AGABUS ("Ἀγάβος, from the Hebrew hāgābh 'cricket', a name that occurs in Ezra 2:45 and Neh. 7:48 and in the Lachish ostraca). - A prophet of the Church of Jerusalem, who appears in two episodes connected with the ministry of St. Paul. While visiting, in 41 (it seems), with other "prophets" the young community of Antioch, which Saul and Barnabas were evangelizing, A. predicted "through the Spirit," by a symbolic action, the great famine that later took place under Claudius; Barnabas and Saul therefore brought aid to the "brethren" of Judea (Acts 11:27-30).

The reign of Claudius was afflicted by famines that followed one another 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 raged in Judea and in Greece in the 4th year of Claudius (45). Flavius Josephus relates that Helena queen 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, in 58 (it seems), A. foretold to Paul "through the Spirit" his imprisonment at Jerusalem, by a symbolic action (a close parallel in Jn. 21:18) followed by an explanation, according to the custom of the prophets of the Old Testament (cf. Ez. 3:25 and 4:8); but he did not dissuade him from his journey (Acts 21:10-14). The indefinite τις (Acts 21:10) leads some to distinguish two men named A. The double case of A. demonstrates that the charism of the "prophet," although it does not essentially entail the prediction of the future, manifested itself occasionally in that way.

Nothing else is known to us of the life of A. Traditions (Chronicon Paschale) include him among the 72 disciples and say he was a martyr at Antioch. The Latins (from the 9th century) commemorate him among the saints on Feb. 13, the Byzantines on March 8.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Februarii, II, Antwerp 1658, p. 644; F. X. Pölkl, Die Mitarbeiter Pauli, Regensburg 1911, pp. 47-50; K. S. Gapp, The Universal Famine under Claudius, in The Harvard Theological Review, 28 (1935), pp. 258-65. - For the name Hagab: H. Toeczyner, Lachisch I: The Lachish Letters, Oxford 1938, p. 198.

Antonino Romeo

@incollection{ec1_agabo_agabos_dall_ebr_hagabh_g, author = {Romeo, Antonino}, title = {Agabo ("ἈΓΆΒΟΣ, dall'ebr. hāgābh «grillo», nome che ricorre in esd. 2, 45 e neh. 7, 48 e negli ostraka di lachis)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {418--419}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/agabo-agabos-dall-ebr-hagabh-grillo-nome-che-ricorre-in-esd-2-45-e-neh-7-48-e-negli-ostraka-di-l} }

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Agabus

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