St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon A...

674. I take the view that the κυρία addressed in the Second Epistle of St John is some church personified, as indeed the whole tenour of the epistle seems to imply: see esp. vv. 4, 7 sq. The salutation to the ‘elect lady’ (ver. 1) from her ‘elect sister’ (ver. 15) will then be a greeting sent to one church from another; just as in 1 Peter, the letter is addressed at the outset ἐκλεκτοῖς Πόντου κ.τ.λ. (i. 1) and contains at the close a salutation from ἡ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι συνεκλεκτή (v. 13).

675. vv. 5, 7.

676. Apost. Const. vii. 46 τῆς δὲ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ Λαοδικείας [ἐπίσκοπος] Ἄρχιππος, Κολασσάεων δὲ Φιλήμων, Βεροίας δὲ τῆς κατὰ Μακεδονίαν Ὀνήσιμος ὁ Φιλήμονος. The Greek Menæa however make Philemon bishop of Gaza; see Tillemont I. p. 574 note lxvi.

677. See Tillemont I. pp. 290, 574, for the references.

678. Boeckh Corp. Inscr. 3814 Νέικανδρος καὶ Ἀφφία γυνὴ αὐτοῦ. In the following inscriptions also a wife bearing the name Apphia (Aphphia, Aphia) or Apphion (Aphphion, Aphion) is mentioned in connexion with her husband; 2720, 2782, 2836, 3446, 2775 b, c, d, 2837 b, 3849, 3902 m, 3962, 4141, 4277, 4321 f, 3846 z17, etc.

M. Renan (Saint Paul p. 360) says, ‘Appia, diaconesse de cette ville’. Like other direct statements of this same writer, as for instance that the Colossians sent a deputation to St Paul (L’Antechrist p. 90), this assertion rests on no authority.

679. They speak of Ἀπφία as a softened form of the Latin Appia, and quote Acts xxviii. 15, where however the form is Ἀππίου. Even Ewald writes the word Appia.

680. Ἀπφία, no. 2782, 2835, 2950, 3432, 3446, 2775 b, c, d, 2837 b, 3902 m, 3962, 4124, 4145: Ἀφφία, no. 3814, 4141, 4277, 4321 f, 3827 l, 3846 z, 3846 z17. So far as I could trace any law, the form Ἀφφία is preferred in the northern and more distant towns like Æzani and Cotiæum, while Ἀπφία prevails in the southern towns in the more immediate neighbourhood of Colossæ, such as Aphrodisias. This accords with the evidence of our MSS, in which Ἀπφία is the best supported form, though Ἀφφία is found in some. In Theod. Mops. (Cramer’s Cat. p. 105) it becomes Ἀμφία by a common corruption; and Old Latin copies write the dative Apphiadi from the allied form Apphias.

The most interesting of these inscriptions mentioning the name is no. 2782 at Aphrodisias, where there is a notice of Φλ. Ἀπφίας ἀρχιερείας Ἀσίας, μητρὸς καὶ ἀδελφῆς καὶ μάμμης συγκλητικῶν, φιλοπάτριδος κ.τ.λ.

681. no. 2720, 3827.

682. Ἄπφιον or Ἄφφιον 2733, 2836, 3295, 3849, 3902 m, 4207; Ἄφιον 3846 z34 and Ἄφειον 3846 z31; and even Ἄφφειν, 3167, 3278. In 3902 m the mother’s name is Ἀπφία and the daughter’s Ἄπφιον.

683. Ἀφφίας, 3697, 3983; Ἀφίας 3879.

684. Ἄφφη 3816, 3390, 4143; Ἄπφη 3796, 4122.

685. It is met with at the neighbouring town of Hierapolis, in the form Ἀπφίανος no. 3911. It also occurs on coins of not very distant parts of Asia Minor, being written either Ἀπφίανος or Ἀφφίανος; Mionnet III. p. 179, 184, IV. p. 65, 67, Suppl. VI. p. 293, VII. p. 365.

