BARSABA (Gr. Βαρασβᾶς, “son of Saba or Šēbhā”). – Patronymic surname of two disciples of the Apostles, whom some (e.g., C. a Lapide, E. Jacquier) suppose to have been brothers on account of the identity of their father’s name, which is the Aramaic and Palmyrene Šēbā, rendered in the inscriptions as Σαβᾶς and Σαβᾶος (in Fl. Josephus Σαβᾶς, Σαβᾶος). Giuda and Giuseppe (two sons of Giacobbe) are the names of two brothers ('Ιωᾶς καὶ Ἰωᾶς) in a Jewish inscription from Rome (J-B. Frey, no. 347).
1) GIUSEPPE B. was proposed, together with Mattia, to replace Giuda Iscariore in the college of the “Twelve” (Act. 1:23: Codex D, together with a few other “Western” manuscripts, has “B.”), because he had lived with the Apostles throughout the whole of Jesus’ public life (Act. 1:21 f.).
His Roman nickname Iustus ('Ιούστος') was borne by two other disciples: Tizio (Act. 18:7) and Gesù (Col. 4:11). 'Ιούστος (Iustus), the Greek (Latin) adaptation of Ṣaddīq or Ṣādōq, frequently occurs as a personal name in Jewish inscriptions. According to L. Cerfaux, B. = “observer of the Sabbath” and would correspond to the “supernomen” 'Ιούστος. Nothing else is known about Giuseppe B. It is probable that he belonged to the 70 (72) disciples, as Eusebius states (Hist. eccl., I, 12), relating, on the testimony of Papias, who had received his information from the daughters of Filippo, that Giuseppe B., having drunk a deadly poison, remained unharmed by divine grace (op. cit., III, 39, 9); this is repeated (at the beginning of the 5th century) by Filippo Sidete (ed. C. de Boor, Texte u. Untersuchungen, 5, II, Leipzig 1888, p. 170).
2) GIUDA B. was one of the “leaders (ἡγούμενοι) among the brethren” of the Jerusalem community; he may have been a “presbyter.” After the apostolic council, he was sent, together with Sila, to Antioch with Paolo and Barnaba, to deliver there the letter of the apostles and presbyters. Act. 15:22-34 (Codex D has “Barabba”).
His importance in the early Christian community may perhaps be attributed to the fact that he had been a disciple of Jesus. Like Sila, he possessed the charism of prophecy (Act. 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 (Act. 15:27). Having completed the task entrusted to him, he returned alone to Jerusalem: such is the reading of V. 34 (Codex D and others), which, however, is rejected by the best critics (A. Merk, Novum Testamentum graece et latine, 4th ed., Rome 1942, p. 454), because it appears to be an interpolation of the “Western” text.