Jason of Tarsus is numbered among the Seventy Disciples

Seventy Disciples

The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke . According to Luke, the only gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text...

. Jason appears in the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 in Acts

Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...

 17. His house is used as a refuge by Paul, Silas, and Timothy in Thessalonica. Jason was arrested when the authorities could locate neither Paul nor Silas, and was made to post bail. He was not reimbursed.

Jason is also mentioned in Romans

Epistle to the Romans

The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

 16:21. Jason is venerated as a saint in Catholic

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

 and Orthodox

Orthodoxy

The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...

 traditions. His feast day is July 12 (Catholic) and April 28 (Orthodox). His feast is celebrated on 3 Pashons

Pashons 3 (Coptic Orthodox liturgics)

2 Pashons - Coptic calendar - 4 Pashons-Fixed commemorations:All fixed commemorations below are observed on 3 Pashons by the Coptic Orthodox Church-Saints:*Saint Jason*Saint Otimus*Pope Gabriel IV of Alexandria ,...

 in the Coptic Orthodox Church and on January 4 among the Seventy.

Life

Born in Tarsus, he was appointed Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Tarsus by the Apostle Paul. With the Apostle Sosipater he traveled to the island of Corfu where they built a church in honor of the Apostle Stephen the Protomartyr and converted many pagan

Paganism

Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

s to the Christian faith. Seeing this, the king of Corfu threw them into prison where they converted

Religious conversion

Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...

 seven other prisoners to the Christian faith: Saturninus, Jakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius and Mammius. The king had those seven put to death for their faith in boiling pitch.

The king's daughter, the virgin Cercyra, having watched these holy apostles being tortured and turned to the Christian faith, distributed all her jewels to the poor. The king became angry and put her in prison, yet she would not deny Christ

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

. So he had the prison burned, but she remained unharmed. Many people were baptized

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 upon seeing this miracle

Miracle

A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...

. He then had her killed with arrows while tied to a tree.

Many believers fled to a nearby island to get away from the enraged king, but as he chased them his boat sank. The new king embraced the Christian faith and in baptism received the name Sebastian. From then on Sosipater and Jason freely preached the Gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 and built up the Church in Corfu until a very old age, when they gave up their souls to God.

External links

• Apostle Jason of the Seventy, January 4 (OCA)
• Jason & Sosipater the Apostles of the 70 & their Companions (GOARCH)