Timothy the Apostle

ON ST. TIMOTHY THE APOSTLE, BISHOP OF EPHESUS, MARTYR.

In the year of Christ approximately 97.

Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, Martyr (St.)

From various sources.

Section I. The feast day of St. Timothy.

[1] Most of the Latins (though not all, as Baronius supposed, as we shall presently say) celebrate the feast of St. Timothy on 24 January. It is worthwhile to draw from several Martyrologies what is stated about him, The feast of St. Timothy on 24 January among the Latins; by which the remaining things to be said about him may be illustrated. The old Roman Martyrology thus has: At Ephesus, of Timothy the Apostle. The same is read in various manuscripts, some of which bear the name of Bede, and in some published under the name of Usuard; also in Bellinus, Rabanus, and Ado: but the latter in his booklet on the feasts of the Apostles: The feast of St. Timothy, disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul, who, having been ordained Bishop at Ephesus by the blessed Apostle, after many struggles for Christ, fell asleep. Whose body, together with the relics of the Blessed Andrew and Luke, was translated to Constantinople in the twentieth year of Constantius. The same is found in the Vulgate Bede, Notker, and very many manuscripts. The Roman Martyrology: The feast of St. Timothy, disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul, who, having been ordained Bishop at Ephesus by the same Apostle, after many struggles for Christ, when he rebuked those who were sacrificing to Diana, was overwhelmed with stones, and shortly afterward fell asleep in the Lord.

[2] 22 January among the Greeks; The Greeks, however, observe his feast on 22 January, the day on which he was killed. On that day the Menaea state: Of the Holy Apostle Timothy, disciple of St. Paul the Apostle.

Out of love for the divine crowns, Timothy, Struck with clubs, stained the earth with his blood.

He was born in the city of Lystra, of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother named Eunice. Having become a disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul, he became a co-author and herald of the divine Gospel. He also lived with John, who was especially beloved by Christ above the rest. And he was ordained Bishop of Ephesus by the Apostle Paul himself. For after (as Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, handed down, and as is commonly reported) John was cast up from the sea and restored to Ephesus, and then under the Emperor Domitian was deported as an exile to the island of Patmos, the Blessed Timothy presided over the Church of Ephesus. When, however, they were celebrating at Ephesus a certain festival day of idolatry according to their ancestral rite, which they called the Catagogion, that is, the "Procession" — bearing idols in their hands, and wearing certain masks or disguises, and singing in these, and rushing upon men and women in the manner of robbers, and filling all things with slaughter — the Blessed Timothy, unable to endure so dreadful and atrocious a deed, rebuked their foolish error and exhorted them to desist from so foul a festival. The impious struck him down with clubs and killed him. Afterward, however, his sacred relics were translated to Constantinople and placed in the church of the Holy Apostles, where his solemn commemoration is observed.

[3] The Anthologion of the Greeks approved by Clement VIII has the same, (in which he is called a writer of the Gospel) as does Maximus Cythereus. But as for the statement that he co-authored the Gospel, we have not read this elsewhere. An apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus is cited; other writings also were once attributed to him that had been composed by idle men, about which Baronius treats at length in volume 1, at the year 44; but nothing there about Timothy. Perhaps he is called a co-author, or transcriber (syngrapheus), of the Gospel because, having lived familiarly with John at Ephesus, he collected the commentaries of the three Evangelists and other holy men concerning the deeds of Christ, which John is said to have then reviewed and organized.

[4] On the same 22nd day of January, Usuard, Maurolycus, Galesinius, and certain Latins. Canisius, and others among the Latins list him; some on both days. Usuard has the following: The feast of St. Timothy, disciple of the Blessed Paul. A summary of his life from Galesinius. He, having been ordained Bishop of Ephesus by the same Apostle, after many struggles for Christ, was crowned with martyrdom. Galesinius briefly encompassed his entire life: At Ephesus, of St. Timothy, disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul. He was born at Lystra in Lycaonia and from childhood was trained in sacred letters and piety; at the time when the Apostle Paul came there, he embraced the Christian religion, since he had as his mother Eunice, a woman burning with zeal for the faith of Jesus Christ. When the fame of that young man's virtues had spread abroad, the Apostle joined him to himself as a companion of his travels and a partner in his labors, and thus employed him everywhere as a helper in the work of the Gospel of Christ. For he, together with Paul, for the sake of spreading the faith, traveled now to Ephesus, now to Corinth, and also traversed Macedonia, Italy, and the whole earth, preaching. He was moreover a youth of admirable disposition: he lived in perpetual modesty and chastity: he so excelled in prudence and wisdom that the Apostle entrusted every ministry to him, and in Macedonia handed over to him the care of those who had received the Gospel. Finally, having been made Bishop of the Ephesians, while he was attempting to turn the people from the worship of Diana, under the Emperor Domitian, he was nearly overwhelmed with stones by the multitude, but was freed from that danger through the aid of the Christians, and came to a nearby mountain called Pion, where he gave up his soul to God. His body was afterward translated to Constantinople at the arrangement of the Emperor Constantine.

[5] Others consecrate his memory on other days. Wandelbert on 16 May:

The seventeenth shines with the name of Timothy, Whom the blessed Paul taught with truthful voice.

Commemoration on other days. On 22 August, the very ancient Rhinau MS. has: At Rome, of Timothy, disciple of St. Paul. But the last three words seem to have been added by a copyist: for on that day St. Timothy the Roman Martyr is otherwise venerated. Finally, on 27 September, the MS. Martyrology of St. Jerome has: At Ephesus, of Timothy. Is this our Timothy? So thought the writer of the old Martyrology that is preserved in the monasteries of Liessies and St. Martin of Tournai, in which the following is read on that day: And of St. Timothy, disciple of the Apostle Paul, whom that same vessel of election, having taken him up, taught all ecclesiastical discipline and, through the laying on of hands, made him suitable for the Churches. He, remaining chaste and a virgin, rests buried with great honor at Ephesus on the mountain called Pion. But why is he said to have been made "suitable for the Churches"? Perhaps because he was originally consecrated as a Bishop not bound to any particular See, but so that he might more perfectly exercise the Apostolic ministry everywhere?

