• =?UTF-8?Q?Jan_26_=E2=80=93_Ss_Timothy_and_Titus?=

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Mon Jan 25 09:09:19 2021
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    Jan 26 =E2=80=93 Ss Timothy and Titus
    (1st century AD)

    Ss Timothy and Titus, Bishops. They were two of St Paul's most loya=
    l
    disciples. They seem to have attended the Council of Jerusalem with
    him and both died toward the end of the first century. Timothy
    represented Saint Paul to various communities and, according to
    tradition, was eventually placed him in charge of the Church at
    Ephesus. Titus was asked to organise the Church in Crete. They are
    honoured as leaders to whom St Paul sent pastoral letters in the New
    Testament. Since the revision of the Roman Calendar in 1970, they
    share a feast on the day following the feast of the
    Conversion of St Paul (25th Jan).

    Patrick Duffy traces what is known about them.
    ____________________________

    TITUS

    At the Council of Jerusalem
    Although not mentioned by name in the Acts of the Apostles, Titus was
    recruited by Paul quite early on as a companion and was the occasion
    of controversy at the Council of Jerusalem. Since he was a Gentile,
    there was pressure from the hard-line Jewish party on Paul to have him circumcised. However, Paul firmly resisted this and eventually his
    view prevailed. According to tradition, Titus journeyed to Jerusalem
    and witnessed the preaching of Christ during the Lord's ministry on
    earth. Only later, however=E2=80=93 after the conversion of St. Paul and th=
    e
    beginning of his ministry =E2=80=93did Titus receive baptism from the
    apostle, who called the pagan convert his =E2=80=9Ctrue child in our common faith.=E2=80=9D

    Corinth
    Titus appears again in Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 C=
    or
    2:13, 7:13 and 8:6): he was probably the bearer of an angry letter
    from Paul to the Corinthians, but he acted quite successfully as
    Paul's ambassador in Corinth in rather difficult circumstances,
    sorting out disputes in the Corinthian church and organising a
    collection for Jerusalem.

    Crete and Dalmatia
    Paul sent a letter to Titus whom he left in Crete (Tit 1:5; See Acts
    24:7-12). The letter gives him instructions to ordain =E2=80=9Celders=E2=80= =9D and
    control the Cretans, of whom Paul did not have a very high opinion
    (Tit 1:12). In 2 Tim 4:10 Paul says Titus had gone on a mission to
    Dalmatia and he is especially venerated in Croatia.

    Influence
    Later tradition venerated Titus as the first bishop of the Cretan city
    of Gortyna. In 1966 the head of Titus was returned from Venice where
    it had been venerated at St Mark's since the 9th century to the chu=
    rch
    of St Titus at Heraklion in Crete.
    ___________________________

    =C2 TIMOTHY

    Paul took Timothy on as an apostolic travelling companion probably on
    the occasion of his second visit to Timothy's home town of Lystra. =
    The
    Christian community spoke well of him. His mother was a Jewess, who
    had converted to Christianity, but his father was a Greek. Contrary to
    his stance in the case of Titus, Paul had Timothy circumcised =E2=80=9Con account of the Jews in the locality=E2=80=9D.

    Paul's companion to Macedonia and Greece
    Timothy travelled with Paul and Silas to Macedonia and through Greece
    to Corinth, working with Paul and Silas to set up the churches in
    Corinth, Thessalonica and Philippi. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul
    commends Timothy to them as a faithful co-worker (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10).

    At Ephesus
    Timothy later accompanied Paul to Ephesus in Asia Minor (Acts 19:2, 1
    Cor 16:10-11). As the presence of his name in the first verses of
    various epistles indicates (2 Corinthians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians), he was closely associated with Paul in all his work and
    probably with his imprisonment in Ephesus.

    In charge at Ephesus
    In the Pastoral Letters Timothy is the one in charge of the church at
    Ephesus. Paul calls him =E2=80=9Cmy true son in the faith=E2=80=9D (1 Tim 1= :2). Paul
    is concerned about his health and writes: =E2=80=9CYou should give up drink= ing
    only water and have a little wine for the sake of your digestion and
    the frequent bouts of illness that you have.=E2=80=9D

    Last letter
    In his last letter probably written just before his death, Paul
    reminisces about Timothy's grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice w=
    hom
    Paul would have met when he first took on Timothy as a companion at
    Lystra (2 Tim 1:5).

    Relics
    In the 4th century, Timothy's relics were transferred to the Church=
    of
    the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which since 1461 has been
    replaced by the Fatih Mosque.


    Saint Quote:
    Stretch forth your hand towards God as an infant towards its father to
    be conducted by Him.
    --St. Francis de Sales

    Bible Quote:
    "But the Lord shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for
    judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness." [Psalm 9:7-8]


    <><><><>
    St. Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor 12:26): "If one member [of
    Christ] suffers, all the members suffer. For we are naturally bound
    together, we form one body in Christ. An old Rabbis said it well,
    Simeon ben Eleazar: "Someone has committed a transgression. Woe to
    him! He has tipped the scale to the side of debt for himself and for
    the world. For any sin of someone harms all. There is no such a thing
    as a victimless crime.

    So the Holiness of God wants the scales rebalanced because He loves
    what is right in itself. He also wants it rebalanced because the
    imbalance is harmful to all the other members of Christ.

    But one member can make up for another. So St.. Paul said (Col 1:24):
    "I fill up the things that are lacking to the tribulations of Christ
    in my flesh for His body, which is the Church." Of course, Christ
    lacked no suffering. His suffering was beyond telling. But the whole
    Christ, that is, Christ with His members, can lack something. For we
    are not saved as individuals. We are saved in as much as we are
    members of Christ. And of course that means we must be like Him--like
    Him in the matter of making rebalance for sin. St. Paul knew that many
    members of Christ were not doing their part--but he, Paul, could make
    up for them. So he did.
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)