ON SAINT TYCHICUS,
DISCIPLE OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE.
FIRST CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Tychicus, disciple of Paul the Apostle (St.)
G. H.
[1] Illustrious testimonies concerning Saint Tychicus survive from Saint Paul the Apostle, in his various epistles and in the account of his journeys by Saint Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. From chapter XX of that work the following is related: "Paul set out from Ephesus to go to Macedonia. And when he had traveled through those parts and had exhorted them with much speech, he came to Greece, where, after he had spent three months, a plot was laid for him by the Jews as he was about to sail to Syria, Saint Tychicus the Asian, in the company of Saint Paul, and he determined to return through Macedonia. Now Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea accompanied him, and of the Thessalonians Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and of the Asians Tychicus and Trophimus. These, going on ahead, waited for us at Troas; but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days." Perhaps then the Apostle wrote the epistle to Titus, toward the end of which he says: "When I shall send Artemas or Tychicus to you, to be sent by him to Crete, hasten to come to me at Nicopolis; for there I have decided to spend the winter." The Apostle did not want Titus to come to him before he had sent in his place either Artemas or Tychicus, so that the Cretan church should not be left destitute of pastoral care.
[2] At Rome Saint Paul the Apostle, from his prison, wrote several epistles, he is sent to the Ephesians, and dispatched them through Tychicus; and first he indicates this in the epistle to the Ephesians near the end: "That you also may know the things that concern me, and what I am doing, Tychicus, a dearly beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make known to you all things: whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know the things concerning us, and that he may comfort your hearts." Now at that time the Bishop of the Ephesians was Saint Timothy, to whom from his Roman prison he wrote the second epistle, in which in chapter IV he states that he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus, evidently that he might fill in for Timothy, who had been summoned by him to Rome. Also written at Rome was Saint Paul the Apostle's epistle to the Colossians, transmitted through Tychicus and Onesimus, in which in the last chapter the following is said: and the Colossians: "The things that concern me, Tychicus, the dearly beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, will make known to you: whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that he may know the things concerning you, and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a most beloved and faithful brother, who is one of you. All the things that are done here, they will make known to you." So it reads there. Of Saint Onesimus we treated on February 16.
[3] These testimonies taken from the sacred writings have engendered in many so high an opinion of Saint Tychicus, that, since he seems to have bestowed upon various cities the benefit of propagating the faith, many have believed him to have been among their first bishops. In the Catalogue of Hippolytus Martyr he is set down as Bishop of Colophon. The Greeks in the Menology of Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus venerate on December 9 various disciples of the Apostles, and in it the following is read: "Sosthenes the Apostle, he is set down by some as Bishop either of Colophon in Ionia, whom Saint Paul mentions, was Bishop of Colophon. Tychicus, of whom the same Paul has written, succeeded Sosthenes in the episcopacy." In the same manner in a Greek manuscript Synaxary of the Parisian College of Clermont, but on December 8, Saint Tychicus is said to have been the second Bishop of Colophon after Sosthenes. Concerning Saint Sosthenes with the Roman Martyrology, we must treat on November 28. Also in Peter de Natalibus book 6 chapter 100, where he treats of the 72 disciples, and in book 4 chapter 99 in his proper eulogy, Saint Tychicus is set down as Bishop of Colophon. Now Colophon is an episcopal city of Ionia, maritime, under the Metropolitan of Ephesus, between Ephesus and Smyrna. In the Synopsis bearing the name of Dorotheus the Bishop, concerning the 70 disciples, Tychicus is said to have been the first Bishop of Chalcedon in Bithynia. or of Chalcedon in Bithynia: We published on February 19, from a Greek manuscript of the King of France, the Life of Saint Auxibius Bishop of Soli in Cyprus, in which in section 8 the following is read: "When Paul had received word that Barnabas had departed from this life, and that there was no Apostle in Cyprus to teach and announce Christ, taking this into consideration, he sent Epaphras and Tychicus, or of Neapolis in Cyprus: and certain others into Cyprus to Heraclides the Archbishop of the island, writing to him that he should establish Epaphras as Bishop of Paphos and Tychicus as Bishop of Neapolis." Saint Epaphras is venerated in the Latin Martyrologies on July 19, but as Bishop of Colossae; and on the contrary on this April 29, "Saint Tychicus, disciple of the Apostles, at Paphos," as is read in the Martyrologies of Ado and Notker. Usuard, Bellinus, Maurolycus and others call him a Deacon. by others, Deacon of Paphos in Cyprus: In today's Roman Martyrology the following is read: "At Paphos in Cyprus, Saint Tychicus, disciple of Blessed Paul the Apostle: whom the same Apostle in his epistles calls a dearly beloved brother, faithful minister, and his fellow servant in the Lord." Concerning the aforementioned Cypriot city of Neapolis we treated in the said Life of Saint Auxibius, who in several Greek manuscripts is referred to on this day. Leontius, Bishop of the same city, wrote the Life of Saint John the Almsgiver, published on January 23.
