Sharing some interesting information re the 70/72 disciples that I found...
Here's a list of the 70/72 disciples:
www.orthodox.net/saints/70apostles.htmlalso:
www.mawy.com/en-wiki.php?title=Seventy_Disciples
From:
maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/insights/?vol=19&num=4&id=65Our major extrabiblical source for information on the Seventy called by Jesus is the fourth-century Christian historian Eusebius, who wrote:
The names of the apostles of our Saviour are known to every one from the Gospels. But there exists no catalogue of the seventy disciples.
Barnabas, indeed, is said to have been one of them, of whom the Acts of the apostles makes mention in various places, and especially Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians [2:1, 9, 13]. They say that
Sosthenes also, who wrote to the Corinthians with Paul [1 Corinthians 1:1], was one of them. This is the account of Clement in the fifth book of his Hypotyposes, in which he also says that
Cephas was one of the seventy disciples, a man who bore the same name as the apostle Peter, and the one concerning whom Paul says, "When Cephas came to Antioch I withstood him to his face" [Galatians 2:11].
Matthias, also, who was numbered with the apostles in the place of Judas, and the one who was honored by being made a candidate with him [Acts 1:23–26], are likewise said to have been deemed worthy of the same calling with the seventy. They say that
Thaddeus also was one of them, concerning whom I shall presently relate an account which has come down to us.1
Eusebius also attributes to Clement's Hypotyposes the declaration that "the Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge [gnosis] to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy of whom
Barnabas was one."2 Unfortunately, the original work has not survived, though in Stromata 2.20, which is extant, Clement indicates that Barnabas was one of the Seventy. Clement lived in the second century A.D., and therefore his writings reflect relatively early traditions.
Of particular interest is the fact that Eusebius indicates that
Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas Justus, the two candidates to take Judas Iscariot's place in the Twelve (see Acts 1:15–26), were both members of the Seventy. Another possible member of the Seventy who later became one of the Twelve is
Thaddaeus. According to Matthew 10:3,
Lebaeus Thaddaeus was one of the original Twelve. He is also listed as one of the Twelve in Mark 3:18. But the corresponding list of the apostles found in Luke 6:16 replaces him with "Judas the brother of James." But, as we have seen earlier, Eusebius wrote that Thaddaeus was one of the Seventy and promised to say more of him. The additional information is found in his Ecclesiastical History 1.13.4: "Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, under divine impulse sent Thaddeus, who was also numbered among the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa, as a preacher and evangelist of the teaching of Christ."3
If the
Sosthenes mentioned by Eusebius and in 1 Corinthians 1:1 is the same individual mentioned in Acts 18:17, it is very unlikely that he could have been one of the original Seventy, for he was a Corinthian (see Acts 18:1), while the original Seventy would have been Palestinian Jews. But he may well have been a late member of the Quorum of the Seventy. Barnabas and Paul, who are called apostles (see Acts 14:14) but are never said to number among the Twelve, may in fact have been of the Seventy. They, along with Judas Barsabas and Silas, were called "chief men among the brethren" at the time they were sent by "the apostles and elders" as envoys to Antioch (Acts 15:22).
The Ethiopic Kebra Nagast 102 calls Stephen "[one] of the Seventy Disciples" and adds, "Now among the Seventy Disciples there were seven who were chosen for service with the Twelve Apostles, to perform service with Silas, and Barnabas, and Mark and Luke and Paul."4 The seven "chosen for service" are mentioned in Acts 6:5 and include
Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas. Luke and Paul, being later converts, were obviously not among the original Seventy chosen by Christ, but may have been added to that body to replace others who had died.
Though very little is known about the Seventy in the early Christian church, the few hints left us in the Bible5 and in the writings of Clement and Eusebius are instructive. While we cannot ascertain the reliability of the traditions about specific members of the Seventy, these early accounts suggest that replacement members of the Twelve may sometimes have been called from the Seventy. This, in turn, indicates that the earliest Christians intended that these two ruling bodies be perpetuated.
Prayers for all who have requested prayer, or for whom prayer has been requested.
