Encomium on Barnabas, by Alexander Monachus

Laudatio Barnabae, auctore Alexandro monacho

Standard abbreviation: Encom. Barn.

Other titles: Alexander Monachos’s Encomion on Saint Barnabas the Apostle, at the instigation of the priest and key-holder of his august church, in which is also recounted the manner of the revelation of his holy relics

Clavis numbers: ECCA 693; CANT 286

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Related literature: Martyrdom of Mark, Acts and Miracles of Mark, Acts of Barnabas, Acts of Bartholomew and Barnabas, Pseudo-Clementines

Compiled by Kelly Holob, University of Chicago Divinity School ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Holob, Kelly. “Encomium on Barnabas, by Alexander Monachus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/encomium-on-barnabas-by-alexander-monachus/.

Created February 2022. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

There are three main sections of the laudatio: a rhetorical introduction, a life and martyrdom of Barnabas, and the story of the recovery of his remains in politically tumultuous, fifth-century Cyprus. The text opens with rhetorical topoi about the difficulty of the task before the author, an invocation of the saint, and general praise of his personality and deeds. Alexander attributes the sources of his narrative to “the Stromatist” (Clement of Alexandria) and “other ancient authors.”

Barnabas is said to be from Cyprus, of the tribe of Levi. His parents were pious and wealthy and owned land in Jerusalem, and they named their son after the patriarch Joseph. When he had grown up, his parents sent him to Jerusalem, where he learned under Gamaliel with Saul as his classmate. After witnessing Jesus heal the paralytic at the Sheep Gate and do other miracles in the temple, he became a disciple. Soon after, he went to the house of Mary, his aunt and the mother of John Mark, and told her about Jesus. She rushed to invite Jesus to her house, and he and his disciples thereafter had many meetings there. Incidentally, the text mentions that the water-bearer mentioned in Mark 14:14 (and par.) whom Jesus said to follow was Mark. At the commission of the Seventy, Barnabas was made their leader. It was at this point that Peter, through a revelation from the Spirit, gave him the name Barnabas, meaning “son of consolation.” Barnabas later sold much of his land and gave the proceeds to the poor. After Christ died and rose, he sold what little was left and set an example for the rest of the apostles. He also made an effort to convert Saul, but it was only after Saul’s experience on the road to Damascus that he turned to Barnabas for help, who brought him to the apostles. Paul joined them in preaching in Jerusalem, until the apostles sent him to Tarsus out of concern that the Jews would kill him. Barnabas, meanwhile, preached the gospel in Antioch and then, first of all the disciples, in Rome. He secretly left Rome to avoid fame and went to Alexandria, Jerusalem, and then Tarsus, where he met up with Paul and brought him to Antioch, where they stayed for a year. They went to Jerusalem to meet the apostles and then returned to Antioch with Mark (who has appeared back in the story). Next, all three of them went to Cyprus, going from Salamis to Paphos, where they blinded Elymas. Then they returned to Pamphylia.

In Jerusalem, Mark returned to his mother because he was young and too weak; but had a change of heart when he saw that Paul and Barnabas were loved by all and healthy. Barnabas allowed him to come back if he could keep his promise, but Paul did not want him to come. Their subsequent separation is said to be divine providence, because “God was going to make Mark a shepherd and teacher of peoples and nations.” Thereafter, Barnabas went back to Cyprus with Mark, where he stayed in Salamis and performed miracles, preached, and debated with Jews in the synagogue. Everyone in the city respected Barnabas because of his appearance, which is described as pious and solemn. Like Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla, he is described as having a unibrow. While still in the city, “Jews from Syria” stirred up the crowd against him and plotted to kill him. Barnabas gathered his followers, gave a farewell discourse anticipating his death, celebrated the Eucharist, and privately told Mark where he would find his body and that Mark was destined to be known throughout the earth. Barnabas then entered the synagogue and was captured by the Jews from Syria while trying to preach. They imprisoned him overnight, then tortured, stoned, and burned him. His body was miraculously preserved in the fire, so that Mark and some of the brothers could take it and bury it in a cave. There was then a persecution, which scattered the brothers and caused the community to forget the location of the burial. Mark met up with Paul in Ephesus and told him about Barnabas’s death. Afterwards, Peter took Mark to Rome, where he composed his gospel. Peter ordained Mark and sent him to Alexandria. After teaching there for nine years, he too was martyred.