Section II. The Acts of St. Timothy. The time of his death.

[6] Polycrates, Bishop of the Ephesians, flourished in the times of the Emperor Severus, as St. Jerome attests in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 45, where he recites certain passages from his synodical letter concerning the rite observed in that Church from the times of St. John the Evangelist of celebrating the fourteenth day of Easter together. Concerning him Sigebert writes in chapter 3: Polycrates wrote the passion of St. Timothy the Apostle, and many other things. But Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology The Passion of St. Timothy written by Polycrates; pronounces thus about it: That the Passion of Timothy was written by Polycrates is stated by Sigebert in his work On Illustrious Men, chapter 3; but this is entirely unknown to Eusebius and Jerome, who treat of Polycrates. True, but other writings of other authors were likewise passed over by them. Photius, however, when he writes that he has read this Passion, names no author. Aubert le Mire in his Ecclesiastical Library says: In that Passion mention is made of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, from which it can be inferred that it cannot be attributed to Polycrates, who succeeded Timothy after Onesimus; but nowhere is it said that he immediately succeeded Onesimus, who is said to have suffered under Trajan, as we shall say on 16 February. Le Mire himself asserts that Irenaeus was crowned in the tenth year of Severus (which was the year of Christ 202 or 203, already begun by twenty days): St. Jerome states that Polycrates flourished in the times of the Emperor Severus; so that he could easily have read some commentary, or indeed all of them, by Irenaeus, his contemporary.

[7] The Author calls himself Polycrates, and he would indeed have to be considered an impostor if he falsely arrogated to himself the honor of another's name. But the writing is weighty (as far as the subject matter is concerned, although Photius judges its style to be humble), and it is consistent with what others also have handed down about Timothy. Vincent of Beauvais in book 10, chapter 38, recites certain Acts of Timothy from Polycrates; which by their style, says our Peter Halloix in his Notes on chapter 7 of the Life of St. Polycarp, from which these are here published: clearly proclaim themselves to have been translated from the Greek; and Halloix entirely attributes them to Polycrates. We have transcribed them from the ancient codices of the monasteries of St. Maximin and St. Mary de Ripatorio, and compared them other Greek texts: with the printed Acts of the Martyrs, the MS. of Nicolas Belfort, and a Greek MS. history of the martyrdom of St. Timothy, which is perhaps itself the work of Polycrates, but revised by someone after the relics were translated to Constantinople, with the omission of the opening in which Polycrates declares his name; and rightly so, since that later writer had inserted a passage about the translated relics, to which he could not therefore prefix the name of Polycrates: but he himself suppressed his own name, or time and the negligence of copyists obliterated it. We conjecture that he lived before the time of Justinian, other texts by Metaphrastes. because he makes no mention of the temple built by him. Metaphrastes has encompassed the martyrdom, the translation, and the building or restoration of the temple.

[8] With these matters thus established, it will not be difficult to determine at what time St. Timothy was killed. For if his Acts were committed to writing by a Bishop of the same See not a full century later, who would deny that credence should be given to him rather than to others who rely on conjecture and insufficiently solid reasoning — especially a learned man writing about the deeds and era of his own predecessors? He was killed under Nerva, Metaphrastes seems to concur, but more obscurely, so that you might wonder whether he does not write that Timothy was slain under Domitian. Photius writes this expressly in his Library, codex 254, where he attests that he has read these Acts, and briefly narrates them; and he adds this about the time: Domitian was then exercising the Roman Empire as a tyrant. not Domitian, When the holy Timothy had ended his life in the manner we have described, and Domitian had been removed from the scene, and Nerva had taken up the scepter of the Roman Empire, the Theologian John came free from exile to Ephesus, etc. And thus Photius seems to assign the martyrdom of St. Timothy to the last year of Domitian, which was the year of Christ 96: Polycrates to the following year, the first of Nerva, the year of Christ 97. The MS. Florarium places it in the year of Christ 99, which was the second of Trajan. Octavius Pancirolus in the Hidden Treasures of the Nurturing City, Region 2, Church 7, writes that Timothy was killed before St. John returned from exile, which happened under the reign of Nerva.

[9] Baronius departs further in volume 2 of the Annals, at the year of Christ 109, no. 55, writing thus: When, moreover, Timothy ended his life by martyrdom so that Onesimus was substituted for him, this seems deducible from the epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians: for when he says of him, Blessed be God, or Trajan; who has granted you to have such a Bishop, he indicates that he had not long before been created Bishop of Ephesus. So says Baronius. But our Halloix, in his Notes on chapter 7 of the Life of St. Polycarp, draws the opposite conclusion from the same epistle of St. Ignatius, since Ignatius says: nor is this deduced from the epistles of St. Ignatius. If I in a short time have contracted such an intimacy with your Bishop, which is not human but spiritual, how much more do I count you blessed, who depend on him as the Church depends on the Lord Jesus, and the Lord on His Father, so that all things may be harmonious in unity? As if to say: If I, from a single meeting or a brief acquaintance, have derived so much fruit, how great a benefit must you of necessity reap, who have been instructed by him for so many years? But neither does this follow with certainty: for he could have been calling blessed those who would thereafter be instructed by his virtue and teaching. Finally, it is not established that Onesimus was immediately substituted for Timothy after his death, especially since St. John is said, when he returned from exile, to have administered the Church of Ephesus, which had been bereft of a pastor, for some time.

