Apostles and Prophets
The Seventy Disciples or Seventy-two
Disciples (known in the Eastern Christian tradition as the Seventy Apostles) were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the
Gospel of Luke 10:1-24. According to Luke, the only gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in
pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text. In Western Christianity it is usual to refer to them as Disciples
while in Eastern Christianity they are usually referred to as Apostles. Using the original Greek words, both titles are descriptive
as an apostle is one sent on a mission whereas a disciple is a student, but the two traditions differ on the scope of the
word apostle.
The
Record by Hippolytus
Hippolytus
of Rome was a disciple of Irenaeus, who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of Apostle John. Because he was the
first antipope, and that he wrote in Greek rather than Latin, his works were shunned, neglected and lost to the West, until
the discovery at a monastery on Mt. Athos in 1854. While his major work The Refutation of All Heresies was readily accepted
(once the false attribution to Origen was resolved), his two small works, On the Twelve Apostles, and On the Seventy Apostles,
are still regarded as dubious, put in the appendix of his works in the voluminous collection of Early Church Fathers. Here
is the complete list of Hippolytus' On the Seventy Apostles of Christ:
1. James the Lord’s brother, bishop of Jerusalem
2. Cleopas, bishop of Jerusalem.
3. Matthias, who
supplied the vacant place in the number of the twelve apostles.
4. Thaddeus, who conveyed the epistle
to Augarus.
5. Ananias, who baptized Paul, and was bishop of Damascus.
6. Stephen, the first martyr.
7. Philip, who baptized the eunuch.
8. Prochorus, bishop of Nicomedia, who also
was the first that departed, 11 believing together with his daughters.
9. Nicanor died when Stephen was
martyred.
10. Timon, bishop of Bostra.
11. Parmenas, bishop of
Soli.
12. Nicolaus, bishop of Samaria.
13. Barnabas, bishop of Milan.
14. Mark the evangelist, bishop of Alexandria.
15. Luke the evangelist.
These two belonged to the seventy disciples
who were scattered by the offence of the word which Christ spoke, “Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he
is not worthy of me.” But the one being induced to return to the Lord by Peter’s instrumentality, and the other
by Paul’s, they were honored to preach that Gospel on account of which they also suffered martyrdom, the one being burned,
and the other being crucified on an olive tree.
16. Silas, bishop of Corinth
17. Silvanus, bishop of Thessalonica.
18. Crisces (Crescens), bishop of Carchedon in Gaul.
19. Epænetus,
bishop of Carthage
20. Andronicus, bishop of Pannonia.
21. Amplias, bishop of Odyssus.
22. Urban,
bishop of Macedonia.
23. Stachys, bishop of Byzantium.
24. Barnabas, bishop of Heraclea
25.
Phygellus, bishop of Ephesus. He was of the party also of Simon.
26. Hermogenes.
He, too, was of the same mind with the former.
27. Demas, who also became a priest of idols.
28. Apelles, bishop of Smyrna.
29. Aristobulus, bishop of Britain.
30. Narcissus,
bishop of Athens.
31. Herodion, bishop of Tarsus.
32. Agabus the prophet.
33. Rufus, bishop of Thebes.
34.
Asyncritus, bishop of Hyrcania.
35. Phlegon, bishop of Marathon.
36. Hermes, bishop of Dalmatia.
37. Patrobulus,1 bishop of Puteoli.
38. Hermas, bishop of Philippi.
39. Linus, bishop of Rome.
40. Caius, bishop of Ephesus.
41. Philologus, bishop of Sinope
42, 43. Olympus and Rhodion were martyred in Rome.
44. Lucius, bishop of Laodicea in Syria.
45. Jason, bishop of Tarsus.
46. Sosipater, bishop of Iconium
47. Tertius, bishop of Iconium.
48. Erastus, bishop of Panellas.
49. Quartus, bishop of Berytus.
50. Apollo, bishop of Cæsarea.
51. Cephas
52. Sosthenes,
bishop of Colophonia.
53. Tychicus, bishop of Colophonia.
54. Epaphroditus, bishop of Andriace.
55. Cæsar, bishop
of Dyrrachium.
56. Mark, cousin to Barnabas, bishop of Apollonia.
57.
Justus, bishop of Eleutheropolis.
58. Artemas, bishop of Lystra.
59. Clement, bishop of Sardinia.
60. Onesiphorus, bishop of Corone.
61. Tychicus, bishop of
Chalcedon.
62. Carpus, bishop of Berytus in Thrace.
63. Evodus, bishop of Antioch.
64. Aristarchus, bishop
of Apamea.
65. Mark, who is also John, bishop of Bibloupolis.
66. Zenas,
bishop of Diospolis.
67. Philemon, bishop of Gaza.
68, 69. Aristarchus and Pudes.
