EPENETUS. - A Christian mentioned in Rom. 16:5.

The name (Ἐπέλωνος, "praiseworthy") was not borne, as far as is known, by any Jew, whereas it was fairly common in the Greek-Roman world (W. Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecorum, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1915-24, nos. 43, 39; 585, 250; 944, 26; 1174, 4). E. was of pagan origin, the first convert of the Roman province of Asia

("firstfruits offered by Asia to Christ": Rom. 16:5; cf. 1 Cor. 16:15, to which the variant Ἀρχέας in Rom. is due); which does not mean that he was the first fruit of Paul's preaching at Ephesus. Before him Aquila and Priscilla had worked there; and the fact that E. comes after the two spouses, and after the little group that gathered in their house, is good reason to say that he was their conquest. His relations with Paul, who calls him "most beloved," were very cordial. He is commemorated in the Greek Menologia on July 30, by the Latins on the 15th.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. C. Headlam, s. v. in Dict. of the Bible, I, p. 713; F. Vigouroux, s. v. in DB. II, col. 1868 sq.; Fr. X. Pölal, Die Mitarbeiter des Weltapostels Paulus, Ratisbon 1911, pp. 382-85.

Teodorico da Castel San Pietro

@incollection{ec5_epeneto, author = {Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro}, title = {Epeneto}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {405--406}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/epeneto} }

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Epenetus

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