Seventy disciples
Early students of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Early students of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The seventy disciples (Greek: ἑβδομήκοντα μαθητές, hebdomikonta mathetes), known in the Eastern Christian traditions as the seventy apostles (Greek: ἑβδομήκοντα απόστολοι, hebdomikonta apostoloi), were early emissaries of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The number of those disciples varies between either 70 or 72 depending on the manuscript.
Seventy disciples | |
|---|---|
Icon of the Seventy Apostles | |
| Disciples | |
| Venerated in | |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | 4 January (Eastern Orthodoxy) |
| Attributes | Scroll Cross |
The passage from Luke 10 in the Gospel of Luke, the only gospel in which they are mentioned, includes specific instructions for the mission, beginning with (in Douay–Rheims Bible):[1]
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.
In Western Christianity, they are usually referred to as disciples,[2] whereas in Eastern Christianity they are usually referred to as apostles.[3] 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.
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.
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The feast day commemorating the seventy is known as the "Synaxis of the Seventy Disciples" in Eastern Orthodoxy, and is celebrated on January 4. Each of the seventy disciples also has individual commemorations scattered throughout the liturgical year (see Eastern Orthodox Church calendar).
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]
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]
Other lists are
Matthias, who would later replace Judas Iscariot as one of the twelve apostles, is also often numbered among the seventy. [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]
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