Apphia: Edit history

Biblical Record

Apphia appears only in the greeting to the recipients at the opening of the Epistle to Philemon. Paul and Timothy first name Philemon as the recipient and then add Apphia, Archippus, and the church that met in Philemon's house: "And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house" (Philemon 1:2, KJV). Scripture says nothing about Apphia's origins, family relationships, or later life.

In the text she is called "sister," a term for a woman who shares the same faith. Some manuscripts instead read "beloved Apphia" at this point, the reading followed by the KJV quoted above.

Significance Within Scripture

That Apphia is addressed between Philemon and Archippus, together with the "church in thy house," indicates that she was a well-known figure in that church, an early community of faith that met in a believer's home. The Epistle to Philemon contains a personal request that Philemon receive back Onesimus, a runaway slave. Even so, Paul addressed the letter not to Philemon alone but to his household and the church (see Philemon and Onesimus).

Interpretations and Debates

• Philemon's wife: Because Apphia's name appears immediately after Philemon's, many commentators regard her as Philemon's wife. Some also regard Archippus as their son. The text, however, does not state these relationships, so they remain conjecture.
• The name: Apphia is known to have been a common name in inscriptions from the region of Phrygia in Asia Minor, in what is now western Turkey.
• Later tradition: Some traditions, including that of the Eastern Orthodox Church, hold that Apphia was martyred together with Philemon and Archippus and commemorate her as a saint. This tradition comes from outside the Bible.

In the Korean Church

In Korean churches, sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted specifically to Apphia are rare. She is usually mentioned briefly along with the greeting when the Epistle to Philemon is expounded, and she is sometimes cited as an example of the house-based gatherings of the early church or of the place of women believers in the church.