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29-516: On 17 July, 180, six martyrs ( Scillitan Martyrs ) suffered for the Faith at Scillium; later, a basilica in which St. Augustine preached was dedicated to them (near Douar esh-Shott, west of the town). The Greek version of their Acts, in an addition which is later, says they were natives of "Ischle, Ischle, in Numidia". This name is a Greek transcription of Scillium. The tradition is already recorded in

58-591: A protomartyr of Africa. The Acts of their martyrdom are of interest, as being among the most ancient Acts extant for the Roman Province of Africa. The martyrs' trial and execution took place in Carthage under the proconsul Publius Vigellius Saturninus , whom Tertullian declares to have been the first persecutor of Christians in Africa. The trial is notable among the trials of early martyrs inasmuch as

87-544: A company of twelve North African Christians who were executed for their beliefs on 17 July 180 AD. The martyrs take their name from Scilla (or Scillium ), a town in Numidia . The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs are considered to be the earliest documents of the church of Africa and also the earliest specimen of Christian Latin . It was the last of the persecutions during the reign of Marcus Aurelius , which

116-459: A leaf of a codex which is dated to the 3rd century (330–360). Other early manuscripts containing some or all of the text of this book are: The epistle opens by stating that it was written by Paul, to Timothy. Paul reminds Timothy that he has asked Timothy to stay in Ephesus and prevent false teaching of the law by others. Paul says that law is to be applied to sinners like rebels, murderers, and

145-474: A literary dependence by Ignatius, this would move the date of 1 Timothy even earlier. However, Irenaeus (writing c.  180 AD ) is the earliest author to clearly and unequivocally describe the letter to Timothy and attribute it to Paul. The original Koine Greek manuscript has been lost, and the text of surviving copies varies . The earliest known writing of 1 Timothy has been found on Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 5259, designated P133, in 2017. It comes from

174-421: A man; she must be silent. The epistle justifies this by saying that Adam was formed before Eve , and that Eve was tricked by the serpent . Leaders of the church are to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of respect, avoiding overindulgence in wine and managing their affairs well. Timothy is advised to avoid false teachings and focus on the truth. The author discusses a list of widows to be supported by

203-552: Is best known from the sufferings of the churches of Vienne and Lyon in South Gaul . Marcus Aurelius died on 17 March of the year in question, and persecution ceased sometime after the accession of his son Commodus . A group of sufferers called the Madaurian martyrs seems to belong to the same period; in the correspondence of St Augustine , Namphamo, one of their number, is spoken of as an "archimartyr," which appears to mean

232-646: Is less developed than the one Ignatius of Antioch (who wrote c.  110 ) presupposes, as well as the fact that not only is "antithesis" itself a Greek word which simply means "opposing arguments" but as it has been noted, the attack on the heretics is not central to the three letters. Late in the 2nd century there are a number of quotations from all three pastoral epistles in Irenaeus' work Against Heresies . Irenaeus also makes explicit mention of Timothy in his book and ascribes it as being written by Paul The Muratorian Canon ( c.  170–180 ) lists

261-667: Is taken from the entry "Scillium" by Sophrone Pétridès in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912. Scilium is the spelling that appears in the 2013 edition of the Annuario Pontificio and some other recent sources. Other sources also report the Scilitan or Scillitan Martyrs not as six but as twelve and as having been tried and executed in Carthage. Scillitan Martyrs The Scillitan Martyrs were

290-428: Is the root of all kinds of evil." In closing, Timothy is told he should continue to "fight the good fight of the faith" by helping others to be virtuous and by running his church well. Several composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach , set a line from the epistle as a Christmas cantata , including Stölzel's Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis beginning with 1 Timothy 3:16. 1 Timothy 2:12 has been

319-541: The Conference of Carthage in 411 ; and Pariator, who signed the letter addressed in 646 by the council of the proconsulate to the Patriarch Paul of Constantinople against the monothelites . The town is mentioned in the seventh century by Georgius Cyprius under the name of Schele . Scillium was the native place of St. Cucuphas , martyred at Barcelona , and of St. Felix , martyred at Girona . The above

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348-488: The Gospel of Luke and ten of the canonical Pauline epistles excluding 1–2 Timothy and Titus. The reasons for these exclusions are unknown, and so speculation abounds, including the hypotheses that they were not written until after Marcion's time, or that he knew of them, but regarded them as inauthentic. Proponents of Pauline authorship argue that he had theological grounds for rejecting the pastorals, namely their teaching about

377-606: The pastoral epistles , along with Second Timothy and Titus . The letter, traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul , consists mainly of counsels to his younger colleague and delegate Timothy regarding his ministry in Ephesus (1:3). These counsels include instructions on the organization of the Church and the responsibilities resting on certain groups of leaders therein as well as exhortations to faithfulness in maintaining

406-518: The Ephesians ( c.  110 ) and Polycarp to the Philippians ( c.  130 ), although it is difficult to determine the nature of any such literary relationships. Modern scholars generally place its composition some time in the late 1st century or first half of the 2nd century AD, with a wide margin of uncertainty. The term Gnosis ("knowledge") itself occurs in 1 Timothy 6:20 . If

