The Holy Apostles Herodian, Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, and those who suffered with them (1st c.)
They were all numbered among the Seventy Apostles. All were mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles. Herodian was a kinsman of Paul. Salute Herodian my kinsman (Romans 16:11), writes St. Paul to the Romans. As the Bishop of Neoparthia, Herodian suffered much at the hands of the Jews. They beat him over the head with rods; they struck him on the mouth with stones and stabbed him with knives. After they left him for dead, St. Herodian arose and continued to serve the apostles. He assisted the Apostle Peter in Rome and was beheaded, along with many other Christians, on the same day that St. Peter was crucified. St. Agabus possessed a prophetic spirit. Two of his prophecies are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. First, he prophesied a great famine throughout the world, which came true during the reign of Caesar Claudius (cf. Acts 11:28). Second, when he met the Apostle Paul in Caesarea (who was en route to Jerusalem), Agabus took Paul’s belt and bound his own hands and feet, saying: Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles (Acts 21:11). St. Rufus was Bishop of Thebes in Greece. St. Paul also mentions him: Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord (Rom 16:13). St. Asyncritus was Bishop of Hyrcania in Asia and is mentioned along with the others in Romans 16:14. St. Phlegon, who is mentioned in the same place, was a bishop in the Thracian city of Marathon. St. Hermas, mentioned with the others, was a bishop in Dalmatia. All of them, like Christ’s bees, spread the honey of the Gospel throughout the various regions, suffering much for the love of Christ. All were translated into the Eternal Kingdom of Christ the Beloved.
