One of the distinguishing features of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the belief that there can be no church authorized by God without apostles, who hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven on earth. This is expressed in the sixth Article of Faith: “We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.”
Along with this, we acknowledge that God continues to reveal his will to our leaders and that callings to such leadership positions come by divine revelation (Articles of Faith 5 and 9).
Joseph Smith, under the Lord's direction, restored the quorums of the Twelve and the Seventy in the early part of 1835 ( History of the Church 2:185-98, 201-4). The duties of these offices are outlined in sections 18 and 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Latter-day Saints consider the restoration of the Twelve and the Seventy in Joseph Smith's time to be essential for the government of the kingdom of God on earth, especially as the Church grows in membership numbers.
As in Christ's time, the men comprising these quorums are primarily responsible for the missionary work of the Church and for bearing witness of Jesus Christ and are to build up and regulate the Church. 1 In addition, the Twelve hold the keys of the kingdom 2 and are a “traveling high council” in matters of Church discipline (D&C 102:30-31; 107:23, 33).
Luke's Account
Although all four New Testament gospel accounts mention the calling of the twelve apostles, only Luke recounts the calling of the Seventy. 3 The charge Jesus gave the Seventy in Luke 10:1-12 is essentially the same as the one he had given to the twelve, as recorded one chapter earlier, in Luke 9:1-6. The King James Version of Luke 1:1 says that “the Lord appointed other seventy also.” Some have thought this referred to a second body of Seventy. But the Greek original means “seventy others,” i.e., Christ selected seventy other apostles. 4
This is affirmed in both versions of an Armenian text called The Story of Moses , a biblical paraphrase that comments as follows on Exodus 15:27:
And they came to Elim where there were twelve springs, which were the type of the twelve apostles (of Christ: B) and seventy-two palm trees, the type of the seventy-two disciples (of Christ: B). 5
Tertullian (born ca. A.D. 160) wrote that Christ “chose also seventy other missionaries besides the twelve. Now why, if the twelve followed the number of the twelve fountains of Elim, should not the seventy correspond to the like number of the palms of that place?” ( Against Marcion 4.24). 6 The same information is found in Jerome's (died A.D. 420) Letter 69.6 to Oceanus, in which he wrote that “As wood sweetens Marah [meaning “bitter,” Exodus 15:23-25] so that seventy palm-trees are watered by its streams, so the cross makes the waters of the law life-giving to the seventy who are Christ's apostles.” 7
Similarly, in Recognitions of Clement 1.40, the apostle Peter declares,
Therefore He chose us twelve, the first who believed in Him, whom He named apostles; and afterwards other seventy-two most approved disciples, 8 that, at least in this way recognizing the pattern of Moses, the multitude might believe that this is He of whom Moses foretold, the Prophet that was to come.” 9
St. Augustine (born A.D. 354), in Sermon 51 , also noted that Christ called an additional 72 disciples, not 70. The number 72 is also known to John Chrysostom, in his Homily 18 on John 1:40. Jewish tradition holds that the 12 springs represented the tribes of Israel, while the seventy trees represented the 70 nations listed in Genesis 10. Considering the misssionary responsibilities of the Seventy, this makes perfect sense. The Septuagint version of Genesis 10 lists 72 nations, though the Hebrew (and its English translation) lists 70. 10
The Greek word apostolos , origin of our term apostle , derives from the verb “to send” and means “one sent” or “envoy.” Jesus told the twelve, “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). 11 In Luke 9:2, Jesus sends the twelve apostles, while in Luke 10:1 he sends the Seventy. The LDS view is that the twelve apostles and the Seventy have the same basic calling as “[e]special witnesses” of Christ “in all the world,” with the Seventy serving “under the direction of the Twelve ... in building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same in all nations” (D&C 107:23, 25-26, 34).
