The Apostolic Fathers · AD 70–130
Asyncritus
fl. c. 57 (death unrecorded) · Believer of a Roman house circle · Rome
The Apostolic Fathers
Who Asyncritus was
First of the five men greeted “and the brethren which are with them” — the formula scholars read as a distinct house church, one of at least three discernible in Romans 16. His name (“incomparable”) is attested among imperial freedmen. Of the man, nothing further; of the cell he headed or hosted, only that Paul knew it as a body.
Common questions
When was Asyncritus active?
Asyncritus is dated fl. c. 57 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Asyncritus in the Apostolic Fathers (AD 70–130). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Asyncritus?
Asyncritus is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Paul, Origen of Alexandria and John Chrysostom. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Asyncritus from?
The archive associates Asyncritus with Rome.
Who were Asyncritus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Asyncritus to 4 other figures, including Phlegon, Hermes of Rome, Patrobas and Hermas of Romans 16. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Romans 16:14
c. AD 55Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.Paul · read ↗
Origen, Commentary on Romans X (on Romans 16:14)
c. AD 246Homilies on Romans XXXI
c. AD 391“Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them.” Here do not be looking to how he starts them without any encomium, but how he did not reckon them, though far inferior, as it seems, to all, unworthy of being addressed by him. Or rather even this is no slight praise that he even calls them brethren.John Chrysostom · Homilies on Romans XXXI · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
- AD 49 · The Council of Jerusalem, AD 49
- AD 57 · Paul writes Romans, AD 57
- AD 62 · James the Just stoned, AD 62
- AD 64 · The Great Fire and Nero’s persecution, AD 64
- AD 70 · The fall of Jerusalem, AD 70
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Asyncritus.
- 1Rome