St. Timothy born, Lystra, [now Lusna, Turkey]—died 97 CE, Ephesus [now in Turkey]; Western feast day January 24 [in Roman church January 26 with St. Titus], Eastern feast day January 22] was a disciple of St. Paul the apostle, whom he accompanied on his missions. He is traditionally known as a martyr and the first bishop ofEphesus [now in Turkey].

On his second visit to Lystra in 50 CE, Paul discovered Timothy, taking him as a colleague but first circumcising him out of respect for his Jewish mother and the custom of the Jews in whose communities they were to do mission work [Acts 16:1–3]. Timothy worked with Paul and Silas and helped found churches, notably in Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi. He apparently accompanied Paul to Ephesus andAsia Minor [Acts 19:22.  1 Corinthians 16:10–11]. As the presence of his name in the first verses ofColossians, Philemon, and Philippians indicates, he was subsequently associated with Paul’s imprisonment at Ephesus. In the Pastoral Epistles he is solely in charge of the Christians at Ephesus, possibly the site of his release from prison as chronicled in Hebrews 13:23.

Tradition, probably based on New Testament inferences, made him firstBishop of Ephesus, where he was allegedly martyred under the Roman emperor Nerva. One legend asserts that he was clubbed to death by a mob for protesting against the orgiastic worship of the goddess Artemis.