ON THE SEVEN ROBBER MARTYRS,
SATURNINUS, INSISCHOLUS, FAUSTIANUS, JANUARIUS, MARSALIUS, EUPHRASIUS, AND MAMMIUS,
ON THE ISLAND OF CORCYRA.
ABOUT THE YEAR 100.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Saturninus, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Insicholus, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Faustianus, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Januarius, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Marsalius, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Euphrasius, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
Mammius, Robber, converted, and Martyr on the island of Corcyra (St.)
G. H.
[1] Corcyra, the most famous island of the Ionian Sea, scarcely twelve miles distant from Epirus, commonly called Corfu, bravely defended until now by the Republic of Venice against the power of the Turks, counted among the first preachers of the Christian faith Saints Jason and Sosipater, apostolic men, instructed either by Christ or by the Apostles. These the Greeks venerate on this April 29, and some on April 27. But the Latins on July 12 and June 25. These men, therefore, as is read among the Greeks, when they had drawn many on the said island to the faith of Christ, were arrested and cast into prison: in which were detained seven leaders of robbers, whose names are handed down as follows: Saturninus, Incischolus, Faustianus, Januarius, Marsalius, Euphrasius, and Mammius. Whom the Saints, by what they did and said, converted to the faith of Christ, and made sheep of wolves; who afterwards, thrown into a bronze cauldron full of pitch, sulphur and wax, received from God the crown of martyrdom. Thus in the eulogy of Saints Jason and Sosipater; after which, in the Great Menaea, the following is added under a new heading: "On the same day, of the holy seven robbers, who were converted by Saint Jason the Apostle, and, drenched in a bronze cauldron of boiling pitch and boiled, underwent martyrdom." Moreover, this distich is added:
"Knowing that Eden is the robber's lot, These men hastened to obtain the same in flaming pitch."
The Menology of Cardinal Sirleti presents the same from the said Menaea, and from it the following is read in today's Roman Martyrology: "On the same day, of the holy seven Robbers, who, converted to Christ by Saint Jason, obtained eternal life through martyrdom." In the Menology of Emperor Basil on April 27, the Apostolic men are referred to
with a rather long eulogy, from which we excerpt the following, which pertains to these men:
"Contest of the holy Martyr Saturninus and his Companions. These seven holy martyrs of Christ were famous leaders of robbers: who, when they were detained in prison, on account of the precepts of heavenly doctrine they had heard from the holy Apostles of Christ, Jason and Sosipater, gave themselves over to the Christian religion. Having been led out from prison and taken outside the city, they were thrown into vessels heated by fire and filled with pitch, wax and oil, and thus completed their martyrdom." So it reads there. We treated on the preceding day of Saints Zeno, Eusebius, Neon, and Vitalius, crowned with martyrdom in the same persecution and on the island of Corcyra.