Tychicus (: Greek: Τυχικός) was an Asiatic Christian who, with Trophimus, accompanied the

Apostle Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

on a part of his journey from Macedonia to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He is also alluded to have been with Paul in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where the apostle sent him to Ephesus, probably for the purpose of building up and encouraging the church there. In the New Testament, he is mentioned five times (; ; ; ; 2 Timothy 4:12).

Appearance in the Bible

(1
Acts 20:4
states that Tychicus was from the Roman province of Asia. The Western text indicates that he was an Ephesian. St Paul in prison

(2) In Ephesians 6:21, the author ( traditionally identified as Paul) calls Tychicus a "dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord" ( NIV), (3) while in Colossians 4:7 he says he is "a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord." In both Ephesians and Colossians, the author indicates that he is sending Tychicus to the Christians to whom he is writing, in order to encourage them. (4) The passages in the Epistle to Titus
Titus 3:12
and to Timothy show that Tychicus was again with Paul after the appeal to the emperor had resulted in the apostle regaining his freedom. The passage in Titus evidently refers to the interval between Paul's first and second Roman imprisonments, and while he was again engaged in missionary journeys. The apostle writes to Titus, who was in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

in charge of the churches there, that he intended to send either Artemas or Tychicus to him, so as to take the oversight of the work of the gospel in that island so that Titus might be free to come to be with the apostle at Nicopolis. (5) The last passage where Tychicus is mentioned occurs i
2 Timothy
which was written in Rome not long before Paul's execution. To the very end Paul was busy as ever in the work of the gospel; and though it would have been a comfort to him to have his friends beside him, yet the interests of the kingdom of Christ are uppermost in his thoughts, and he sends these friends to help the progress of the work. To the last, Tychicus was serviceable as ever: "Tychicus I sent to Ephesus"

. As Timothy was in charge of the church in Ephesus

, the coming of Tychicus would set him free, so as to enable him to set off at once to rejoin Paul at Rome, as the apostle desired him

.

Later traditions

The '' Catholic Encyclopedia'' notes that different traditions make Tychicus out to be the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Colophon, Chalcedon or Neapolis in Cyprus. A

pseudepigrapha A pseudepigraph (also :wikt:anglicized, anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a false attribution, falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. Th ...

l list of the seventy disciples traditionally ascribed to

Hippolytus of Rome Hippolytus of Rome ( , ; Romanized: , – ) was a Bishop of Rome and one of the most important second–third centuries Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communitie ...

includes both "Tychicus, bishop of Chalcedon" and "Tychicus, bishop of Colophonia" separately. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' describes this list as "worthless"; in

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

, the duplication is regarded as erroneous and referring to one and the same person, whose feast is on December 8 along with fellow disciples Sosthenes, Apollos, Cephas, Epaphroditus, Caesar, and Onesiphorus. The latest official edition of the '' Roman Martyrology'' of the Catholic Church commemorates Tychicus as a Saint under the date of 29 April, quoting Paul's affectionate description of him in Colossians 4:7.'' Martyrologium Romanum, ex decreto sacrosancti oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Ioannis Pauli Pp. II promulgatum, editio ypicaaltera, Typis Vaticanis, A.D. MMIV'' (2004), p. 290

References

{{authority control Seventy disciples People in Acts of the Apostles People in the Pauline epistles Saints from Roman Anatolia