DISCIPLES OF THE LORD
This title (μαθηταί mainly) in the Gospel often designates the Apostles (v.), in Acts all believers. In a stricter sense, it indicates those followers of Jesus who, not having been included in the apostolic college, were less intimate with the Saviour, though they went with Him more or less frequently (Jn 6:66). For this reason they were also "witnesses" (Acts 1:8; 10:39; etc.) for the future evangelisation. On one occasion they are sent on mission (ἀνέδειξεν): Lk 10:1. Their number is sometimes 70 (οἱ ἑβδομήκοντα), sometimes 72. The brilliant success of this first preaching, which the Master reinforced with miracles, is described (Lk 10:17). To these disciples certainly belonged many of the "five hundred brethren" (1 Cor 15:6) to whom the Risen One appeared.
In the Gospels and Acts only four disciples appear by name: the rich Joseph of Arimathea (Mt 27:57; ἐμαθητεύθη τῷ Ἰησοῦ); two of them (Lk 24:13; δυσμαί ἀναστάς) go to Emmaus; one is named Cleopas. Moreover, St Peter names two "men who were always with us from the baptism of John until the Ascension" (Acts 1:21): Joseph Barsabbas (v.) the Just, and Matthias.
Later attempts were made to find the names of the others. Papias (early 2nd cent.) names two disciples as τοῦ Κυρίου μαθηταί, Aristion and the elder John; but it is almost unanimously held that the "presbyter John" is a duplication, being the same apostle John. A 986 Armenian manuscript of the Gospels speaks of Aristion (v.), Papias' teacher, in a red-ink note before the close of Mk (16:9-20): "of the presbyter Aristion" (Ariston eritzat), where this disciple appears as the author of those twelve verses (E. Nestle, *Einführung in das Neue Testament*, Göttingen 1909, pl. 9; 4th ed. ibid. 1923, pl. 19).
Clement of Alexandria does not yet know any catalogue of the disciples, but names "Barnabas, Sosthenes (1 Cor 1:1) and Cephas, who has the same name as the apostle Peter" (fragment of the 5th book of the *Hypotyposes*, in Eusebius, *Hist. eccl.*, I, 12, 1; PG 20, 117; ed. Schwartz, 80, 17–82, 5; ed. Stählin, 3, 106). The information given by Eusebius himself is highly controversial and practically unusable (Th. Schermann, pp. 294–97).
Contemporary is the assertion of Adamantius (*De vera fide*: PG 11, 1721; ed. W. H. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, p. 10) that Mark and Luke belonged to the "seventy." For the Gentile Christian Luke this is entirely to be excluded; but for Mark it is also very improbable. This false report about Mark and Luke was taken up by St Epiphanius, who embellished it in a wholly fantastic way: the two Evangelists were among those who at Jesus' Eucharistic discourse were scandalised (Jn 6:62) and separated from Him. Their teachers Peter and Paul recalled them to the faith (Haer., 51, 6. II: PG 41, 900–908; ed. Holl, 2, 256, 263). Epiphanius moreover names the seven deacons (Acts 6:5), Paul and five others.
The *Constitutiones Apostolicae* (5th cent.) make the Apostles speak of "bishops ordained by us"; thirty names are given (VII, 64; ed. Funk, pp. 452–55). The *Chronicon Paschale* (c. 629) uses all the names from Acts and the Pauline epistles to form a list of seventy names (PG 92, 1059–66). Since later lists of disciples lack any historical value, it will suffice to list the principal ones (with Th. Schermann): Pseudo-Epiphanius (early 8th cent.), Pseudo-Dorotheus (early 9th cent.), Pseudo-Hippolytus (mid-9th cent.), Pseudo-Symeon Logothetes (10th cent.), and finally the Greek *Synaxaria* (11th–12th cents.). There are also lists by Arabic writers (Salomon of Bosra and 'Amr, etc.) of the same period. Th. Schermann presents precisely (pp. 327–49) the individual names of the 145 persons who, even once, were counted among the disciples of the Lord, giving all the references.