Apostle of the Seventy Narcissus, Apostle of the Seventy, Bishop of Athens

CORRECTION: the category has been refined from generic "apostle" to "apostle of the Seventy" — Narcissus is not one of the Twelve, but is counted by church tradition among the Seventy disciples.

Apostle Narcissus is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Romans 16:11: "Salute them of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord," identifying him as head of a Christian household community in Rome in the mid-1st century. Byzantine ecclesiastical catalogues (attributed to Pseudo-Epiphanius, Pseudo-Dorotheus, and Pseudo-Hippolytus) count him among the Seventy Apostles chosen by Christ, and record that he later became Bishop of Athens, continuing the work of the church founded there by St. Dionysius the Areopagite. No independent developed Life survives beyond these brief catalogue entries.

SCHOLARLY NOTE: some modern researchers have proposed identifying the New Testament Narcissus with a freedman and advisor of Emperor Claudius by the same name, who perished in the purges of the early years of Nero's reign (after 54 AD) — this hypothesis remains speculative and is not part of church tradition.

His feast is kept on October 31/November 13 (together with Apostles Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Apelles, and Aristobulus), and also in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles on January 4.