686. Suidas Ἄπφα: ἀδελφῆς καὶ ἀδελφοῦ ὑποκόρισμα, and so Bekk. Anecd. p. 441. Eustath. Il. p. 565 says ἄπφαν τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ἀττικῶς μόνη ἡ ἀδελφὴ εἴποι ἂν, καὶ πάππαν τὸν πατέρα μόνος ὁ παῖς κ.τ.λ., and he adds ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ὡς ἐρρέθη ἄπφα γίνεται καὶ τὸ ἄπφιον, ὑποκόρισμα ὂν ἐρωμένης· τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄπφα ὑποκόρισμα φασὶν Ἀττικόν. These words were found in writers of Attic comedy (Pollux iii. 74 ἡ παρὰ τοῖς νέοις κωμῳδοῖς ἀπφία καὶ ἀπφίον καὶ ἀπφάριον; comp. Xenarchus τοὺς μὲν γέροντας ὄντας ἐπικαλούμεναι πατρίδια, τοὺς δ’ ἀπφάρια, τοὺς νεωτέρους, Meineke Fragm. Com. III. p. 617): and doubtless they were heard commonly in Attic homes. But were they not learnt in the nursery from Phrygian slaves? Ἀπφάριον appears in two inscriptions almost as a proper name, 2637 Κλαυδία ἀπφάριον, 3277 ἀπφάριον Λολλιανή. In no. 4207 (at Telmissus) we have Ἑλένη ἡ καὶ Ἄφφιον, so that it seems sometimes to have been employed side by side with a Greek name; comp. no. 3912 a Παπίας ... ὁ καλούμενος Διογένης, quoted above p. 48. This will account for the frequency of the names, Apphia, Apphion, etc. In Theocr. XV. 13 we have ἀπφῦς, and in Callim. Hym. Dian. 6 ἄππα, as a term of endearment applied to a father.

687. This appears from the fact that Ammias and Ammianos appear sometimes as the names of mother and son respectively in the same inscriptions; e.g. 3846 z82, 3847 k, 3882 i.

688. On the name Papias or Pappias see above p. 48.

689. See Boeckh Corp. Inscr.III. p. 1085 for the names Νάνας, etc.

690. We have not only the form Ἄππη several times (e.g. 3827 x, 3846 p, 3846 x, 3846 z46, etc.); but also Ἄππης 3827 g, 3846 n, 3846 z77, still as a woman’s name. These all occur in the same neighbourhood, at Cotiæum and Æzani. I have not noticed any instance of this phenomenon in the names Apphia, Apphion; though probably, where Roman influences were especially strong, there would be a tendency to transform a Phrygian name into a Roman, e.g. Apphia into Appia, and Apphianus into Appianus.

691. In the Greek historians of Rome for instance the personal name is always Ἄππιος and the road Ἀππία; so too in Acts xxviii. 15 it is Ἀππίου Φόρον.

692. The point to be observed is that examples of these names are thickest in the heart of Phrygia, that they diminish in frequency as Phrygian influence becomes weaker, and that they almost, though not entirely, disappear in other parts of the Greek and Roman world.

693. ver. 2 τῇ ἀδελφῇ. See the note.

694. So Theodore of Mopsuestia. But Chrysostom ἕτερόν τινα ἴσως φιλόν, and Theodoret ὁ δὲ Ἄρχιππος τὴν διδασκαλίαν αὐτῶν ἐπεπίστευτο.

695. It occurs in two Smyrnæan inscriptions, no. 3143, 3224.

696. Col. iv. 17 βλέπε τὴν διακονίαν ἣν παρέλαβες ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἵνα αὐτὴν πληροῖς.

697. So the Ambrosian Hilary on Col. iv. 17.

698. Ephes. iv. 11 bears testimony to the existence of the office of evangelist at this date.

699. It is adopted by Theodore of Mopsuestia. On the other hand Theodoret argues against this view on critical grounds; τινὲς ἔφασαν τοῦτον Λαοδικείας γεγενῆσθαι διδάσκαλον, ἀλλ’ ἡ πρὸς Φιλήμονα ἐπιστολὴ διδάσκει ὡς ἐν Κολασσαῖς οὗτος ᾤκει· τῷ γὰρ Φιλήμονι καὶ τοῦτον συντάττει: but he does not allege any traditional support for his own opinion.

