Apphia: Philemon’s wife or another Phoebe?

Introduction

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker,
to Apphia our sister,
to Archippus our fellow soldier,
and to the church in your house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philemon 1:1–3 (NRSV)

The letters of the apostle Paul give glimpses of some of the men and women involved in first-century church life. In a short letter sent to Colossae, a letter which we know as the letter to Philemon, Paul writes primarily about his friendship with two men, Philemon and Onesimus,[1] but Apphia is also addressed. Who was Apphia, and what was her role or position in the church at Colossae?

Apphia the Sister

It has been thought that Apphia was Philemon’s wife. This seems unlikely, however, when we compare how Paul speaks about Apphia and Philemon with how he speaks about people who we know were couples. When Paul mentions a couple, such as Prisca and Aquila, or Andronicus and Junia, he refers to them as a couple; the husband and wife are not addressed individually or referred to separately.[2] Apphia, however, is addressed and described individually, as is Philemon and another man named Archippus. The NRSV and CSB faithfully translate the Greek of Philemon 1:1-2 and show that each of the three people is addressed individually.

Furthermore, the three are each described by Paul with different ministry or ecclesial descriptions. Philemon is called “our dear friend (or, beloved) and co-worker.” Apphia is called “the sister.”[3] Paul used the description of “sister” or “brother” for certain believers who were his ministry colleagues. David Pao writes that Apphia as “sister” is “a title comparable to ‘our brother’ as applied to Timothy in v.1 and thus highlights her independent standing as a Christian and possibly as a leader of the church.”[4] Apart from Apphia, Paul refers to one other woman in his letters as “sister.”[5] That woman is Phoebe, minister (diakonos) of the church at Cenchrea (Rom 16:1–2).

Archippus, the third person to be greeted, is called “our fellow soldier.” It was to this Archippus that Paul sent the message, “See to it that you complete the ministry (diakonia) you have received in the Lord” (Col 4:17 NIV). Archippus may have been a diakonos of the church at Colossae, even though he is not specifically identified as such. He is some kind of minister since he has a ministry to fulfil.

As well as the three individuals, Paul greets a house church, presumably the congregation that all three belong to. Yet, a singular pronoun is used in the Greek text with the sense, “to the church in your (singular) house” (Phm 1:2). Whose house did the church meet in? In Philemon’s or Archippus’s home?[6] And how does Apphia fit in?

Apphia the Missionary?

Rather than being the wife of Philemon, Apphia may have been his ministry partner. Writing about Apphia, Ross Kraemer proposes that “sister” “may designate the female partner of a male-female missionary team.”[7] In 1 Corinthians 9:5, Paul poses a rhetorical question concerning his apostleship; he asks whether he has the right to take an adelphē gunē (literally, “sister-woman”) with him on his missionary travels. He was unmarried, so he was not asking whether he could bring a wife along on his journeys (cf. 1 Cor 7:8).

Paul did not have a wife, but he did have sisters, such as Apphia and Phoebe, and he had female co-workers, such as Euodia and Syntyche, as well as Priscilla who, with her husband Aquila, travelled and ministered with Paul (Acts 18:18; cf. Rom 16:3-4). Paul may have had these “sister-women,” or female co-workers, in mind when he asked his rhetorical question to the Corinthians.

Clement of Alexandria understood that Paul was speaking about “sisters” rather than wives in 1 Corinthians 9:5.

But the [apostles], in accordance with their ministry, devoted themselves to preaching without any distraction, and took women with them, not as wives, but as sisters, that they might be their co-ministers (sundiakonoi) in dealing with women in their homes. It was through them that the Lord’s teaching penetrated also the women’s quarters without any scandal being aroused (Stromata 3.6.53).[8]

Clement refers to the women not merely as companions but as co-ministers of the apostles. These “sisters” played an often crucial, and sometimes difficult and dangerous, role in taking the gospel into new territory. In places that were influenced more by Greek culture than by Roman culture, “sisters” were needed to minister to other women, such as widows, who lived relatively secluded lives.

Philemon and Apphia may have been missionaries ministering in Colossae.[9] A few women involved in Pauline missions are mentioned in ministry partnerships with men, but many more are mentioned without any reference to a male relative. It is not clear if these women were widows, single, divorced, or married. Nevertheless, they were active in ministry and prominent in their churches without, or despite, a husband. Apphia is likewise prominent and seems to be identified as an individual rather than a missionary partner. She was known well enough by Paul to be mentioned by name in his letter to Philemon.

Apphia the Patron?