[10] Books dedicated to him by St. Dionysius, It might be objected by someone that the books On the Divine Names were written by St. Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy while he was still alive; but that in them the epistle of St. Ignatius to the Romans, written in the year 10 or 11 of Trajan, is cited, whence it would follow that Timothy was not killed before that year. Halloix refutes this at length in Question 3 on the Life of St. Dionysius, which life, questions, and notes in their entirety, without a word added, our Balthasar Corderius transferred into volume 2 of the Works of St. Dionysius, newly illustrated by himself. It is certainly established from the epistles of the same St. Ignatius that Timothy had already died before them. Therefore Baronius suspects that either Dionysius revised the books he had previously written to Timothy after the latter's death and that of Ignatius, and added those passages; or rather that there was another Timothy to whom that commentary was sent. by which a citation from St. Ignatius is wrongly alleged. Halloix contends with many arguments that this Timothy is the very same one of ours, the disciple of St. Paul; but that those passages from Ignatius's epistle were first stupidly and ineptly written in the margin by someone, and then intruded into the text of Dionysius itself.

[11] The same author, in his notes on chapter 7 of the Life of St. Polycarp, shows that what St. John writes in Apocalypse chapter 2 pertains to St. Timothy (which we also entirely believe): His praises and admonition from the Apocalypse. To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: I know your works and your labor and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil; and you have tested those who say they are Apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have patience, and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; and repent, and do the first works; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. By which words John seems to have wished to exhort Timothy as though toward his imminent martyrdom. Paul also, long before, had admonished him in his letters written to Timothy himself, that he should stir up the grace of God, etc. Nor is it surprising that in holy men, too, love sometimes grows cold or zeal is slackened, especially if pious endeavors do not proceed according to their heart's desire: but that ardor of spirit must be repeatedly rekindled and nourished, now by works of penance, now by meditation on sacred things, now by the exercise of other virtues.

[12] Acts written about him. Mention is made of St. Timothy in the Acts of St. Irene, 5 May. All the commentators on the Epistles of St. Paul treat of him, as does our Thomas Massuet in his Life of St. Paul; also Peter de Natalibus in book 3, chapter 17, in which, however, one should correct the statement that St. Timothy suffered under Nero: Peter perhaps wrote "under Nerva."

Section III. The Translation of the relics of St. Timothy.

[13] The Translation of St. Timothy, and together with it of SS. Andrew the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist, is inscribed in the ecclesiastical calendars on 9 May; The Translation of St. Timothy and others is commemorated on 9 May, on which day Usuard has: The feast of the Blessed Apostle Andrew, when his most sacred body, together with the bones of SS. Luke the Evangelist and Timothy the disciple of St. Paul, was translated to Constantinople under the Emperor Constantius. Various printed and manuscript copies have it that this happened under Constantine, about which matter presently: some do not specify the name of the Emperor. Some indicate the place from which the individual bodies were brought to Constantinople. Maurolycus: Likewise the translation of the Apostle Andrew from the city of Patras, of Luke the Evangelist from Bithynia, and of Timothy the disciple from Ephesus, to Byzantium. Felicius and Canisius have the same. But the Roman Martyrology narrates that the relics of St. Luke were also brought from Achaia; for it has: At Constantinople, the Translation of SS. Andrew the Apostle, and Luke the Evangelist from Achaia, and Timothy the disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul from Ephesus: and the body of St. Andrew, long afterward brought to Amalfi, is honored there by the pious concourse of the faithful; from whose tomb a liquid continually flows for the curing of ailments. More on the place below.

[14] Certain Martyrologies here mention Timothy alone, and call that translation his feast day. which is also called his feast; The MS. Martyrology of St. Jerome: At Constantinople, the feast of St. Timothy. The same is found in the MSS. of the monasteries of St. Martin of Tournai and St. Maximin at Trier. Ado, the Vulgate Bede, and the MS. of St. Lambert at Liege: At Constantinople, the feast of St. Timothy, when his sacred bones were brought from Ephesus. Notker: At Constantinople, the Translation of St. Timothy.

[15] elsewhere on 8 May, Galesinius places that translation on the day before, that is, 8 May: At Constantinople, he says, the Translation of SS. Andrew the Apostle, Luke the Evangelist, and Timothy the disciple of the Blessed Apostle Paul: which translation was celebrated under the Emperor Constantine. Canisius, the MS. Florarium, and the Carthusians of Cologne and 7 April; list that translation on 9 May, and again have the following on 7 April: The Translation of St. Timothy the Apostle and Martyr. The Florarium adds that it took place in the year of salvation 358. Theodore the Lector, whose words we shall give presently, writes that the translation of St. Timothy took place on 24 June, accomplished on 24 June, and those of SS. Andrew and Luke on 3 March. Why then is the combined translation of all of them inscribed in the Martyrologies on 9 May? Perhaps some celebration was then proclaimed, or a church was either dedicated or restored. It remains for us to inquire when, from where, by whom, and to what place the sacred remains were brought.

[16] The Martyrologies, as we have said, some under Constantine, others under Constantius — some also, like the Cologne Martyrology, under Constantine the Younger (by which name Constantius is meant) — in his twentieth year, report that translation to have taken place. St. Jerome in his Chronicle, in the nineteenth year of Constantius, has this: The relics of the Apostle Timothy were brought to Constantinople. And in the twentieth year, in the edition of le Mire and Pontacus (but in Scaliger's edition the twenty-first): When Constantius entered Rome, the relics of Andrew the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist were received by the people of Constantinople with marvelous enthusiasm. The same author in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 7: Luke was buried at Constantinople, to which city, in the twentieth year of Constantius, his bones, together with the relics of Andrew the Apostle, were translated from Achaia. But various editions have or under Constantine the Great "in the twentieth year of Constantine." And likewise St. Jerome, in his work Against Vigilantius, in all the editions we have been able to see: Constantine the Emperor was sacrilegious, who translated the holy relics of Andrew and Luke and Timothy to Constantinople, in the presence of which demons roar, and the co-inhabitants of Vigilantius confess that they feel their presence? These words, Baronius pronounces, cannot apply to the Arian Constantius; and after adducing contrary testimonies of other writers, he says: In this ambiguous matter, however, I am so disposed in mind that I do not presume to settle the controversy or render a definite judgment on the matter. or rather under Constantius. But Theodore the Lector in book 2 of the Collectanea: Constantine the Great, the Christ-loving Emperor, reigned for thirty-one years and ten months. Constantius his son reigned for twenty-four years and five days. And under him the relics of the holy Apostles came to Constantinople: those of Timothy on the eighth day before the Kalends of July, and those of Andrew and Luke on the fifth day before the Nones of March; and they were placed in the great temple of the Holy Apostles, which had been dedicated under him.

