ST. BARNABAS – Jun 11

St. Barnabas, Apostle (1st Century)

St. Barnabas is one of the Church’s earliest converts, missionaries, and apostles. He was a great bishop and martyr for the Faith. With the exception of St. Paul and certain members of The Twelve, St. Barnabas appears to have been the most esteemed man of the first Christian generation.

CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY
St. Barnabas, also known as Joseph, was a Jew from the island of Cyprus and amongst the earliest Christian disciples. St. Paul actually refers to him as an 'apostle' in Acts 14:14. This makes sense since that word in Greek means "one who is sent" and in normal use implies ‘sent in an official capacity by someone of authority’, like a king. St. Barnabas was sent out by St. Peter and the Twelve as an apostle, and Peter clearly acted with the authority of the Vicar of Christ, so theologically it is sound for Paul to refer to Barnabas as an ‘apostle.’

Within the Sacred Scriptures, we hear about St. Barnabas in the Acts of the Apostles, which has often been coined 'The Gospel of the Holy Ghost.' Other biographical information regarding this great saint comes to us through traditions and the Fathers of the Church. He was of the priestly class of Levi and so when it was his turn to serve at the Temple he moved from Cyprus to Jerusalem. There he also came to own land, which means he must have been somewhat wealthy. He knew of Christ and probably heard Him preach. Yet we learn that his brother was Aristobolus, one of the Seventy-Two Disciple selected by Our Lord (cf. Lk 10:1). Surely this is how Barnabas came to learn of Christ and became a disciple himself. In all likelihood, Barnabas did not become a Christian until after Pentecost, though his brother would have been one of the ones gathered around our Blessed Mother when the Holy Ghost descended upon the completion of the first Novena.

We first hear of St. Barnabas in Acts 4:36. Following Pentecost, he had a profound conversion. He sold all his land (and most likely all his possessions) and gave the proceeds to the Apostles so as to provide for the early Christian community. This contrasts him sharply with Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who took similar action but then lied to St. Peter about their donation. Thus were immediately smitten dead by the Holy Ghost for their grievous offense. Their case is always quite illuminating because they did something very praiseworthy in selling their land and giving it half of it to the Church. Nevertheless, because they lied about their donation, they suffered terrible consequences.

BARNABAS INTERCEDES FOR PAUL
Perhaps the most pivotal role St. Barnabas played in the history of the Church is befriending the recently converted St. Paul. As we know, Saul hunted down, imprisoned and killed many Christians. The "proper religious authorities" of his day had empowered him to destroy the nascent Church in this manner and he had the "paperwork" to prove it. Then God gave sent Saul miraculous graces and led him on a great conversion. Nevertheless, we can easily understand how the early Christians were incredibly distrustful of him. Our Lord appeared to Ananias of Damascus and told him to take in Saul and help him, but the disciple was deeply troubled considering he would harbor and nurse a vile persecuting murderer. Yet fortunately for all successive Christian generations, Ananias trusted and obeyed God despite his legitimate concerns. Ananias cared for St. Paul, who fasted completely for three days. He prayed for Saul, and then the 'scales' fell from Paul’s eyes and he recovered his sight.

Yet once Paul reached Jerusalem, the Christians there would have nothing to do with him. Surely they feared his reputation and considered he might be a double agent, intent on discovering their hideouts, killing them all, and utterly destroying the Church. They would have nothing to do with him. One might envision St. Paul walking the streets of Jerusalem searching for the community of Christians, trying to find the house churches, but as he approaches lookouts warn of danger and all the Christians scurry into hiding, leaving Paul more desperate and disillusioned. It was St. Barnabas who first trusted Paul. One can well wonder if Our Lord or an angel appeared to him, as with Ananias of Damascus. Barnabas took Paul into his confidence and led him to the secret meeting places of the Christians, even to the highest levels of the Church! It was St. Barnabas who introduced St. Paul to St. Peter (cd. Acts 9:27). How wondrous that event must have been!

One gets the sense that perhaps the Twelve did not yet trust Paul. But here was Barnabas vouching for him. What to do? An effective solution - send Paul out as a missionary. That way he is not near the center of Christianity where he could wreck much damage; plus the difficulties and trials of missionary work would prove his mettle. Yes Paul did debate with the Greeks and Gentiles in Jerusalem and there were plots to kill him, but trust is a hard thing to gain after you have murdered many Christians. Thus, the Twelve commanded St. Paul to return to his homeland of Tarsus and spread Christianity there.

ST. BARNABAS THE MISSIONARY
In the meantime, the Apostles sent Barnabas as far north as Antioch in Syria. Following St. Stephen's martyrdom, the Christian leaders had dispersed for fear of the rising murderous hatred directed against them. Some of these Christians had traveled north to Antioch and began preaching Christianity there. This was the greatest city of the area (second only to Rome and Alexandria in the whole Roman Empire). This is also where the disciples of Christ were first called Christians. Reports of this growing community reached the Apostles and they decided to appoint Barnabas to oversee these efforts and ensure that Christian dogma was being taught and practiced correctly. Yet Barnabas needed help in this endeavor. So he traveled to Tarsus and convinced Paul to come help him strengthen the Church in Antioch. Together they did much good spiritual and material work. For example, when there was a great famine in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul gathered many goods and money from Antioch and took it to the beleaguered Mother Church.

To Note: (1) Even though Barnabas and Paul led the work 'in the trenches' at Antioch, it was nonetheless St. Peter who was the first Bishop of Antioch. (2) It is only the murder of St. Stephen (suffering) that prompts the Christians to scatter north, south, east and west from Jerusalem and begin to take the Gospel to all nations, as Our Lord had commanded on Ascension Thursday. God is so Almighty that He uses horrible evil calamities to further His Divine Plan!

