul to separate. Colossians identifies Mark as Barnabas's cousin. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; Paul chose Silas. Acts does not mention Barnabas again after this parting. Paul's letters, however, continue to speak of him with respect, and the dispute does not appear to have produced lasting enmity. Extra-biblical tradition, especially the fifth-century Acts of Barnabas, holds that he continued to evangelize Cyprus and was martyred at Salamis, by stoning or burning, at the instigation of members of the local Jewish community. The year commonly given in hagiographical sources is 61. The Church of Cyprus has long regarded him as its founder. A later legend, associated with Archbishop Anthemios in the fifth century, claimed that Barnabas's tomb was discovered near Salamis with a copy of the Gospel of Matthew on his breast; the story was used to support the autocephaly of the Cypriot church.

Western medieval tradition also credited Barnabas with preaching in Rome and with founding the church of Milan, though these claims lack early historical support. An early Christian treatise known as the Epistle of Barnabas was long attributed to him but is now generally dated to the late first or early second century and regarded as pseudonymous. He is commemorated on 11 June in both Eastern and Western calendars and is invoked as a patron of Cyprus and Antioch, of Milan in Ambrosian tradition, of peacemakers, and against hailstorms. He is remembered as a figure of encouragement, reconciliation, and missionary partnership in the first Christian generation.