Holy Apostles Herodion, Agabus, Asyncritus, Rufus, Phlegon, Hermes and Others (I)

The holy Apostles Herodion, Agabus, Asyncritus, Rufus, Phlegon, Hermes and others (I) were of the Seventy whom Christ chose and sent out to preach (the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles is on 4 January).

The holy Apostle Herodion was a kinsman of the Apostle Paul and accompanied him on his journeys. When Christianity spread in the Balkan peninsula, the Apostles Peter and Paul consecrated Herodion bishop. The apostles converted many pagans and Jews to the law of Christ.

Once idol-worshippers and Jews, enraged by the preaching of Saint Herodion, fell upon him and began to beat him. One Jew stabbed the apostle with a knife. When the murderers had gone out of sight, the Lord raised him up unharmed.

Saint Herodion helped Saint Peter in his apostolic work for a long time. At the time when the Apostle Peter was crucified (+67), Saint Herodion was beheaded.

Saint Agabus had been granted the gift of foresight. He foretold the famine in the reign of the Emperor Claudius (Acts 11:27–28) and the sufferings of Saint Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21:11). The Apostle Agabus preached in various countries and converted many pagans.

The Apostle Rufus, whom Saint Paul mentions in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:11), was Bishop of the Greek city of Thebes; the Apostle Asyncritus (Rom. 16:14) was Bishop of Hyrcania, the Apostle Phlegon of Marathon (Thrace), and the Apostle Hermes of Dalmatia (another Apostle Hermas of the Seventy is also known, who was Bishop of Philippopolis).

All the apostles were cruelly tortured for Christ and met a martyr’s end.