TITUS (Duties of pastors and Bishops)
Author: Paul.
Date: 63 AD
Key Place: Crete, Nicopolis.
Titus, the Bishop.
Church of St. Titus, Heraklion
Purpose: As Titus had appointed elders to lead churches, Paul reminded Titus the kind of character and qualities a leader should have. Paul also advised Titus to teach the special groups viz. old people, young people and slaves and also to beware of false teachers.
To whom written: Titus. Paul refers Titus as my true son in common faith. Titus was a Greek Gentile converted to Christianity through Paul.
Background: Titus is mentioned in (Gal.2:1-3), where Apostle Paul journeyed with Barnabas and Titus to Jerusalem. He became a Christian missionary, a church leader and disciple of the apostle Paul. There was a big debate in Jerusalem regarding Judaism and Christianity. The Jews in Jerusalem who were followers of Christ demanded that Titus be circumcised just as Timothy was circumcised, but Paul resisted them because he wanted Titus to be an example of how Christ frees the believer from the law of Moses.
His work:
Apostle Paul sent Titus to Corinth and Greece where he successfully reconciled the Christians with Apostle Paul the founder of Corinth church.
Paul sent a severe letter to the Christians in Corinth through Titus. (This letter may be 1 Corinthians. But this letter is not in the Bible). Corinthians were allowing one of the Christians to act in a wicked way. They were not doing anything about it. Titus took the letter. He helped to sort out the serious situation (2 Cor.7:8-15).
Later Paul sent Titus to Crete to help organize the Church. Titus went to Nicopolis and also Dalmatia (now Croatia).
He became the first Bishop of the island of Crete. Titus raised funds for the poor believers of Jerusalem and Judea at the apostle’s request. Titus studied Greek philosophy and served as Paul’s secretary and interpreter. In AD 51, he accompanied Paul to the council held at Jerusalem.
Later in Crete, Titus appointed pastors, elders in every city and remained there till his old age in (96 AD or 107 AD). He died in the city of Candia as a martyr (now modern Heraklion in Greece). He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete. His head was later removed to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens (Muslims and Arabs) and was enshrined in St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice (Italy).
Titus’s base church. Bishop Titus made his base here and set about converting the population, which numbered some 30,000, the largest in Crete.
Basilica of Titus: According to Eusebius, Titus was the first bishop of Crete (Church History 3.4.6, &136). The traditional site where Titus was martyred and buried is marked by the Basilica of Titus, which was built in the 6th century AD by the emperor Justinian. Some fragments date to the 2nd century AD, indicating this was the site of an earlier building.