Sosthenes

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Biblical character in the Acts of the Apostles

title: "Sosthenes" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["seventy-disciples", "year-of-birth-missing", "year-of-death-missing", "people-in-acts-of-the-apostles", "saints-of-roman-corinth", "christian-saints-from-the-new-testament", "first-epistle-to-the-corinthians"] description: "Biblical character in the Acts of the Apostles" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sosthenes" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Biblical character in the Acts of the Apostles ::

::callout[type=note] the biblical figure ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Епафродит,_Сосфен,_Аполлос,Кифа_и_Кесарь(cropped).jpg" caption="Sosthenes"] ::

Sosthenes (Greek: Σωσθένης, Sōsthénēs, "safe in strength") was the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was seized and beaten by the mob in the presence of Gallio (c. 5 BC – c. AD 65), the Roman governor, when Gallio refused to proceed against Paul (c. 5 – c. 64/65 AD) at the instigation of the Jews (). The motives of this assault against Sosthenes are not recorded. Some manuscripts assert the mob was composed of "Greeks" () while others read "Jews".

Some historians, beginning with Eusebius, identify this Sosthenes with a companion of Paul the Apostle referred to as "Sosthenes our brother" (, Sōsthénēs ho adelphós, literally "Sosthenes the brother"), a convert to the Christian faith and co-author of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (). It is not clear whether this identification is tenable. According to Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer, "Theodoret and most commentators, including Flatt, Billroth, Ewald, Maier [and] Hofmann, identify Sosthenes with the person so named in Acts 18:17, but this is denied by Michaelis, Pott, Rückert, and de Wette". The name was a common one.

It has also been suggested that Sosthenes is a later name of Crispus, who is mentioned in Acts 18:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:14, but Strong and McClintock say this "is arbitrary and unsupported".

He is traditionally listed among the Seventy Disciples of .

References

References

  1. {{eastons
  2. Eusebius, [[Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius). ''Historia Ecclesiastica'']], 1.12; translated by G.A. Williamson, ''Eusebius: The History of the Church'' (Harmonsworth: Penguin, 1965), p. 64
  3. [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/1_corinthians/1.htm Meyer's New Testament Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1], Bible Hub, accessed 13 March 2017
  4. James Strong & John McClintock 1880, [https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/S/sosthenes.html "Sosthenes", ''The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature''] NY: Harper & Bros.
  5. [[Orthodox Church in America]], [https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/03/30/100946-apostle-sosthenes-of-the-seventy Apostle Sosthenes of the Seventy], accessed 13 March 2017

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seventy-disciplesyear-of-birth-missingyear-of-death-missingpeople-in-acts-of-the-apostlessaints-of-roman-corinthchristian-saints-from-the-new-testamentfirst-epistle-to-the-corinthians