Seventy Apostles
Zephyrinus (died A.D. 217) bishop of Rome, in his First Epistle to the bishops of Sicily, referred to “those disciples whom the Lord directed to be chosen for the help of the apostles — that is, seventy-two.” 12Book of the Bee 48 says, “Know then that the apostles are twelve and seventy.” 13
Indeed, several passages from early Latter-day Saint records call the seventy by the term apostle. Under the date of 28 December 1835, History of the Church 2:346 notes, “This day the Council [presidency] of the Seventy met to render an account of their travels and ministry, since they were ordained to that Apostleship.” 14
At the dedication of the Kirtland temple in March 1836, Joseph Smith “called upon the quorums and congregation of Saints to acknowledge the presidents of Seventies who act as their representatives, as Apostles and special witnesses to the nations, to assist the Twelve in opening the Gospel kingdom among all people” ( History of the Church 2:418). Joseph Smith's successor, Brigham Young, also referred to the seventies as “apostles to the nations to carry the gospel; and when we send you to build up the kingdom, we will give you the keys, and power and authority” ( History of the Church 7:307). During Brigham Young's presidency, apostle Wilford Woodruff spoke of “the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy Apostles” ( Journal of Discourses 4:147; see also 18:126). 15
John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407), in his Homily 38 on 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 , interpreted Paul's words, “Then to all the apostles,” as meaning that “there were also other apostles, as the seventy.” 16 In disagreement with other early Christian texts, the fourth-century Christian historian Eusebius (born ca. A.D. 260) wrote “Our Savior and Lord, not long after the beginning of his ministry, called the twelve apostles, and these alone of all his disciples he named apostles, as an especial honor. And again he appointed seventy others whom he sent out two by two before his face into every place and city whither he himself was about to come” ( Ecclesiastical History 1.10). 17
Bishops as Successors
For nearly two millennia, Christians in general have believed that the Twelve and the Seventy of Christ's time represented a one-time calling and that when each apostle died, he was not replaced. 18 In both Eastern and Western Christianity, this led to the belief that the bishops were successors to the apostles. 19
Joseph Smith parted with the traditional view and taught that the quorums of the Twelve and the Seventy were to remain in the Church and to be replenished with new members as needed (e.g., D&C 118:1, 6; D&C 124:138-139). Even before the restoration of the Church in 1830, the Lord had addressed a revelation to the future Twelve Apostles via the prophet Joseph (D&C 18). The calling of the Twelve and the Seventy in February and March of 1835 made the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints virtually unique in claiming modern apostolic authority. 20 Since the time of Joseph Smith, additional men have been called to fill vacancies in these quorums, and we acknowledge the divine source of their appointment.
The Bible has only one clear example of an apostle, Matthias, called to replace a member of the Twelve, Judas Iscariot, who had apostatized and died (Acts 1:15-26). Paul wrote that “after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother” (Galatians 1:18-19). This is the only place in the New Testament that suggests that Jesus' half-brother James 21 was an apostle. Another James, the brother of the apostle John and one of the original Twelve, had been slain (Acts 12:2), creating another vacancy in the twelve, and this may account for Jesus' brother James becoming an apostle. 22
Indications of Continuation
That the offices of apostle and seventy were to continue in the Church is evidenced by early Christian writings about them. We noted above that the vacancy among the twelve apostles occasioned by the death of Judas Iscariot was filled soon after Christ's ascension. The eleven remaining apostles noted that the replacement should be one of the “men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord ... shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:21-26).
Clement of Alexandria (died ca. A.D. 215), hinted that other elders could be called to the body of the twelve:
Eusebius also attributed to Clement's Hypotyposes the declaration that, “The Lord after his resurrection imparted knowledge [ gnosis ] to James the Just and to John and Peter, and they imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the seventy of whom Barnabas was one” ( Ecclesiastical History 2.1.4). 30 Unfortunately, the original work has not survived, though in Clement's Stromata 2.20, which has survived, he indicated that Barnabas was one of the seventy. Since this knowledge was passed to the seventy after Christ's ascension, the group must have remained intact as one of the governing bodies of the Church.