[17] It is established, moreover, that the relics of St. Timothy were brought from Ephesus. Concerning the others there will be a more appropriate place to treat, when we give their Acts: Luke on 18 October, Andrew on 30 November. The relics were brought from Ephesus, Honorius of Autun writes that Luke died in Bithynia, which we shall examine in its place. His relics were certainly at Thebes when Constantius arranged for them to be transported to Constantinople: wherefore the Roman Martyrology and others rightly state that those of both Luke and Andrew were brought from Achaia. those of the others from Achaia, Simeon Metaphrastes in the Acts of St. Luke attests that they were both brought from Thebes and through the agency of St. Artemius, the glorious commander and martyr. For he writes thus: Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, but the third of the brothers, was once traveling from Sirmium to the Danube; and having encamped on the bank of the Danube for no great length of time, he heard that the barbarians across the Danube were going to make war against the Roman Empire. And he himself, fearing lest they should do something harmful during his reign, immediately rode to Thrace and Byzantium. When he had reached the region of the Odrysians, where the Emperor Hadrian had built a city and given the place a name derived from his own, a certain bishop approached him, as though bearing a gift most pleasing to him, at the command of Constantius, indicating that the bodies of Andrew and Luke, disciples of Christ, were buried in Achaia. He was delighted by the news, and sent Artemius, whom he most trusted and whom he knew to be a fervent lover of devotion to Christ (for his divine love is attested by the contest and peril he later endured for Christ's sake in the time of Julian) — this friend Artemius, then, breathing with such fervor for the faith, he immediately dispatched for the retrieval of the precious bodies. For this Constantius was indeed moderate in other respects and mild and modest in his manners, and was exceedingly occupied with great love for the building of churches: whence he also built, in his father's city, to Constantinople, near the latter's tomb, as though rendering honor to his father, a very great temple from the very foundations; in which, when Artemius had brought back the relics of the holy Apostles from Achaia, he deposited them on the sacred altar itself beneath the holy table: the body of Andrew having been brought from the city of Patras, and that of Luke from Thebes in Boeotia. And after a short interval of time, he also brought back from Ephesus in Ionia Timothy, who had shone among the company of the disciples of Christ like a conspicuous star, using Artemius again as his agent for this purpose. And the precincts of the holy table also held him, as though rendering a certain debt of piety to its helpers. Such, then, was the return of the body of Timothy.

[18] The same Metaphrastes narrates the same story, somewhat more precisely, or at least a part of it, in his Acts of St. Artemius on 20 October: When he had heard, he says, that the barbarians who lived across the Danube were going to lead an army against the Roman Empire, he departed from Sirmium and crossed the Danube. When he had been there for a long time on the very bank, and had again learned that the barbarians were not going to move from their position, he set out for Thrace. After he had reached the Odrysians, where Hadrian had built a city and left his own name for the place, he heard from a certain bishop that the bodies of Christ's Apostles Andrew and Luke were buried in Achaia: Andrew at Patras, and Luke at Thebes in Boeotia. When the Emperor Constantius had heard this, he rejoiced at it, and cried out in a loud voice, and said to those who were present: Call my dear Artemius to me. When he had come as quickly as possible, through St. Artemius the Commander, the Emperor said: I congratulate you, most religious of all men, and rejoice together with you. And Artemius replied: May you always rejoice, O Emperor, and may nothing troublesome ever befall you. The Emperor then said: Do you seek anything, O best of friends, more pleasing and delightful than the discovery of the bodies of Christ's Apostles? And the great Artemius said: Who then, and from where, O Lord, is the one who has opened this treasure today? Constantius replied: The Bishop of Achaia, who now presides over Patras. But go, O best of friends among men, and transport them as quickly as possible to Constantinople. When the great Artemius had heard this from the Emperor, he went straight to the Apostles, to bring back their holy relics. Having transported them with great and admirable care, he deposited them in the temple which had been built from the foundations by Constantius himself in the name of the Apostles, near his father's tomb. And as a reward for his service, the Emperor, at the request of the bishops, gave him the governance of Egypt.

[19] So writes Metaphrastes. And that this was one of the reasons for which Julian the Apostate inflicted death upon St. Artemius is written by Nicephorus in book 10, chapter 11: Artemius, who therefore afterward underwent martyrdom: he says, the noble champion of piety, a Commander and Augustalis, he tortured in person at Antioch (who had also been under Constantius the commander of the troops stationed in Egypt); in truth, because, inflamed with divine zeal, he had demolished and overthrown many temples of idols while serving under Constantius, and because he had translated the bones of the divine Apostles Andrew, Luke, and Timothy from Patras in Achaia and from Ephesus to Constantinople; but under the pretext and pretense that he had plotted the death of Gallus, Julian's brother.

[20] The sacred relics were placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, as Metaphrastes writes in the passages already cited, and below in the Acts of St. Timothy themselves. placed in the Church of the Apostles, And the Greek manuscript Acts have it thus: It was then translated to the imperial city of Constantinople and placed in the most holy great Apostoleion, that is, the church of the Holy Apostles: where his holy relics are still kept today, deposited beneath the sacred altar table, together with the relics of SS. Andrew and Luke the Apostles. Theodore the Lector, cited above, writes that they were deposited "in the great temple of the Holy Apostles, renewed, or dedicated, by him." But Socrates in book 1, chapter 12, writes that Constantine the Great founded two churches at Constantinople: built by Constantine: one called Eirene, "Peace," and the other named after the Holy Apostles. And in chapter 26: He built the Church of the Apostles for the purpose that Emperors and Priests might never be deprived of the Apostolic relics. That magnificent temple is described in book 4 of the Life of Constantine, chapters 58, 59, and 60, where Constantine is said to have built it in order to commend to eternity before all men the memory of the holy Apostles of our Savior. But since Eusebius indicates there that it was not completed until near the end of Constantine's life, Constantius perhaps added some part to it, or at least certain ornaments. But what Metaphrastes writes — that it was built from the foundations by Constantius — does not seem probable, at least not of the entire structure.

