St. Agabus the Prophet

According to extrabiblical tradition, Agabus appears to have been a resident of Jerusalem. He is said to have been one of the seventy disciples, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke, commissioned to preach the gospel. It is said that Agabus was with the twelve apostles in the upper room on the day of Pentecost.

According to Acts 11:27–28, he was one of a group of prophets who travelled from Jerusalem to Antioch. The author reports that Agabus had received the gift of prophecy and predicted a severe famine, which occurred during the reign of the emperor Claudius.

Also, according to Acts 21:10–12, 'a certain prophet' named Agabus met Paul the Apostle at Caesarea Maritima in AD 58. He was, according to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, 'no doubt the same' Agabus as had been mentioned in Acts 11:27–28, and Heinrich Meyer states that 'there is no reason against the assumed identity of this person with the one mentioned in Acts 11:28. Agabus warned Paul of his coming capture; he bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt to demonstrate what would happen if he continued his journey to Jerusalem, stating the message of the Holy Spirit:

So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

Paul, however, would not be persuaded to stay away.

Tradition says that Agabas went to many countries, teaching and converting many. This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck. He was dragged outside the city and stoned to death. Jesuit theologian Anthony Maas says he was martyred at Antioch.