Colossae

Colossae was the seat of an early Christian church, the result of St Paul’s activity at Ephesus, though perhaps actually founded by Epaphras.

Colossae was the least important town to which any Epistle of St. Paul which now remains was addressed.

Others, too, were with him, but none perhaps was dearer to S. Paul than a certain slave, Onesimus, who had fled from his master, Philemon, in Colossae.

Such an one was Onesimus, a slave from Colossae, who arrived in Rome as a runaway, but was sent back to his Christian master, Philemon, no longer as a slave, but as a brother beloved.

Philemon lived at Colossae and was probably a convert of Paul and member of the Colossian church.