Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology, Usuardus, &c. By the Greeks with Apollo, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesarius, and Onesiphorus on March 29 and 30 and Dec. 8. The Menology of Sirletus on Dec. 7, the Menology of the Emperor Basil on Dec. 9. Authority: — Acts xviii. OSTHENES, a Jew of Corinth, was seized and beaten in the presence of Gallio, in the insurrection made by the Jews against S. Paul. He was ruler of the synagogue, and apparently succeeded Crispus, who “believed on the Lord with all his house/7 Sosthenes was probably a bigoted Jew, and a crowd of Greeks, taking advantage of the indifference of Gallio, and ever ready to show contempt for the Jews, no doubt also irritated at the disturbance made by them in the matter of Paul, turned their indignation against the ruler of the synagogue as the representative Jew.

S. Paul wrote the first epistle to the Corinthians jointly in his own name and that of a certain Sosthenes, whom he terms “the brother.” The Roman Martyrology identifies him with the ruler of the synagogue, and supposes that this ruler suffered because of his devotion to the truths spoken by S. Paul. But it would appear from the context that Sosthenes, the chief ruler, suffered from quite another cause, and represented the anti-Christian party among the Jews. It is not therefore probable that he and “ the brother” are one. The name was a very common one, and little stress can be laid on that coincidence. If the Sosthenes of the epistle be the Sosthenes of the Acts, he must have been converted at a later period, and have been at Ephesus and not at Corinth when S. Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The pseudo Dorotheus and pseudo Hippolytus make him bishop of Colophon.