Early extracanonical Christian sources indicate that Matthias and Joseph (Barsabas) Justus, who were considered for the vacancy in the twelve resulting from the suicide of Judas Iscariot, were among the seventy disciples called by Christ. Eusebius wrote, “First, then, in the place of Judas, the betrayer, Matthias, who, as has been shown was also one of the Seventy, was chosen to the Apostolate” ( Ecclesiastical History 2.1.2). 31 Hippolytus, a Christian historian of the early third century A.D., confirmed this, saying that “Matthias, who was one of the seventy, was numbered along with the eleven apostles” ( On the Twelve Apostles 12). 32
The two candidates to replace Judas Iscariot were selected because they had been witnesses of Christ's ministry and even his resurrection (Acts 1:21-22). Origen, in his Against Celsus 2.65, suggested that the resurrected Christ appeared to the seventy as well as to the twelve. Another early Christian document has the apostles declaring, “We therefore, who have been vouchsafed the favor of being the witnesses of His appearance, together with James the brother of our Lord, and the other seventy-two disciples, 33 and his seven deacons, 34 have heard from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by exact knowledge declare ‘what is the will of God, that good, and acceptable, and perfect will' which is made known to us by Jesus” ( Apostolic Constitutions 2.6.55). 35
Vacancies Filled
Paul also suggested that vacancies in the Twelve were filled. He wrote that “after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother” (Galatians 1:18-19). This is the only place in the New Testament that suggests that Jesus' half-brother James 36 was an apostle. James the brother of the apostle John had been slain (Acts 12:2), creating another vacancy in the Twelve, and this may account for Jesus' brother James becoming an apostle.
There are also suggestions that Bartholomew was not one of the original twelve but later joined that body. Acts of Philip mentions “Bartholomew, one of the seventy disciples of the Lord, and his sister Mariamme, and his disciples that followed him.” 37 Bible scholars have usually identified Bartholomew, named in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke and in Acts 1:13) with Nathanael, who is mentioned only in the gospel of John (John 1:45-49; 21:2), but the identification is uncertain.
Another possible member of the seventy who later became one of the twelve is Thaddaeus. According to Matthew 10:3, Lebaeus Thaddaeus was one of the original twelve. He is also listed as one of the twelve in Mark 3:18. But the corresponding list of the apostles found in Luke 6:16 replaces him with “Judas the brother of James.” As we noted earlier, Eusebius wrote that he was one of the seventy, and promised to say more about him. The additional information is found in his Ecclesiastical History 1.13.4, 10:
Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, under divine impulse sent Thaddeus, who was also numbered among the seventy disciples of Christ, to Edessa, as a preacher and evangelist of the teaching of Christ . . . After the ascension of Jesus, Judas, who was also called Thomas, sent to him [the king of Syria] Thaddeus, an apostle, one of the Seventy. 38
In some of the Syriac texts, Thaddaeus is called Addai. 39 Of him, we read that “Addaeus the apostle, one of the seventy-two apostles, had gone down and built a church at Edessa” ( Memoirs of Edessa Extracts 6). 40 The story is also known from Teachings of the Apostles 9, which says that “Edessa, and all the countries round about it which were on all sides of it, and Zoba, and Arabia, and all the north, and the regions round about it, and the south, and all the regions on the borders of Mesopotamia, received the apostles' ordination to the priesthood from Addaeus the apostle, one of the seventy-two apostles, who himself made disciples there, and built a church there, and was priest and ministered there in his office of Guide which he held there. 41
An early Syriac text speaks of one “Narcissus” who seems to have been called to fill a vacancy in the seventy, “For they did not suffer that selection of the Seventy-two to be wanting, as likewise neither that of the Twelve. This man was of the Seventy-two: perhaps he was a disciple of Addaeus the apostle.” 42 Addaeus or Adai, along with Mari, are termed “holy apostles” in another Syriac text. 43
Looking at these various texts, one is tempted to suggest that Thaddaeus was not one of the original twelve, but that he was later added to that body when one of the apostles died. Eusebius's declaration that one of the twelve (Thomas) sent one of the seventy (Thaddaeus) on a mission is in harmony with the role of these two offices as described in D&C 107:34, 38.
Teachings of the Apostles credits “Addaeus the apostle, one of the seventy-two apostles,” with bringing priesthood authority to various parts of Syria. 44 Immediately before this, the same text calls Luke an apostle (probably one of the Seventy). 45 It then goes on to note that one Aggeus, “the disciple of Addaeus the apostle” established the church in Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. 46
Was Paul a Seventy?
If Sosthenes, mentioned by Eusebius as one of the seventy and named in 1 Corinthians 1:1 is the same individual mentioned in Acts 18:17, he cannot have been one of the original seventy, for he was a Corinthian (see Acts 18:1), while the original seventy would have been Palestinian Jews. This suggests that he may well have been a later addition to the seventy, chosen to replace one of the original members of the quorum. Barnabas and Paul, who are called apostles (Acts 14:14) but are never said to be among the twelve, may, in fact, have been of the seventy. They, along with Judas Barsabas and Silas are called “chief men among the brethren” at the time they were sent by “the apostles and elders” as their envoys to Antioch (Acts 15:22).
