St. Timothy was the first Bishop of Ephesus (Modern Turkey), and a companion of St. Paul. He was a native of Lystra and was the son of. Jewish woman named Eunice and a Greek Gentile. Timothy was converted to the faith by St. Paul. Paul found Timothy to be a very valuable companion, taking him on several missions, such as those to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:17) and the Thessalonians (1 Thes 3:2-3).

According to tradition, he was the first bishop of Ephesus, the basis for this being his journey to the city at the command of Paul to act as his representative (1 Timothy 1:3). e is mentioned with St. paul in the salutations of seven epistles in the New Testament and was the addressee of two of the three pastoral letters - 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.

He was martyred on January 22, 97 by a mob of angry pagans because of Timothy's opposition to the celebrations of the feast of Diana (Roman goddess).