700. See above pp. 2, 15.

701. Apost. Const. vii, 46 quoted above p. 372, note 676.

702. See p. 42.

703. ver. 2 τῷ συνστρατίωτῃ ἡμῶν. See the note.

704. e.g. Chresimus, Chrestus, Onesiphorus, Symphorus, Carpus, etc. So too the corresponding female names Onesime, Chreste, Sympherusa, etc.: but more commonly the women’s names are of a different cast of meaning, Arescusa, Prepusa, Terpusa, Thallusa, Tryphosa, etc.

705. e.g. in the Corp. Inscr. Lat.III. p. 323, no. 2146, p. 359, no. 2723, p. 986, no. 6107 (where it is spelled Honesimus); and in Muratori, CC. 6, DXXIX. 5, CMLXVIII. 4, MIII. 2, MDXVIII. 2, MDXXIII. 4, MDLI. 9, MDLXXI. 5, MDLXXV. 1, MDXCII. 8, MDXCVI. 7, MDCVI. 2, MDCX. 19, MDCXIV. 17, 39; and the corresponding female name Onesime in MCCXXXIX. 12, MDXLVI. 6, MDCXII. 9. A more diligent search than I have made would probably increase the number of examples very largely.

706. e.g. Corp. Inscr. Lat.III. p. 238, no. 1467, D. M. M. AVR · ONESIMO · CARPION · AVG · LIB · TABVL · FILIO. In the next generation any direct notice of servile origin would disappear; but the names very often indicate it. It need not however necessarily denote low extraction: see e.g. Liv. xliv. 16.

707. Menander Inc. 312 (Meineke Fragm. Com. IV. p. 300), where the Ὀνήσιμος addressed is a slave, as appears from the mention of his τρόφιμος, i.e. master; Galen de Opt. Doctr. I (I. p. 41 ed. Kühn), where there is a reference to a work of Phavorinus in which was introduced one Onesimus ὁ Πλουτάρχου δοῦλος Ἐπικτήτῳ διαλεγόμενος; Anthol. Græc. II. p. 161, where the context shows that the person addressed as Onesimus is a slave; ib. II. p. 482, where the master, leaving legacies to his servants, says Ὀνήσιμος εἵκοσι πέντε | μνᾶς ἐχέτω Δάος δ’ εἰκοσι μνᾶς ἐχέτω· | πεντήκοντα Σύρος· Συνέτη δέκα, κ.τ.λ. See also the use of the name in the Latin play quoted Suet. Galb. 13 (according to one reading).

708. It occurs as near to Colossæ as Aphrodisias; Boeckh C. I. no. 2743.

709. Ign. Ephes.I. ἐν Ὀνησίμῳ τῷ ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἀδιηγήτῳ ὑμῶν δὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ἐπισκόπῳ ... εὐλόγητος ὁ χαρισάμενος ὑμῖν ἀξίοις οὖσιν τοιοῦτον ἐπίσκοπον κεκτῆσθαι; see also §§ 2, 5, 6.

710. Melito in Euseb. H.E. iv. 26 Μελίτων Ὀνησίμῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν. Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις ἠξίωσας κ.τ.λ.

711. Aristot. Pol. i. 4 (p. 1253) ὁ δοῦλος κτῆμά τι ἔμψυχον, Eth. Nic. viii. 13 (p. 1161) ὁ γὰρ δοῦλος ἔμψυχον ὄργανον, τὸ δ’ ὄργανον ἄψυχος δοῦλος. See also the classification of ‘implements’ in Varro, de Re rust. I. 17. 1 ‘Instrumenti genus vocale et semivocale et mutum: vocale, in quo sunt servi; semivocale, in quo boves; mutum, in quo plaustra’.