The Apostolic Fathers · AD 70–130
The Household of Aristobulus
fl. c. 57 · Believing slaves and freedmen of a great house · Rome
The Apostolic Fathers
Who The Household of Aristobulus was
Paul greets not Aristobulus but “them which are of Aristobulus’ household” — the Christian slaves and freedmen within a grandee’s establishment, their master evidently not among them. Lightfoot’s identification remains the most economical: Aristobulus the grandson of Herod the Great, brother of Agrippa I, who lived and died a private man at Rome; his “household” would then be a Herodian slave-familia, which the next greeting (Herodion) makes the more likely. A congregation without a single recorded name, worshipping inside another man’s house.
Common questions
When was The Household active?
The Household of Aristobulus is dated fl. c. 57 in the archive, which places The Household 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 The Household?
The Household of Aristobulus 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 The Household from?
The archive associates The Household of Aristobulus with Rome.
Who were The Household’s contemporaries?
The archive links The Household of Aristobulus to 3 other figures, including Herodion, The Household of Narcissus and Apelles. 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.
Origen, Commentary on Romans X (on the household of Aristobulus)
c. AD 246Homilies on Romans XXXI
c. AD 391“Salute them which are of Aristobulus’ household” … Who, it is likely, were not so worthy as the afore-mentioned, on which account also he does not mention them all by name even, and after giving them the encomium which was suited to them, that of being faithful … “Which are in the Lord.”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 The Household.
- 1Rome