(Βαρνάβας), one of the early inspired teachers of Christianity, was originally named Joseph, and received the apellation Barnabas from the apostles. To the few details in his life supplied by the New Testament various additions have been made; none of which are certainly true, while many of them are evidently false. Clemens Alexandrinus, Eusebius, and others, affirm, that Barnabas was one of the seventy disciples sent forth by our Lord himself to preach the gospel. Baronius and some others have maintained, that Barnabas not only preached the gospel in Italy, but founded the church in Milan, of which they say he was the first bishop. That this opinion rests on no sufficient
464
evidence is ably shewn by the candid Tillemont. (Mémoires, &c. vol. i. p. 657, &c.) Some other fabulous stories concerning Barnabas are related by Alexander, a monk of Cyprus, whose age is doubtful; by Theodorus Lector; and in the Clementina, the Recognitions of Clemens, and the spurious Passio Barnabae in Cypro, forged in the name of Mark.[J.M.M]