1st century
An apostolic worker counted among the Seventy and remembered as Bishop of Lystra, who reposed in peace.
The Holy Apostle Artemas of the Seventy, Bishop of Lystra
Artemas is numbered among the Seventy Disciples whom Jesus commissioned and sent out two by two (Luke 10:1-4) to proclaim the Gospel. By Holy Tradition he served as Bishop of Lystra, a city in the region of Lycaonia in Asia Minor, and he reposed in peace, without suffering martyrdom.
Very little is known of his life, and most surviving details derive from tradition rather than documented historical record. He is named in the New Testament in Saint Paul's Epistle to Titus, and the Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him on October 30.
His full liturgical title is composed below from grounded specifics; see the sections that follow for his scriptural mention, his place among the Seventy, and the see traditionally associated with him.
Artemas is named once in the New Testament, in Saint Paul's Epistle to Titus. There Paul writes to Titus that he will send either Artemas or Tychicus to him (Titus 3:12), indicating that Artemas was among Paul's trusted co-workers.
Artemas is reckoned one of the Seventy Disciples commissioned by Jesus in Luke 10, who were sent out two by two ahead of him into the cities and places he was to visit.
In the list of the Seventy attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, Artemas appears as the fifty-eighth disciple, described as 'bishop of Lystra.' The Eastern Orthodox Church honors all seventy disciples collectively at the Synaxis of the Seventy Disciples on January 4, while each also has an individual commemoration through the liturgical year.
By Holy Tradition, Artemas served as Bishop of Lystra. Lystra lay in the region of Lycaonia in Asia Minor, in what is today Turkey. It was a city where Paul and Barnabas had preached (Acts 14) and the home city of Timothy (Acts 16:1-2).
He reposed in peace, having not suffered martyrdom.
Very little is known about Artemas with historical certainty. Most of the details preserved about him derive from Holy Tradition rather than from documented historical evidence, and no information survives regarding his relics or their location.
Apostle of the Seventy.