St. Paul’s Companions in Rome, IX. Tychicus

ST. PAUL'S COMPANIONS IN ROME.

BY COL. R. M. BRYCE-THOMAS.

IX. — TYCHICUS. We hear of Tychicus first in A. D. 59, at Ephesus, at the time that St. Paul left for Macedonia after the great tumult raised by the silversmith Demetrius regarding the worship of the goddess Diana (Acts 19: 23 et seq., and Acts 20: 14). He was a disciple from Ephesus, and had grown into the affections of the great Apostle, who a few years later called him "a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord" (Col. 4:7). He remained a firm friend of St. Paul up to the close of his life. Tychicus is a Greek word meaning 'fortunate," and has about the '

same meaning as the Hebrew word "Gad," or the Latin words "Felix" or "Fortunatus." Dr. Plumptre says that the name was very common among slaves and freedmen, and he refers to it as having been found on a Christian inscription discovered in the catacombs of Priscilla. now in the Lateran That inscription is

Museum in Rome. He also refers to the name having been found on a non-Christian inscription giving the names of the household of the Emperor Claudius, now in the Vatican Museum, as belong- ing to an architect. Such callings were frequently hereditary, and it is said that architects found their best openings at that time at Ephesus. For this reason the idea had become prevalent that Tychicus was an architect by profession. He seems to have been employed by St. Paul as one of his emissaries or messengers to the churches to carry news to them of his sufferings, of his successes, of the oppositions he had to en- counter, and of his health and general treatment in Rome; and we