Erastus

ON ST. ERASTUS, DISCIPLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE

FIRST CENTURY

HISTORICAL COLLECTION.

From sacred Scripture and other ancient monuments.

Erastus, disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, in Greece (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

[1] Paul the apostle indicates that this Erastus was an honored man, when in the epistle to the Romans, chapter 16, verse 23, he thus writes concerning him: Erastus, the treasurer of the city, saluteth you; in Greek ὁ οἰκονόμος τῆς πόλεως, That is: he who in Latin is called the urban quaestor, St. Erastus, steward of the city, and whom we now commonly call the treasurer of the city. A certain ancient writer, who long lay hidden under the name of St. Ambrose, and whom therefore the learned now commonly call Ambrosiaster, in his commentary on this text of the Apostle, wrongly published among the works of St. Ambrose, suggests a somewhat different idea of this office in these words: The dispenser of the city is as it were a curator, who, at the dictate of justice, governed the city, especially in moderating prices. According to this explanation, that Erastus would have been the curator of the city and of provisions (with this phrase Cicero expresses this office), whom the French now call in the vernacular lieutenant de la police. Theophylact thus comments on the same passage of the Apostle: This is the overseer and governor of the city of Corinth; that thou mayest observe that neither wealth nor dignity keeps anyone from the faith or from an upright life. Other interpreters everywhere call him the quaestor of the treasury. Whatever be the case, at least from these things it is clear that he was set in a civil dignity.

[2] I cannot sufficiently wonder how the Greeks, in the Basilian Menologium, on the 10th of November, on which they honor St. Erastus with other disciples of SS. Peter and Paul, concerning whom certain improbable things in Ughelli, volume 6 of the Italia Sacra, column 1130, wrote thus concerning him: But Erastus, of whom the same Apostle makes mention in the same epistle, first steward of the church of Jerusalem, then bishop of Paneas, yielded to fate, or rather, as it is read in Greek, ended his life in peace. What is here said concerning the bishopric of Paneas, I shall afterward examine. Now I ask, on what foundation the Greeks assert that St. Erastus was steward of the church, since the most learned Theodoret expressly interprets these words of St. Paul in this manner: He does not call him steward of the church, but of the city, as one to whom a certain administration had been altogether committed. Next I ask with what appearance of probability they say that he was steward of the church of Jerusalem, since it is most probable that he discharged his office in that city from which St. Paul was writing the epistle to the Romans. Moreover Theodoret, and other illustrious interpreters of sacred Scripture, affirm that this epistle was written at Corinth. Hear Origen, excelling the rest in antiquity, who in the preface to the said epistle of the Apostle thus discourses on this subject: This also we shall not absurdly note, that he seems to write this epistle from Corinth, both by several other indications, but more evidently from this, that he says: I commend to you Phoebe our sister, minister of the church which is at Cenchreae. For Cenchreae is called a place near Corinth, nay the port of Corinth itself. And from this therefore it appears to be written from Corinth, and from this that he says: Gaius my host saluteth you. Concerning which Gaius, writing to the Corinthians, he commemorates, saying: I give thanks to my God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. A similar indication is then also given, where he says: Erastus ὁ οἰκονόμος τῆς πόλεως, That is: the treasurer of the city, saluteth you. Concerning which Erastus, writing the second epistle to Timothy, he said: Erastus remained at Corinth. From all which most certain indications seem to be gathered that it was written from Corinth. I think that by these arguments the heteroclite opinion of the Greeks is sufficiently overthrown.