[21] That temple was later restored by the Emperor Justinian two hundred years afterward, and he reinterred these sacred relics more honorably. The fact that the Greek author makes no mention of this event, though he did not pass over the earlier translation, is evidence, as we have indicated above, that he lived before the age of Justinian. Procopius describes the affair in book 1 of his work On the Buildings of Justinian: There was from ancient times at Byzantium a Church of the Apostles, already weakened by the passage of time and threatening to collapse. which was afterward completely restored by Justinian, The Emperor Justinian pulled it all down and endeavored not so much to restore it as to erect one far superior in grandeur and elegance. He carried out his plan in the following manner... (he describes the form of the building)... After this venerable edifice was completed, the Apostles were manifestly seen by all as though exulting and glorying in the honor that the Emperor bestowed upon them. The bodies, therefore, of the Apostles Andrew, Luke, and Timothy, which had previously been hidden and entirely unknown, were then made visible to all — they themselves, as I suppose, not rejecting the Emperor's faith, but openly granting him permission to see them, to approach them, and to enjoy the benefit and security that flowed therefrom. They became known in this manner: the Emperor Constantine had built this church in honor and in the name of the Apostles, establishing there a burial place for himself and for the succeeding Emperors, both men and women — a custom observed to this day. And while the tomb of Constantine the father was to be seen, no sign indicated that the bodies of the Apostles were interred there, nor was there any place that appeared to contain so precious a deposit. But when Justinian was building that temple and the masons were digging up and overturning the entire pavement, so that nothing should be left unadorned, they found there three neglected wooden caskets, and from the inscribed letters they understood when the relics were discovered. that the bodies of the Apostles Andrew, Luke, and Timothy were there: which the Emperor and all the Christians beheld with great delight, and, committing them again to the earth, they concealed them; not leaving the place inaccessible or without distinction, but making it a holy place, even though now empty of the bodies of the Apostles. And the Apostles themselves in a certain way repaid the honor shown to them by the Emperor; and this they clearly demonstrate at the present time: since, while the Emperor is devoted to religious observances, the divine power does not abandon human affairs, but delights to be present and to linger in human society. So writes Procopius; these passages are much more abbreviated in the edition of Francis Craneveld. Concerning the same restoration of the temple and translation of the relics, they were honorably reinterred. Metaphrastes treats below, and in the cited Acts of St. Luke, where he writes that the sacred bodies were enclosed by Justinian in a silver coffer.

[22] Some are preserved at Rome, What subsequently happened to the bodies of SS. Andrew and Luke we shall investigate in their proper places. Octavius Pancirolus in the Hidden Treasures of the Nurturing City, Region 2, Church 7, attests that some relics of St. Timothy are preserved in the Church of St. John at the Font in Rome. At Minden on the Weser in Lower Saxony, the Arrival of the relics of St. Timothy the Apostle is celebrated with a feast of nine Lessons on 5 March, and at Minden in Saxony. but what those relics were is nowhere indicated.

ACTS

by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, from several ancient manuscripts.

Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, Martyr (St.)

BHL Number: 8294

[1] The Martyrdom of St. Timothy, who was indeed the disciple of the holy Apostle Paul, Preface of the Author. and the first Patriarch appointed over the Metropolis of the Ephesians, of Asia and Phrygia, Pamphylia, Pontus, and Galatia; and to all the fellow-presbyters living in the Catholic peace: I, the least of you all, Polycrates, just as those who saw and handed down to us, and we who followed straightaway received, have deemed it right to make known for edification. Peace and salvation in Christ to the Brethren.

[2] Many have written many histories and lives, and also the characters and ways of life, and the ends of men beloved of God and holy: by which they have commended the knowledge of them to posterity. Lives of various Saints written. Wherefore, deeming it not unjust that we also should do something of this kind, we have hastened to commit to memory the life and manner of living and the passing of the holy Apostle and first Patriarch of the great Metropolis of Ephesus, Timothy.

[3] The homeland and parents of St. Timothy. For that most blessed man, as we have learned also from the catholic Acts compiled by the holy Evangelist Luke, was by birth the son of a Gentile father and a faithful Jewish mother, born in the city of Lystra, which is one of the cities of the province of Lycaonia; and having been taught by the great worshipper of God, the Apostle Paul, and having received much testimony from him, he became his fellow-traveler and fellow-sufferer in the Gospel of Christ, and proved himself very useful to him, and came with him to the most splendid Metropolis of the Ephesians. By Paul he also obtained the episcopate, being the first to hold the Apostolic See of that splendid Metropolis, He is made Bishop of Ephesus: during the reign of Nero in the city of the Romans, while Maximus was governing Asia. There indeed, through his teaching and displays of miracles, he performed healings and conversions surpassing all human understanding. distinguished by miracles: Whatever anyone may impartially say about him can be learned from the Acts of our holy Apostles.

