Tertius (ΤΈΡΤΙΟΣ, Tertius)

TERTIUS (ΤΈΡΤΙΟΣ, Tertius). - A Christian of Corinth, a disciple of St. Paul and his amanuensis for the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 16:22).

Probably converted by the Apostle during his stay at Corinth between 51 and 53, T. was perhaps a pagan before. His Latin name (Tertius) says nothing about his origin or social condition; nor does his greeting to the faithful of Rome determine whether he knew them directly, since it could indicate only the affection that united all Christians "in the Lord." Some Catholics identified him with Silas (v.), a collaborator of St. Paul at Corinth and later amanuensis of St. Peter, but perhaps only because of the assonance of the Hebrew lelitt (= third v) with Silas. In writing the epistle to the Romans T. lent his labor for about a hundred hours. For his collaboration on this inspired writing he had a particular divine assistance to his executive faculties; yet the preservative assistance from errors exercised by St. Paul himself (v. INSPIRATION, II. Nature) may also have sufficed. The greeting to the Romans that T. added on his own (Rom. 16:22: the only case in the entire Pauline epistolary corpus), perhaps at Paul's invitation or with his permission, belonging as it does to the authentic and canonical text, is certainly inspired.

The events of his life are otherwise unknown. The Roman Martyrology does not name him; the Greeks commemorate him on Nov. 10 as bishop of Iconium; other isolated traditions call him the second bishop of Iconium after a certain Sosipater, or confuse him with a Terentius, bishop of Iconium (so likewise the Parisian minuscule codex 7 of the 12th century).

Luigi Vagaggini