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Apostle · 1st century

Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy

Also known as Onesimus of Byzantium · Onesimus the runaway slave · Onesimos

A runaway slave of Philemon of Colossae, Onesimus fled to Rome where the Apostle Paul converted and baptized him; Paul's Epistle to Philemon commends him as a brother. He later served the apostles, preached in many lands, and became a bishop, succeeding the Apostle Timothy at Ephesus. He was martyred under Trajan by stoning and beheading around 109.

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One of the Seventy Apostles; the recipient and subject of St Paul's Epistle to Philemon.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Feb 15