CONCERNING S. EPAPHRODITUS, BISHOP OF TARRACINA IN ITALY.
SECOND CENTURY
CommentaryEpaphroditus, Bishop of Tarracina in Italy (S.)
[1] Among the other cities of Italy that boast of having received their episcopal see from Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is Tarracina—called by some Teracina or Terecina—a city that is still an episcopal see, S. Epaphroditus, Bishop of Tarracina. situated in that part of the ancient Latian coast which at the present time is called the Roman Campania. The ecclesiastical records of the Roman Martyrology attribute to this city its first bishop, S. Epaphroditus, in these words: "At Tarracina, S. Epaphroditus, a disciple of the Apostles, who was ordained bishop of that city by the Blessed Apostle Peter." In the Notes, the following is added concerning him: "That he was set over the Church of Tarracina is attested by Metaphrastes in his discourse on the Birthdays of the Apostles on the twenty-ninth of June." That discourse, rendered into Latin by Guglielmo Sirleto, was published in 1558 in the sixth volume of the Lives of the Ancient Holy Fathers by Luigi Lippomano, and from him by Surius—both under the name of Metaphrastes, although it is rather the work of another author. In chapter 10 of Surius's division, the following is narrated concerning S. Peter: "But when he had not remained long among the Romans, and had regenerated many by holy baptism, and had established a Church, and had ordained Linus as Bishop, he came to Tarracina; where, having ordained Epaphroditus as Bishop, he came to Sirmium, a city of Spain." The Greek text agrees with these words, in which the following is read: Τὸν Λῖνον Ἐπίσκοπον καταστήσας, εἰς Ταρρακίναν παραγίνεται. ἐν ᾗ τὸν Ἐπαφρόδιτον Ἐπίσκοπον χειροτονήσας, εἰς τὸ Σίρμιον πόλιν τῆς Ἱσπανίας παραγίνεται.
[2] It is further added in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology that S. Paul speaks of S. Epaphroditus in his Epistle to the Philippians, chapters 2 and 4, whether he is the same person as one of the 72 disciples of Christ? and that Dorotheus in his Synopsis says that he was given as bishop to Adria. But Baronius hesitates in his Annals at the year 60, no. 2, whether it should be said that there were three Epaphrodituses—namely, the one who is venerated on this day, given as bishop to the Church of Tarracina by S. Peter; the one whom the Apostle Paul calls the Apostle of the Philippians; and finally the one who is established as bishop of Adria or Adriana—unless, he says, we should wish to say that one and the same person was transferred to different places, which we do not think. In the Synopsis published several times under the name of S. Dorotheus—not, however, a bishop, but a priest and martyr—the following are linked together: Apollo, Cephas, Sosthenes, Epaphroditus, Caesar, and with four interposed, Onesiphorus and Tychicus; and concerning Epaphroditus, it is added that Paul mentions him and that he was bishop of Adriana. Concerning the seven disciples mentioned above, the Menologion compiled by order of the Emperor Basil the Younger in the tenth century treats them on December 9 in these words: together with six others recorded December 9. "Sosthenes the Apostle, whom S. Paul mentions, was bishop of Colophon. Apollo, whom the same Apostle mentions in his first epistle to the Corinthians, was bishop of Caesarea. Moreover Tychicus, of whom the same Paul has left a written record, succeeded Sosthenes in the episcopate. Epaphroditus and Caesar, whom the same Paul mentions in his epistles—the latter was bishop of the Church of Coronea, the former of the Church of Adriace. All of these, having administered the commonwealth well and having fulfilled the pastoral office diligently and carefully, in the governance of the churches and people that had fallen to their lot, and having endured many afflictions and torments, rendered their souls to the Lord, for whom they were also slain with a willing spirit." Thus it stands there, with a mention also of Cephas and Onesiphorus in the title. In the Menologion translated by Cardinal Sirleto, under December 7 is recorded: "The Commemoration of the Saints from among the Seventy: Sosthenes, Apollo, Cephas, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Caesar, and Onesiphorus… All of these, having governed their churches well, having suffered much for Christ, were perfected." Thus it stands there, without mention of the church committed to S. Epaphroditus.
