Holy Apostles of the 70: Silas and Sylvanus, and those with them: Criscentus, Epenetus and Andronicus

The Church remembers five fellow-workers of the apostles, all named in the New Testament and counted in the tradition among the seventy disciples. Silas, a leader of the Jerusalem church, was sent with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch and then went with Paul on his second journey; in Philippi, the Acts of the Apostles tell, both were beaten and imprisoned. Silvanus, who is named by Paul and Peter, is often identified with Silas; tradition makes him bishop of Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia (2 Timothy 4:10) and, by the tradition, to Gaul. Epaenetus, “the firstfruits of Asia” in Paul’s greetings (Romans 16:5), is said to have been bishop of Carthage, and Andronicus, “outstanding among the apostles” (Romans 16:7), a relative and fellow prisoner of Paul.