The Ethiopic Kebra Nagast 102 calls Stephen, “[one] of the Seventy Disciples” and adds, “Now among the Seventy Disciples there were seven who were chosen for service with the Twelve Apostles, to perform service with Silas, and Barnabas, and Mark and Luke and Paul.” 47 The seven “chosen for service” are mentioned in Acts 6:2-6 and include Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas. 48 Luke and Paul, being later converts, were obviously not among the original seventy chosen by Christ, but may have been added to that body to replace others who had died.
Hippolytus wrote of Mark and Luke, “These two belonged to the seventy disciples who were scattered by the offense of the word which Christ spoke, ‘Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he is not worthy of me.' But the one being induced to return to the Lord by Peter's instrumentality, and the other by Paul's, they were honored to preach that Gospel on account of which they also suffered martyrdom, the one being burned, and the other being crucified on an olive tree.” 49 John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407), bishop of Constantinople, in his Homily 85 on John 19:38, suggested that Joseph of Arimathea, who buried Christ after the crucifixion, was “not one of the twelve, but perhaps one of the seventy.” 50
A Uighur text (perhaps translated from Syriac) discovered at Bulayiq to the north of Turfan on the old Chinese Silk Route speaks of “Zavtai the Apostle,” 51 a name corresponding to the New Testament Zebedee, father of the apostles James and John (Matthew 4:21; 10:2; 26:37; Mark 1:19-20; 3:17; 10:35; Luke 5:10; John 21:2). This Zebedee, however, may not have been the older man of Capernaum, but may have been his grandson, since many Jews name a son after his grandfather. That the names likely carried on in this family is suggested by the discovery of a pillar from a fourth-century A.D. synagogue found in Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, inscribed with the name of its donor, “Zebida [Zebedee] son of Yohanan [John] son of Halphu [Alphaeus, cf. Mark 2:14].” The Zavtai of the Turfan inscription is likely the Zabdai whose name appears in the list of the seventy disciples included in Book of the Bee (see below).
Lists of Early General Authorities
Several lists of the Twelve and the Seventy have survived from antiquity. One such list is attributed to the early third-century A.D. Christian writer Hippolytus, 52 Another, said to have been taken from Eusebius and extant in both Greek and Latin versions, was prepared in the sixth century A.D., and attributed to Dorotheus, Bishop of Tyre. 53 Chapter 48 of the Syriac Book of the Bee notes that “the apostles are twelve and seventy,” 54 then proceeds to give an accounting of each, beginning with the twelve.
Chapter 49 lists the names of each of the twelve and the seventy. Among the seventy are some individuals known from the New Testament and others known from other early documents, such as “Cephas, who preached at Antioch,” 55 who, as noted earlier, was named by Clement as one of the seventy. The seven selected to assist the apostles in Acts 6 are also included. 56
The list also mentions “the twelve who were rejected from among the seventy, as Judas Iscariot was from among the twelve,” 57 along with those who were called to replace them, including the gospel writers Mark and Luke. 58 The fact that they were replaced suggests that the group of seventy was intended to be a standing body in the early Church. Two medieval Syrian Christian writers (Jacob of Salibi and Michael the Syrian) also prepared lists of both the Twelve and the Seventy.
One must exercise caution with these lists, since they do not entirely agree among themselves on the list of names, though most of the names are shared in all of the texts. Some of the individuals included in the list were later converts to Christianity living outside of Palestine and consequently could not have been among the seventy chosen by Christ during his mortal ministry. This, too, suggests that the office of seventy was intended to continue if the non-Palestinian members of that body were later replacements for those who had fallen away or had died. 59
Though very little is known about the seventy in the early Christian church, the few hints left us in the Bible and in the writings of Clement and Eusebius are instructive. They suggest that replacement members of the twelve were sometimes called from the seventy. This, in turn, indicates that the earliest Christians intended that these two ruling bodies be perpetuated.
For additional material relating to this lesson, see:
- Hugh Nibley, Apostles and Bishops in Early Christianity (Salt Lake City: Deseret and FARMS, 2005)
- John A. Tvedtnes, “The Lord Appointed Other Seventy Also,” Insights April 1999, posted on the FARMS web site at http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=insights&id=65
- John A. Tvedtnes, Organize My Kingdom: A History of Restored Priesthood (Bountiful: Cornerstone/Horizon, 2000)
For an introduction to the books of the New Testament and in-depth discussions of each verse in the New Testament, see Kevin L. Barney (ed.), John H. Jenkins, and John A. Tvedtnes, “Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints,” go to: http://feastupontheword.org/Site:NTFootnotes .
