Paul the Apostle
Possible 45 dating of Paul and Barnabas's departure from Antioch
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗The journey started during a fast. Antioch's leaders prayed, laid hands on Barnabas and Saul, and sent them down to the coast.
Set apart during a fast
The 45 on this entry is one reconstruction among several; Acts supplies no calendar year for the departure at all.
What Acts does describe is a scene. Leaders of the Antioch church were worshipping and fasting when Barnabas and Saul were set apart for missionary work, and the community fasted, prayed, laid hands on them and sent them out.
Sixteen miles to the port, then Cyprus
Barnabas and Saul travelled from Antioch to its port at Seleucia — sixteen miles west, in the reference account — and sailed to Salamis on Cyprus, where they preached in Jewish synagogues.
John Mark went with them as an assistant. Acts names Barnabas first at the commissioning, and Cyprus was his homeland.
Which year, and whether it was a journey at all
One scholarly reconstruction places this organized mission to Cyprus and southern Galatia around 43–45, which makes 45 possible but not independently verified. Other reference chronologies date the same expedition approximately 46–49 or 47–49.
Paul's undisputed letters never describe the expedition as a discrete first missionary journey. A Cambridge treatment warns that the three grand journeys are an Acts-based literary framework and questions the historical reliability of the mapped tours.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date disputed
How this was checked
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Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~0045.
What the sources leave uncertain
- Acts 13–14 gives a sequence but no absolute dates.
- Paul’s undisputed letters do not describe this expedition as a discrete “first missionary journey.”
- Published reconstructions range from approximately 43–45 to 47–49; 45 is possible only within some chronologies.
- A Cambridge scholarly treatment warns that Paul’s three grand “journeys” are an Acts-based literary framework and questions the historical reliability of the mapped tours.