Turkey or as usually mentioned as Asia Minor in Holy Bible plays a vital role in early Christian history. There are a lot of Christian martyrs and saints who were born in Turkey or had their mark in Christian faith in Turkey. Let’s have a brief look at the names and stories of the most important Christian people of Asia Minor.
List of Important Christian People of Asia Minor
Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great was the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire. He ruled the Roman Empire between 324 until his death in 337.
Theophilus of Adana
Theophilus has a very interesting story being the first known saint who made contact and deal with the devil. He believed to be one of the inspirations of Faust.
Saint Barbara
Saint Barbara is one of the early Christian female martyrs.
Saint Barnabas
Saint Barnabas is one of the early Christian disciples. He is a Jewish person, and he converted into Christianity in Antioch which is today’s Antakya city in Turkey. He preached around Turkey with Apostle Paul. Saint Barnabas was martyred in Cyprus and his grave is in the Salamis city of Cyprus today.
Trophimus
Trophimus was one of the eight men who accompanied Apostle Paul on his third missionary in Anatolia. As it is mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:20, Trophimus was left in Miletus because of his sickness.
Trophimus was from Ephesus, and Acts 21:29 calls him “Trophimus an Ephesian”. In Jerusalem some people saw him in the city with Paul, and they thought Paul had taken this Greek into the Temple. A crowd attacked Paul and Roman soldiers arrested him. So without wanting it, Trophimus started the long imprisonment of Paul which ended in Rome.
Onesiphorus
Onesiphorus was a Christian of Ephesus who did not forget Paul. In 2 Timothy 1:16-18 Paul blesses his house, because he was not ashamed from Paul’s chain. When Onesiphorus came to Rome, he searched for Paul very hard till he found him in prison, and before that he had helped Paul in many things at Ephesus. Tradition says he later died as a martyr in Parium, ancient city in today’s Çanakkale province of Turkey.
Please do not mix him with Onesimus below. Their names look alike, but they are two different men.
Epaenetus
Epaenetus is the man Paul greets in Romans 16:5 as “my wellbeloved Epaenetus” and calls the firstfruits of Asia unto Christ. In other words, he was the first convert of the Roman province of Asia, whose leading city was Ephesus, and one of the very first Christian people of Asia Minor. His name comes right after Priscilla and Aquila and the church in their house, so he probably belonged to their house church in Ephesus. Some old Bibles say Achaia here, but the oldest manuscripts write Asia.
Onesimus of Ephesus
Onesimus was bishop of Ephesus around 110 AD. When Ignatius of Antioch passed from our region as a prisoner on his way to Rome, Onesimus came to see him in Smyrna, and later Ignatius wrote to the Ephesians that the love of their bishop was beyond words.
Some believe he was the same Onesimus as the runaway slave in Paul’s letter to Philemon, who became a Christian with Paul in prison. If this is true, a slave became the bishop of the church of Ephesus.
Saint Basil
St. Basil is credited for being the creator of monastic life. He was born in Cappadocia region of Turkey and his signature can be seen all around Cappadocian Cave Churches and Monastries.
Theopemptus of Nicomedia
Theopemptus was from modern Turkish city Izmit which was called Nicomedia in the Roman Empire. He stood against the Emperor Diocletian’s strict order telling him to worship into pagan god of Apollo. He became one of the early martyrs of the Christianity.
