Epaphras, a Fellow Prisoner of Paul, in the Year 70

Epaphras was a faithful minister of Jesus Christ for the church at Colosse, which he greeted by the hand of Paul while he was in bonds at Rome, as appears from the epistle Paul wrote to the Colossians from his prison at Rome, in which, among other things, he says: "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he has a great zeal for you, and for those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis" (Colossians 4, verses 12 and 13).

Concerning his being a prisoner with Paul, or, as it appears, sharing the same dungeon with him, Paul writes to Philemon, at the close of the epistle: "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, salutes you" (verse 23).

Hence it follows that those do not write without foundation who hold that Epaphras also suffered a violent death in the persecution under Nero. The same author, in the same place, from the Roman Martyrology, July 19. [n111-1]