[3] Under December 8, the same persons are treated in the very ancient manuscript Synaxarion of Clermont belonging to the Society of Jesus at Paris, with a more explicit declaration of their martyrdom. and December 8. Καὶ πολλοὺς πειρασμοὺς καὶ βασάνους ὑπομείναντες ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, παρὰ τῶν εἰδωλολατρῶν ἐθελειώθησαν, παραδόντες τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὑπὲρ οὗ προθύμως ἐσφάγησαν. "And having endured many trials and torments for Christ, they were put to death by the idolaters, having offered their souls to the Lord, with a eulogy of martyrdom. for whom they were generously slain." S. Epaphroditus, whom the Apostle Paul mentions, is said to have been bishop of Andraces, in Greek τῆς Ἀνδράκης; for which city in the printed Menaea and in Maximus of Cythera one reads Κοκώνης, and he is held to be a Martyr, as also in the appended distich for March 29 and 30, and March 29 and 30. where they are again treated in the same Menaea.
[4] The city which is erroneously written Κοκώνη is Κορώνη, and in the Menologion of the Emperor Basil it is assigned to S. Caesar. Corona is an episcopal city in the Peloponnese on the coast of Messenia, under the Archbishop of Patras. But with this error set aside, there still remains the question of which city is to be assigned to Epaphroditus from the variant reading, What city is attributed to his See: which in the Greek Synaxarion is written Andraca, in the Menologion of Basil is called Andraca, in the Menologion of Basil Adriaca, in the Synopsis of Dorotheus Adriana, or, as cited in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology, Adria. Baronius at the year 60, no. 2, places the see of S. Epaphroditus, Hadria or Adriana, in Syria. Having discussed all these, if room were given to conjecture, I would prefer to admit Andrana, a city of Thrace described by Stephanus of Byzantium: because the word Andrana differs less from Andraca or Adriana, and the city of Philippi is not far away on the borders of Macedonia, so that his zeal could more easily extend to neighboring cities. Indeed, if he had sat at Tarracina and had been compelled to leave there on account of persecution or for some other reason, it could be said that he migrated to Philippi, and there became the Apostle of those and the neighboring peoples. Certainly the Philippians, having heard that S. Paul was held in chains at Rome, sent Epaphroditus thither to visit the Apostle and bring gifts; whom Paul sent back with his epistles and writes the following concerning him.
[5] The praise of S. Paul concerning him "I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, but your Apostle and minister to my need; since indeed he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was ill. For indeed he was ill, near to death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I have sent him the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and hold such men in honor, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me." And in chapter 4, he again mentions the gifts sent to him and writes thus: "And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my needs. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your account. But I have all things and abound; I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things which you sent, a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."
[6] A new difficulty is raised by Galesinius in his Notes to the twelfth day before the Kalends of February, where, on the occasion of SS. Fructuosus, by others he is called Bishop of Tarragona in Spain. Augurius, and Eulogius, who suffered at Tarragona in Spain, he asserts that the first bishop of that city was S. Epaphroditus, whom Metaphrastes mentions in the Lives of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. This opinion was seized upon by Francisco Bivarius in his Notes to the Chronicon of Dexter, no. 4, year 50, and by Tamayo de Salazar in the Spanish Martyrology under March 22, where he also composed a eulogy and some of his Acts. These men maintain that Galesinius read Tarragona, not Tarracina, in the discourse of Metaphrastes. But in order to forestall this conjecture, we have given above the very Greek words as they are read in our copy and as translated by Guglielmo Sirleto, published in Latin for the first time. And it is added that S. Peter ordained him bishop of Tarracina before departing thence for Spain; whereas Tarraco or Tarragona was the principal city of Spain, from which the greater part of it was called Tarraconensis. The eulogy of S. Epaphroditus is also given by Ughelli in volume 1 of Italia Sacra under the Bishops of Tarracina, and by Ferrari in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, who assign him to Tarracina. I conclude with the distich of Bishop Brautius:
Appointed by Peter over the sheepfold, Epaphroditus Gathers the straying, feeds and multiplies the flock.