Barnabas and the Early Christians 53Barnabas. Since Barnabas had by then sold all that he possessed, it
is likely that he stayed with his sister when in [erusalem, espe
ciaIly if she had a house with a room big enough for aIl the disci
ples to meet in. Perhaps the reason why none of this is clearly stated
in the New Testament is because the disciples wished to keep their
meeting place a secret at a time when they werè being persecuted
for their beliefs.
IfAlbert Schweitzer's hypothesis is correct, it might be asked
why no mention of Barnabas is made in the descriptions of the
Last Supper in the four accepted Gospels, since clearly he would
have been the host to any gathering of men in his sister's house.
Either mention of him was made, but has been removed, or else he
simply was not present. Itis possible that he was unable to be there
because he wasin prison. Itis recorded that a man named Barabbas,
with a company of men, attacked a group of pro-Roman [ews in
the fighting which took place shortly before the feast of the Passo
ver. Although the leader of these Jews was kiIled, Barabbas was
captured and put in jail. Heinrich Holtzman, who exarnined the
records of this fighting in detail, says that among those arrested
was 'the famous Barabbas who was certainly a patriot and a politi
caI'prophet' and was tried at aImost the same time as Jesus.' 2
Since Barnabas was a Levite and one of [esus's foremost disci
ples, he could weIl have been a chief of one of the divisions of the
Zealots.These four divisions, as we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls,
were an integral part of the Essene community and were commit
ted to freeing the land of its foreign aggressors and their support
ers. Only a band of Zealots could have been capable of an organ
ised attack on the pro-Roman Jews at that tirne, and thus it may
weIl be that Barabbas and Barnabas were one and the same per
son. Itis quite possible that, along with its other amendments, the
Pauline Church either eradicated, or at least altered, Barnabas's
name when he was mentioned in connection with an event which
was not a part of Paul's story. They could not adopt this procedure
every time Barnabas was mentioned in the books of the New Testa
ment, however, since, as the Acts of the Apostles indicates, without
the support which Barnabas gave Paul in the early days of the
Church, Paul May weIl have had no place in the history of Christi
anity at aIl.
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