Barnabas was born to a wealthy family in the tribe of Levi. Later becoming one of the Seventy Apostles, he studied with Saul (later St. Paul) under Gamaliel. From birth his given name was Joseph, but the Apostles called him Barnabas ('son of consolation') because he was gifted at comforting people's souls. It was St. Barnabas who introduced Paul to the other apostles after his conversion. St. Barnabas was likely the first to preach in Rome and Milan. He was martyred by the Jews on the island of Cyprus and was buried by St. Mark. Many receive healing at his grave, which place was unknown for hundreds of years until the Council of Chalcedon in 451 when he appeared to Archbishop Anthemius in a dream and revealed its location. This appearance and the finding of St. Barnabas' miraculous relics is what kept the Patriarch of Antioch from absorbing Cyprus into its jurisdiction and thus this Apostolic Church of Cyprus has since been independent.
When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. Rather, fortified and protected by the light of faith, let us with great courage say to the spirit of evil: 'What are you to us, you who are cut off from God, a fugitive for Heaven, and a slave of evil? You dare not do anything to us: Christ, the Son of God, has dominion over us and over all. Leave us, you thing of bane. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His Cross. Serpent, we trample on your head.' -Saint Seraphim of Sarov