Syzygus (“True Yokefellow”)

When was Syzygus active?

Syzygus (“True Yokefellow”) is dated fl. c. 62 (identity debated) in the archive, which places Syzygus in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70). 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 Syzygus?

Syzygus (“True Yokefellow”) is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Paul and John Chrysostom. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Syzygus from?

The archive associates Syzygus (“True Yokefellow”) with Philippi.

Who were Syzygus’ contemporaries?

The archive links Syzygus (“True Yokefellow”) to 3 other figures, including Euodia of Philippi, Syntyche of Philippi and Epaphroditus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel…

“Yea, I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, help these women.” … he commendeth them to some notable man whom he calls his “yokefellow,” to whom perchance he was wont to commend them, as to a fellow-worker, and fellow-soldier, and brother, and companion … “Yokefellow;” either some brother of theirs, or a husband of hers; as if he had said, Now thou art a true brother, now a true husband, because thou hast become a Member. … **Some say that the word “yokefellow,” (σύζυγος,) is a proper name. Well, what? Whether it be so, or no, we need not accurately enquire**, but observe that he gives his orders, that these women should enjoy much protection. [Chrysostom raises the question this figure’s existence depends on — whether σύζυγος is a personal name or the common noun “yokefellow” — and expressly declines to settle it, holding that nothing in Paul’s instruction turns on the answer. He offers three candidates without choosing: a brother of one of the women, a husband of one of them, or some notable man of the congregation. Modern scholarship has added a fourth reading, that “true yokefellow” is a figure of idealized praise addressed to the church rather than to any individual (Fellows and Stewart, *Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft*, 2018). The archive holds him as a figure on the strength of the ancient reading, and records that his own earliest commentator would not commit to it.]

Epaphroditus

Lightfoot’s suggestion: the letter’s carrier would naturally be its named helper.

Silas (Silvanus)

A co-founder of the congregation, proposed by several moderns.

An actual name, “Syzygos”

Read as a proper name with a deliberate pun — the plainest grammatical solution (so many commentators).