Many years later, people practicing incubation at Barnabas’s tomb were being miraculously healed, though the people of Salamis did not know what was causing it. Meanwhile, a wicked Eutychian monk, Peter the Fuller, ingratiated himself into the court of Zeno, the son-in-law of Emperor Leo (r. 457–474). Peter eventually succeeded in getting Zeno, now emperor (r. 474–491), to be ordained bishop of Antioch, at which point he anathematized the Council of Chalcedon and changed the Triasgion to appease Theopaschites (which act the author devotes a paragraph to condemning). He was promptly anathematized in turn by “all the bishops in the known world.” Zeno later restored him to the episcopacy, and wicked Peter turned his sights to Cyprus, trying to force the island to be under the rule of the see of Antioch, which was a violation of Cyril’s Council of Ephesus. The bishop of Salamis, Anthemios, was hesitating over whether he was capable of going to Constantinople and standing up to Peter. Then a man with a divine, glowing face and bright robes appeared to Anthemios in dreams over three successive nights and told him that he would suffer no harm from his adversaries and to go to Constantinople. The man was revealed to be Barnabas, who instructed Anthemios on how to find his remains outside the city, in the place where miracles had been happening. He was to dig next to a carob-tree and find a cave with a coffin. Inside the coffin was his “whole body” and a gospel handwritten by Matthew. This was to be his proof before his adversaries in Constantinople that Cyprus had an apostolic seat of its own and did not need Antioch.

When he woke up, the bishop set out and found the coffin in the revealed spot. A gospel was lying on his breast, and his remains breathed out a sweet odor. He and his clergy sealed the coffin with lead, and the bishop departed to Constantinople, where his appeal was successful. The emperor expelled Peter the Fuller again and requested the gospel that they had found, which is described as “tablets made of citron wood.” After kissing the gospel, the emperor placed it in in his palace, where it is kept “to this day” and is read from on the Great Thursday of Holy Week. Bishop Anthemios was richly rewarded and was commanded to build a church for Barnabas. He constructed a beautiful building with elaborate features for pilgrims and placed the saint’s coffin on the right side of the altar. The work ends with an affirmation of continued miracles, praise of Barnabas, and a prayer that he continue to watch over the church of Cyprus.

Named historical figures and characters: Anthemios (bishop of Salamis), Barnabas, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril Alexandria, Elymas, Gamaliel, Jesus Christ, John Mark, Joseph (patriarch), Leo I (emperor), Mary (mother of John Mark), Matthew (apostle), Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Peter the Fuller, Zeno (emperor).

Geographical locations: Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Cyprus, Ephesus, Jerusalem, Lipari, Pamphylia, Paphos, Rome, Salamis, Sheep Gate (Jerusalem), Sicily, Syria, Tarsus.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources

“E07084: Alexandros the Monk, Encomium of Barnabas.” The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity.

“Monastery of Saint Barnabas.” Wikipedia. A mausoleum on the monastery grounds in Famagusta houses the empty tombs of both Barnabas and Anthemios; the current location of their remains is unclear.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Greek (BHG 226)

A  Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 821, fols. 84v–99r (11th/12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

B  Mount Athos, Monē Batopediou, 634, fols. 149r–172v (1422) ~ Pinakes

C  Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothêkē, 41, fols. 38v–55r (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes

D  Mount Athos, Monē Dionusiou, 148, fols. 248v–266v (1540) ~ Pinakes; LOC

G  Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1179A, fols. 2r–9v (11th cent.)

H  Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1219, fols. 11r–31v (11th cent.)

Mount Athos, Monē Karakallou, 52, pp. 213–261 (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes

L  Mount Athos, Monē Megistēs Lauras, Δ 79, fols. 61v–74r (13th/14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; LOC

M Mount Athos, Monē Koutloumousiou, 626, pp. 376–414 (1548–1549) ~ Pinakes

N  Messina, Biblioteca Regionale Universitaria ‘Giacomo Longo,’ S. Salv. gr. 29, fols. 83r–89v (1307-1308) ~ Pinakes; Messina

O  Mount Athos, Monē Philotheou, 66, fols. 358v–381r (1340–1341) ~ Pinakes

P  Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. gr. 325, fols. 82v–96v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Heidelberg

Q  Mytilene, Monē tou Leimōnos, 43, fols. 205–218 (12th/13th cent.) ~ Pinakes

R  Mount Athos, Monē Grēgoriou, 7, pp. 305–338 (16th/17th cent.) ~ Pinakes

S  Mount Athos, Monē Megistēs Lauras, Ε 190, fols. 105v–119v (1645–1646) ~ Pinakes; LOC

T  Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 655, fols. 149v–166r (1561) ~ copy of manuscript V; Pinakes; DigiVatLib

U  Mount Athos, Monē Dionusiou, 169, fols. 200–216 and 432v (1599) ~ Pinakes; LOC

V  Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1667, fols. 110r–127v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes

W Mount Athos, Monē Ibērōn, 594, fols. 430v and 118r–139v (1581–1591) ~ Pinakes

X  Mount Athos, Monē Xēropotamou, 242, fols. 49–69 (1635) ~ Pinakes

Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Pal. gr. 365, fols. 128–129 (13th cent) ~ excerpt about Peter the Fuller; Pinakes; Heidelberg

