The Seventy Apostles
The Seventy (numbered as seventy or seventy-two depending on the manuscript tradition) are mentioned only in the Gospel of Luke, where Christ appoints them and sends them ahead of him into every town with instructions for their mission. Eastern Christian tradition calls them apostles and commemorates the whole company in a Synaxis of the Seventy on January 4, while individual members are also remembered on their own dates through the year.
The most extensive named list of the Seventy, together with the episcopal sees traditionally assigned to them, derives from a Greek text titled 'On the Seventy Apostles of Christ,' attributed to Hippolytus of Rome — an attribution now regarded as doubtful. An alternative list survives in the thirteenth-century Book of the Bee by Bishop Solomon of Basra.
The Seven Commemorated on December 8
Sosthenes had been the ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth (Acts 18:17) and was beaten during a disturbance directed against the Apostle Paul before becoming a Christian. Paul names him as co-sender of the First Epistle to the Corinthians ('Paul ... and brother Sosthenes,' 1 Corinthians 1:1). Tradition counts him among the Seventy and remembers him as a bishop, the lists naming Colophonia (and elsewhere Caesarea or Colophon in Asia Minor).
Apollos was an Alexandrian Jewish Christian described in Acts 18:24-28 as eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, fervent in spirit and teaching accurately about Jesus though he knew only the baptism of John; at Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila explained the way of God to him more fully. He then ministered at Corinth, where he powerfully refuted opponents from the Scriptures. Paul wrote of him, 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth' (1 Corinthians). The lists of the Seventy assign him the see of Caesarea.
Cephas is here distinguished from Simon Peter, being a different disciple of the same name; the lists of the Seventy name him as bishop of Iconium.
Tychicus is known from the Epistles as a trusted associate of Paul (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7). The lists of the Seventy connect him with the sees of Colophonia and of Chalcedon.
Epaphroditus is named in Philippians 2:25 as Paul's fellow worker; the lists of the Seventy assign him the see of Andriaca.
Caesar is named among the Seventy as bishop of Dyrrhachium.
Onesiphorus is remembered in 2 Timothy 1:16-18 for showing hospitality to Paul; the lists of the Seventy name him as bishop of Corone.
Commemoration
Several of the seven carry more than one feast: Sosthenes is commemorated on January 4, March 30, and December 8, and the December 8 commemoration joins him with Apollos, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesar, and Onesiphorus. Apollos, Cephas, Epaphroditus, and Caesar are also commemorated on March 30. The whole company of the Seventy is kept together in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on January 4.
