On Saint Titus

Saint Titus is first mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians (Gal. 2:3), where we learn that he was with the Apostle Paul in Jerusalem when the Apostolic Council was held to determine how Gentiles were to be received into the Church. What had become of him before that time, Bishop Demetrius of Rostov records from tradition: that he was a Cretan belonging to the royal family of that island; that he was a lover of wisdom, a zealot for piety in a manner unlike that of the pagans, and a virgin—likewise unlike pagan custom (cf. the Epistle of St Ignatius the God-bearer to the Philadelphians). By a particular guidance from above, he took to reading the prophet Isaiah and thereby opened for himself the door to knowledge of the one true God, toward Whom his heart was set aflame. At that time, reports began to reach Crete about the Lord and Saviour—the God Who had appeared in the flesh in Judea, Who was teaching true salvation and performing wondrous works. In order to gather accurate information about what was happening in Judea, the Cretan proconsul (anthypatos), who was an uncle of Saint Titus, sent him there along with the elders, as a man of philosophical temper and devout disposition. On arriving in Jerusalem, Titus saw the Lord, conversed with Him and with the holy Apostles, and witnessed marvellous signs. (Was he perhaps among the Greeks who wished to see the Lord on the day of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Jn. 12:20–22)?) He then witnessed the sufferings of the Lord and His death on the cross, yet was also assured of His Resurrection; he waited for the descent of the Holy Spirit and was among the Cretans who heard the Apostles speak—without having learned it—in the Cretan tongue as well (Acts 2:11). Returning to Crete, he proclaimed all these things to his compatriots who had sent him.

Saint Titus was already a sincere believer, but had not yet received holy baptism. To remedy this, he set out again for where the Apostles were active—this time to Antioch, where he attached himself to Saint Paul and was received by him before Paul’s departure for Jerusalem and the Council. He was not baptized immediately—either for lack of time or because of the confusion then stirred up by the zealots of the Law; but, more to the point, because Divine Providence had seen fit to use him as an instrument for the most evident demonstration that circumcision was unnecessary, and consequently the entire Law as well, in accordance with the Apostolic manner of proceeding. Saint Paul writes that when they were in Jerusalem, no one compelled Saint Titus to be circumcised. “It would have been strange to require circumcision of one already baptized; therefore it must be assumed that he had not yet been baptized, although he fully believed. And the Apostle called him simply a Greek: ‘being a Greek’ (Gal. 2:3). Baptism was administered to him there, after the Apostles had drawn up their decree on receiving the Gentiles into the bosom of the Church without circumcision—as a practical confirmation that their resolution was an inviolable rule which all were from now on to observe.”

After this, Saint Titus followed the Apostle Paul—perhaps also by the choice of the other Apostles—and laboured alongside him. He most likely accompanied Saint Paul on his second apostolic journey, when the Galatians were converted, and became known to the Galatians from that time. The mention of him in the Epistle to them would therefore have been very instructive to them.

It is very probable that he accompanied Saint Paul throughout that entire journey and was with him in Corinth as well, following Philippi and Thessalonica. The latter can be concluded with some certainty from the fact that, during his third journey, Saint Paul—at the very moment of his departure from Ephesus—sent Titus to Corinth with an important commission: namely, to find out how his first Epistle had been received there, which he would not have done had Saint Titus not been known to the Corinthians. Having dispatched Titus directly to Corinth, Saint Paul himself made his way there by way of Troas and Macedonia. Saint Titus had been instructed to hasten back with news and to meet the Apostle at Troas; but he was unable to fulfil this in time. Paul waited for him at Troas, and when he did not come, crossed over to Macedonia, where they finally met. The news that Titus brought consoled Saint Paul, yet was of such a nature that a new Epistle was required. It was written and sent ahead with Saint Titus, before Paul himself, who still had to visit the other Macedonian Churches. The meeting with Saint Titus and the writing of the Epistle most probably took place at Philippi.

Shortly after this, Saint Paul’s imprisonment began—first in Caesarea of Palestine and then in Rome. Although neither the Acts nor the Epistles mention Saint Titus as being with him at that time, since on Paul’s return journey from his first Roman imprisonment we find Titus with him in Crete, it is natural to suppose that he was at Paul’s side, or at his disposal, throughout the entire period of captivity.

In Crete, Saint Paul had apparently stopped only briefly in passing; yet, seeing that much among the believers there required correction, he left Saint Titus with them to complete what had been left unfinished. He himself continued onward to Asia Minor, to visit the Churches there—first those of Phrygia, then those of Pisidia and Lycaonia—intending to spend the winter at Nicopolis, which we take to be either the Cilician or the Syrian one. Saint Paul foresaw that he would need Saint Titus there; and so, in writing this Epistle, he charged him to come to him at Nicopolis—which Titus, of course, did.

After wintering near Nicopolis, Saint Paul made his way through Ephesus westward—to Macedonia, Achaia, and Spain—and then found himself in his second imprisonment in Rome. Throughout all this journey, Saint Titus was in all probability his inseparable companion; for we see him with Saint Paul in Rome, and Paul, writing his Second Epistle to Timothy from Rome, mentions that Saint Titus had been sent by him to Dalmatia to meet the needs of the Churches there.

With this, the information about Saint Titus drawn from Scripture comes to an end. Tradition carries his life to its close: according to it, he served as bishop in Crete (Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, III, 4) and, having enlightened the whole island by faith, fell asleep in the Lord at a great old age, in his ninety-fourth year. His feast day is the twenty-fifth of August.

Saint Chrysostom says of him: “Among Paul’s companions, Titus was the most experienced. For had he not been experienced, the Apostle would not have entrusted an entire island to him, nor commanded him to set in order what remained, or, as he says, ‘that you should set in order the things that are wanting’ (Tit. 1:5). And the very brevity of the Apostle’s Epistle to him is likewise a proof of Titus’s virtue—that he had no need of lengthy discourses, but only of a certain reminder.” Blessed Theodoret adds: “Saint Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians crowned Titus with many praises.” And there Paul calls him “my partner and fellow-worker among you”, a “zealous” man of action, to whom it was enough simply to point out a task—and he would at once fulfil it without special urging (2 Cor. 8:23, 17).