Sosthenes (Greek: Σωσθένης, ''Sōsthénēs'', "safe in strength") was the chief ruler of the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

, who, according to the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...

, was seized and beaten by the mob in the presence of Gallio, the Roman governor, when Gallio refused to proceed against Paul 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"; others read "Jews". Some historians identify this Sosthenes with a companion of

Paul the Apostle Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

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 ndHofmann, 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".James Strong & John McClintock 1880
"Sosthenes", ''The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature
NY: Harper & Bros. He is traditionally listed among the Seventy Disciples of .

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian church based in North America. The OCA consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, communities, monasteries and institutions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. In ...

Apostle Sosthenes of the Seventy
accessed 13 March 2017

References

{{Authority control 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