SAINT TERENTIUS OF ICONIUM - By Dr. Augustine Sokolovski

Paul's letter to the Romans says: "I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord" (Rom 16:22). According to this text of primary importance Tertius was Paul's secretary and stenographer, who composed the letter to the Roman church from his teacher's dictation.

Church tradition identified Tertius with Terentius, whom the local church of the ancient city of Iconium, present-day Konya in Turkey, venerated as its first bishop. In some versions of the same tradition, Terentius was the second bishop of Iconium after another disciple of Paul, Sosipater. The latter is also mentioned in the Epistle to the Romans, in the 16th chapter, in the preceding 21st verse: "Timothy, my fellow worker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, greet you" (Rom 16:21).

Iconium is an ancient city in central Asia Minor. It was there that the Apostle Paul preached Christianity during his first missionary journey. The preaching in Iconium is described in the 14th chapter of Acts, verses 1–5. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul particularly recalls the persecutions he endured there: "In Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which persecutions I endured, and from them all the Lord delivered me" (2 Tim. 3:11).

The protomartyr Thecla, Saint Paraskeva, and many other martyrs and saints came from Iconium. Saint Amphilochius (340–403), bishop, brought a particular, dogmatic and philosophical reputation to this city. He was a friend, perhaps even a relative, of the Great Cappadocians, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and Gregory of Nyssa, and made a significant contribution to the victory of Orthodoxy over Arianism during the period of dogmatic disputes following the First Ecumenical Council (325).

The ecclesiastical metropolis of Iconium was of great importance for centuries. At the beginning of the 10th century, during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886–912), it comprised as many as fifteen subordinate dioceses. After the catastrophe in Asia Minor and the expulsion of the entire Orthodox population from the former Byzantine territories in 1923, this episcopal see effectively ceased to exist. The title "Metropolitan of Iconium" is sometimes used by the Patriarchate of Constantinople to designate one of its titular bishops.

The memory of the holy bishop Terentius of Iconium, also called Tertius, is celebrated by the Church on July 4. Apart from the Epistle to the Romans and the diptychs, ancient lists of the bishops of Iconium, no information about his biography has survived. He belonged to the assembly of the Seventy Disciples of the Lord, also called the Seventy Apostles of Jesus in Orthodoxy. An ancient tradition tells of the martyrdom of Terentius of Iconium. He was pierced with a sharp stick for preaching the Word of God.