Saint Paul’s trip – location.
What is the name of the city or town? Has the name of the city or town changed? What is its modern name?
A brief overview of what occurred in the city or town. Key events, individuals and groups.
What was Saint Paul doing there?
What was Saint Paul’s message? Significance
Why is this location significant in the life of the early Church?
(What event, advice or teaching took place at this location which reveals something about the early followers of Jesus or Saint Paul)?
Antioch: Antioch is an ancient capital city of Syria however is now located in southern Turkey. The city was originally the capital of the Roman province of Syria although throughout history, Antioch constantly transferred between Syria and Turkey. At the time of Saint Paul, Antioch was inside the Syrian border, however in 1939, Antioch re-joined Turkey and has remained there. This city was one of the earliest areas of Christianity and acted as the headquarters for Saint Paul from 47 – 55 CE. It was in Antioch that followers of Christ first called themselves Christians. Since the cities founding in 300 BCE, it was also home to a large Jewish community Antioch: Antioch was the starting location of Saint Paul’s first evangelist journey in 47 AD. When Paul first arrived in Antioch, there were already a number of followers of Jesus proclaiming the word of the lord to the Gentile congregation present in Antioch, and Paul following his conversion to Christianity, joined them. Whilst in
On the road to Damascus the Lord intervenes in Saul’s life (Acts 9: 3-6) and he is genuinely converted during that encounter with the Lord Jesus. Under the ministry of Ananias (a disciple) he was also healed and filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul now known as Paul from that moment on immediately began preaching Christ in the synagogues of Damascus. Paul’s preaching was very convincing and disturbing to the Damascus Jews to the point where they desired to kill him. Therefore, the other Christian disciples assisted him in his escape by night (Acts 9:22-25) that he may escape to Arabia. Paul’s missionary Journeys were defining actions of him, he usually set foot with other companions and he endured hardships on these voyages. He was imprisoned, lashed and stoned several times and almost murdered once (2 Cor. 11:24-27).
The first letter to the Christian community was sent from Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, though Paul was the main author. Paul was writing to them to clear up their misunderstandings about the return of Christ, also considers it as instructions in holy living. Paul wrote about his longing to visit the church in Thessalonica but
Therefore, Paul, employing the Lords wisdom, ensured the church to be viable and Godly in a city mentioned of similar importance as Rome, Corinth, Antioch, and Alexandria. In his ministry, Paul makes multiple journeys to Ephesus to ensure that the Word was growing in such a keystone city to much of eastern Asia. On his first missionary journey, he diverted to Macedonia at the Lord’s prompting, prohibiting him from travelling to the region. However, Paul leaves behind Aquilla and Pricilla (Acts 18:18-21), on his second journey, as more of an advance party to begin establishing the church. This was a necessary move, as a full effort by Paul to minister in Ephesus would have not gone successfully. The Ephesian economy aligned itself with pagan religion, as well as Judaism, and relied heavily upon trades, such as idol making, which related to the worship of pagan gods. For example, the temple of Artemis sustained an industry of silversmiths and idol makers. During Paul’s second third journey, due to his effective ministry in Ephesus, caused such a disruption in pagan commerce, merchants incited a mob to eliminate him from the city. The church remained despite his hasty departure. Paul centered his basis of ministry in this keystone city during his third missionary journey. As a result, this allowed him to
This was due to the fact that he called himself, “The Son of God”. Just before Jesus was condemned to death, he commanded his to disciples to continue spreading his teachings. At first they only preached in Jewish communities throughout the Roman world, but Paul played the most influential role in spreading Christianity throughout the world. He set out on missionaries on the road to spread Christianity worldwide. He traveled through the Mediterranean and set up churches in Asia Minor and Greece. He proclaimed that those who believed that Jesus was the son of God and followed his teaching would obtain eternal
Saint Paul, originally named Saul, was a crucial part in the development of Christianity. Paul, who was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, grew up Jewish and was trained as a rabbi (Adcock). Paul eventually converted to Christianity, but before he did, the future of the religion was looking very slim. Rome had made it illegal to practice Christianity. Paul was a pious Jew, so his conversion to Christianity surprised many of his followers. They viewed him with much suspicion and treated him with hostility. Paul was dedicated to his new life and made it his mission to spread Christianity throughout the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and eventually to Rome itself. Paul made two separate journeys throughout the Mediterranean. He preached about the message of Jesus to many and sent his letters to the people he had not visited. Paul saw that his new faith had a message for everything and everyone. By converting to Christianity, St. Paul has saved Christianity from extinction, has written crucial letters about his faith, has preached to hundreds of people, has spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, has caused
Several Christian churches around the Roman Empire have been suggested—notably Ephesus, but also Antioch in
The Apostle Paul was a missionary from Damascus, a city in Syria. After all of his adventures in Asia, Africa, and Europe, he wrote thirteen letters. These letters were appointed to either a certain person, a church, or certain people of a town/city. His letters are in the Bible, and are all in the new testament.
The Acts of Paul and Thecla, a second century Christian document, relates the story of how St.
The Book of Romans was written around 57-58 A.D. Paul was writing to the Church in Rome from Corinth. It had long been his desire to go to Rome to
Paul wrote to the Romans from Corinth during his three month stay. Paul was on a missionary trip passing through the east and was on his way to Rome. It was one of two letters; One to Rome and the other to Ephesus. They must have already had churches started in Rome because “We can safely assume that the church was not planted by an apostle”(Schreiner pg.11). The Church was most probably started by Jewish Christians.
Three of Paul’s most important journeys in his lifetime took place in 44, 48 and 55 CE. Geographically, this spread Christianity across the Mediterranean into modern day countries such as Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Italy. He travelled tens of thousands of
“In the 400’s AD, a church was built above a pool attached to Hezekiah’s tunnel to commemorate the miracle of Jesus
The book of Acts describes how Paul was ministering in Antioch with Barnabas, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to be released from his Church duties. The Holy Spirit had another assignment for Paul, and that was to go and take the Gospel more widely. Some believe that this notion came from the Holy Spirit through fasting and prayer. Paul began his first missionary in the town of Antioch. Throughout Paul’s first missionary journey he was accompanied by Barnabas and Barnabas cousin John Mark.
Paul visited Ephesus on his first missionary journey, on the way from Greece to Syria. After his third missionary journey, he stayed there and pastored the Ephesian church for 3 years (Easton, np). “Though Paul was not the first to bring Christianity to Ephesus, for Jews had long lived there, he was the first to make progress against the worship of Diana” (Orr, np). Because of his strong ties to the church, Paul cared deeply about the faith of the believers there (Macarthur, np).
The next marker on the map was the Historical Culvert 1656, this was much easier to see. The Culvert was covered in what looked to be moss and surrounded by trees. The depth of it was unbelievable to me and I could only imagine what it must of looked like back in time. Along the path signs were posted to tell about the time and what it was like to live there. One sign said Staying Alive, as it told about the horrific hygiene and the diseases. During this time people, didn’t connect their hygiene to their health and bathing was seen as dangerous. If a person with clean clothes came up to you they were a rich man. Laborers were proud of the stained and tattered clothing that showed their skills. Disease was completely under control by this time and efforts were being made to control any epidemics that would occur. A water sanitation facility in Pittsburgh was the first start to controlling disease other than medication. The final marker that we reached before we decided to turn around was Historical Culvert 1624, this one was very difficult to see at first but down in the bushes a stone wall barely shows. The culvert itself couldn’t be seen but the stone, looked made it look like a ditch full of brush and flowers. As we turned around to return to the car I looked around at the trees and the scenery and tried to imagine the railroad where I was standing.