St. Barnabas 34. The Letter of Barnabas. Letter of Barnabas We have from the Early Church a treatise called The Letter of Barnabas . The early Church was unanimous in believing this was authored by St. Barnabas himself, but modern scholarship does not believe Barnabas was the author. It appears to have been written between about 70-130 AD. The text has always been respected, sometimes treated as canonical Scripture and read at Mass (before the canon was defined). It is still read today in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours , Office of Readings. The letter begins: “All hail, you sons and daughters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us in peace. Seeing that the divine fruits of righteousness abound among you, I rejoice exceedingly and above measure in your happy and honored spirits, because you have with such effect received the engrafted spiritual gift. Wherefore also I inwardly rejoice the more, hoping to be saved, because I truly perceive in you the Spirit poured fort

St. Barnabas 33. A Christmas Message.       These past many weeks we have taken this odyssey through the life of St. Barnabas. Now it is Christmas time. Wouldn’t it be lovely if St. Barnabas had left us some writing to inspire us this Christmas? To remind us of what Christmas was all about? Well, he may have.       “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.” Now here’s the Christmas part: the Son who is God also “partook of the same nature” as all of us children of God. That’s Christmas, God come in the form of our human flesh. Why? “That through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver [us].” Say it again, “He had to be made like his brethren in every respect so t

St. Barnabas 32. In Macedonia and Corinth (Again?)       Last week’s article concluded that about 55-56 AD, St. Barnabas was evangelizing inland in Western Asia (today’s Turkey), probably around Colossae, while St. Mark had remained with St. Paul, who was at the time probably imprisoned at Ephesus, which lies at the Western coast of the Agean Sea. Upon Paul’s release (probably early Spring 57 AD) from the “uproar” at Ephesus ( Ac 20:1 ), he left for Macedonia ( Ac 20:1-2 ). It was from there ( 2 Cor 7:5 ) that Paul and Timothy ( 2 Cor 1:1 ) wrote the second letter to the Church at Corinth in advance of Paul’s coming there.       Now Paul writes that Titus will be coming to Corinth first (so likely carried this second letter to the Church) and, “With him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his preaching of the gospel, and not only that, but he has been appointed by the Churches to travel with us in this gracious work which we are carrying on....” ( 2 Cor

  St. Barnabas 31. Evangelization in Asia.       Continuing our lengthy biography of St. Barnabas, last week we discussed his and St. Mark’s evangelization on the island of Cyprus (about 50 AD and following). The next reference in Scripture is St. Paul’s reference to Barnabas in 1 Corinthians 9 (written about 54 AD) which, from the context, indicates that the Corinthians (in Greece) must have known Barnabas first-hand, with the reasonable probability that Paul and Barnabas had evangelized together.       It is further interesting that in Philemon24 , Paul includes Mark in a list of “fellow workers” sending greetings (and thus there with Paul), but Barnabas is not included. Also, in Colossians 4:10 Paul writes, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions–if he comes to you, receive him).” Paul also says these two, and Justus, are the “only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers” ( Col 4:11 ) and s

St. Barnabas 30. Back to Cyprus.       It is now 50 AD. Imperial Rome is at the height of its political, economic, and military power. [1] According to a tradition of the Eastern Church, St. Matthew finished writing his Gospel in Aramaic this year, having begun six years earlier. [2]       St. Barnabas and St. Mark have left Antioch of Syria for the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus. St. Luke does not mention Barnabas further in the book of Acts, so we look elsewhere.       There exists a work called the Acts of Barnabas  or, more fully, The Travels and the Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Barnabas , which scholars date no earlier than the 5th Century. It purports to be written by St. Mark, who writes in the first person. Some aspects (such as Mark’s own conversion, and the cause of the split between Barnabas and Paul) tend to be inconsistent with Scripture, other aspects (such the timing and manner of Barnabas’ death) is inconsistent with other traditions. However, scholars do say that the