Christianity: Details about 'Seventy Apostles'
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The Seventy of the Gospel of Luke 10:1 – 20, though not literally named apostles, were followers that Jesus appointed and sent away (the Greek verb form apostello, not the noun form apostolos). They were to eat any food offered, heal the sick and spread the word; that God's reign is coming, that whoever hears them hears Jesus, whoever rejects them rejects Jesus and whoever rejects Jesus rejects the One who sent him. In addition they were granted great powers over the enemy and their names written in heaven. The episode is termed the "Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles" in Eastern Orthodoxy. This is the only mention of the group. The number is "seventy" in reliable manuscripts in the Alexandrian and Caesarean text traditions but "seventy-two" in reliable Alexandrian and Western (Roman) texts. In editing the Vulgate, Jerome selected the reading of seventy-two. The passage in Luke 10 reads:
(translation in the United States Convention of Roman Catholic Bishops' New American Bible )
Sources and traditionsThe Gospel of Luke is alone among the synoptic gospels in containing two episodes in which Jesus sends out his followers on a mission. The first occasion (Luke 9:1-6) is closely based on the mission in Mark 6:6b-13, which however recounts the sending out of the Twelve Apostles, rather than seventy, though with similar details. The parallels (also Matthew 9:35,10:1,7-11), suggest a common origin in the posited Q document. What has been said to the seventy (two) in Luke 10:4 is referred in passing to the Twelve in Luke 22:35:
Also related is the Great Commission. The Orthodox Church tradition of supplying names to the Seventy or the Seventy-Two whose "names are written in heaven" is associated with a late 3rd century bishop Dorotheus of Tyre, unknown except in this context, to whom has been ascribed an account of the Seventy Apostles, of which the surviving version is 8th century. The names of these disciples are given in several lists: Chronicon Paschale, and the Pseudo-Dorotheus printed in Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, XCII, 521-524; 543-545; 1061-1065. The Roman Catholic church finds that "these lists are unfortunately worthless" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, "Apostle"). Eusebius positively asserted that no such roll existed in his time, and mentioned among the disciples only Barnabas, Sosthenes, Cephas, Matthias, Thaddeus and James "the Lord's brother" (Historia Ecclesiae I.xii). In the Orthodox Church, the Seventy Apostles are commemorated together, on January 4. However, their individual commemorations are scattered throughout the year as well (see Eastern Orthodox Church calendar). Many of their names are recognizable for their other achievements. The names included in various lists differ slightly. In the lists Luke is also one of these seventy himself. The following list gives a widely accepted canon. List of the Seventy ApostlesTheir attributes, as appended to the names in this list, are also traditional.
Original Apostles who ApostasizedSome of the original seventy sent by Jesus later apostasized. Thus, some of the names on the above list were not actually in the original seventy, but are considered part of the group anyway as "replacements", similarly to Matthias's replacement of Judas Iscariot in the Twelve Apostles. The following are those who fell away from mainline Christianity:
Other ApostlesAlso, some lists name a few different apostles than the ones listed above. Solomon, Nestorian bishop of Basra in the 13th century, in The Book of the Bee (chapter xlix) offers the following list: "The names of the seventy. James, the son of Joseph; Simon the son of Cleopas; Cleopas his father; Joses; Simon; Judah; Barnabas; Manaeus (?); Ananias, who baptised Paul; Cephas, who preached at Antioch; Joseph the senator; Nicodemus the archon; Nathaniel the chief scribe; Justus, that is Joseph, who is called Barshabbâ; Silas; Judah; John, surnamed Mark; Mnason, who received Paul; Manaël, the foster-brother of Herod; Simon called Niger; Jason, who is (mentioned) in the Acts (of the Apostles); Rufus; Alexander; Simon the Cyrenian, their father; Lucius the Cyrenian; another Judah, who is mentioned in the Acts ; Judah, who is called Simon; Eurion (Orion) the splay-footed; Thôrus (?); Thorîsus (?); Zabdon; Zakron. Most commonly named are:
These are usually included at the expense of the aforementioned Timothy, Titus, Archippus, Crescens, Olympas, Epaphroditus, Quadratus, Aquila, Fortunatus, and/or Achaicus.
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