[4] We deem it worthy, however, to show that this most holy Apostle and Patriarch Timothy was a hearer of St. John the Evangelist. was not only a disciple of the most blessed Apostle Paul, but also became a hearer and beholder of the glorious Theologian John, who reclined upon the breast of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. When Nero was subjecting the Princes of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, to the torment of martyrdom, and their glorious disciples had also come to various ends, it happened that John the great Theologian came to the splendid Metropolis, emerging from shipwreck — as those who wish to learn may discover from what was written about the same most excellent John by Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons. At that time too, those who had followed the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ brought together to Ephesus the writings about the miracles performed by our Lord Jesus Christ, which had been composed among them in various languages, St. John organizes the collected writings about Christ; not knowing how to arrange them in order, and by common agreement offered them to John the beloved Theologian. He, reviewing all things and joyfully moved by what they had said, arranged in order what was set forth in the three Gospels, namely of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and wrote their titles, and prefixed each title to its respective Gospel. But finding that they narrated the dispensations of the humanity of Christ, while the things he had drawn from the divine breast and which they had not related, he himself narrates fully, adding his own Gospel: supplying also the divine miracles which they had left unsaid in their chapters. Whence, having composed such a work without opposition from any human mind, that is to say, the sacred Gospel, he placed his own name at the head of it.

[5] In the following time, when Domitian was ruling the Roman state after Nero and those who had reigned in the interval, calumnies descended upon the Saint; and consequently the oft-mentioned Theologian, the Apostle John, was exiled from the splendid city of the Ephesians by Domitian himself, and was ordered to dwell on the island of Patmos (which is one of the Cycladic islands). He is relegated to Patmos. While John was in these circumstances, and the episcopate of the Metropolis of the Ephesians was being administered by the holy and oft-mentioned most holy Timothy, remnants of the former idolatry lingered among those who then inhabited the city. The impious rite of the Catagogia There was, namely, a certain abominable thing which they called the festival of the Catagogia (for so they themselves called it), and they celebrated it on certain days. They clothed themselves in outer garments, and covered their faces with wrappings so as not to be recognized, and carried clubs and images of idols, and cried out certain lewd songs, and fell upon respectable and honorable women with no regard for order, committing murders also and many other unlawful and abominable deeds, and shedding much blood in designated places of the city. Timothy rebukes them, And they did not cease doing these things as though they were necessary for the profit of the soul, though the most holy Timothy, then serving as Archbishop, very frequently called upon them to desist.

[6] Since he was unable to restrain such madness of theirs by his teaching, on the day of their abominable festival the Saint hurried into the middle of the portico and exhorted them, saying: Men of Ephesus, do not give yourselves over to the madness of idolatry, but acknowledge Him who is truly God. But the servants of the devil, indignant at his teaching, he is killed by the Gentiles: used against him the stakes and stones which they were carrying as we have described, and slew the righteous man. The servants of God, finding him still breathing, bore him to rest on a mountain adjacent to the splendid city, in the interior parts; and there he peacefully surrendered his holy spirit to God. They then took up his most sacred body and laid it to rest in the place called Pion, he is buried. where his most holy martyrium now stands.

[7] When Domitian the Emperor had ended his life, Nerva received the empire and recalled the divine Apostle and Evangelist John. Returning and taking his stand over the splendid Metropolis of the Ephesians, and finding that the most holy Timothy had ended his life in the manner described above, at the petition of those who were then found to be leaders of the sacred orders, John governs the Church of the Ephesians for a time. he assumed the presidency of the Apostolic throne. He was sufficient to the task, governing the most sacred See of the great Metropolis until the reign of Trajan.

[8] The holy and glorious Apostle and Patriarch, the Martyr of Christ Timothy, met his end during the abominable festival which they called the Catagogia, which falls, according to the Asiatic reckoning, on the thirtieth day of the fourth month, When St. Timothy was killed. but according to the Roman reckoning on the twenty-second day of the month of January; while the aforesaid Nerva was reigning in the city of the Romans, and Peregrinus was governing Asia, but among us the Lord our Jesus Christ was reigning, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.

p The Greek: "into the middle of the road, which is called a portico."

q Perhaps rhopalis, as above.

r The Belfort manuscript reads ultraprotis partibus. The Greek: "in the parts situated near the port."

s The Belfort manuscript reads Pionio.

t In the Greek are added the passages that we have related above concerning the translation.

ANOTHER LIFE

By Simeon Metaphrastes.

Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus, Martyr (St.)

from Metaphrastes.

CHAPTER I.

St. Timothy, disciple and companion of St. Paul.

[1] The homeland and parents of St. Timothy. Great Timothy was indeed born in Lycaonia, but was nurtured and educated by Lystra, which was once renowned among cities — not so much priding itself on the abundance and plenty of necessary things, as on this most sweet plant and on the ornaments of virtue that flowered in him: even though he did not have entirely pure and unmixed roots of lineage, but had much of the thorns of unbelief mixed in. For his grandmother was Lois, a pious woman who truly cared for virtue; his mother was Eunice, who had indeed been grafted among the Jews in piety and had truly flourished in the unspoiled gardens of the virtues. But his father was a Gentile, and most distinguished in Gentile matters, like a weed growing amid the wheat — that is, amid the honorable and illustrious lineage of Timothy — and a thorn growing amid roses, distinguished only for his vice as much as his son was renowned for his piety and incomparable virtue.

[2] He is converted by St. Paul together with his grandmother and mother: While Timothy was still a child and being educated by his mother Eunice, he equally rejected the error of both the Gentiles and the Jews. And then Paul, that glorious trumpet of the Church, came together with Barnabas, disciple and Apostle of Christ, as the divine Luke says in the Acts, when he had come to Lycaonia, which is indeed near Iconium and Derbe, and from Paul's arrival had received a great miracle: a man lame from birth (O divine visitation! O wondrous spectacle!) was made whole by his presence, and was using his feet without difficulty and with confidence. Acts 14. This indeed brought those who were in the city into such admiration that what had happened was beyond their belief, and they supposed their gods had assumed human form and were visiting the city, and that the healing of the lame man was their doing. But after they learned who he was, and that he was rather an Apostle of the living God and an adversary of those who are falsely called gods, sent for this very purpose — that men might be freed from their error — and that he preached a God who can not only correct such bodily mutilations but also raise the dead, many, forsaking their error, came over to the faith. The fruit of that miracle included the parents of this admirable disciple and Apostle, who received Paul into their home with great zeal and generosity; and from him they received the light of the faith, and in return, as it were, they gave him the pious and God-loving Timothy, who was still a youth, tender and apt for receiving the seeds of piety — a matter which can be learned more clearly from the book of the Acts of the Apostles. For when Paul, it says, visited Lystra and Derbe, there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, the son of a faithful Jewish woman, but of a Gentile father. Acts 16:1 A good testimony was borne to him by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.

