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fter our Lord’s ascension into heaven, Barnabas
continued for a considerable time with St. Paul, being his constant attendant
wherever he went. He traveled with him to a great variety of places in
different parts of the world, and was of infinite service in helping him
propagate the gospel of his great Lord and Master. At length, however,
a dispute arose between them while they were at Antioch, the issue of
which was that Barnabas left Paul at Antioch, and retired to Cyprus, his
native country.
After this separation from St. Paul, the sacred writings give us no
account of St. Barnabas; nor are the ecclesiastical writers agreed among
themselves with regard to the actions of our apostle, after his sailing
for Cyprus. This, however, seems to be certain, that he did not spend
the whole remainder of his life on that island, but visited different
parts of the world, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel, healing
the sick, and working other miracles among the Gentiles.
After long and painful travels, attended with different degrees of success
in different places, he returned to Cyprus, his native country, where
he suffered martyrdom in the following manner: certain Jews coming from
Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being
highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was
disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and after the most inhuman
tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator
of this barbarous action, privately interred his body in a cave; where
it remained till the time of the emperor Zeno, in the year of Christ 485,
when it was discovered, with St. Matthew’s Gospel, in Hebrew, written
with his own hand, lying on his breast.
Resources:
- This story is adapted from John Kitto's 1870 History of the Bible and represents the commonly accepted views about this apostle
among rank and file believers in the late 19th century.
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