[3] From what has been said, the little fable of Pseudo-Dorotheus also falls, who reckons that Saint among the seventy-two disciples of Christ, the Greeks hand down, and in the Cologne Library of the holy Fathers, century or volume 3, page 149, thus speaks of him: Paul also makes mention of him in the epistle which is to the Romans. He was steward of the church of Jerusalem: afterward he obtained the bishopric of Paneas. Whence certain more recent Greeks and Latins, incautiously following this false writer, ascribed St. Erastus to the number of the seventy-two disciples. Among others Maximus, bishop of Cythera, in the Lives of the Saints, published in the common Greek tongue, on the 10th of November, thus makes mention of him with three companions: Τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων

ἐκ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα, Ῥοδίωνος, Σωσιπάτρου, Ἐράστου, καὶ Κουάρτου. That is: Of the holy apostles from the seventy, Rhodion, Sosipater, Erastus, and Quartus. But what appearance of truth does this assertion bear? Was he chosen by Christ in Judea, when he was steward of a city in Achaia? Or perhaps, after the preaching of the Gospel, did he begin to administer the profane office of the city? It seems, therefore, that that discipleship is affirmed on Greek credit. See, if you please, what I said, on the 15th of July, in volume 4 of that month, page 17, concerning the seventy-two disciples of Christ and Pseudo-Dorotheus.

[4] Here a question might be raised, whether Erastus after his conversion continued to administer the office of civil treasurer. he seems to have deserted the profane office, St. Chrysostom seems to intimate that he retained that office, when in homily 32 on the epistle to the Romans he thus speaks: Not simply (in Greek it is οὐχ ἁπλῶς, which here could conveniently have been rendered "not in vain") did he add THE QUAESTOR OF THE TREASURY OF THE CITY; but just as he wrote to the Philippians: They salute you who are of Caesar's household, to show that the preaching of the Gospel had touched even great men: so also here he mentions this dignity, doing the same as there, and showing that neither riches to him who takes heed, nor the cares of magistracy, nor any other of these things, are a hindrance. To this exposition, besides Theophylact cited above, Oecumenius is favorable, thus writing on the same words of the Apostle: He set down his dignity, that thou mayest know that neither riches nor dignity are to anyone a hindrance to living rightly or believing. Nevertheless others will have it that he is called treasurer by Paul because he had before been treasurer, just as we are commonly wont, for honor's sake, to call anyone consul who has at some time held the consulship. An ancient writer, whom Estius thinks to have been Pelagius, whose commentary on the epistle to the Romans long lay hidden under the name of St. Jerome, and has now, in the Paris edition of the year 1706, been rejected among his spurious works, volume 5, column 974, thus interprets the oft-mentioned words of the Apostle: Here he calls him treasurer, from having been treasurer, as he often called the gentiles, who believed, from the gentiles, according to the custom of the law, which still calls Abigail the wife of Nabal, when, he being now dead, she had passed into marriage with David. Wherefore Estius, writing on this text of St. Paul, thus concludes: For neither could Erastus, if he was still quaestor at Corinth, which is a city of Achaia, be occupied in Asia, and be free for Paul's business, and be sent by him whither he willed. To me certainly it seems more probable that Erastus deserted this office, or substituted another in his place; because I do not sufficiently grasp how the administration of that office could consist with the apostolic journeys of that man, of which I shall now mention a few things.

[5] Since Erastus was most probably steward of Corinth, as I showed above, he seems to have embraced the Christian faith when he was taken by Paul into the sacred ministry, when St. Paul stayed in that city, according to Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 18, verse 11, a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God: For then the household of the ruler of the synagogue, as is said there, verse 8, and many of the Corinthians hearing believed and were baptized. But that fervent neophyte so profited in religion that not long after the Apostle took him as a companion of his pilgrimage and a helper of his sacred ministry. This last I gather from the same Acts, where, chapter 19, verse 22, the following are narrated concerning Paul: But sending into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself remained for a time in Asia. Now therefore Erastus was ministering to Paul at Ephesus, before he was sent by him into Macedonia, and perhaps had also before accompanied him in the apostolic journeys which Paul, departing from Corinth after a stay of one year and six months, had undertaken. Hence I have been able at least probably to conjecture that Erastus was, not long after his conversion, admitted by the Apostle into a share of his labor, since between the departure from Corinth and that stay of Paul at Ephesus only the space of one or another year intervened. Then Erastus returned to Corinth, where certainly he was when Paul there wrote the epistle to the Romans, whom he salutes in Erastus' name, as was shown above. Finally, Erastus was also at Corinth when Paul, not long before his martyrdom, sent the second epistle to Timothy, in which, chapter 4, verse 20, he has this: Erastus remained at Corinth. I scarcely doubt that that holy helper of Paul undertook meanwhile several apostolic expeditions, although they are not expressly stated in the sacred Letters. And these are the things which, concerning the deeds of this holy Man, I have been able either probably to draw out or certainly to record from sacred Scripture. The rest, which are handed down concerning him, are very uncertain, as will appear from what follows.

