Saint Apostle Agabus
of the Seventy.

He is said to have been one of the seventy two disciples, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, commissioned to preach the gospel. It is said that Agabus was with the twelve apostles in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Early tradition also associates him with Jerusalem, the center of the apostolic church in its foundational years.

The name Agabus derived from the Aramaic Ḥagab, meaning "Grasshopper", which may have been a nickname or pseudonym. Little is known of his family or formal training, but his calling as an apostle came directly from the risen Christ through the Seventy, a group commissioned to extend the apostolic mission beyond the Twelve.

The holy Apostle Agabus was endowed with the gift of prophecy. He predicted (Acts 11:27-28) the famine during the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-52), and foretold the suffering of the Apostle Paul at Jerusalem (Acts 21:11). His first recorded prophecy came when he was one of a group of prophets who travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch, where he predicted that a famine would soon overtake the world. As a result of Agabus's prediction, the Antiochian community collected alms for the Jerusalem Church, which had become impoverished through its charity to the poor.

Years later, Agabus is almost certainly the same prophet who met Paul at Caesarea c. a. d. 58 and, through a symbolic action, predicted that Paul would be imprisoned in Jerusalem and given over to the Gentiles (Acts 21:10–11). Agabus warned Paul of his coming capture; he bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt to demonstrate what would happen if he continued his journey to Jerusalem, stating the message of the Holy Spirit: So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

Saint Agabus preached in many lands, and converted many pagans to Christ. The Apostle Paul mentions him in his epistles, attesting to his prominence in the apostolic church and his continued collaboration with the great missionary.

Tradition says that Agabus went to many countries, teaching and converting many. This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck. He was dragged outside the city and stoned to death. Jesuit theologian Anthony Maas says he was martyred at Antioch, though the place of his martyrdom remains subject to theological debate. His death sealed his witness with the martyr's crown, a fitting end for an apostle who had spent his life proclaiming the risen Christ.

In the Eastern Church Agabus is venerated as a martyr and his feast day is celebrated each year on April 8th. He is also celebrated with the rest of the Seventy Apostles on January 4th, their collective commemorative date. The Eastern Orthodox Church honors him among the Seventy as a foundational figure in the expansion of Christianity beyond the Twelve.

Agabus stands in the Orthodox tradition as an exemplar of prophetic discernment and apostolic faithfulness. His accurate prophecies—of the famine under Claudius and of Paul's suffering—demonstrate the working of the Holy Spirit through the charisms distributed to the early Church. The Church also honors his willingness to suffer persecution and death for the gospel, making him both a prophet and a confessor in blood.

Apostle Agabus of the Seventy was among the Seventy Apostles, chosen by Christ and sent out by Him to preach. An early follower of Christianity from Syria mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a prophet, Agabus is remembered in the Eastern Orthodox Church for his charismatic gifts and faithful witness to Christ during the apostolic age.

The holy Apostle Agabus was endowed with the gift of prophecy. He predicted (Acts 11:27-28) the famine during the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-52), and foretold the suffering of the Apostle Paul at Jerusalem (Acts 21:11). These two prophecies, both recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, demonstrate his standing as a prophet in the early Church and his close association with the apostolic community centered in Jerusalem and Antioch.

Saint Agabus preached in many lands, and converted many pagans to Christ. Tradition says that Agabus went to many countries, teaching and converting many. This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck. He was dragged outside the city and stoned to death, making him a martyr for the faith he had zealously proclaimed.