The Church of Colossse was not directly founded by St. Paul. There is no indication that he ever preached in- any of the cities of the Lycus valley. In his second journey he was debarred from speak- ing in Asia (Ac 16'^), the province to which Colossse politicallj' belonged, and in his third tour ' he went through the Galatic region and Phrygia [or Galatic and Phrygian region] in order, confirming the dis- ciples,' and ' having passed through the upper country (rd avunepiKo. nipr]) he came to Ephesus' (Ac 18-^ 19^). It is not impossible that — as Renan snggests (Sni7it Paul, Paris, 1869, pp. 331 f., 356 f.)— he followed the usual route of commerce down the Lycus valley, going straight to his destination without pausing to do any work by the way. But it is more in harmony with St. Luke's carefully chosen words, as well as Avith the language of Col., to suppose that he took the shorter hill-road by Seiblia and the Caj'ster valley, a road practicable for foot passengers but not for wheeled traffic (W. M. Ramsay, 'The Church in the Rom. Emp. p. 94). During his three years' residence in Ei»hesus, 'all they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks ' (Ac 19^" ; cf. 19-'®), and it was probably at this time that the churches of the Lycus were founded. The truth proclaimed in the virtual capital of the province — the primacy of Sardis was now only nominal — was soon carried to the remotest towns and villages. Epaphras and Philemon, citizens of Coloss;e, were probably con- verted in Ephesus, and the former was speedily sent, as St. Paul's delegate or representative {iirkp ilfj.u>v, instead of vfj.u>v, is the true reading in Col V),
COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE 227
to evangelize his native valley. Five or six years afterwards, St. Paul, a prisoner in Rome, wrote to tlie Colossian Christians, of whose faith and love he had heard (Col l*-") from Epaphras and perhaps from Onesimus, but who had never seen his face (2^). He felt as great a solicitude for them as if they had been his own spiritual children. In- directly they were indebted to him for their know- ledge of the gospel (cf. following article).
One of the non-Christian beliefs and practices which quickly tlireatened to submerge the Colossian Church was the cult of angels, or elemental spirits, who were supposed to intervene between a pure, absolute, unapproachable God and a world of evil. This idea proved almost ineradicable. One of the canons (the 35th) of the Council of Laodicea (held probably about A.D. 363) ran thus : ' It is not right for Christians to abandon the Church of God and go away and invoke angels (ayy^Xovs dvo/j-d^eiv). . . . If, therefore, any one is found devoting himself to this secret idolatry, let him be anathema.' About a century later, Theodoret, commenting on Col 2'*, says : ' This disease (roOro t6 irddos) remained long in Phrygia and Pisidia . . . and even to the present time oratories (ei)Kr^pia) of the holy Michael may be seen among them and their neighbours.' The By- zantine historian Nicetas Choniates — Chonfe, on a spur of Cadmus, took the place of decaying ColossiB — mentions t6i^ d.pxa77e\i/c6v va6v as standing, fj-eyidei fiiyicTTov Kal KoXKei KaXKicyroi', in or near the ancient city ; and the fantastic legend of ' the Miracle of Chonse' (Ptamsay, The Church in the Eom. Emp. p. 46.') f.) reflects a popular belief in the mediation of Michael to save the inhabitants from an inundation.
Literature. — W. M. Ramsay, The Cities and Bi.ihoprics of Phryrjia, London, 18'.».')-07, vol. i., The Church in the Roman Empire, do. 1S93, ch. xix. JAMES StRAHAN.
COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE.— 1. Introduc- tion.— St. Paul himself had never preached in the Lycus valley. On his third missionary journey he took another route (Ac 19'), and that he did not visit that district during his two years' stay at Ephesus is sufficiently proved by the allusions in his letter to the Church at Colossi (Col l^-'-»2i). Colossae was at this time a small town of declining importance, overshadowed by its great neighbours, Laodicea and Hierapolis, some 10 miles do\vn- stream. In all three towns churches had been founded by the labours of Epaphras (V 4}^ ^^), him- self a native of Colossae (4^^), who had met St. Paul, probably at Ephesus, and had become a dis- ciple. The date of the foundation of these churches may be assigned with some confidence to about the years A.D. 55 and 56 (adopting C. H. Turner's dat- ing ; cf. art. ' Chronology in HDB), and Epaphras may well have been acting as the direct agent of St. Paul (cf . the better reading ' on our behalf ' in V). This would account in some degree for the authoritative attitude which St. Paul takes in his letter.
Though Colossae itself was but a small town, its Church may well have been the most important of those in the Lycus valley. It was evidently closely connected with the Church at Laodicea (2^ 4^^), and it is even possible that the work in the latter place was in charge of Archippus, the son of Philemon of Colossfe (4''', Philem ^). In each place the work seems to have centred in the house of one of its most prominent members ; cf. the house of Aquila and PriscUla at Rome, Ro 16^ (if, indeed, Ro 16 was not addressed to Ephesus), that of Philemon (Philem*) in Colossse, that of Nym- phas, or Nympha, in Laodicea (Col 4^^). A well- attested reading suggests that the latter, a woman's name, may be correct in spite of the improbability of this Doric form being used. If this is so, Nym- pha, like Priscilla, takes her place with the women