Zacchaeus

Saint Zacchaeus the Apostle was the chief of the tax collectors at Jericho, who received the Lord Jesus Christ in his house and repented. His story is found only in the Gospel of Luke (19:1-10). According to tradition he became bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and is counted among the Seventy Apostles. The Church commemorates him on 20 April, and the Sunday before the Triodion bears his name.

In the Gospel

The name Zacchaeus means "pure" or "innocent" in Hebrew. Jericho was a rich city, a centre of the balsam trade and a crossing on the way to Jerusalem, so it had many customs posts. Tax collectors were despised by the Jews as servants of Roman rule. Zacchaeus was "a chief tax collector and rich," and short of stature. When Jesus passed through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, he wanted to see Him, but the crowd prevented him. He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree, where the Lord was to pass.

When Jesus came to that place He looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." Zacchaeus came down quickly and received Him with joy. The crowd murmured that the Teacher had gone to be the guest of a sinner. Zacchaeus said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." Jesus answered him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Tradition

The Greek Synaxarion says that after the Ascension of the Lord Zacchaeus followed the Apostle Peter, from whom he later received ordination as bishop of Caesarea. The same tradition, kept in the Apostolic Constitutions (7:46), calls him the first bishop of Caesarea. Clement of Alexandria once mentions an opinion that Zacchaeus was the same as Matthias, chosen apostle in place of Judas. These opinions cannot be proved.

Veneration

The Gospel of Zacchaeus is read at the Liturgy on the Sunday before the Triodion and opens the preparation for Great Lent. The Church sees in him an image of repentance and of the longing to see Christ: Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore to see Him, and the Lord came to save him.