St. Barnabas' Feast Day

Today, June 11th, is St. Barnabas' Feast Day. Since our church is named after St. Barnabas, it is a great day of celebration. Our church community will celebrate on Sunday, June 13th to honor our patron saint.

All we know of Barnabas is to be found in the New Testament. A Jew, born in Cyprus and named Joseph, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the Apostles, who gave him the name Barnabas. He lived in common with the earliest converts to Christianity Jerusalem. Barnabas was instrumental in persuading the community in Jerusalem to accept Paul as a disciple. With Paul he brought Antioch's donation to the Jerusalem community during a famine, and returned to Antioch with John Mark, his cousin. The three went on a missionary journey to Cyprus, Perga (when John Mark went to Jerusalem), and Antioch, where they were violently opposed by the Jews that they decided to preach to the pagans. When a dispute arose regarding the observance of the Jewish rites, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, where, at a council, it was decided that pagans did not have to be circumcised to be baptized. On their return to Antioch, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark on another visitation to the cities where they had preached, but Paul objected because of John Mark's desertion of them in Perga. Paul and Barnabas parted, and Barnabas returned to Cyprus with Mark; nothing further is heard of him, though it is believed his rift with Paul was ultimately healed. Tradition has Barnabas preaching in Alexandria and Rome, the founder of the Cypriote Church, the Bishop of Milan (which he was not), and has him stoned to death at Salamis about the year 61. The apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas was long attributed to him, but modern scholarship now attributes it to a Christian in Alexandria between the years 70 and 100; the Gospel of Barnabas is probably by an Italian Christian who became a Mohammedan; and the Acts of Barnabas once attributed to John Mark are now known to have been written in the fifth century. Barnabas’ feast day is June 11. St. Barnabas is known to be an encourager, one who empowers others to use the gifts that God has given them. He was instrumental in leading many to Christ and strengthening them in their spiritual journey.