Timothy
Oxford Dictionary of Saints:
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Timothy
Timothy (d. 97), disciple of the apostle Paul, bishop and martyr. Born at Lystra, the son of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother, Eunice, he studied Scripture as a young man, but was circumcised only by Paul, to make him acceptable to the Jewish Christians (Acts 16: 3). From then onwards he became the companion and sometimes the representative of Paul, for example to the Thessalonians, the Corinthians, and the Ephesians. The tradition recorded by Eusebius claimed him as first bishop of Ephesus: Paul's letters to Timothy direct him to correct innovators and teachers of false doctrine and to appoint ‘bishops’ and deacons.
The Acts of Timothy relate his martyrdom by pagans when he opposed pagan festivals (probably in honour of Dionysus, not Diana, as usually stated). He was killed by stones and clubs, ready to hand in the pagan festival of Katagogia. His supposed relics were translated to Constantinople in 356, where the cures at his shrine were mentioned by Jerome and John Chrysostom. Feast: in the East, 22 January (his traditional day of death); in the West, formerly 24 January, but since 1969 in the Roman calendar 26 January, with Titus.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- Acts of the Apostles and Paul's Letters to Timothy, passim; Propylaeum, p. 33; H. Delehaye, ‘Les Actes de S. Timothée’ in Mélanges d'Hagiographie grecque et latine (1966), pp. 408–15
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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Timothy
Timothy, two letters of the New Testament. With Titus they comprise the Pastoral Epistles, in which St. Paul addresses his coworkers as the guardians and transmitters of his teaching. Modern scholars have regarded the letters as pseudepigraphical, written by a late 1st or early 2d cent. A.D. church leader in Paul's name and incorporating insights from Paul's letters. The vocabulary, mode of argument, and theology differ from the genuine Paulines. First Timothy regulates congregational life, while relaying qualifications for the clergy. Then come details on the admonitions of personal life and the behavior of widows and the clergy. The letter closes with personal exhortations. Second Timothy is a testament, i.e., the last words of Paul to Timothy. It emphasizes personal courage and fidelity to the Pauline legacy of teaching. In it are warnings of future suffering and allusions to Paul's own trials.
Bibliography
See studies by M. Dibelius and H. Conzelmann (1972), A. T. Hanson (1982), and G. W. Knight, III (1992).
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Copyright © David Hugh Farmer 1978, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2003, 2004. All rights reserved.
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