Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Timothy

TIMOTHY, or Timotheus (Acts xvi. 1, xvii. 14, &c.), a Lycaonian, the son of a Gentile father but of a Jewish mother, Eunice (2 Tim. i. 5), became a disciple of Paul at the time of his visit to Derbe and Lystra, and in deference to Jewish feeling was circumcised. He accompanied the apostle on many of his journeys, and was employed by him on important missions (1 Thess. iii. 2; 1 Cor. iv. 17, xvi. 10). His name is associated with that of Paul in the opening salutations of both epistles to the Thessalonians, the second epistle to the Corinthians, and those to the Philippians and Colossians. He was therefore with Paul at Rome. At a later date he is mentioned in Heb. xiii. 23 as having undergone imprisonment but been released. For the epistles of Paul to Timothy, see PASTORAL EPISTLES (vol. xviii. p. 348). On the basis of them he is tradition ally represented as bishop of Ephesus, and tradition also tells that he suffered under Domitian. His martyrdom is celebrated on 24th January. The apocryphal Acta Timothei (Greek and Latin) have been edited by Usener (Bonn, 1877); compare Lipsius, Apokr. Apostelgeschichten, ii. 2 (1884).