Apphia may have been a high-status woman and the patron of the congregation that met in Philemon’s or Archippus’s home, or she may have been the patron of a network of house churches in Colossae.[10] Perhaps she was like Phoebe who was both patron and diakonos of the church at Cenchrea. Was Apphia another Phoebe? If so, this makes Apphia a woman of considerable influence.[11]

Ross Kraemer suggests that Paul explicitly names Apphia because he sought her consent to his request concerning Philemon’s attitude towards Onesimus.[12] That is, Paul “carbon-copied” Apphia into his letter so she would be aware of the situation he was writing about. He may have hoped that Apphia would influence Philemon according to his wishes. However, the house church is also greeted in the letter. The letter would have been read aloud in a church gathering so that everyone would have been made aware of Paul’s wishes concerning Onesimus. It seems Paul’s greeting to Apphia is some kind of respectful acknowledgement of her position.

Conclusion

In Paul’s letter to Philemon, Apphia is mentioned with, and between, two men who are ministers: Philemon, “our coworker,” and Archippus, “our fellow soldier.” And she is referred to as “the sister” (hē adelphē), the feminine form of “the brother” (ho adelphos) which is how Paul referred to Timothy. So Apphia was a woman of some significance in the Christian community at Colossae.

Like many of the men and women involved in churches associated with Paul, it is difficult to know exactly what Apphia’s participation in church life involved. Yet, “it is fair to assume that Apphia had her share in the church and in its missionary activities, though we do not know in which function and to what extent.”[13]  Moreover, like most ministers in the early decades of the church, she probably adapted her ministry as needs arose and circumstances changed.

At least eighteen women are mentioned in the Pauline letters, which indicates that women were valued for their participation in church life. Apphia, who Paul regarded as a sister, was one of them.

Footnotes

[1] Throughout the body of the letter, Paul addresses Philemon directly and uses second-person singular language. Nevertheless, the opening and closing greetings are sent to everyone in the church (Phm 1:2–3, 25).

[2] For example, note how these couples are described together, and directly connected with the conjunction kai, in Romans 16:3–5a (Πρίσκαν καὶ Ἀκύλαν), 1 Corinthians 16:19 (Ἀκύλας καὶ Πρίσκα), and Romans 16:7 (Ἀνδρόνικον καὶ Ἰουνίαν). Philologus and Julia (Φιλόλογον καὶ Ἰουλίαν) are another couple, possibly husband and wife, mentioned jointly in Romans 16:15.
Nevertheless, as Tolmie has noted, “Theodore [of Mopsuestia] identifies Apphia as Philemon’s wife, and Archippus as their son, without expressing any doubt regarding these relationships (in Philm. 2, 782.6; 786.25). Thus, what was still regarded by Chrysostom and Pelagius as a mere possibility has by this time come to be viewed as a fact.”
D.F. Tolmie, “The reception of Apphia in the fourth and fifth centuries C.E.” in Acta theologica vol.36 suppl.23 Bloemfontein (2016) (online source)

[3] Paul includes the Greek pronoun that means “our” for both Philemon and Archippus (“our coworker” and “our fellow soldier), but doesn’t for Apphia; she is simply “the sister.” Depending on context, the sense of “our” can be implicit in the Greek definite article.
Most of the early major Greek texts have the Greek word for “sister” to describe Apphia (e.g., codices A, D*, E*, F, G, and Sinaiticus), but some later texts, such as sixth-century Codex Claromontanus (D^p/ D₂) and the even later Textus Receptus, have the Greek word for “beloved” instead. Two Greek manuscripts combine “sister” and “beloved”: the 14th-century manuscript 629 has tē adelphē tē agapētē (“beloved sister”) and manuscript 1735, dated 1384, has agapētē kai adelphē (“beloved and sister”). Some versions of the Vulgate also combine “sister” and “beloved”: Appiae sorori carissimae.
The Vulgate has the Latin name Appiæ, but Apphia’s name is a common Phrygian name and not related to the Latin name. A woman named Apphia (or Aphphia), identified as the wife of Chrysippus, is mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and the Acts of Titus: “And Paul healed Aphphia the wife of Chrysippus who was possessed with a devil.” Assuming this woman is real, and not fictitious, it is unlikely she is the same Apphia mentioned in Phm. 1:2.

[4] David W. Pao, Colossians and Philemon (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 365.

