Epeneetus

Epänetus ( ancient Greek Ἐπαίνετος ; also Epainetos ; bl. 52-55 AD) is a Christian mentioned in the New Testament . Paul describes him in Romans as the "first fruits from Asia " ( Rom 16,5  ZB ).

Epeneetus the Ephesians

From the one mention of Epeneetus in the list of greetings in Romans, exegetes take information about the Pauline mission. The fact that he is named after the missionary couple Priska and Aquila may mean that he belonged to the house church of the two in Ephesus . Not all of the people named in the greeting list can be assumed to be personal acquaintances of the apostle, but this is very likely with Epeneetus because of the individual identification. This does not mean that Paul converted Epeneetus himself. Paul stayed in Ephesus for about three years ( Acts 20:31  ZB ). It is often assumed that the city was a base for his mission. But only a few names of Christians from Ephesus are known: besides the three named, Trophimos and Tychikos . They are all later outside of Ephesus.

It is noticeable that the Romans 16 greetings list has an Ephesian flavor. It has been assumed that it was actually addressed to addressees in Ephesus (as an independent letter of recommendation for Phoibe or as an extra chapter in a version of Romans intended for Ephesus). But these suggestions have not been widely accepted. The conspicuous mention of people from Asia can also be explained differently: Paul specifically addresses the Christians from the province of Asia, whom he knows in Rome, because he wants to use them to form “bridgeheads” in the unfamiliar terrain of the metropolis . Epeneetus was probably in Rome when he wrote the letter to the Romans. For Dietrich-Alex Koch , the list of greetings from Rom 16 shows that the Christian community in Rome did not come about through a founding missionary, but through the influx of Christians from the East - people like Epeneetus.

Epenetus the "first fruit"

To be a “ first child ” was a special honor. Stephanas and his house church are described by Paul as the “first fruits” of the province of Achaia ( 1 Cor 16:15  ZB ), and Paul himself baptized this group ( 1 Cor 1:16  ZB ). The term “first fruits” actually comes from the sacrificial cult of the Jerusalem temple . With the "firstfruits" the respective province was aligned by Paul towards Christ; it is less a question of whether Epeneetus or the Stephanas group were the first to receive baptism (which is not certain), but rather that, in Paul's opinion, they had a leading position in Achaia or Asia. With this, Paul assigns Epeneetus an enduring supra-church significance for the Christians in the province of Asia.

Legend

According to Theodor Schermann, the Chronicon Paschale (7th century) was only a “first necessary attempt to compile a catalog of the 70 disciples from the personalities named in the letters of the Apostles and the Acts of the Apostles”. By "exploiting" the list of greetings in Chapter 16 of Romans, the compiler filled up his list of names; Epenetus appeared in 7th position in this directory. In a second step, the people were assigned to bishoprics. Epaenetus is referred to as the Bishop of Cartagena (so Pseudo-Epiphanius, Pseudo-Dorotheos , Pseudo-Hippolyt, the Greek Synaxarion C Politan., As well as Abū-l-Barakāts work "Lamp of Darkness"), Peter is said to have him after the Acta SS Junii in Sirmium, allegedly a place in Spain, or in Pannonia to have consecrated bishop.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ulrich Wilckens : The Letter to the Romans (Rom 12-16) (= Evangelical-Catholic Commentary on the New Testament. Volume VI / 3). Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 1982, ISBN 3-7887-0650-3 , p. 134.
2. ↑ Angelika Reichert: The Letter to the Romans as a tightrope walk: an investigation into the composition problem (= research on religion and literature of the Old and New Testaments, Volume 194). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-53878-2 , p. 337.
3. ^ Wolfgang Reinbold: Propaganda and Mission in the oldest Christianity. An investigation into the modalities of the expansion of the early church (= research on religion and literature of the Old and New Testaments. Volume 188). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-53872-3 , p. 151.
4. ↑ Gerd Theißen , Petra von Gemünden : Der Römerbrief: An account of a reformer. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-525-51013-1 , p. 105.
5. ↑ Michael Wolter : The letter to the Romans. Volume 1: Rom 1–8 (= Evangelical-Catholic Commentary on the New Testament. New Series. Volume VI / 1). Neukirchener Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn 2014, ISBN 978-3-7887-2883-0 , p. 25 f.
6. ↑ Dietrich-Alex Koch: History of early Christianity: A textbook. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013, p. 399.
7. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Horn : Stephanas and his house - the first Christian house church in the Achaia. Your position in communication between Paul and the Corinthian church. In: David C. Bienert et al. (Hrsg.): Paulus und die antike Welt: Contributions to contemporary and religious history research of Pauline Christianity. FS for Dietrich-Alex Koch for his 65th birthday. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-53088-7 , pp. 83-98, here p. 90.
8. ^ Theodor Schermann: Prophets and Apostle Legends. In addition to Dorotheus' catalogs of disciples and related texts (= texts and studies on the history of early Christian literature . Volume 31, 3). Hinrichs, Leipzig 1907, p. 299.
9. ^ Theodor Schermann: Prophets and Apostle Legends. In addition to Dorotheus' catalogs of disciples and related texts (= texts and studies on the history of early Christian literature. Volume 31, 3). Hinrichs, Leipzig 1907, p. 334.