ONESIMUS, A FRIEND OF THE APOSTLE PAUL, BROUGHT FROM ROME TO EPHESUS, AND THERE STONED TO DEATH, A. D. 111. Onesimus, a servant of Philemon, by descent a Colossian, had run away from his master, and had come to Rome, where he was recognized by the Apostle Paul--who was imprisoned there--and sent back to his master, with recommendatory letters tending to reconciliation, as may be seen in the epistle of Paul to Philemon, in which Paul calls him his son, whom he had begotten in his bonds. Philemon 10. He also carried a certain letter of Paul from the prison at Rome to the church at Colosse; for in the conclusion of the epistle to the Colossians we read: “Sent from Rome through Tychicus and Onesimus.” Col. 4 after verse 18. It appears therefore, that he was a beloved friend and faithful servant of the apostle Paul, notwithstanding he had left his external service in the house of Philemon. He also, after he was sincerely converted, was not permitted to finish his course without persecution, sufferings, and a violent death; but had to tread after the example of his Savior, the wine press of suffering. According to the testimony of ancient historians, he was carried away bound from Ephesus to Rome, and there stoned to death, under Trajan, and the judge Tertullus, shortly after the death of Ignatius, A. D. 111. See above, _Idem. Ibidem. ex Act. Metaph. Mart., Rom., 16 Febr._ Also, _Ado_. DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA, WHO WAS CONVERTED BY PAUL, MARTYRED FOR CONFESSING JESUS CHRIST, ABOUT THE YEAR 112. We read in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. 17, verse 34, that among those who clave unto the doctrine of Paul, there was also Dionysius, one of the Athenian council, and a woman named Damaris. It is testified of this Dionysius, surnamed the Areopagite, that he so increased in the Christian religion, that Paul afterwards appointed him bishop at Athens; yet, that finally, after having made a most glorious confession of faith, and suffered many severe torments, he was crowned, as a victorious hero of Jesus Christ, with the martyrs’ crown, when he had got to be a very old man, and had commended his spirit into the hands of his heavenly Father. He now accomplished what he was wont to frequently repeat in his life: “The last words of my Lord Jesus, while on the cross, shall also be my last words in this temporal life, namely: ‘Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.’” Thereupon he was put to death, and thus fell asleep happy in the Lord. Compare _A. Mell., 1st book of the Histor. der vervolg. en Mart._, printed _A. D. 1619., fol. 26, col. 2, from Adone in Martyrol. ex Arist. lib. de Relig. Christ and Suida in Dion. Areopag. and Seger., in Chron. 10. Strac. in Pass, Part. S. Homil. 2_, with _W. Baudart, in Apophthegm Christian, 1st book 7th edition, A. D. 1640, p. 17, on the name Dionysius Areopagita_.