Joseph Barsabbas Eleutheropolis was an important city. Joseph Barsabbas In the Acts of the Apostles, Joseph Barsabbas (also known as Justus) is one of two candidates qualified to be chosen for the office of apostle after Judas Iscariot lost his apostleship when he betrayed Jesus and committed suicide. After the casting of lots he was not chosen, the lot instead favoring Matthias to be numbered with the remaining eleven apostles. Both Joseph and Matthias had been followers of Jesus from the beginning of Jesus' public ministry after the baptism he received from John. He had continued as a member of the larger
Jude, brother of Jesus have occurred due to a resemblance to Jesus or to avoid confusion between Jude and Judas Iscariot. A local tradition of eastern Syria identifies the Apostle Jude with the Apostle Thomas, also known as Jude Thomas or Judas Didymus Thomas (Thomas means twin in Aramaic, as does Didymus in Greek.) Hegesippus, a 2nd-century Christian writer, mentions descendants of Jude living in the reign of Domitian (81-96). Eusebius relates in his "Historia Ecclesiae" (Book III, ch. 19–20): Eusebius also relates (in Book III, ch. 32,5f.), that they suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Trajan. Epiphanius of Salamis, in his "Panarion", mentions a