AGABO (“Ἀγάβος, from Hebr. hāgābh “grasshopper,” a name occurring in Esd. 2:45 and Neh. 7:48 and in the ostraka of Lachish).—Prophet of the Church of Jerusalem, who appears in two episodes connected with the ministry of St.
Paul. Visiting, apparently in 41, with other “prophets,” the young community of Antioch, which Saulo and Barnaba were evangelizing, A. foretold “through the Spirit,” by means of a symbolic action, the great famine that subsequently took place under Claudius; Barnaba and Saulo then brought relief to the “brethren” of Judea (Act. 11:27-30).
The reign of Claudius was afflicted by famines occurring successively in various provinces, including Rome, in the winter of 50-51 (Tacitus, Annales, XII, 43). Suetonius (Claud., 18) and Eusebius (Chronicon arm., ed. Schöne, II, p. 252) mention a famine that struck Judea and Greece in the fourth year of Claudius (45). Flavius Josephus relates that Queen Helena of Adiabene sent Egyptian grain to Jerusalem, where “the great famine” claimed many victims over 3 or 4 years, after the arrival of the procurator (45-47) Tiberius Alexander (Ant. Iud., XX, 2, 5; 5, 2).
At Caesarea, apparently in 58, A. announced to Paolo “through the Spirit” his imprisonment in Jerusalem, by means of a symbolic action (with a close parallel in Io. 21:18) followed by an explanation, according to the practice of the prophets of the Old Testament (cf. Ez. 3:25 and 4:8); but he did not dissuade him from his journey (Act. 21:10-14). The indefinite τις (Act. 21:10) leads some to distinguish two Agabos. The two cases of A. demonstrate that the charism of the “prophet,” although it does not essentially entail the prediction of the future, occasionally manifested itself in this way.
Nothing else is known about A.’s life. Traditions (Chronicon Paschale) include him among the 72 disciples and say that he was martyred at Antioch. The Latins (from the 9th century) commemorate him among the saints on February 13; the Byzantines, on March 8.