Traditionally identified with the Philologus greeted by name in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans, later honored as bishop of Sinope.

Saint Philologus of Sinope is traditionally identified with the Philologus personally greeted by Saint Paul in Romans 16:15, and is honored by later tradition as one of the Seventy(-two) disciples and bishop of Sinope on the Black Sea coast of Pontus. Byzantine tradition assigned him this see and further biographical detail that cannot be independently verified against the New Testament text itself, a gap this page states honestly. His veneration rests on that New Testament mention and ancient Eastern liturgical memory.

Quick Facts

• Died: date not securely established (Sinope, Pontus, modern Turkey)
• Venerated as: Disciple named in Romans 16:15, traditionally bishop of Sinope

Who Was Saint Philologus of Sinope?

Saint Philologus of Sinope is traditionally identified with the Philologus greeted by name in Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans (16:15) — ‘Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with them’ — and is honored in later tradition as one of the Seventy(-two) disciples sent out by Christ, who went on to become bishop of Sinope on the Black Sea coast of Pontus.

Historical Setting

Paul’s letter to the Romans, written in the mid-first century, closes with a long list of personal greetings to members of the Roman Christian community, most of whom are otherwise unknown to history apart from that single mention. Later Byzantine tradition, working from such New Testament names, assigned many of them episcopal sees and further biographical detail that cannot be independently verified against the New Testament text itself — a gap this page states honestly rather than treating the later tradition as established fact.

Why the Church Remembers Saint Philologus of Sinope

The Church remembers Philologus as one of the many otherwise-unknown members of the earliest Roman Christian community named personally by Saint Paul — a reminder that behind even the New Testament’s most theologically dense letter stood real, named individuals Paul knew and valued.

Canonization and Feast Day

No formal modern canonization process applies to a figure of the apostolic age; Philologus’s veneration rests on his New Testament mention and on ancient Eastern liturgical tradition.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Philologus’s bare name in Paul’s greeting list is worth pausing over: the New Testament was written to and about real communities of real people, most of whom left no other trace in history — yet each was, in Paul’s own words, one of ‘the saints.’

A Prayer to Saint Philologus of Sinope

Saint Philologus, greeted by name by the Apostle Paul though little else of your life survives, pray for the many faithful whose names are known to God alone. Amen.

Sources

• Roman Martyrology
• New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints