Saint Onesimus (
d.A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ca. 90-95) (
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
:
Ὀνήσιμος, meaning "useful," also called
Onesimus of Byzantium and
The Holy Apostle Onesimus in some Eastern Orthodox churches) was a slave to Philemon of Colossae, a man of
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
faith. Eventually, Onesimus transgressed against Philemon and fled to the site of Paul the Apostle's imprisonment (most probably
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
or
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
) to escape punishment for a theft he had committed
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainto01.htm, there, he heard the
GospelA gospel is a writing that describes the life of Jesus. The word is primarily used to refer to the four canonical texts: the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, probably written between AD 65 and 80...
from Paul and converted to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
.
Saint Onesimus (
d.A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ca. 90-95) (
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
:
Ὀνήσιμος, meaning "useful," also called
Onesimus of Byzantium and
The Holy Apostle Onesimus in some Eastern Orthodox churches) was a slave to Philemon of Colossae, a man of
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
faith. Eventually, Onesimus transgressed against Philemon and fled to the site of Paul the Apostle's imprisonment (most probably
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
or
EphesusEphesus was an ancient Roman and Greek city on the west coast of Anatolia, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek period....
) to escape punishment for a theft he had committed
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainto01.htm, there, he heard the
GospelA gospel is a writing that describes the life of Jesus. The word is primarily used to refer to the four canonical texts: the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John, probably written between AD 65 and 80...
from Paul and converted to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
. Paul, having earlier converted Philemon to Christianity, reconciled with the two and wrote a letter to Philemon (which today exists in the
New TestamentThe New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christian Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament, both terms being associated with Supersessionism...
as the
Epistle to PhilemonThe Epistle to Philemon is a prison letter to Philemon from Paul of Tarsus. Philemon was a leader in the Colossian church. This letter, which is one of the books of the New Testament, deals with forgiveness....
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philemon%201:10-16;&version=47;). The letter read: Due to this epistle from Paul, Philemon indeed accepted Onesimus as a brother and freed him of
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
. Although it is doubted by some authorities, it may well be that this Onesimus was the same one consecrated a
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
by the Apostles and accepted the episcopal throne in Ephesus following the Apostle Timothy. During the reign of
Roman emperorThe Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin titles such as imperator , augustus, caesar and princeps were all associated with it...
DomitianTitus Flavius Domitianus , known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death...
and the persecution of
TrajanMarcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan , was a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 98 until his death in A. D. 117...
, Onesimus was imprisoned in Rome and martyred by
stoningStoning, or lapidation, refers to a form of capital punishment. For the method of metalworking using sharpening stones see stoning ....
(although some sources claim that he was beheaded
http://www.serbianorthodoxchurch.net/cgi-bin/saints.cgi?view=367579991073).
He is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the
Lutheran Church - Missouri SynodThe Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod , founded in 1847 in Chicago, is the eighth largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and the second-largest Lutheran body in the U.S. after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is a traditional, Confessional Lutheran denomination with German...
, which commemorates him and
PhilemonPhilemon was the recipient of a private letter from Paul of Tarsus. This Epistle to Philemon, is found in the New Testament.Traditionally, Philemon is believed to have been a resident of Colossae in Phrygia...
on February 15.
See also
- List of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople
- The attitude of Paul is one of the arguments in the debate about Christianity and slavery
The issue of Christianity and slavery is one that has seen intense conflict. While Christian abolitionists were a principal force in the abolition of slavery, the Bible sanctioned the use of regulated slavery in the Old Testament and whether or not the New Testament condemned or sanctioned slavery...
.