Sts. Timothy and Titus share a feast day (26th January) the day following the celebration of the conversion of St. Paul (25th January). References to these saints are found in the Acts of the Apostles and in three letters of St. Paul.
Timothy and Titus found a place in the history of the Early Church and are recorded in the Bible because they were two of the disciples following St. Paul, who after his conversion on the road to Damascus, traveled on missionary journeys to spread the Good News that the Risen Christ is the Son of God.
The spread of Christianity in the Early Church presented many challenges: hardships of traveling, the resolving of conflicts arising from different opinions, beliefs and cultures. Timothy and Titus faced all this together with Paul. Wherever Paul journeyed he appointed assistants from those who were accompanying him. These then became priests and bishops together with deacons to assist them, to continue evangelizing what had been started by Paul himself. This led to a local Church to be established. Both Timothy and Titus were called to fulfill these roles.
Timothy was born in Lystra, now part of present day Turkey. His mother Eunice and grandmother Lois were Jewish who had converted to Christianity. His father was a Greek gentile. Timothy grew up to be timid and reserved, believed to have suffered from some form of poor health. Probably, as he was growing up, he was not accepted by neither the Christian nor the Greek communities of Lystra. In his youth his mother and grandmother brought him to the Christian Faith. When Timothy met St. Paul when he came to Lystra on his second missionary journey, he left his house, his parents, his country, to follow and accompany Paul, together with Silas, on their journeys, stopping at several places to preach the message of Christianity. He had a close relationship with Paul, who refers to him as his “spiritual son” and in a letter to the Philippians, he describes him by stating “ I have no one like him.” In AD64, Paul ordained Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, to continue with the establishing of the Church there. Tradition holds that Timothy was stoned to death when he tried to stop a celebration to the goddess Diana by preaching the Gospel.
St. Titus was Greek, most probably a native of Crete. Tradition holds that he studied Greek philosophy and the ancient poets. It seems that he converted to Christianity when Paul visited Crete. Then he became Paul’s secretary and interpreter. He accompanied Paul on his journeys even when Paul traveled to Jerusalem for important meetings with the other Apostles. Titus has been described as a “peacemaker, an administrator and a missionary” while Paul described him as “ a true child of mine in the faith” and as a “partner and fellow worker. When Paul moved on with his missionary journeys, he left Titus in Crete to “set” the Church there “in order”. Eventually Titus became the first Bishop of Crete. Titus was not a martyr, but he lived a long life and he died a natural death.
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