Illustration created for this project.
Archippus
A member of the church at Colossae, greeted by Paul as a fellow soldier in the letter to Philemon and charged at the end of Colossians to see that he completed the ministry he had received in the Lord. His name appears alongside Philemon and Apphia, which has suggested to many readers that he belonged to the household where that church met.
What we know — and how we know it
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 2
Life, role & deeds
ScholarlyThe Apostolic Constitutions list an Archippus as bishop of Laodicea ordained in the apostolic circle, and Byzantine tradition later counts him among the Seventy and a martyr at Chonae/Colossae. These are church traditions of the later centuries rather than independent early attestation.
Apostolic Constitutions 7.46; later Byzantine synaxaria, framed as tradition.
Name & titles
ScholarlyArchippos is a well-formed Greek name meaning roughly master of horses, from archos (ruler) and hippos (horse). It is an ordinary Hellenic personal name, consistent with the Greco-Phrygian setting of Colossae.
Onomastic: standard Greek etymology (archos + hippos).
Where in scripture
ColossiansPhilemonTell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
Colossians 4:17 — 'Complete the ministry'
to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house:
Philemon 1:2 — 'Our fellow soldier'
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
In art