[3] When Timothy had thus been entrusted to Paul, a son more truly belonging to his spiritual Father he is circumcised by Paul: than to the one who was his father according to the flesh, and Paul was about to depart from the city, he circumcised Timothy on account of certain Jews, with whom the city and all the surrounding area were filled, because all knew that he had been born of a Gentile father. Acts 16:3. And Paul went about the cities sowing the word of his preaching, announcing the truth, and regenerating all in the Spirit. And Timothy followed him as a star follows the sun: led forth indeed by his parents, he becomes Paul's companion: but not obscurely wounding their hearts by his departure from them. How could it be otherwise, since they were the parents of such a son, who was brimming with so sweet a flower of virtue? He himself, however, appeared to be in no way affected by the separation from them, but in a manner covered over his affection for his parents with his desire for Paul, and showed that this was far stronger than natural necessity. He is instructed by Paul: From this point he is trained by Paul in the discipline of letters, becomes his tent-mate, and in every way lives together with him. Then he is also appointed his Deacon and confirmed in the apostolate, he becomes Deacon: made a partner in his dangers and labors, and in no way hindered by the tenderness of his age from enduring hardships; but bringing to bear a noble will that was more powerful than his years, so that he had his own teacher as a witness to his good disposition and pious works, who said thus: See that no one despise him. For he works the work of the Lord, as I also do. 1 Cor. 16:10.

[4] He is frequently praised by Paul: When he had attained to such virtue, and had so great a witness borne to him — not only here, but also in many other places. For now indeed, Paul writes to the Corinthians: I have sent to you Timothy, my brother, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ. 1 Cor. 4:17. And again: If Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear. 1 Cor. 16:10. Now also writing to the Philippians, he takes him as a partner in the inscription: Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:1 and 2:19. And then subsequently in the epistle: But I hope in the Lord to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be of good cheer when I learn of your circumstances. For I have no one of like mind who will sincerely care for your affairs. And he writes things congruent with these also to the Thessalonians: Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, honoring him here too with partnership in the inscription: 1 and 2 Thess. 1. I sent to you Timothy, our brother and minister of God and fellow-worker in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to strengthen you and to encourage you concerning your faith, and that no one should be disturbed by these afflictions. 1 Thess. 3:2. And elsewhere: But you know his proven character, that as a son with a father he has served with me in the Gospel — calling upon them also as witnesses of Timothy's virtue. Phil. 2:22. And then also to the Colossians: Paul, Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. Col. 1:1.

CHAPTER II.

The zeal of St. Timothy, his martyrdom, the exile of St. John.

[5] Furthermore, though he bore so great a testimony from his teacher, and was deemed worthy to be called now a faithful and beloved son in the Lord, his fervor is restrained: now his brother and fellow-worker in the Gospel, and attained so many and so great commendations in succession; nevertheless he could not even so trust in himself and be without fear: but he lived so carefully, and exercised himself so diligently, and afflicted himself so severely, that even his Teacher exhorted him, advising his disciple not to drink water any longer, but to use a little wine: On account of your stomach, he says, and your frequent infirmities. 1 Tim. 5:23.

[6] But although his body was thus worn down by continual infirmity, his zeal and labors: and his digestive faculty was enfeebled, his noble spirit shone forth. 1 Tim. 5:23. For the infirmity of the body could not suppress so noble a spirit: but on the swift wing of zeal he flew in every direction, and now Ephesus, now Corinth was charmed by the Sirens of his tongue. He also frequently embraced Macedonia and Italy and the whole earth with his Teacher in his preaching. And what shall you say of how many he liberated from bondage to desires most alien to reason and absurd? He who did not overlook the offense of the fornicator at Corinth knows well what I say. For the divine Timothy was not only most keen in understanding, but also most ready in speaking, most skillful in the noble use of eloquence, most delightful in expounding divine things, and most supremely suited for governing and guarding the Church. For he received a more abundant grace, and drew upon double fountains of doctrine — delighting himself not only with the admirable lyre of the Spirit played by Paul, he associates with St. John the Apostle. but also consorting with John, the especially beloved disciple; and having been appointed by him to the administration of the See of the Ephesians, since he had heard and learned from John what the latter in turn had received from the good Spirit.