1 D&C 18:27-32, 41; 49:11-14; 63:52; 107:23, 25, 33-35, 38, 58, 90, 97-98; 112:16-17, 21, 28-29; 124:38-39, 127-128.
2 D&C 27:12-13; 107:35; 112:16-17, 30-32; 124:128.
3 Luke may have later been a member of the Seventy.
4 In my book The Church of the Old Testament (2 nd ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1980), 24-28, I noted that, like Christ, Moses had a council of twelve tribal leaders and another council of seventy elders.
5 See Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to the Patriarchs and Prophets (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1982), 112.
6 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers (reprint Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 3:387.
7 See Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , second series (reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 6145.
8 In both Jewish and Christian sources, the number varies between 70 (as used in the Bible) and 72 (6 from each tribe).
9 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 8:88.
10 For a discussion of the early Christian view, see the chapter “Seventy or Seventy-Two Disciples?” in Bruce M. Metzger, Historical and Literary Studies, Pagan, Jewish, and Christian (Leiden and Grand Rapids: Brille and Eerdmans 1968), 67-76.
11 Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession.”
12 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers 8:609.
13 Ernest A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Bee (Oxford: Clarendon, 1886), 103.
14 From the beginning of this dispensation, the seven presidents of the first quorum of the seventy have been called “the Council of the Seventy” or “the First Council of the Seventy.”
15 For the history and duty of the Seventy, see L. Aldin Porter, “A History of the Latter-day Seventy,” Ensign , August 2000; S. Kent Brown, “The Seventy in Scripture,” in John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret and FARMS, 1990), 1:25-45; and John A. Tvedtnes, “The Lord Appointed Other Seventy Also,” Insights 19/4 (April 1999). See also Alan K. Parrish, Richard C. Roberts, and Dean L. Larsen, “Seventy,” in vol. 3 of Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1992); John A. Tvedtnes, Organize My Kingdom: A History of Restored Priesthood , passim .
16 Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , first series (reprint, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 12:229,
17 Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , second series, 1:97.
18 The apostle Paul wrote that the Lord placed apostles and prophets in the Church “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Neither perfection nor unity in the faith have yet been achieved in the Christian world, so Latter-day Saints believe that these offices are still necessary, while others do not read the passage in that way.
19 Many Protestants believe in a “priesthood of believers” and do not consider either priesthood or its ordinances to be essential to salvation.
20 When the term “apostolic authority” is used in the Roman Catholic Church, it means the authority passed down to the bishops by the apostles. Latter-day Saints use the same term to refer to living apostles.
21 Jesus' brothers are named or mentioned in a number of New Testament passages: Matthew 12:46; 13:55-56; 27:57; Mark 6:3; 15:40; Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5; Galatians 1:19.
22 Christian tradition makes James a stepbrother to Jesus (i.e., Joseph's son by an earlier marriage) and the first bishop of Jerusalem. To Latter-day Saints, his role in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15) suggests that he was a “general authority,” not a local bishop.
23 The term presbyter is from the Greek word meaning “elder.” Cf. D&C 20:38, “An apostle is an elder” and see also verses 2-3.
24 Our term deacon derives from a Greek word meaning “servant” or “minister.”
25 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 2:504. The reference to the Apocalypse (“revelation”) is to John's vision of the twenty-four elders seated around the divine throne (Revelation 4:4, 10; 5:8, 14; 11:16; 19:4; cf. D&C 102:1). Clement may have been suggesting that all righteous elders will be considered apostles in heaven. The number twenty-four is significant because it is a multiple of twelve, on which the size of quorums of deacons, teachers, priests, elders, and apostles is based (D&C 107:85-89).
26 The lists of the Seventy post-date Eusebius.
27 Acts 4:36; 9:27; 11:22, 25, 30; 12:25; 13:1-2, 7, 43, 46, 50; 14:12, 14, 20; 15:2, 12, 22, 25, 35-37, 39.
28 A number of Clement's writings have survived, but Hypotyposes is not one of them.
29Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , second series, 1:98-99. In Ecclesiastical History 3.24.5, Eusebius wrote, “And the rest of the followers of our Savior, the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples, and countless others besides, were not ignorant of these things. Nevertheless, of all the disciples of the Lord, only Matthew and John have left us written memorials” (ibid., 1:152).