[5] E.E. Ellis has observed that “The designations most often given to Paul’s fellow workers are in descending order of frequency as follows: coworker (synergos), brother (adelphos) [or sister (adelphē) as in the cases of Apphia and Phoebe], minister (diakonos) and apostle (apostolos).” E.E. Ellis, “Paul and his Coworkers,” Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Gerald Hawthorne and Ralph Martin (eds) (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 183.
Not all brothers and sisters mentioned in Paul’s letters are ministers. However, when referring to a specific individual, “brother/ sister” is what Paul calls a considerable number of people who were involved in significant Christian ministry of some kind. He uses the word “brother/ sister” five times in Philemon: for Timothy, Apphia, Philemon X2, and for Onesimus.
Paul refers to each of the following people as “brother” or “sister” in his New Testament letters: Apollos (1 Cor. 16:12), Apphia (Phlm. 1:2), Epaphroditus (Php. 2:25), Onesimus (Phlm. 1:16; Col. 4:9), Phoebe (Rom. 16:1), Philemon (Phlm. 1:7, 20); Quartus (Rom. 16:23), Sosthenes (1 Cor. 1:1), Timothy (2 Cor. 1:1; Phlm. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 1 Thess. 3:2), a highly praised unnamed brother, possibly also Timothy (2 Cor. 8:18-19, 22; 12:18), Titus (2 Cor. 2:13), Tychicus (Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7).

[6] The NIV uses punctuation that gives the sense Philemon is the owner of the house: “To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home” (Phm 1:1b–2 NIV).

[7] Ross S. Kraemer, “Apphia,” Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament, Carol Meyers et al (ed.) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 53.

[8] Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 3.6.53 as quoted by John Wijngaards in The Ordained Women Deacons of the Church’s First Millennium (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2002, 2011), 15. A slightly different translation is online here.

[9] The Eastern Orthodox Church (EOC) has conferred on Apphia the title of “Equal to the Apostles,” and she is on some lists of the Seventy (cf. Luke 10) who the EOC regards as apostles.

[10] The early church was attractive to women, including women of high status. Moreover, “Within the Christian subculture women enjoyed far higher status than did women in the Greco-Roman world at large.” Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 1996), 95. (I have more about wealthy women in the first-century church, here.)
If Apphia was the patron of a house church that did not meet in her own home, this might indicate that she was a married woman and independently wealthy, but whose husband was not a believer and did not allow church meetings in their home.

[11] The practice of patronage was a fundamental and vital part of Roman society and it was vital for the church: “Christianity was a movement sponsored by local patrons …” Edwin A. Judge, The Early Christians as a Scholastic Community (London: Tyndale Press, 1960), 8.

[12] Kraemer, “Apphia,” 53.

[13] Christoph Stenschke, “Married Women and the Spread of Early Christianity,” Neotestamentica 43.1 (2009), 145–194, 155.

© Margaret Mowczko 2016
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Postscript: September 17, 2023
More Scholars on Apphia as Sister

In his paper on “Textual Variants as Commentary: Philemon as a Test Case” (on Academia.edu), Matthew Solomon mentions a few more scholars who have commented on the significance of Apphia being referred to as “the sister.” Much of it echoes what I’ve said above.

Bonnie Thurston and Judith Ryan have argued that the use of “sister” (adelphē) in a position so close to “brother” (adelphos) for Timothy in verse one, points to “parity with respect to importance and/or influence within the community.” As such, Apphia could be seen as one of Paul’s co-workers.
Bonnie B. Thurston and Judith M. Ryan,  Philippians and Philemon (Sacra Pagina 10; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2005), 212.

Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke have argued that Paul used “sister” (adelphē) in the same way he used “brother” (adelphos) which suggests Paul gave both men and women the same honour and respect. By comparing the use of adelphē in Philemon for Apphia with the use of adelphē in Romans 16:1 for Phoebe, they further argued that Apphia shared an important role in the church on the same level as Philemon.
Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke, The Letter to Philemon (Eerdmans Critical Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 254–55.

W.E. Oesterley indicated that Apphia held at least a quasi-official position in the church, especially in light of being included in a list with a fellow worker and a fellow soldier.
W.E. Oesterley, “The Epistle to Philemon,” in The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 211.

Image

Fayum mummy portrait of a Roman Egyptian woman, 120–150 AD, Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main, inv. 891. (Wikimedia)

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Nympha: A House Church Leader in the Lycus Valley (Col. 4:15)
The Church at Smyrna and Her Women
Paul and Women, in a Nutshell
The First Century Church and the Ministry of Women

Further Reading

Nicholas R. Quient, “Was Apphia an Early Christian Leader? An Investigation and Proposal Regarding the Identity of the Woman in Philemon 1:2,” Priscilla Papers 31.2 (Spring 2017) (Read it here.)
D.F. Tolmie, “The reception of Apphia in the fourth and fifth Centuries C.E.,” Acta Theologica 36, supplement 23, Bloemfontein (2016) (Read it here.)
P.Merton 2 62,  a letter written in AD 7 or 8, has similarities with Paul’s letter to Philemon. Seth Ehorn has informative tweets about this letter.
Pliny the Younger’s letters to Sabianus (9.21 & 24) are about welcoming back a freed slave (libertus) who had wronged his master. (Read it here.)