435-445: The accused were not subjected to torture. The Scillitan sufferers were twelve in all—seven men and five women. Their names were Speratus, Nartzalus, Cintinus (Cittinus), Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda . Two of these bear Punic names (Nartzalus, Cintinus), but the rest are Latin names. Six had already been tried: of the remainder, to whom these Acta primarily relate, Speratus

464-542: The books of the New Testament and ascribes all three pastoral epistles to Paul. Eusebius ( c.  330 ) calls it, along with the other thirteen canonical Pauline epistles , "undisputed". Exceptions to this positive witness include Tatian , as well as the gnostic Basilides . Possible earlier allusions are found in the letters from Clement of Rome to the Corinthians ( c.  95 ), Ignatius to

493-419: The church, setting restrictions on the types of women to help: only old widows who never remarry and who prioritize their family are to receive help. Widows younger than sixty have sensual desires that may cause them to remarry. Slaves should respect their masters, especially if their masters are believers. People should avoid envy and avoid the temptation to focus on becoming rich because "the love of money

522-400: The goodness of creation (cf. 1 Timothy 4:1 ff .). The question remains whether Marcion knew these three letters and rejected them as Tertullian says, since in 1 Timothy 6:20 "false opposing arguments" are referred to, with the word for "opposing arguments" being "antithesis", the name of Marcion's work, and so a subtle hint of Marcion's heresy. However, the structure of the Church presupposed

551-469: The language of 1 Tim. vi. 16. In reply to the question, "What are the things in your satchel?", he said "Books and letters of Paul, a just man." The fame of the martyrs led to the building of a basilica in their honor at Carthage and their annual commemoration required that the brevity and obscurity of their Acta should be supplemented and explained to make them suitable for public recitation. Agobard , archbishop of Lyons (c. 779–840) stated that

580-428: The letter in the text ( 1:1 ). Nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship questioned the authenticity of the letter, with many scholars suggesting that First Timothy, along with Second Timothy and Titus , are not the work of Paul, but of an unidentified Christian writing some time in the late-first to mid-second centuries. Most scholars now affirm this view. As evidence for this perspective, they put forward that

609-430: The parallels between 1 Timothy and Polycarp's epistle are understood as a literary dependence by the latter on the former, as is generally accepted, this would constitute a terminus ante quem (cut-off date) of 50–65 AD. Likewise, there are a series of verbal agreements between Ignatius and 1 Timothy which cluster around a 14 verse section in 1 Timothy 1. If these parallels between Ignatius and 1 Timothy represent

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638-468: The pastoral epistles contain 306 words that Paul does not use in his unquestioned letters, that their style of writing is different from that of his unquestioned letters, that they reflect conditions and a church organization not current in Paul's day, and that they do not appear in early lists of his canonical works. Modern scholars who support Pauline authorship nevertheless stress their importance regarding

667-588: The primitive calendar of Carthage. The Greek compiler intended possibly to speak not of the Province of Numidia, but of the Numidian country and so would have placed Scillium in Proconsular Numidia. An epitaph of Simitthu, now Chemtou , mentions Iscilitana; Simitthu was certainly in Proconsular Numidia, it is unclear if Scillium was near it. Two of its bishops are mentioned: Squillacius, present at

696-621: The question of authenticity: I. H. Marshall and P. H. Towner wrote that "the key witness is Polycarp , where there is a high probability that 1 and 2 Tim were known to him". Similarly M. W. Holmes argued that it is "virtually certain or highly probable" that Polycarp used 1 and 2 Timothy. Scholars Robert Grant , I. Howard Marshall , and Hans von Campenhausen believe that Polycarp was the actual author of First Timothy, which would date its composition to c.  140 . Marcion , an orthodox bishop later excommunicated for heresy , formed an early canon of scripture c.  140 around

725-595: The relics of Speratus, and those of Cyprian, were translated by Charlemagne's orders from Carthage to Lyons. The historical questions connected with these martyrs were addressed by bishop Joseph Barber Lightfoot in Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp , 1885. First Epistle to Timothy The First Epistle to Timothy is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as

754-506: The sexually immoral. The list of lawbreakers includes the Greek word ἀρσενοκοίτης , which is sometimes translated to mean "homosexual men" although there is some debate on the topic. The epistle details the roles of men and women in its second chapter, particularly the verse 1 Timothy 2:12 . In the NIV translation this verse reads: I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over

783-440: The source of considerable controversy concerning gender equality. Some denominations use it as a justification to deny the ordination of women . Some theologians have interpreted it to mean that all women should be subordinate to all men, and others to mean women should not teach, pray, or speak in public. In An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture , published posthumously in 1754, Isaac Newton argues that

812-409: The truth amid surrounding errors. Most modern scholars consider the pastoral epistles to have been written after Paul's death, although "a small and declining number of scholars still argue for Pauline authorship". The authorship of First Timothy was traditionally attributed to the Apostle Paul , although in pre-Nicene Christianity this attribution was open to dispute. He is named as the author of

841-400: Was the principal spokesman. He claimed for himself and his companions that they had lived a quiet and moral life, paying their dues and doing no wrong to their neighbors. But when called upon to swear by the name of the emperor, he replied "I recognize not the empire of this world; but rather do I serve that God whom no man hath seen, nor with these eyes can see." The response was a reference to

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