Fortunatus

Saint Fortunatus the Apostle was one of the seventy apostles, named by Saint Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (16:17). He is remembered on 4 January (17 January on the new calendar), in the synaxis of the seventy apostles. The Greek Church remembers him on 15 June, while in the Russian Church he has no day of his own.

In the New Testament

Paul writes that he is glad of the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, who made up for the lack of the Corinthians, for they refreshed his spirit and theirs, and he urges that such men be honoured. Tradition says that Fortunatus was a disciple from Corinth, of Roman birth or origin, as his name indicates, who visited Paul at Ephesus, most probably bringing gifts. He returned with Stephanas and Achaicus, bearing Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. He was probably one of those who brought Paul the letter of the Christians of Corinth, a letter not preserved, informing him of disorders in church life. It is not known whether they were presbyters or simply pious and prominent laymen. In any case they were among the best Christians of Corinth, for Paul writes of them: "Honour such men".

Other reports

There are no other reports of Fortunatus in the books of the New Testament. It is known that Clement, bishop of Rome, in the year 97 sent his epistle to the Corinthians also by Fortunatus, a presbyter, but it remains an open question whether he is the same as the Apostle Fortunatus. It is not known either whether he occupied an episcopal see anywhere. In the Menaion-⁠Readings of Dimitry of Rostov it is said of Fortunatus that the holy Apostle Paul remembers him in the first epistle to the Corinthians and that he received a blessed end in preaching the word of God. The troparion asks the holy Apostle Fortunatus to entreat the Merciful One for forgiveness of the sins of our souls, and the kontakion calls him a shining star, whose miracles have shown great enlightenment.