Sts. Timothy and Titus, companions of St. Paul

People of the Book- Sts. Timothy and Titus

The church recently celebrated the feast day of a pair of early disciples, Timothy and Titus, companions of St. Paul. While some scholars have proposed the thesis that Titus was actually a sort of informal moniker or nickname for Timothy (and thus describe one figure, Titus-Timothy), traditional Catholic thought since biblical times has maintained that they were two distinct figures (cf. 2 Tim 4:10).

The letters to Timothy and Titus are collectively referred to as the Pastoral Epistles. While they have been ascribed to Pauline authority, their date of composition is almost certainly after the death of the Apostle to the Gentiles. This pseudonymous convention does not imply that they had no connection with Paul’s mission, as both are discussed repeatedly throughout the New Testament as close to him.

Timothy is believed to have been the son of a Gentile father and Jewish mother, Eunice (Acts 16:1, 2 Tim 1:5). He accompanied Paul on a number of his missionary travels throughout the ancient Near East, visiting Macedonia, Syria and Ephesus with him. As eventual bishop of the last, an important center of trade in the ancient world, he was martyred for opposing a pagan religious festival. Enflamed with anti-Christian sentiments, the nonbelievers used the idols they were carrying in the procession to beat him to death.

Titus was another follower of Paul, but unlike Timothy did not have to undergo circumcision upon his conversion. At the so-called Council of Jerusalem, Paul (with Titus present and most likely in a state of trepidation) discussed the necessity of keeping the ancient Jewish practices intact, including circumcision and the custom of refusing to share ritual meals with Gentiles. Interestingly, Peter and James had remained adamant about the necessity of continuity of these practices in the new Christian movement until Paul “withstood Cephas to his face, because he clearly was in the wrong” (literally “stood condemned,” cf. Acts 15, Gal 2). This first “council” of the church would be studied throughout history, both for the radical break with some Jewish customs it endorsed, and for the conversations it would instigate at another council almost eighteen centuries later concerning papal infallibility (Vatican I). At Jerusalem, Paul claimed God “made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith,” (Acts 15: 9) and thus he criticized such a heavy yoke as adult circumcision to place upon newcomers to Christianity.

Such a widening view of salvation history is present elsewhere in the Pastoral Epistles and is often quoted by contemporary theologians, especially those engaged in interreligious dialogue: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3-4). The current Eucharistic Prayers reiterate this universalizing, catholic (with a small “c”) trend with phrases invoked to remember “these and all who sleep in Christ,” “them and all the departed,” “all who have left this world in your friendship,” and “the dead whose faith is known to you alone.” The inclusivity of such statements can be interpreted to extend beyond the boundaries of the explicitly Christian context, and to touch upon all men and women of goodwill.

Because of their close relationship, the feast of Sts. Timothy and Titus is celebrated on the day following the Conversion of St. Paul. Timothy is also the patron saint of people with stomach ailments, for as every theology graduate student knows Paul instructed him, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine now and then for the good of your stomach” (1 Tim 5:23).

Timothy’s relics were moved from Ephesus to Constantinople under the order of Constantine, before most were destroyed in the sack of the city during the Crusades. Titus’ were returned to Crete where he ended his days of ministry, after being stored in the Basilica San Marco in Venice until 1966. This return is often interpreted as an ecumenical gesture by Pope Paul VI toward our brethren in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the “other lung” of Christianity.

Michael M. Canaris of Collingswood is an administrator at Fairfield University’s Center for Faith and Public Life and is on the faculty for the Department of Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University.