Apostle Onesimus of the Seventy

Onesimus was the slave of Philemon of Colossae. He ran away to Rome, where he met the apostle Paul in prison and was baptized by him. Paul sent him back with the Letter to Philemon, asking his master to receive him no longer as a slave but as a dear brother. Philemon, the Life says, set him free and sent him back to serve Paul.

Tradition holds that Onesimus later preached in many lands and became bishop of Ephesus after Timothy. In the reign of Trajan he was taken to Rome and tried by the eparch Tertullus. After eighteen days in prison and exile to Puteoli, he was beaten with clubs until his legs were broken and then beheaded, c. 109.