Ampliatus Series

tom lowe

1/6/2022

Ampliatus (Roman Christian)

Ampliatus (Amplias in the King James Version) was a Roman Christian mentioned by Paul in one of his letters, where he says, "Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord." (Romans 16:8) He is considered one of the Seventy Disciples by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Tradition has it that he and his companions subsequently attached themselves to the Apostle Saint Andrew and ultimately died martyrs.

He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology[1] on Oct. 31. Ampliatus is a typical Latin name of which the Authorized Version Amplias is a contraction). He may have served as bishop of Odessos (Varna) in Bulgaria. In Romans 16:8, Paul says, "Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord."

Saluted by St. Paul and described as 'my beloved in the Lord', The only other persons described in Romans 16 as 'my beloved' are Epaenetus (Romans 16:5) and Stachys (Romans 16:9). A woman is saluted-perhaps with intentional delicacy-as 'Persia the beloved' (Romans 16:12). The precise phrase 'my beloved in the Lord' does not occur again in the NT. The special term of Christian endearment might suggest that Ampliatus was a personal convert of St. Paul's or closely associated with him in Christian work. Such friends, however, are referred to as 'beloved child' (Timothy, 1 Corinthians 4:17), 'beloved brother' (Tychicus, Ephesians 6:21), 'beloved fellow-servant (Epaphras, Colossians 1:7), etc. (cf. article Beloved). Nothing whatever is known of Ampliatus beyond this reference.

Assuming the integrity of the Epistle and the Roman destination of these salutations, he was perhaps a Roman, whom St. Paul had met on one of his missionary journeys, and held that the salutations in Romans 16 were part of a letter to the Church of Ephesus, Ampliatus must have been a Roman, resident in Ephesus, with whom St. Paul became acquainted during his extended stay in that city. It is possible that he was a Jew who had taken a Latin name (cf. the names Paulus, and Lucius, a 'kinsman,' i.e., a Jew, Romans 16:21).

This name derives from the Latin "amplio > amplias," meaning "large, extensive, increase, extend, enlarge, magnify." Ampliatus (Amplias in the King James Version), was a Roman Christian mentioned by Paul in one of his letters, where he says, "Greet Ampliatus, whom I love in the Lord." (Romans 16:8) He is considered one of the Seventy Disciples. The Sacred Tradition makes him the first Bishop of Varna, in Bulgaria.

• Ampliatus is a Latin name and another individual that Paul refers to as "beloved."

• This was a common name in antiquity and often associated with the Emperor's household.

• There is a tomb in the catacomb of Domitilla, dating from the first or early second centuries, that bears the inscription AMPLIAT. The singular name suggests he might have been a slave; the ornamentation on the tomb suggests he would have been an essential individual in the early church. It would mean that Christianity had penetrated deep into a prestigious Roman household.

[1] A catalog of Roman Catholic martyrs and saints arranged by the dates of their feasts. It is also said to be an ecclesiastical history treating the lives and sufferings of martyrs.