[7] For when Nero, who had come to power wickedly, and wickedly (O justice and patience of God!) had held it, St. John is shipwrecked, had subjected the Princes of the Apostles — Peter, I say, and Paul — to the end of martyrdom, and the other disciples who were with them had turned elsewhere; it happened that this great Evangelist and Theologian took up residence at Ephesus, cast ashore from a storm and shipwreck, as is related in the writings of Irenaeus of Lyons, and as tradition reports. Book 3, Against Heresies, chapters 1 and 11. And those disciples who had followed other Evangelists and Apostles brought to the city of the Ephesians the things which had been composed by them in different languages (for they had not yet employed speech of a single tongue), and delivered them to him. He writes the Gospel, And he, as also seems right to Eusebius of Pamphilus who discusses these matters, is said to have accepted what had been written, bearing testimony to their truth; but to have noticed that there remained in them only the narrative of what Christ had done at first and in the beginning of his preaching. And the statement is true. For you will find, if you consider carefully, that the three Evangelists recorded only those things which the Savior did in one year after John the Baptist was cast into prison, and that they correctly indicate this at the beginning of their narrative. For after Christ's forty-day fast and the temptation which he endured, Matthew indicates the period of his writing by saying: When he heard that John had been delivered up, he withdrew from Judea into Galilee. Matt. 4:12; Luke 3:20. Luke likewise, before he begins to narrate the deeds of Jesus, and narrates what was omitted by others: indicates in a similar manner by saying that Herod, adding to the things he had done, shut up John in prison. For this reason, therefore, they say that the Apostle John, being asked, handed down in his own Gospel the period that had been passed over in silence by the earlier Evangelists, and the things that had been done by the Savior during it — namely, those things that were done before the Baptist was cast into prison — even though he had previously used preaching rather than writing. And they say he indicated this, partly by saying: This beginning of signs did Jesus John 2:11, and partly by making mention of the Baptist amid the deeds of Jesus, as one who was still baptizing at Aenon near Salim. John 3:23. Moreover, he shows this more clearly by saying: For John had not yet been cast into prison. John 3:24. From these things, therefore, it is clearly shown that the Theologian sets forth in his Gospel those things which Christ did while John was not yet cast into prison; while the other three Evangelists record those things which were done after John was imprisoned. He who attends to this will no longer think the Gospels disagree, since the one according to John contains the first actions of Christ, while the others contain the history that occurred toward the very end of Christ's ministry. Rightly, therefore, he passed over in silence the genealogy of the flesh of our Savior, since it had already been written by Matthew and Luke; and he begins from the Theology, since this, as the more excellent subject, had been reserved for him by the good Spirit. And thus indeed does Eusebius narrate concerning John and the other Evangelists.

[8] It was therefore inevitable that the words of Truth itself, that is, of Christ, who said to his disciples: In the world you will have affliction, John 16:33. should not fall to the ground. Nor indeed did they fail, John is exiled to Patmos. but both men underwent many trials. For when Domitian had then seized the empire through great wickedness, John too was condemned to inhabit one of the Cycladic islands. Domitian, I say, to whom after Nero and those who intervened the rule was entrusted; he was in no way inferior to Nero in wickedness, but always looked to him as his model, or even surpassed him in crimes and outrages, and lent his ears as gladly to accusations fabricated against others as to his own praises — since flattery had such power that it could even bestow some praise upon Domitian and celebrate him. His inclination, therefore, to listen readily to calumnies condemned John to be relegated to Patmos. For so was named the island to which he was banished. And when the venerable John had been relegated there in disgrace, Timothy received the episcopate of the Ephesians in his place — although the enemy did not allow him either to live long in his See.

[9] For there was a certain festival day among the Ephesians, which they called the Catagogion: on it they took up clubs Timothy rebukes the Catagogia, and held images in their hands and put on certain masks, and shamelessly paraded through the more distinguished parts of the city, and chanted certain songs to them, and fell upon men and women in the manner of brigands, and perpetrated great slaughter among them — thinking by this means, execrable as they were, to honor their demon, so that they might appear to honor the men whose greatest form of worship is the death of those who honor them. The divine Timothy, therefore, bearing this grievously, and inflamed in his inmost being with the fire of zeal, having employed in part counsels and admonitions, and being utterly unable to persuade them to desist from such madness, approached them in the middle of the crossroads while the festival was already in progress, admonishing once more, rebuking, teaching — doing everything in his power that might deter a man from such madness.

[10] He is killed: But they, bearing his outspokenness ill, used against him whatever they had in their hands, striking him and dragging him along the ground with the greatest cruelty and inhumanity that can be described, and finally, when he lay on the ground and all vital strength and function had left him, certain Christians took him up, still barely and with difficulty breathing, and already near death, and carried him beyond the harbor of the city. He is buried by the Christians: There, having commended his spirit to God, his body was again piously and reverently interred in a certain place called by them Pion, that is, "fat" or "rich."

CHAPTER III.

The Translation of the relics of St. Timothy.

[11] A long time afterward, the love of Constantius for him — who was the son of Constantine, the Great, I say, that first Christian Emperor — carried his relics away from there, using Artemius as the agent of his desire. Artemius, having been an imitator of that excellent Timothy's outspokenness, was afterward conformed to him also by a similar death, and was adorned with the ornament of martyrdom for Christ's sake. The relics were deposited on the sacred altar of what is called the Church of the Apostles they are translated to Constantinople, (and this was the work and the faith of Constantius), beneath the mystical table itself, as a supplier of miracles, a dispenser of graces, a treasure that cannot be exhausted, riches that are not consumed; and he is numbered together with Luke and Andrew — perhaps by God's benevolent providence, so that just as all things were common to them — their manner of life, their discipline, their preaching — so also their tomb should be common, since their rest there too is shared.

[12] The temple, moreover, Justinian afterward, applying a more magnificent art with his own hand, where the temple was afterward restored by Justinian. splendidly rebuilds and transforms, and gives it the beauty and grandeur which it now has and which is beheld, except for the mystical and divine table. For from that alone he abstained, and rightly and reverently so, on account of the deposition of the sacred relics. Wherefore it stands in the middle of the temple to this day, since he had constructed a table of the purest silver and, with a great display of his love for Christ, had reinterred the holy bodies of the holy Apostles of Christ.

[13] When the impious Domitian had ruled most wickedly and ended his life most miserably, St. John lived at Ephesus after Timothy. Nerva took up the empire, and immediately after him Trajan also; and since they wished to show themselves as clement and just as possible, they dissolved the exile of the Evangelist and Theologian along with many others. And when he had returned to Ephesus (O with how much joy and honor, one might say!), and had learned that the divine Timothy had already departed to the Jesus whom he desired, and had sealed the course of the Gospel with the end of martyrdom, and had found the Church bereft of its Bishop, he took it up again — so that the same man both gave Timothy his See and succeeded him in it. Both of these things are marks of his zeal toward God and of that great ardor and passion for piety. And for a long time afterward he perpetually cared for the Church and proclaimed the preaching of the truth, for the increase of piety, for the salvation of souls, for the glory of our Lord Jesus: with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be all honor now and always and forever and ever. Amen.