Since Barnabas was so trusting of Saul, and they had brought relief for the famine together, the Twelve thought it prudent to keep them together and to have Barnabas continue overseeing their missionary work. The Holy Ghost had revealed this as His will and the Twelve confirmed it with their authority. Thus, it was now time to send them even further north - in continuing obedience to Christ's command to teach and baptize all nations. The Twelve commissioned Barnabas and Paul as missionaries and sent them off on what today is known as Paul's First (great) Missionary Journey.

St. Barnabas and St. Paul first went to Cyprus, then several islands in the Aegean Sea, and finally up into area we now know as Turkey. On account of their efforts, this area was a great stronghold of Christianity for many centuries. Their missionary team also included John Mark (the Evangelist), who was Barnabas' nephew. Tradition tells us that St. Mark's mother was one of the women at the foot of the Cross who accompanied Mary Magdalene to the tomb on Easter morning. She and her husband were also most likely the owners of the first "Church" - the home with the Upper Room where Christ said the Last Supper, where Christ appeared risen, where the Apostles gathered with our Blessed Mother to pray the first novena, where Pentecost occurred, and where the Church gathered to pray for St. Peter when he was in chains and about to be executed (cf. Acts 12).

Barnabas and Paul endured many trials which we read about in Acts 13 & 14. In one instance, when they reached Lystra and worked miracle healings, they were even considered to be Greek gods in disguise. Barnabas was taken to be Zeus because he was the leader and Paul was thought to be Hermes, the messenger god, since he did most of the talking. The local populace were turned against them by Jewish leaders and St. Paul was nearly killed (by stoning). His body was left outside Lystra for dead (cf. Acts 14:18). Yet St. Barnabas and the other Christians recovered his body. Miraculously, St. Paul was restored to health (i.e. like a resurrection) and one easily imagines Barnabas praying for him fervently and interceding on his behalf for this miracle. Barnabas and Paul then returned into Lystra before continuing on to Derbe. Barnabas and Paul ordained priests (presbyters) in all of these nascent communities and appointed leaders.

They returned to Antioch only to find that much of their evangelical work among the Gentiles had been undone by other Christian leaders who wanted to force the Gentile converts to adopt all Jewish practices. (In many ways, this was the principle battle of St. Paul's life). It seems it was also here that St. Peter acted inappropriately in giving the public appearance of supporting these Judaizing efforts, despite having received the revelation of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 10). St. Paul famously rebuked St. Peter to his face over this matter, as we read about in Galatians (2:11-15). In order to settle this growing and destructive dispute once and for all, Barnabas and Paul, along with leading figures from among their opponents (who remain nameless in the Scriptures so as not to backbite I think), traveled to Jerusalem and sought the advice of the Twelve. This is the Great "Council of Jerusalem" (cf. Acts 15) in which St. Peter settled the dispute which could have destroyed the Church in its first decades of existence. Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch with the joyous results of the Council and continued their apostolic work there.

BARNABAS AND PAUL PART WAYS
St. Paul then thought it prudent to make a second great missionary journey in order to visit all the communities they had founded and to strengthen them in the Faith. Barnabas agreed and again wanted to bring along John Mark (the Evangelist and his nephew). However, in the first missionary journey, when things had gotten quite rough, and. the imminent threat of death from persecution and/or starvation had beset the missionaries, Mark had chosen to abandon the endeavor and return home to Jerusalem. He was still quite young at the time and the hardships proved too much. Thus, when Barnabas and Paul prepared to undertake their second missionary journey, Paul refused to allow Mark to accompany them. It seems this caused a rift between Barnabas and Paul and this greatest of missionary teams parted ways (cf Acts 15:37-38). Barnabas took Mark with him and they went as missionaries to Cyprus and other islands, whereas St. Paul took Silas with him and traveled north by land towards Turkey (this became the Second Missionary Journey of St. Paul).

ST. MARK, BARNABAS' NEPHEW
This is also the last we hear about St. Barnabas in Acts. Instead St. Luke, who became a faithful companion of St. Paul, tells us of St. Paul's great missionary endeavors in the remaining chapters of Acts. However, from St. Peter's letters we do learn that St. Mark did indeed become a great apostle. He accompanied St. Peter on his journeys and St. Peter achieved reconciliation between St. Mark and St. Paul. He convinced St. Paul that St. Mark had indeed repented, grown strong in the faith, and would never flee from missionary work, trials, or persecutions again. When St. Paul was under house arrest in Rome, St. Mark was in fact one of his main assistants (cf. Col 4:10). It is also believed that St. Mark put to writing the principal preaching of St. Peter to the Gentiles in Rome and this became what we know as the Gospel of St. Mark. Before being executed, St. Peter appointed St. Mark to evangelize in North Africa and consecrated him the first Bishop of Alexandria. This is where St. Mark proved his mettle beyond all doubt, working great miracles, converting many in this land so long dominated by idols and demons, and where he was brutally martyred for Christ (another story to be recounted on his feast day.)

EPILOGUE
Tradition tells us that St. Barnabas continued leading the Christian Church on the island of Cyprus. We know he was still laboring as an Apostle in Cyprus during the 50's when St. Paul was writing letters to the Corinthians. He also continued to travel and evangelize far off lands. Tradition names him as first Bishop of Milan in northern Italy and it is said his preaching in Rome converted St. Clement I, who was to become one of St. Peter's main assistants and the fourth Pope. Barnabas' preaching was legendary, after all the Apostles changed his name from Joseph to Barnabas, which means "son of encouragement" in the context of prophetic encouragement which brings true spiritual consolation. He continued to return to Cyprus which seems to have become his "home base of operations." There he was martyred in 61 AD. With the exception of St. Paul and certain members of the Twelve, St. Barnabas appears to have been the most esteemed man of the first Christian generation.