ERASTO. - A name occurring three times in the New Testament: 1) Act. 19, 22; 2) Rom. 16, 23; 3) II Tim. 4, 20; but it is uncertain whether one, two, or three persons are meant. In 1) it is said that Paul, toward the end of his stay at Ephesus (third missionary journey), sends Timothy and E. into Macedonia. Thus he, like Timothy, is among Paul’s companions, by whom he is entrusted with apostolic missions. In 2) an E., who is treasurer of the city, sends greetings from Corinth. In 3) Paul, stressing the abandonment in which he finds himself, says that E. remained at Corinth.
The residence at Corinth, which emerges from texts 2) and 3), would suggest a single individual, whose official responsibilities do not permit him to leave the city. The E. of 1) is not connected with Corinth and appears free from commitments scarcely compatible with his character as an itinerant missionary. Two Erasti should therefore be distinguished: one (1) among Paul’s companions, the other (2 and 3), likewise close to Paul, but not freely devoted to apostolic work.
Others (C. Spica, Les Épîtres pastorales, Parigi 1947, p. 307) think that the same person is meant throughout. According to the Greek Menologia, E. was steward of the Church of Jerusalem, then bishop of Caesarea Philippi. The Martyx Romanum makes him bishop of Philippi in Macedonia, where he was martyred. The Greeks commemorate him on 10 November; the Latins on 26 July.