Onesimus

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox saint Onesimus (Template:Langx, meaning "useful") was a Christian mentioned in the New Testament. He was a slave to Philemon, a Christian, and is the subject of Paul's Epistle to Philemon.<ref>Template:Cite book (New American Standard Bible (NASB))</ref>

He may also be the same Onesimus mentioned by Ignatius of Antioch (died Template:Circa) as bishop in Ephesus.<ref name=Saint/><ref name=Ignatius/> Eastern Orthodox tradition also list an Onesimus as the third bishop of Byzantium.<ref name=ecpatr/>

In the New Testament

The name "Onesimus" appears in two of Paul's epistles. The Epistle to Philemon was written by Paul the Apostle to Philemon concerning a runaway slave named Onesimus.<ref>The traditional designation of Onesimus as a slave is doubted by some modern scholars. Template:Cite journal</ref> Onesimus turned up where Paul was imprisoned (Rome or Caesarea Maritima)<ref>"The Letter to Philemon", Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J.; paragraph 5, pages 869–870, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1989, Geoffrey Chapman</ref> to escape punishment for a theft of which he was accused.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> After hearing the Gospel from Paul, Onesimus converted to Christianity. Paul, having earlier converted Philemon to Christianity, sought to reconcile the two by writing the letter to Philemon which today exists in the New Testament.<ref>Christian Bible - Philemon verses 19–16</ref> The letter reads (in 1:10-16): Template:Blockquote

In this passage Paul is offering a subtle and implicit wordplay on the name of Philemon’s runaway slave Onesimus Ὀνήσιμος (“Useful”) by referring to him as “the one once useless (ἄχρηστος) to you, but now useful (εὔχρηστος) [both] to you and to me.” Paul follows this wordplay up a few verses later (Phlm 20) with a figura etymologica on Onesimus’s name: in his exclamation to Philemon—ἐγώ σου ὀναίμην “may I gain some use from you”—he uses a rare verbal form of the word at the root of Onesimus’s name, ὀνίνημι, which is attested only here in the New Testament. By “gaining some use” (ὀναίμην) Paul means that he wishes to gain the services of “Mr. Useful” (Ὀνήσιμος).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the Epistle to the Colossians 4:9<ref>Christian Bible: Colossians 4:9</ref> a person of this name is identified as a Christian accompanying Tychicus to visit the Christians in Colossae; nothing else is stated about him in this context. He may well be the freed Onesimus from the Epistle to Philemon.

In tradition

He may<ref>This identification is questioned by Joseph Fitzmyer SJ, "The Letter to Philemon"; paragraph 4, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1989, Geoffrey Chapman</ref> also be the same Onesimus named by Ignatius of Antioch (died Template:Circa) as bishop in Ephesus<ref name=Ignatius>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians</ref> In his Epistle written to the Ephesians while on his way to be executed in Rome, Ignatius wrote: Template:Blockquote

Painting depicting death of Onesimus, from the Menologion of Basil II (Template:Circa AD)

Onesimus must have accepted episcopal see of Ephesus following Saint Timothy.<ref name=Saint>http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4908</ref> If so, Onesimus went from slave to brother to bishop. According to Tradition), Onesimus was imprisoned and may have been martyred by stoning (some sources claim he was beheaded).<ref name=oca>"Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy", OCA</ref> Given that Ignatius of Antioch died under Emperor Trajan (97-117), Onesimus's death more likely fell under that Emperor as well.

The 4th-century Apostolic Constitutions (VII, 46) mention Onesimus as the first bishop of Beroea in Macedonia.<ref>https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07/anf07/Page_478.html</ref>

Eastern Orthodox tradition also list an Onesimus as the third bishop of Byzantium, dating his reign from 54 to 68 AD.<ref name=ecpatr>Template:Cite web</ref> However, the authenticity of the first 25 bishops of Byzantium are met with skepticism by scholars as "there is no evidence of any significant Christian community at Byzantium before Metrophanes of Byzantium".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Infobox Christian leader

Veneration

Onesimus is regarded as a saint by many Christian denominations.

Catholic Church

The traditional Western commemoration of Onesimus is on 16 February.<ref>Livingstone (2000), p. 414</ref> But in the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, Onesimus is listed under 15 February. There, he is described as "[a] runaway slave, whom the apostle Paul received to the faith of Christ while in prison, regarding him as a son of whom he had become father, as he himself wrote to Philemon, Onesimus's master".<ref>Martyrologium Romanum, 2004, Vatican Press (Typis Vaticanis), p. 150.</ref>

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates Onesimus on a variety of dates:

• 15 February: Primary Feast Day;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 4 January: Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 6 July: The Apostles Philemon, Archippus, and Onesimus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 22 November: The Apostles Philemon, Archippus, Onesimus, and equal-to-the-apostles Apphia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Lutheran Churches

The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod commemorates him and Philemon on 15 February.<ref>Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Lutheran Worship, Concordia Publishing House, 1982, updated by the same church's Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing House, 2006.</ref>

See also

• Christianity and slavery, relative to Paul's attitude on slavery

External links

• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web