St. Timothythe Apostle

When St. Paul the Apostle came preaching the Gospel in Lystra, Timothy heard his teaching and beheld the wondrous signs that God worked by his hands. He believed and was baptized, forsaking both his father's worship of the stars and the law of his mother, and he clung to the way of Christ. From that hour he became a beloved disciple of St. Paul, following him in his journeys and sharing in his apostolic labors and sufferings.

In the year of the Lord's grace, St. Paul laid his hands upon him and ordained him bishop over the city of Ephesus and the cities round about. There Timothy preached the word with boldness, turning many from idols to the living God and baptizing them in the name of the Holy Trinity.

St. Paul wrote to him two epistles, full of fatherly counsel, charging him to take heed to himself and to the doctrine, and to continue therein, for in so doing he would save both himself and them that heard him. He instructed him also concerning the choosing of bishops, priests, deacons, and widows, and warned him against false teachers and the hasty laying on of hands.

Timothy ceased not to rebuke the unbelief of the Jews and the Greeks, and for this they envied him. They gathered against him and beat him cruelly until he gave up his spirit and received the crown of martyrdom in the city of Ephesus. The faithful took up his holy body and buried it with honor. In after years his relics were carried from Ephesus to Constantinople and laid in the Church of the Apostles.

The Coptic Church commemorates his martyrdom on the twenty-third of Toba, and the translation of his relics on the twenty-seventh of Toba. May his prayers and blessing be with us. Amen.