Today, according to the calendar, the following are celebrated:
Bartholomew *
Barnabas
Loukas, Loukia, Lukitsa *
Zafiria, Zafiro, Zafirios, Zafiris
* There are other dates that this name has a holiday.
Saints Bartholomew and Barnabas
Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of the Lord and preached the Gospel to the Indians to whom he delivered the Gospel of Matthew. But in Urbanopolis the pagans crucified him, and thus he gloriously ended his life with martyrdom.
Barnabas (also called Joseph) was a Jewish Levite from Cyprus who lived in Jerusalem during the time of the Apostles. A key collaborator of the Apostle Paul, Barnabas preached the Gospel of Christ in Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria and his native Cyprus. There he was stoned by Jews and pagans, and then burned (Salamina, Cyprus). His holy relics were collected by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark and placed in a cave. An old tradition states that Barnabas was buried with the Gospel of Matthew, which he had copied with his own hands and which he tried to make known “to all creation”.
Barnabas was a great and glorious ecclesiastical figure, distinguished for his ardent faith and his ability to preach the divine word.
Both Apostles contributed in the best way to the fulfillment of the Lord's prophecy, that "the gospel must first be preached to all nations" (Mark 10:XNUMX). That is, according to the divine plan, the Gospel must first be preached to all nations, so that this preaching may be a test for those who will not believe.
Apolitikion
Apolytikion Echo 3. Of Divine Faith
Divine instruments of the Paraclete, and exponents of the Divine Word, you have been shown to be God-seeking Apostles, Bartholomew, the leader of the Twelve, and Barnabas, as a son of intercession. But you have asked Christ the God, all-glorious, that great mercy may be granted to us.
Source: newsbomb.gr