Meteora, Monē Barlaam, 138, fols. 495v–508r (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Mount Athos, Monē Hagiou Panteleēmonos, 205, fols. 27v–32r (18th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Mount Athos, Monē Ibērōn, 1450, pp. 298–321 (18th cent.) ~ Pinakes

New Haven, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, MS 251, pp. 387–426 (1584–1585)

St. Petersburg, Russian National Library/Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka (RNB), Ф. № 906 (Gr.) 246 (18th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, gr. 1890, fol. 104 (15th/16th cent.) ~ Pinakes; DigiVatLib; excerpt

Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. VII.26, fol. i (17th cent.?) ~ fragment; Pinakes

Bolland, Jean et al., eds. Acta Sanctorum, Iunii. Vol. 2. Antwerp: P. Jacobs 1698; 3rd ed. Paris: V. Palmé, 1867 (editio princeps of T by Daniel Papebroch with facing Latin translation by Guglielmo Sirleto, pp. 431–47; first ed. pp. 436–52).

Deun, Peter van, and Jacques Noret, eds. Hagiographica cypria. Sancti Barnabae laudatio auctore Alexandro monacho. CCSG 26. Turnhout: Brepols; Leuven: University Press, 1993 (introduction, pp. 15–79, and edition based on A, G, H, L, N, P, Q, and V, pp. 82–122, by Peter van Deun).

Kollmann, Bernd, and Werner Deuse. Laudatio Barnabae. Lobrede auf Barnabas. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007 (reprint of van Deun’s edition with facing German translation, pp. 62–129).

3.2 Translations

3.2.1 German

Kollmann, Bernd, and Werner Deuse. Laudatio Barnabae. Lobrede auf Barnabas. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007 (reprint of van Deun’s edition with facing German translation, pp. 62–129).

3.3 General Works

Braunsberger, Otto. Der Apostel Barnabas. Sein Leben u. der ihm Beigelegte Brief. Mainz: Kupferberg, 1876 (pp. 7–13).

Delahaye, Hippolyte. “Sants de Chypre.” AnBoll 26 (1907): 161–301.

Huffman, Joseph P. “The Donation of Zeno: St. Barnabas and the Origins of the Cypriot Archbishop’s Regalia Privileges.” JEH 66.2 (2015): 235–06 (esp. 238–39, 246–47).

Kyriacou, Chrysovalantis. “Martyrdom, Memory and Sacred Topography in Early Christian Salamis.” Pages 747–60 in Salamis of Cyprus: History and Archaeology from the Earliest Times to Late Antiquity. Edited by Sabine Rogge, Christina Ioannou, and Theodoros Mavrojannis. Schriften des Instituts für Interdisziplinäre Zypern-Studien 13. Waxmann: Münster, 2019.

Kyriacou, Chrysovalantis and Charalambos Dendrinos. “Τhe Encomium on St Barnabas by Alexander the Monk: Ecclesiastical and imperial politics in 6th century Byzantium.” Pages 374–412 in Kυπριακη αγιολογια. Πρακτικα Β´ διεθνους συνεδριου Παραλίμνι, 13–15 φεβρουαρίου 2014. Edited by Theodōros X. Giankou, Christina Kakkoura, Christodoulos Christodoulou, and Nikolaos Papantōniou. Politistikē Akadēmia “Hagios Epiphanios,” 2021.

Kollmann, Bernd. Joseph Barnabas: His Life and Legacy. Translated by Miranda Henry. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2004 (pp. 57–59).

Kollmann, Bernd and Werner Deuse. Laudatio Barnabae. Lobrede auf Barnabas. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007 (pp. 25–60).

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1883–1887 (vol. 2, pp. 298–304).

Mazocchi, Alessio Simmaco. Neapolitanae Ecclesiae canonici et Regii S. Scripturae interpretis, 2: Commentarii in vetus marmoreum Sanctae Neapolitanae Ecclesiae kalendarium volumen alterums. Naples: Ex officina Novelli de Bonis Typographi Archiepisopalis, 1744 (pp. 553–62).

Norelli, Enrico. “Actes de Barnabé.” Pages 617–42 in volume 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 (pp. 625–26).

Salaville, S. “La moine Alexandre de Chypre (VIe Siècle).” Échos d’Orient 15 (1912): 134–37.

Starowieyski, M. “Datation des Actes (Voyages) de S. Barnabé (BHG 225; ClAp 285) et du Panégyrique de S. Barnabé par Alexandre le Moine (BHG 226; CPG 7400; ClAp 286).” Pages 193–98 in Philohistor. Miscellanea in honorem Caroli Laga septuagenarii. Edited by A. Schoors and Peter Van Deun. OLA 60. Leuven: Peeters, 1994.