Philippians 2:25
But I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow labourer, and fellow soldier, but your apostle, and he that hath ministered to my wants.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Necessarium autem existimavi Epaphroditum fratrem, et cooperatorem, et commilitonem meum, vestrum autem apostolum, et ministrum necessitatis meæ, mittere ad vos :
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἡγησάμην Ἐπαφρόδιτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ συνεργὸν καὶ συστρατιώτην μου, ὑμῶν δὲ ἀπόστολον καὶ λειτουργὸν τῆς χρείας μου, πέμψαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς,
Haydock's commentary
Epaphroditus....your apostle, and the minister to my wants. Epaphroditus had also laboured after St. Paul, and is thought to have been the bishop of the Philippians; thus he might be called their apostle; though, as others conjecture, the word apostle may be here applied to him as one sent by the Philippians to St. Paul with contributions to supply his wants. (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ignatius of Antioch Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter, Chapter IV. Have but one Eucharist,
I have confidence of you in the Lord, that ye will be of no other mind. Wherefore I write boldly to your love, which is worthy of God, and exhort you to have but one faith, and one [kind of] preaching, and one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ; and His blood which was shed for us is one; one loaf also is broken to all [the communicants], and one cup is distributed among them all: there is but one altar for the whole Church, and one bishop, with the presbytery and deacons, my fellow-servants. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch, Homily X
7. Nevertheless, we will not frame our answer from these things only, but will also say something yet further. For God, foreseeing these things of old, destroyed, in His wisdom, this plea of theirs. On this account He made the world not only wonderful and vast, but also corruptible and perishable; and placed therein many evidences of its weakness; and what He did with respect to the Apostles, He did with respect to the whole world. What then did He with respect to the Apostles? Since they used to perform many great and astonishing signs and wonders, He suffered them constantly to be scourged, to be expelled, to inhabit the dungeon, to encounter bodily infirmities, to be in continual tribulations, lest the greatness of their miracles should make them to be accounted as gods amongst mankind. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:19-21
He had said, “have fallen out unto the progress of the Gospel; so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole prætorian guard.” ( Philip. i. 12, 13 .) Again, “Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.” ( Philip. ii. 17 .) By these words he strengthened them. Perchance they might suspect that his former words were spoken just to comfort them. What then? “I send Timothy unto you,” says he; for they desired to hear all things that concerned him. And wherefore said he not, “that ye may know my state,” but, “that I may know yours”? Because Epaphroditus would have reported his state before the arrival of Timothy. Wherefore further on he says, “But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother ( Philip. ii. 25 .); but I wish to learn of your affairs. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:19-21
Ver. 25 . “But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier.” And him too he sends with the same praises as Timothy, for he commended him on these two points; first, in that he loved them, when he says, “who will care truly for you”; and secondly, in that he had approved himself in the Gospel. And for the same reason, and in the same terms, he praises this man also: and how? By calling him a brother, and a fellow-worker, and not stopping at this point, but also “fellow-soldier,” he showed how he shared in his dangers, and testifies of him the same things which he testifies of himself. For “fellow-soldier” is more than “fellow-worker”; for perchance he gave aid in quiet matters, yet not so in wars and dangers; but in saying “fellow-soldier,” he showed this too.
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:19-21
Ver. 25 . “To send to you your messenger, and minister to my needs”; that is, I give you your own, since I send to you him that is your own, or, perhaps, that is your Teacher. Again he adds many things concerning his love, in saying,
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Philippians 2:19-21
So be it at least here, be ye at least dejected at not receiving, that ye may receive well. What then is it? They opposed not, far be it; but diligently followed the commands of Christ, for those commands were but for a season, and not enduring; and this I say not from conjecture, but from the divine Scriptures. And how? Luke relates that Christ said to His disciples, “When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and girdle, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said nothing. ( Luke xxii. …
Eusebius The Church History of Eusebius, The First Successors of the Apostles
4. For he had innumerable fellow-laborers, or “fellow-soldiers,” as he called them, and most of them were honored by him with an imperishable memorial, for he gave enduring testimony concerning them in his own epistles.