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Onesimus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Onesimus | |
|---|---|
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| Holy Apostle Onesimus Bishop of Byzantium |
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| Born | unknown, |
| Died | ca. 90, Rome (then Roman province) |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod |
| Feast | February 15 (Gregorian calendar), February 28, (Julian calendar) |
 Saints Portal |
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Onesimus (d. ca. 90-95) (Greek for "useful", also called Onesimus of Byzantium and The Holy Apostle Onesimus in some Eastern Orthodox churches) was a slave to Philemon of Colossae, a man of Christian faith. Eventually, Onesimus transgressed against Philemon and fled to the site of Paul the Apostle's imprisonment (most probably Rome or Ephesus) to escape punishment for a theft he had committed [1], there, he heard the Gospel from Paul and converted to Christianity following a baptism by Paul. Paul, having earlier converted Philemon to Christianity, reconciled with the two and wrote a letter to Philemon (which today exists in the New Testament as the Epistle to Philemon [2]). The letter read;
| “ | I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
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” |
Due to this epistle from Paul, Philemon indeed accepted Onesimus as a brother and freed him of slavery. Although it is doubted by some authorities, it may well be that this Onesimus was the same one consecrated a bishop by the Apostles and accepted the episcopal throne in Ephesus. During the reign of Roman emperor Domitian and the persecution of Trajan, Onesimus was imprisoned in Rome and martyred by stoning (although some sources claim that he was beheaded[3]).
He is regarded as a saint by several Christian churches, including the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, which commemorates him and Philemon on February 15.
- The engine of Jill of the Jungle 3: Jill Saves the Prince was licensed to a company called "ArK Multimedia Publishing" and used for a Christian-themed game called "Onesimus: A Quest for Freedom". Most of the graphics from the original game were recycled into "Onesimus", which is also known as "Escape From Rome". The protagonist was a slave of Philemon who had to travel to Rome to find the apostle Paul and find true freedom as a Christian. Interestingly, while it seems to be that Jill Saves the Prince (along with the rest of the trilogy) was developed first, references to Onesimus can be found in the string section and level code of the Jill games. However, the credits for Onesimus include a "thanks" to the Epic MegaGames staff, which suggests that "Onesimus" was developed either simultaneously with Jill of the Jungle 3 or developed immediately after it. No other reasonable explanation exists for the presence of the "Onesimus" references in Jill 3's code.
- List of Patriarchs of Constantinople
- The attitude of Paul is one of the arguments in the debate about Christianity and slavery.
| Preceded by Stachys the Apostle |
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople 54–68 |
Succeeded by Polycarpus I of Byzantium |