The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples, known in the Eastern Christian traditions as the seventy apostles or seventy-twoapostles, were early emissaries of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The correct Greek terminology is evdomikonta (ἑβδομήκοντα) apostoli or evdomikonta mathetes.
According to the Gospel of Luke, the only gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text. The number of those disciples varies between either 70 or 72 depending on the account.
In Western Christianity, they are usually referred to as disciples,[1] whereas in Eastern Christianity they are usually referred to as apostles.[2] Using the original Greek words, both titles are descriptive, as an apostle is one sent on a mission (the Greek uses the verb form: apesteilen) whereas a disciple is a student, but the two traditions differ on the scope of the words apostle and disciple.
The passage from Luke 10 reads (in Douay–Rheims Bible):[3]
And after these things the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and he sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself was to come.
This is the only mention of the group in the Bible. The number is seventy in some manuscripts of the Alexandrian (such as Codex Sinaiticus) and Caesarean text traditions but seventy-two in most other Alexandrian and Western texts. Samuel Dickey Gordon notes that they were sent out as thirty-five deputations of two each.[4]
The number may derive from the seventy nations of Genesis 10 or the many other occurrences of the number seventy in the Bible, or the seventy-two translators of the Septuagint from the Letter of Aristeas.[5] In translating the Vulgate, Jerome selected the reading of seventy-two.
The Gospel of Luke is not alone among the synoptic gospels in containing multiple episodes in which Jesus sends out his followers on missions. The first occasion (Luke 9:1–6) is closely based on the "limited commission" mission in Mark 6:6–13, which, however, recounts the sending out of the twelve apostles, rather than seventy, though with similar details. The parallels (also Matthew 9:35, Matthew 10:1, and Matthew 10:5–42) suggest a common origin in the hypothesized Q document. Luke also mentions the Great Commission to "all nations" (Luke 24:44–49) but in less detail than Matthew's account, and Mark 16:19–20 mentions the Dispersion of the Apostles.
What has been said to the seventy (two) in Luke 10:4 is referred in passing to the Twelve in Luke 22:35:
He said to them, "When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?" "No, nothing", they replied.
Feast days
Erastus, Olympus, Rhodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius
Stachys, Amplias, Urban
Patrobulus, Hermas, Linus, Caius, Philologus
Sosthenes, Apollo, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Cæsar and Onesiphorus
The feast day commemorating the seventy is known as the "Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles" in Eastern Orthodoxy, and is celebrated on January 4. Each of the seventy apostles also has individual commemorations scattered throughout the liturgical year (see Eastern Orthodox Church calendar).
Lists of the disciples' names
Attributed to Hippolytus
A Greek text titled On the Seventy Apostles of Christ is known from several manuscripts, the oldest in Codex Baroccianus 206, a ninth-century palimpsest lectionary.[6] The text is ancient, but its traditional ascription to Hippolytus of Rome is now considered dubious.[6] An 1886 translation is:[6]
These two [Mark and Luke] belonged to the seventy disciples who were scattered by the offence of the word which Christ spoke, "Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he is not worthy of me." But the one being induced to return to the Lord by Peter's instrumentality, and the other by Paul's, they were honored to preach that Gospel on account of which they also suffered martyrdom, the one being burned, and the other being crucified on an olive tree.
Silas, bishop of Corinth
Silvanus, bishop of Thessalonica
Crisces (Crescens), bishop of Carchedon in Galatia
Epaphroditus, bishop of Andriaca (there are at least two ancient towns called Andriaca, one in Thrace and one in Asia Minor),
Cæsar, bishop of Dyrrachium
Mark, cousin to Barnabas, bishop of Apollonia
Justus, bishop of Eleutheropolis
Artemas, bishop of Lystra
Clement, bishop of Sardinia
Onesiphorus, bishop of Corone
Tychicus, bishop of Chalcedon
Carpus, bishop of Berytus in Thrace
Evodus, bishop of Antioch
Aristarchus, bishop of Apamea
Mark, who is also John, bishop of Bibloupolis
Zenas, bishop of Diospolis
Philemon, bishop of Gaza
Aristarchus
Pudes
Trophimus, who was martyred along with Paul
Book of the Bee
Similar to an earlier list attributed to Irenaeus,[7]Bishop Solomon of Basra of the Church of the East in the 13th century Book of the Bee offers the following list:[8]
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 (of the apostles)
Judah, who is called Simon
Eurion (Orion) the splay-footed
Thôrus (?)
Thorîsus (?)
Zabdon
Zakron
These are the seven who were chosen with Stephen:
Philip the Evangelist, who had three daughters that used to prophesy
Stephen
Prochorus
Nicanor
Timon
Parmenas
Nicolaus, the Antiochian proselyte
[the next three are listed with the preceding seven]
Andronicus the Greek
Titus
Timothy
These are the five who were with Peter in Rome:
Hermas [of Philippopolis]
Plîgtâ
Patrobas
Asyncritus
Hermas [of Dalmatia]
These are the six [sic; seven names follow] who came with Peter to Cornelius:
Criscus (Crescens)
Milichus
Kîrîțôn (Crito)
Simon
Gaius, who received Paul
Abrazon (?)
Apollos
These are the twelve who were rejected from among the seventy, as Judas Iscariot was from among the twelve, because they absolutely denied our Lord's divinity at the instigation of Cerinthus. Of these Luke [recte 1 John] said, They went out from us, but they were not of us;' and Paul called them 'false apostles and deceitful workers'.
Simon
Levi
Bar-Ḳubbâ
Cleon
Hymenaeus
Candarus
Clithon (?)
Demas
Narcissus
Slikîspus (?)
Thaddaeus
Mârûthâ
In their stead there came in these:
Luke the physician
Apollos the elect
Ampelius
Urbanus
Stachys
Popillius (or Publius)
Aristobulus
Stephen (not the Corinthian)
Herodion the son of Narcissus
Olympas
Mark the Evangelist
Addai
Aggai
Mâr Mârî
Others
Other lists are
One attributed to Dorotheus of Tyre, completed some time before AD 811.[9]
Matthias, who would later replace Judas Iscariot as one of the twelve apostles, is also often numbered among the seventy, since John Mark ("John, surnamed Mark", "Mark, who is also John") is typically identified with Mark the Evangelist.[11]
Some accounts of the legendary Saint Mantius of Évora regard him as one of the disciples, having witnessed the Last Supper and Pentecost.[12]
↑Soli has been variously identified as Soli, Cyprus and Soli, Cilicia.
References
↑Catholic Encyclopedia: Disciple: "The disciples, in this disciples, in this context, are not the crowds of believers who flocked around Christ, but a smaller body of His followers. They are commonly identified with the seventy-two (seventy, according to the received Greek text, although several Greek manuscripts mention seventy-two, as does the Vulgate) referred to (Luke 10:1) as having been chosen by Jesus. The names of these disciples are given in several lists (Chronicon Paschale, and Pseudo-Dorotheus in Migne, P.G., XCII, 521–24, 543–45, 1061–65); but these lists are unfortunately worthless."