One of the Seventy, a fellow-laborer of the Apostle Paul who mentions him in his second letter to Timothy; he served as bishop of Verria in Macedonia and preached the Gospel widely.
The Holy Apostle Carpus of the Seventy
Carpus was one of the Seventy Apostles whom Christ chose and sent forth to preach (Luke 10:1), and a fellow-laborer of the Apostle Paul. He is best known from a single line of the New Testament: in his second letter to Timothy, Paul asks that the cloak he left at Troas with Carpus be brought to him (2 Timothy 4:13), a passing reference that places Carpus among Paul's trusted associates and the keepers of his belongings.
By tradition Carpus served as bishop of Beroea (also rendered Berroia or Verria) in Macedonia, where he preached the Gospel. He is counted among the first generation of the Church's hierarchs, an apostolic-age bishop of the 1st century.
Carpus is commemorated on May 26, where the synaxarion joins his memory with that of the Apostle Alphaeus, also of the Seventy. He is additionally remembered on January 4 in the collective commemoration of the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles.
(Podoben: “Today You have shown forth...”) The Church ever sees you as a shining star, Apostle Carpus.
Your miracles have brought her great enlightenment.
Save those who in faith honor your memory.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
Holy Apostles Carpus and Alphaeus,
entreat the merciful God
to grant our souls forgiveness of transgressions.
Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).
The historical anchor of Carpus's memory is Paul's instruction in 2 Timothy 4:13 that Timothy bring "the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus." That Paul left a personal item in Carpus's keeping at Troas is taken by the tradition as evidence of a close and trusting relationship between the two, and it is the detail by which Carpus is most often identified.
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