APOSTLES OF THE SEVENTY: ERASTUS, OLYMPAS, HERODION, SOSIPATER, QUARTUS, AND TERTIUS

In a strictly historical sense, the Apostles of the Seventy should be called the seventy disciples whom, in accordance with the Gospel of Luke (10:3-24), the Lord chose and sent to preach shortly before the end of His earthly life. But since a complete list of these seventy servants of His word appointed by the Lord has not been preserved, they began to include the great early Christian preachers, as well as those apostolic disciples who are mentioned in the New Testament texts.

The memory of Erastus, Olympas, Herodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius is celebrated on the Orthodox feast of the Synaxis of the 70 Apostles (January 17 (30), January 17 (30), on various days of the church year separately, as well as on this November day. This joint celebration appears to be due to the fact that they are all mentioned in the final chapter of the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. This is how Paul himself calls Herodion his relative (16:11). He speaks about Olympas in one of the following verses (15). Further, the apostle of the pagans calls Sosipater his relative (21), and also mentions Tertius (22), who, according to the text, wrote down the Epistle to the Romans from the words of Paul, Erastus and Quartus (23).

According to ancient tradition, Herodion, or Rodion, and Olympas were known not only to Paul, but also participated in the Roman mission of the Apostle Peter, where they suffered with him for the faith. In turn, Sosipater and Tertius headed, as bishops, the church in Iconium, Erastus became a bishop in the Palestinian Caesarea Philippi, and Quartus - in the Lebanese Beirut. If we add to this the testimony of tradition that Herodion was for some time a bishop in the Greek Patras, then it becomes obvious that there was a special continuity between the Apostles and bishops in the early Church.

The Ancient Creeds call the Church “Apostolic.” The apostles were laymen, but they established an episcopate in the Church. Because the transmission of the gift in institutions could only be preserved through sacramentality. The sacraments are the “relics of Christ,” they are signs that really designate the real, here and now, one-time presence of God among people.

At the same time, the traditional view sees in the apostles a kind of “super-bishops” who could single-handedly appoint “ordinary” bishops as their successors. However, the practice of individual ordination of one bishop by another was common for the Ancient Church. Both the “Church Histories” of ancient authors and the lives of saints are rich in information about this. Therefore, such a practice in itself does not indicate anything special in terms of power, gift or jurisdiction.

At the same time, the perception of the apostles as a kind of “original bishops” gives rise to the “firmware” of the bishops with the consciousness that the Church in the form as she exists owes it to them, and they do not owe her everything. They are an “invention” of the Church, but they are confident that the Church is the work of their hands.

Jesus promised the Apostles that he would return soon. The slowdown of Parousia gave birth to bishops. They are a consequence and an instrument, but in no way the cause or the basis of the Church. “You will fish for people” (Mark 1:17), Jesus the Lord said in the Gospel. The original calling of the Apostles was to serve people, and the establishment of bishops by the Apostles was a commandment and ability “until He comes” (cf. 1 Cor. 11:36) to preserve this ministry. The preservation of the apostolic heritage for the subsequent Church is the great merit of Saints Erastus, Olympas, Herodion, Sosipater, Quartus and Tertius, and all those whom the Church remembers among the seventy apostolic disciples.