Apostle of the Seventy
Apostle of the 70 Parmenas the Deacon
I в.
Apostle of the 70 Parmenas — one of the seven first deacons of the Jerusalem Church, chosen by the apostles (Acts 6:1-6) to oversee food distribution to widows; tradition holds he preached in Macedonia.
Parmenas (Greek: Παρμενᾶς) was one of the seven first deacons of the Jerusalem Church, chosen by the apostles (Acts 6:1-6) to oversee food distribution to widows and resolve tension between Hellenist and Hebrew believers. He was elected alongside Stephen the Protomartyr, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Nicholas of Antioch as a man "of good repute, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." His Greek name suggests Hellenistic-Jewish, possibly diaspora, origins.
Scripture gives no further details of his life; later tradition (Lives of St. Dimitry of Rostov; Archbishop Dimitry Sambikin's Synaxis of the Seventy) records that he preached zealously in Macedonia. Two traditions exist regarding his death: Eastern synaxaria say he died peacefully "before the eyes of the apostles" while serving, presumably in Jerusalem; a Western tradition holds he was martyred under Emperor Trajan (98-117) at Philippi, Macedonia — both traditions are genuinely attested but mutually inconsistent, and no scholarly consensus resolves them.
He is commemorated January 4 O.S. (17 N.S.) in the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles, and July 28 O.S. (August 10 N.S.) together with fellow deacons Prochorus, Nicanor, and Timon.