De sancto Timotheo
The Fear of God and the Vision of Glory
The etymology of Timothy's name introduces the holy fear that sustains the martyr through his suffering and grants him a vision of Christ's reward.
The name Timothy means 'one who holds fear,' or it's derived from 'fear' and 'theos,' which is God, meaning 'fear of God.' This fear is stirred up in every holy person, as Gregory says, by considering where they were, where they will be, where they are, and where they are not: where they were, in sin; where they will be, in judgment; where they are, in misery; and where they are not, in glory. When Timothy was being severely tortured under Nero by the prefect of Rome, and quicklime was being poured onto his wounds, he gave thanks in the midst of it; then two angels stood by him and said, 'Lift up your head to the heavens and look.' He looked up and saw the heavens opened, and Jesus holding a jeweled crown, saying to him, 'You'll receive this from my hand.'
A Witness to the End
The testimony of Timothy's martyrdom leads to the conversion of Apollinaris and their shared witness unto death.
A man named Apollinaris saw this and had himself baptized. Because of this, the governor ordered both of them to be beheaded while they were standing firm in their confession of the Lord, around the year of our Lord 57.
Read the original Latin
f'imotheus quasi timorem tenens, vel a timore et theos, quod est Deus, quasi timor Dei. Causatur autem ille timor in quolibet viro sancto, sicut ait Gregorius, considerando, ubi fuit, ubi erit, ubi est et ubi non est, Ubi fait, quoniam in peccato, ubi erit, in judicio, ubi est, in miseria, ubi non est, in gloria, Timotheus sub Nerone a praefecto urhis Romae dum graviter torqueretur et calce viva ejus plagae adspergerentur et ipse in his gratias ageret, duo angeli sibi adstiterunt dicentes: erige caput in coelis et vide. Adspiciensque vidit coelos apertos et Jesum toronam gemmatam tenentem et dicentem sibi: hanc de manu mca accipies. Quod quidam vir nomine Apollinaris videns se baptizarl fecit. Quapropter praeses jussit ambos in confessione domini perseverantes decollari circa annos domini LVII.
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