Apostle of the Seventy
Apostle of the Seventy Caesar, Bishop of Dyrrhachium
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Apostle of the Seventy Caesar, Bishop of Dyrrhachium — according to Church tradition, appointed by the Apostle Paul as bishop of Dyrrhachium (modern Durrës, Albania) and labored greatly in preaching the Gospel; traditionally identified with the person mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Phil. 4:22 ("they that are of Caesar's household salute you"), though modern biblical scholarship interprets this phrase as a collective reference to the servants/officials of the imperial household rather than the name of one individual.
Apostle of the Seventy Caesar is known from Byzantine hagiographic tradition (synaxaria of the 5th-8th centuries) as one of the seventy disciples of Christ, later appointed by the Apostle Paul as bishop of the city of Dyrrhachium in Illyricum (on the Adriatic coast, modern Durrës in Albania; according to an alternate, less common tradition, bishop of Koroni in the Peloponnese). He labored greatly in preaching the Gospel and reposed in peace.
He is traditionally identified with the person mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians (Phil. 4:22): "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household." IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION: modern biblical scholarship (following the research of J.B. Lightfoot) interprets this phrase as a collective reference to "Caesar's household" — the numerous imperial slaves, freedmen, and officials — rather than the name of one specific person, unlike, for example, Apollos or Sosthenes, who are named directly in Paul's epistles. Thus "Apostle Caesar" as a distinct historical figure is a well-established Church tradition, but not a direct New Testament reference by name.
His feast is kept on January 4/17, in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles, and also on December 8/21, together with the Apostles Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, and Onesiphorus.