Jason of Thessalonica

Saint Jason the Apostle was a Jew converted to Christianity, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, who received the Apostle Paul into his house at Thessalonica. Tradition numbers him among the Seventy Apostles. The Orthodox Church remembers him on 28 April and on 4 January, at the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles. In the Coptic Orthodox Church he is commemorated on the third day of the month of Pashons.

In Acts 17, Jason's house at Thessalonica was used as a refuge by the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy. Some of the Jews of Thessalonica were angered by Paul's words in the synagogue and, not finding him and Silas, dragged Jason and some other believers before the city authorities, where he was fined and released. Jason is specifically accused of having "welcomed" the apostles. In Romans 16:21 Paul names Jason, Lucius and Sosipater as his "kinsmen". For this some call him Jason of Tarsus, though most scholars understand the word to mean "fellow Jews". They are probably the same person.

According to tradition, born at Tarsus, he was appointed bishop of Tarsus by the Apostle Paul. With the apostle Sosipater he came to the island of Corfu, where they built a church in honour of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr and brought many pagans to the faith. The king of Corfu threw them into prison, where they brought seven other prisoners to the faith: Saturninus, Jakischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius and Mammius. The king had them put to death in boiling pitch. The king's daughter, the virgin Kerkyra, saw their torments, believed in Christ and gave her jewels to the poor. The king was angered and imprisoned her, but she did not renounce. He had the prison set on fire, but she remained unharmed, and many were baptized on seeing the wonder. Then she was killed with arrows, tied to a tree. Many believers fled to a nearby island, but the king, pursuing them, drowned in his boat. The new king accepted the faith and took the name Sebastian at baptism. From then on Sosipater and Jason preached the Gospel freely and built up the Church in Corfu until a great age, when they gave up their souls to God. Wonders are told of them, among them the raising of a dead man.

The Vlatades Monastery in Thessaloniki is believed to have been built on the site of Jason's house. His relics are in the church of Saints Jason and Sosipater in Corfu, Greece, and according to some in the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Greece.