Euodia and Syntyche

Who is Euodia and Syntyche?

Euodia and Syntyche are people mentioned in the New Testament. They were female members of the church in Philippi, and according to the text of Philippians 4: 2-3, they were involved in a disagreement together. The author of the letter, Paul of Tarsus, whose writings generally reveal his misgivings that internal disunity will seriously undermine the church, beseeched the two women to "agree in the Lord".

Despite the clear context and gender agreement of the original Greek text, the Authorised Version of the Bible incorrectly assigns Euodia the name "Euodias" and thus makes the quarrel appear to be between a man and a woman. According to some sources there was a historical theory that Euodias was the gaoler of Philippi and Syntyche was his wife. This theory is rejected by modern scholarship, not least because of the clarity in the original text that both characters are female. As a Roman colony, Philippi gave a level of independence to women that was not common in most Greek cities of the period; this may account for the prominence of the women and their disagreement.