BARNABAS

(‘son of consolation,’ so called by the Apostles), the Apostle, was a Levite of Cyprus named Joses, who sold his land and gave the money to the Apostles. He was the uncle of Mark. Barnabas championed Paul, after the latter’s conversion; was sent to Antioch; accompanied Paul on his first mi ionary journey; returned to Antioch and sailed with Mark to Cyprus, where he is said to have died as a martyr. The apocryphal Epistle of Barnabas is found in the Codex Sinaiticus, and Clement of Alexandria (200) frequently quotes it and attributes it erroneously to Barnabas. It deals with the attitude of the Church towards the Jewish law, in an anti-Judaistic spirit. Harnack gives its date as about 130.