BARBARA (Gr. Βαρβάρα) — patronymic surname of two disciples of the Apostles, whom some (e.g., C. a Lapide, E. Jacquier) suppose to have been brothers because of the identical name of their father, which is the Aramaic and palm-named Saba, rendered in inscriptions as Σαβάς and Σάβαος (in Flavius Josephus Σάβας, Σαββατος). Judas and Joseph (two sons of Jacob) are names of two brothers (Ἰουδας καὶ Ἰωσῆς) in a Jewish inscription from Rome (J.-B. Frey, no. 347).
1) GIUSEPPE B. was proposed, along with Matthias, to replace Judas Iscariot in the college of the “Twelve” (Acts 1:23; Codex D, with a few other “Western” witnesses, has “B.”), because he had lived with the Apostles throughout the public life of Jesus (Acts 1:21-22).
His Roman cognomen Iustus ('IouSTOS') was shared by two other disciples: Titus (Acts 18:7) and Jesus (Col. 4:11). 'IouSTOS (Iustus)', a Greek (Latin) adaptation of Saddîq or Saddîq, frequently appears as a name in Jewish inscriptions. According to L. Cerfaux, B. = “observer of the Sabbath” and would be equivalent to the “supernomen” 'IouSTOS. Nothing else is known of Giuseppe B. It is likely that he belonged to the Seventy (72) disciples, as Eusebius asserts (Hist. eccl., I, 12), who recounts, on the authority of Papini, informed by the daughters of Philip, that Giuseppe B., having drunk a deadly poison, remained unharmed by divine grace (op. cit., III, 39, 9); this is repeated (early 5th century) by Philip of Side (ed. C. de Boor, Texte u. Untersuchungen, 5, II, Leipzig 1888, p. 170).
2) GIUDA B. was one of the “leaders (γυουμένων) among the brethren” of the Jerusalem community; perhaps he was a “presbyter.” After the Apostolic Council, he was sent, together with Silas, to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, to deliver the letter of the apostles and presbyters. Acts 15:22-34 (Codex D has “Barabba”).
His importance in the early Christian community may be due to the fact that he had been a disciple of Jesus. Like Silas, he possessed the charism of prophecy (Acts 15:32; D adds: “full of the Holy Spirit”), which he manifested by exhorting and strengthening the Antiochene faithful, in accordance with the mission he had received (Acts 15:27). Having completed the work entrusted to him, he returned to Jerusalem alone: thus verse 34 (Codex D and others), though this is rejected by the best critics (A. Merk, Novum Testamentum graece et latine, 4th ed., Rome 1942, p. 454), as it seems to be an interpolation of the “Western” text.