Seventy disciples
Icon of the Seventy Apostles
Disciples
Venerated in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy Lutheran Church Anglican Church
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Feast	4 January (Eastern Orthodoxy)
Attributes	Scroll Cross

The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples, known in the Eastern Christian traditions as the seventy apostles or seventy-two apostles, were early emissaries of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The correct Greek terminology is evdomikonta (εβδομήκοντα) apostoli or evdomikonta mathetes.

According to the Gospel of 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. The number of those disciples varies between either 70 or 72 depending on the account.

In Western Christianity, they are usually referred to as disciples,^[1] whereas in Eastern Christianity they are usually referred to as apostles.^[2] 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.

Bible text

The passage from Luke 10 reads (in Douay–Rheims Bible):

'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.

And he said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send labourers into his harvest.

Go: Behold I send you as lambs among wolves.

Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way.

Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house.

And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you.

And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Remove not from house to house.

And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, going forth into the streets thereof, say:

Even the very dust of your city that cleaveth to us, we wipe off against you. Yet know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand.

I say to you, it shall be more tolerable at that day for Sodom, than for that city.

Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida. For if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the mighty works that have been wrought in you, they would have done penance long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgement, than for you.

And thou, Capharnaum, which art exalted unto heaven, thou shalt be thrust down to hell.

He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.

And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying: Lord, the devils also are subject to us in thy name.

And he said to them: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven.

Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall hurt you.

But yet rejoice not in this, that spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.

In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Ghost, and said: I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight.'^[3]

Analysis

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. It 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.^[4] 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 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 Matthew 9:35, Matthew 10:1, 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.

Feast days

Erastus, Olympus, Rhodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius

Stachys, Amplias, Urban

Patrobulus, Hermas, Linus, Caius, Philologus

Sosthenes, Apollo, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Cæsar and Onesiphorus

The feast day commemorating the seventy is known as the "Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles" in Eastern Orthodoxy, and is celebrated on January 4. Each of the seventy apostles also has individual commemorations scattered throughout the liturgical year (see Eastern Orthodox Church calendar).

Lists of the disciples' names

Attributed to Hippolytus

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.^[5] The text is ancient, but its traditional ascription to Hippolytus of Rome is now considered dubious.^[5] An 1886 translation is:^[5]

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 (Abgar V)
5. Ananias, who baptized Paul, and was bishop of Damascus
6. Stephen, the first martyr
7. Philip, who baptized the Ethiopian 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.^[a]
12. Nicolaus, bishop of Samaria
13. Barnabas, bishop of Milan
14. Mark the Evangelist, bishop of Alexandria
15. Luke the Evangelist

    These two [Mark and Luke] 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 Galatia
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, bishop of Puteoli
38. Hermas, bishop of Philippopolis (Thrace)
39. Linus, bishop of Rome
40. Caius, bishop of Ephesus
41. Philologus, bishop of Sinope
42. Olympus and ...
43. ...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. Apollos, 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. Aristarchus
69. Pudes
70. Trophimus, who was martyred along with Paul

Book of the Bee

Similar to an earlier list attributed to Irenaeus,^[6] Bishop Solomon of Basra of the Church of the East in the 13th century Book of the Bee offers the following list:^[7]

1. James, the son of Joseph
2. Simon the son of Cleopas
3. Cleopas, his father
4. Joses
5. Simon
6. Judah
7. Barnabas
8. Manaeus (?)
9. Ananias, who baptised Paul
10. Cephas, who preached at Antioch
11. Joseph the senator
12. Nicodemus the archon
13. Nathaniel the chief scribe
14. Justus, that is Joseph, who is called Barshabbâ
15. Silas
16. Judah
17. John, surnamed Mark
18. Mnason, who received Paul
19. Manaël, the foster-brother of Herod
20. Simon called Niger
21. Jason, who is (mentioned) in the Acts (of the apostles)
22. Rufus
23. Alexander
24. Simon the Cyrenian, their father
25. Lucius the Cyrenian
26. Another Judah, who is mentioned in the Acts (of the apostles)
27. Judah, who is called Simon
28. Eurion (Orion) the splay-footed
29. Thôrus (?)
30. Thorîsus (?)
31. Zabdon
32. Zakron

    These are the seven who were chosen with Stephen:

33. Philip the Evangelist, who had three daughters that used to prophesy;
34. Stephen;
35. Prochorus;
36. Nicanor;
37. Timon;
38. Parmenas;
39. Nicolaus, the Antiochian proselyte;

    [the next three are listed with the preceding seven]

40. Andronicus the Greek;
41. Titus;
42. Timothy.

    These are the five who were with Peter in Rome:

43. Hermas [of Philippopolis];
44. Plîgtâ;
45. Patrobas;
46. Asyncritus;
47. Hermas [of Dalmatia].

    These are the six [sic; seven names follow] who came with Peter to Cornelius:

48. Criscus (Crescens);
49. Milichus;
50. Kîrîțôn (Crito);
51. Simon;
52. Gaius, who received Paul;
53. Abrazon (?);
54. Apollos.

    These are the twelve who were rejected from among the seventy, as Judas Iscariot was from among the twelve, because they absolutely denied our Lord's divinity at the instigation of Cerinthus. Of these Luke [recte 1 John] said, They went out from us, but they were not of us;' and Paul called them 'false apostles and deceitful workers'

    1. Simon;
    2. Levi;
    3. Bar-Ḳubbâ;
    4. Cleon;
    5. Hymenaeus;
    6. Candarus;
    7. Clithon (?);
    8. Demas;
    9. Narcissus;
    10. Slikîspus (?);
    11. Thaddaeus;
    12. Mârûthâ.

    In their stead there came in these:

55. Luke the physician;
56. Apollos the elect;
57. Ampelius;
58. Urbanus;
59. Stachys;
60. Popillius (or Publius);
61. Aristobulus;
62. Stephen (not the Corinthian);
63. Herodion the son of Narcissus;
64. Olympas;
65. Mark the Evangelist;
66. Addai;
67. Aggai;
68. Mâr Mârî.

It is said that each one of the twelve and of the seventy wrote a Gospel; but in order that there might be no contention and that the number of 'Acts' might not be multiplied, the apostles adopted a plan and chose two of the seventy, Luke and Mark, and two of the twelve, Matthew and John.

Others

Other lists are

• One attributed to Dorotheus of Tyre, completed some time before AD 811.^[8]
• One attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis^[9]

Matthias, who would later replace Judas Iscariot as one of the twelve apostles, is also often numbered among the seventy, since John Mark ("John, surnamed Mark", "Mark, who is also John") is typically identified with Mark the Evangelist.^[10]

Some accounts of the legendary Saint Mantius of Évora regard him as one of the disciples, having witnessed the Last Supper and Pentecost.^[11]