2 Timothy 3:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Persecutions, sufferings.” Two things trouble a teacher: that there are many heretics, and that it is hard to endure torments.

He has already spoken much about the heretics. They existed before and will exist again. There is no time when they are absent. They cannot harm us at all. In the world there are vessels of gold and silver.

Now, as you see, he speaks about sufferings. “Which came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra.” Why, among many places, does he mention only these? Because the others were known to this man, Timothy.

Perhaps also because he is speaking of recent events, not ancient ones. He does not enumerate them all separately, because he was not vainglorious or ambitious. He speaks not to glorify himself, but to console his disciple.

"In persecutions, in sufferings." I, he says, was not only persecuted, but also suffered. Two circumstances especially trouble a teacher: that there are heretics, and that one must suffer.

Much has been said concerning heretics, when the Apostle persuaded Timothy not to be troubled by them. Now he speaks of his own sufferings, in order to encourage his disciple.

"Which came upon me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra." He is speaking of Pisidian Antioch and of Lystra, from which Timothy came.

Why does he mention only these? Because they were better known to Timothy, or because they were more recent in comparison with other events.

See, he does not list them one by one, for he writes about them not for his own glory, but from necessity, for the consolation of his disciple.

The holy Apostle himself underwent the same persecutions, sufferings, and beatings from obstinate Jews, and showed the same firmness in Antioch, Iconium (Acts 13:14-52), and Lystra. There the holy Apostle was stoned, and as if dead they dragged him outside the city (Acts 14:19). Yet despite these grievous torments, the Lord preserved the Apostle's life. However, it was not only the Apostle or Timothy who endured such heavy sufferings. Such is always the lot of all true ascetics of piety.

and my persecutions in every place, and my former sufferings from persecutors who hindered me. You yourself know how much I suffered in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.

Antioch means not Syrian Antioch, but Phrygian, or Pisidian, Antioch. There the Jews stirred up the rulers of the city and wealthy women against them. They raised a great persecution against them and drove them out of their borders, Acts 13:14-50.

In Iconium, after an earlier persecution, Jews and Gentiles raised another persecution. They rushed upon him and Barnabas with stones and drove them out of the city, Acts 13:51 and Acts 14:5.

Then in Lystra, at the accusation of Jews who had come there from Antioch and Iconium, they stoned Paul. They dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead, Acts 14:6-19.

That all this truly happened is written in the Acts of the Twelve Apostles. Yet from all these persecutions the Lord delivered me, that is, not from torments, but from death.

"Persecutions, sufferings." Then he reminds Timothy of some of them. "What things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me." The Apostle, leaving aside the rest, mentioned the dangers that overtook him in Pisidia and Lycaonia. The one to whom he wrote was from Lycaonia, and this was better known to him than the rest. He also pointed to God's providential care, thereby encouraging his disciple. Then he says, and as it were defines, what accompanies the pupils of piety.

“Persecutions,” that is, expulsions from cities. “Sufferings,” that is, from blows, thrusts, and every other kind of harm inflicted.

“Such as befell me at Antioch,” Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50; 14:19), “and at Iconium and Lystra.” How many sufferings there were, how many calamities! Iconium and Lystra were cities. Timothy himself was from Lystra (Acts 16:1).

Although the Apostle suffered very many other calamities, he mentions only these. They had happened to him recently and were still alive in his disciple’s memory. At the same time, he was not vainglorious or ambitious.

Some take the word “followed” literally and explain the present words thus: You, O Timothy, followed me everywhere. You saw and came to know my teaching, my life, my disposition, my faith, my long-suffering, my love, and my patience.

You saw and came to know the persecutions and sufferings that befell me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. You also saw that the Lord preserved me from all of them. See Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact on this passage.

If this word “followed” is taken figuratively, in the sense of “imitated,” then the saying has this meaning. You, O Timothy, were not like “men corrupt in mind and disapproved concerning the faith” (2 Tim 3:8).

"In Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra." From the many persecutions and sufferings endured by the Apostle, he chooses those that occurred in cities well known to Timothy. As the first, they could have made the strongest impression on the soul of the Apostle and his disciple. Since the persecutions described in Acts 13-14 occurred before Paul accepted Timothy, one must suppose either that the Apostle was persecuted in these cities a second time, or that Timothy knew of them from eyewitnesses and from Paul himself. Antioch most likely means Pisidian Antioch.

Further, the holy Apostle Paul praises his disciple Timothy because he acted and continues to act precisely in this way, in imitation of Paul the Apostle, as every successor of the Apostles and every good pastor ought to act.

Encouraging Timothy, the holy Apostle Paul speaks of his following him both in teaching and life and in particular qualities, especially in sufferings. He thereby shows the contrast between abiding in the truth and abiding in falsehood.

This abiding is not among pleasures, but in the narrowness of persecutions and attacks. These form, as it were, the inevitable lot of the righteous in every age, as the Apostle says further on in verse 12.

According to Bishop Theophan, the Apostle names the places mentioned because Timothy was with him everywhere there. His homeland was there, in Lystra, where he received his first Christian impressions and also sufferings.

In contrast to these false teachers, Timothy was always a faithful follower of Paul. The Apostle reminds him of this in order to strengthen him for future labors. In particular, the Apostle mentions his sufferings in those lands where Timothy's conversion to Christ took place. These sufferings, of course, were impressed most strongly upon Timothy's memory. Like the Apostle, all pious Christians must suffer, and therefore Timothy also.

It is said that Saint Timothy followed the virtues of Saint Paul because he showed them in himself by imitating his teacher. It is said that he followed persecutions and sufferings because he endured them together with the Apostle.

Persecutions are outward privations. Sufferings imply blows and wounds, which are painful. Saint Paul endured both everywhere, and almost always Saint Timothy was with him.

Why, then, does he mention only these cities? Perhaps because this was Saint Timothy’s homeland, and what they suffered there made the strongest impression on him. For that reason, the deliverance was also the more consoling.