[6] and by the Latins he is honored as bishop of Philippi and a Martyr; Ado, in the little book on the festivities of the holy Apostles, thus reports our Saint on the 7th day before the Kalends of August: The birthday of Erastus, who, left bishop at Philippi by blessed Paul, there crowned with martyrdom, rested. Usuard has the same, except that he prefixes to his name the title of saint, and calls him, with an aspirate, Herastus. The modern Roman Martyrology, the text of Ado and Usuard being somewhat changed, thus announces him: At Philippi in Macedonia, the birthday of St. Erastus, who, left there bishop by blessed Paul the apostle, was there crowned with martyrdom. Constantine Ghini, in the Nativities of the holy canons, on this day thus contaminated his announcement with certain Greek fables, which I refuted above: At Philippi in Macedonia, the birthday of St. Erastus, who, steward of the church of Jerusalem, and minister of the holy apostle Paul with holy Timothy, a preacher of the word of God, went to Corinth, and, sent back into Macedonia, being left there bishop of Philippi, was crowned with martyrdom; and he is handed down to have been one of the seventy-two disciples [*] of Christ. But why did Ghini not equally believe Dorotheus, whom he cites in the margin, when that false writer, with other Greeks, asserts that St. Erastus was bishop of Paneas, as will presently be seen?

[7] but by the Greeks, as bishop of Paneas and a confessor. The Greeks in their ecclesiastical Fasti, on the 10th of November, celebrate the annual memory of our Saint. First, the Typicum of St. Sabas on that day thus briefly reports him with others: Τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων Ὀλυμπᾶ, Ῥωδίωνος, Σωσιπάτρου, Τερτίου, Ἐράστου, καὶ Κουάρτου. That is: Of the holy apostles Olympas, Rhodion, Sosipater, Tertius, Erastus, and Quartus. The Menologium, which was collected by the command of the emperor Basil about the end of the tenth century, has the same announcement; but then, among the eulogies of others, narrates this concerning our Saint: Ὁ δὲ Ἔραστος, οὗ καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιστολῇ μέμνεται ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος, οἰκονόμος τῆς ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἐκκλησίας γεγονὼς καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπίσκοπος Πανέαδος, ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐτελειώθη. That is: But Erastus, of whom also holy Paul makes mention in the same epistle, having been steward of the church of Jerusalem, and afterward bishop of Paneas, ended his life in peace. The same is handed down by the Anthology, printed in Greek at Rome in the year 1598, Maximus, bishop of Cythera, in the Greco-barbarous Lives of the Saints, and other Menologia of the Greeks, which I forbear here to enumerate one by one. You see, therefore, that St. Erastus is honored by the Greeks as bishop of Paneas and a confessor, whom the Latins celebrate as bishop of Philippi and a Martyr. If we knew from what monuments the emperor Basil ordered the Greek Menologium to be collected, or if Ado had indicated (in vain is the memory of that Saint sought in Bede, Florus, the Little Roman, and the more ancient Martyrologies) from what source he drew his announcement, this dispute between the Latins and Greeks could more easily be settled. But now we suspend our judgment, until more ancient documents, perhaps to be drawn out from somewhere, be brought forward for the one or the other side.

* perhaps "disciples" discipulis