ON ST. TIMON, DEACON FROM THE FIRST SEVEN,
MARTYR AT CORINTH.
1st CENTURY
CommentaryTimon, Deacon from the first Seven, Martyr at Corinth (St.)
G. H.
Two of the seven deacons whom the Apostles, as is handed down in the sixth chapter of the Acts, saw to be elected, have their veneration in this month: namely Saint Prochorus on April 9 (on which day we set forth the occasion on which those deacons were created) and here Saint Timon on the present day, on which we do not wish to repeat the things commonly said there about their election. Four Deacons are venerated by the Greeks on July 28. Two others were treated by us in the month of January, Nicanor and Parmenas, on the 10th and 23rd days of that month: whom again together with Saints Prochorus and Timon the Greeks venerate with a common Office and one solemnity on July 28, as was also said on April 9; where likewise we showed, as Martyrs. that they in various places endured persecution for the preaching of the Christian faith and at length obtained the crown of martyrdom. The Latins assign to each his own place. On Saint Timon, Ado and Notker have the following: The Latins venerate Saint Timon on April 19, At Corinth of Blessed Timon, of those seven first Deacons. Similar things are found in various manuscripts. Usuard sets forth his labors and martyrdom more fully in these words: On the 13th day before the Kalends of May, of Blessed Timon, Deacon of the first seven, who first sat as Teacher at Beroea: Teacher at Beroea, and then scattering the word of the Lord, came to Corinth: and there by the Jews and Greeks, as is handed down, was first cast into flames, but in no way harmed, Martyr at Corinth, then affixed to a cross, he fulfilled his martyrdom. On this day the genuine Martyrology of Bede is silent, but he who substituted another under his name relates almost the same thing from Usuard, and adds, And he was buried at Corinth gloriously. Following Usuard are Bellinus, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Canisius and the other more recent writers along with the present Roman Martyrology. In the Ms. of Centula of Saint Richarius these things are read: Of Saint Timon, Deacon of the first seven, who crucified rests at Corinth.
[2] He was in the island of Cyprus, Beroea, moreover, is a city of Syria Prima, an Episcopal see, in which it is implied by Baronius in his Notes that Timon was Bishop: it is commonly called Aleppo, as Zonaras, Cedrenus and others testify. When therefore Saint Timon departed thence, he seems to have sown the word of the Lord in the island of Cyprus. For as the Latin Acts of Saint Barnabas, in Mombritius and in other ancient manuscripts testify, when Saint Barnabas had come into Cyprus, healed of a fever by Saint Barnabas. he found there Timon and Aristion, servants of the Lord. Now Timon was burning with great fevers: upon whom, when Blessed Barnabas had laid his hands, and had read the sacred Gospel of Saint Matthew the Apostle, through the invocation of the Lord Saviour the fever was at once put to flight, and he was so healed that he immediately followed him with joy. Saint Aristion rests at Salamis in Cyprus on February 22. That Saint Timon remained in the same Cyprus even until after the martyrdom of Saint Barnabas is testified by the Greek Acts of Saint Auxibius, Bishop of Soli in the same place, which we illustrated on February 19: in which at n. 4 these things are read: and hid with Saint Mark: But when Barnabas had been crowned with the crown of martyrdom at Constantia, the wicked Jews were also seeking Mark for death. But he had fled, with them pursuing him as far as Ledra; and having found a cave, he entered into it, and hid there for three days: when this time had passed he withdrew thence, and making his way through the mountains reached Limne. There were with him Timon and Rhodon, who going off into a village, found there Blessed Auxibius, who had recently come from Rome. Then Saint Mark, when he had baptized Saint Auxibius, ordained him Bishop, and sent him to the city of Soli, himself set out for Alexandria: but Saint Timon seems through Asia and Greece, scattering the word of the Lord, to have come to Corinth, and there to have obtained the palm of martyrdom. Only his bare name is found in a document which we have under the name of Hippolytus the Martyr, from the Vatican Library.
[3] elsewhere called Bishop of Bostra, Other things which satisfy us less are read in the Catalogue of the seventy disciples of the Lord, which is attributed, not without injury to so great a man, to Dorotheus Bishop of Tyre, and Timon is said (in that work, Simon) to have been one of the seven Deacons and himself one, made Bishop of Bostra of the Arabs, Tyre and Sidon he is called. burned by the Gentiles. In another Catalogue of the same seventy disciples in Peter de Natalibus book 6 chapter 100 under the name of the same Dorotheus, Simon of the seven is said to have been Bishop of Tyre and Sidon. The same Peter de Natalibus, when in book 4 chapter 66 he had indicated the eulogy above reported from Usuard under the name of Saint Jerome, in chapter 67 writes these things about another Timon: Timon, Bishop and Martyr, suffered in Arabia, who from the order of the Diaconate was elected to the Pontificate of the city of Vesegorina, which is a city of Arabia. Who for the confession of the name of the Lord was burned by flames, was crowned with martyrdom, and buried in the same city. Concerning which things we wish to obtain more certain information. Meanwhile Maurolycus, Grevenus, and Canisius report this second Timon as distinct, from Peter de Natalibus. That Bostrum, or in the plural Bostra, is now called Bussereth, Ferrarius teaches from Leunclavius in his Geographical Lexicon: the name which is read in Peter we find nowhere, and we rightly suspect it to be corrupt.