30 Ibid., 1:104.
31 Ibid., 1:103.
32 Ibid., 5:255.
33 While the Bible mentions only 70, some early Christian texts indicate that there were seventy-two disciples, not seventy; e.g., Zephyrinus, First Epistle , in ibid., 8:609. Similarly, Jewish tradition holds that the seventy elders of Moses' day (Exodus 24:1, 9; Numbers 11:16, 24-25) were actually seventy-two in number, six from each of the twelve tribes, and that the later Sanhedrin patterned after them consisted of either 70 or 72 members. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 28:3 adds a notation about the Sanhedrin, noting that its seventy members represent the number of the nations (i.e., in Genesis 10).
34 Roman Catholic holds that the seven men selected for special service in Acts 6 were the first deacons.
35 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers 7:420.
36 Jesus' brothers are mentioned in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.
37 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 8:497.
38 Ibid., 1:100-01. Eusebius also noted that Thaddaeus was sent to Edessa by Thomas in Ecclesiastical History 2.1 (ibid., 2:101, 8:651-2). See also Moses Chorene's History of Armenia .
39 An English translation of the Syriac Teachings of Addaeus the Apostle (in Edessa) is published in Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 8:655-72.
40 Ibid., 8:656, 671. A number of early Syriac texts mention “Addaeus the Apostle.” For the Teachings of Addaeus the Apostle , see ibid., 8:657-65.
41 Ibid., 8:671.
42 See fragment 5 in ibid., 8:655.
43 K. A. Paul and G. Mooken, The Liturgy of the Holy Apostles Adai and Mari (Trichur, 1967).
44 Ibid., 8:671.
45 Ibid., 8:671.
46 Ibid., 8:671-2.
47 Ernest A. Wallis Budge, The Queen of Shebs & her only Son Menyelek (London: Medici Society, 1922), 194.
48 While the number of these men is the same as the number of presidents of the seventy (D&C 107:93), these seven oversaw the early Church's welfare program and hence may not have been the presidency of the Seventy. On the other hand, they were called to do things for which the Twelve did not have the time, and the Seventy are to assist the Twelve (D&C 107:34, 38). Still, it is interesting that Joseph Smith declared that “the Seventies are not called to serve tables . . . The Twelve also are not to serve tables,” drawing the verbiage used by the apostles when they selected the seven (Acts 6:2).
49 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 5:255.
50 Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , first series, 14:319-20.
51 A. von le Coq, Ein christliches und ein manichäisches Manuskriptfragment , SB (Berlin 1909), 1205-08. See the English translation in Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed. (transl. R. McL. Wilson), New Testament Apocrypha (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox), 1:381.
52 Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., Anti-Nicene Fathers , 5:254-6.
53 Meredith Hanmer, The Ancient Ecclesiasticall Histories of the First Six Hundred Yeares after Christ (4 th ed., London: George Miller, 1636), 533-40.
54 Ernest A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Bee , 103. St. Augustine wrote, “So too those sixty apostles, who, when the twelve were left alone with the Lord Christ, departed in apostasy from the faith, are so far yet considered among wretched men to be apostles, that from them Manichaeus and the rest entangle many souls in many devilish sects which they destroyed that they might take them in their snares. For indeed the fallen Manichaeus, if fallen he was, is not to be reckoned among those sixty, if it be that we can find his name as an apostle among the twelve, or if he was ordained by the voice of Christ when Matthias was elected into the place of the traitor Judas, or another thirteenth like Paul, who calls himself the last of the apostles, expressly that any one who was later than himself might not be held to be an apostle. For these are his words: ‘For I am the last of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God'” ( Against the Donatists , 2.18.40). See Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , first series, 4:539.
55 Ernest A. Wallis Budge, The Book of the Bee , 113.
56 Ibid., 114.
57 Ibid.
58 For the complete account, see ibid., 103-15.
59 Augustine, fifth-century A.D. bishop of Hippo, indicated that some of the seventy were among those who left Christ following his sermon on the bread of life, as described in chapter 6 of the gospel of John. See Augustine's Letter 173 to Donatus and On the Psalms 99.
