THYMOTHEE2. Timothy, fl. first century A.D., one of Paul's disciples, was born in Lystra, Lyconia. When Paul visited Lystra in A.D. 80, he found that the local Christians thought well of Timothy, and he took him as a co-worker. He became Paul's constant companion and was the co-writer of the Letters to the Thessalonians, the second Letter to the Corinthians, the Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Paul addressed two epistles to him, which show fatherly concern. Tradition says Timothy was martyred in A.D. 97 during Nerva's reign (NCE XIV: 167).
The Parson refuses to tell a story or a fable since St. Paul, when he wrote to Timothy, reproves those who waive truth and tell fables, ParsT 31-34. In I Timothy 1:4, Paul says that some people need to be warned against occupying their minds with strange doctrines and with legends; in I Timothy 4:4, Paul says that when people grow tired of truth, they turn their attention to fables instead. At the beginning of his homily on avarice, the Parson quotes St. Paul that "the root of all harms is covetousness," ParsT 739; here a gloss refers ad Thimotheum sexto from I Timothy 6:10. This quotation occurs also in Mel 1130, 1840, and it is the text of the Pardoner's sermon, PardT 334. Neither Paul nor Timothy is named in these latter references. [Paul]