[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XVI : 11-15
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[12] And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were in this city some days conferring together.
[13] And upon the sabbath day, we went forth without the gate by a river side, where it seemed that there was prayer; and sitting down, we spoke to the women that were assembled.
[14] And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, did hear: whose heart the Lord opened to attend to those things which were said by Paul.
[15] And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
[11] Navigantes autem a Troade, recto cursu venimus Samothraciam, et sequenti die Neapolim : [12] et inde Philippos, quae est prima partis Macedoniae civitas, colonia. Eramus autem in hac urbe diebus aliquot, conferentes. [13] Die autem sabbatorum egressi sumus foras portam juxta flumen, ubi videbatur oratio esse : et sedentes loquebamur mulieribus quae convenerant. [14] Et quaedam mulier nomine Lydia, purpuraria civitatis Thyatirenorum, colens Deum, audivit : cujus Dominus aperuit cor intendere his quae dicebantur a Paulo. [15] Cum autem baptizata esset, et domus ejus, deprecata est dicens : Si judicastis me fidelem Domino esse, introite in domum meam, et manete. Et coegit nos.
Notes
11. with a straight course. A nautical term. St Luke shews a good knowledge of seamanship by his use of correct technical terms in all details concerning navigation. The Greek word (εὐθυδεομησαμεν)signifies “running before the wind.” As the passage was made in two days the wind must have been favourable, and consequently from the south. On the return journey they were five days on the sea.
“ The southerly winds in this part of the Archipelago do not usually last long, but they often blow with considerable force. Sometimes they are sufficiently strong to counteract the current which sets to the southward from the mouth of the Dardanelles ” (Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St Paul, p. 219).
Samothracia. A mountainous island, eight miles long by six broad, visible from Asia Minor and lying north of the Aegean Sea.
This island was celebrated for the worship of the Cabiri, or sons of Heplisestus (Vulcan). These deities were worshipped by the Pelasgians with mystic rites in Lemnos and Samothrace, and, at a later period, throughout Greece.
Neapolis. This was the nearest. port to Philippi ; the little Turkish village of Cavallo now stands on this site. Roman ruins and inscriptions are found there. It was the port where travellers disembarked when journeying through Macedonia by the Roman higbway, known as the Via Egnatia, which traversed the district from east to west. Neapolis was about ten miles from Philippi.
12. Philippi. The ancient city of Krenides (i.e. the fountains), which Alexander the Great fortified, enlarged, embellished, and named after his father, Philip of Macedonia. Philippi was a Roman colony, i.e. a military station established by the Romans as a protection and defence.
These colonies were generally placed where trouble might be expected with neighbouring people ; as the Thracians were very bold and warlike, the colony of Philippi served as a check on them. There were not many Jews in Philippi. In all, five Roman colonies are mentioned in the Acts, viz. Antioch in Pisidia, Lystra, Troas, Corinth, and Philippi, but only when referring to the last named does St Luke call attention to its being a colony.
chief city. It is possible that in the time of St Paul, Philippi may have risen to the rank of a chief city, but, when the districts of Macedonia were defined in B.C. 147, Amphipolis was the capital of the south-eastern district. But many cities which were not capitals, e.g. Smyrna and Pergamus, were styled “chief” on their coins, and Philippi may have had this distinction. However, commentators are generally agreed that the Greek word (πρωτη) here translated “ chief,” must be understood as referring to the first city of Macedonia that St Paul reached after having left Neapolis, a Thracian city.
of part of Macedonia. Part of one of the four districts into which the Romans had divided Macedonia. Some commentators take “part” here as signifying “border land.” Livy speaks of these divisions as “ pars prima,” “ pars secunda,” etc.
some days. This is another indefinite note of time. It may have embraced a few weeks (ἡμερας τινας).
conferring together. Another reading is “abiding together”; the Greek verb (διατριβοντες) signifies literally “to pass time,” and consequently “ to dwell.”
13. by a riverside. The river in question must be the small stream of the Gangites. Either there were not enough Jews in Philippi to make it worth while to build a synagogue, or they were too poor to afford the expense. The Jews were accustomed to build their synagogues on the banks of rivers, probably in view of their ceremonial ablutions. Josephus speaks of the proseuchæ, i.e. oratories for public or private prayer, “at the sea-side” (Antiq., x. 23). Often they were simple enclosures, open to the sky.
it seemed that there was prayer, — i.e. “where prayer was wont to be made” (οὑ ἐυομιζετο ππροςευχη εἰναι ). The assembly may have gathered on the banks of the stream, or in a proseucha as described above.
we spoke to the women. St Paul, Silas, and St Luke spoke to different bands of women, who were evidently proselytes.
14. Lydia. This is an example of a female name derived from a country : Afra, Syra, Græca are other examples of this practice.
The Lydian women, even in the days of Homer, were famed for their skill in dyeing, Purple dyes and textile goods were specialities of Lydia. This woman could not have been very poor, as the manufacture of dyes required a certain capital ; also she was able to offer hospitality to St Paul and his companions.
Thyatira. A city situated on the river Lycus in Lydia. The chief industry was dyeing, and an ancient inscription shews that there was once a guild of dyers established in this city.
One of the seven epistles in the Apocalypse is addressed to the “Angel,” i.e. the bishop of Thyatira (i. 11).
one that worshipped God. (ςεβουενη του θεον.) This is the ordinary definition of a proselyte.
whose heart the Lord opened. “The opening of the heart was God's work, the attending was hers ; so that it was both God’s doing and man’s ” (St Jn. Chrys).
The reception of the truth is expressed in various ways, e.g.—
(а) As ‘‘the opening of the heart” as here and 2 Macii. i. 4: May he open your heart in his law.(b) As ‘‘the opening of the eyes.” And their eyes were opened and they knew him, (St Luke xxlv, 31).(c) As ‘‘the opening of the understanding.‘‘ Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures (ibid. 45).
15. when she was baptized. Not necessarily the same day.
her household. There are several allusions to whole households being received into the Church. The expression occurs again in verse 33. Also St Paul speaks of his having baptized the household of Stephanus (1 Cor. i. 16).
An argument in favour of the baptism of infants has been drawn from the fact that these households must have included some children. This practice, however, has a firmer base than this inference, since our Saviour has bidden us ‘‘suffer the little ones” to come to Him and not to ‘‘forbid them.” Moreover, He blessed little children, thus shewing that they are capable of receiving a spiritual blessing. We find St Paul in his epistles addressing children as members of the Church, e.g. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just (Eph. vi. 1. See also Col. iii. 20).
come into my house, etc. St Paul and his companions had probably supported themselves by their own labour. This was their usual practice when remaining for any length of time in any city, e.g. Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nothing, but in labour and in toil we worked night and day, lest we should be chargeable to any of you (2 Thess. iii. 8). St Paul, however, was quite justified in accepting the hospitality of the faithful, since our Lord had laid down the general law that the labourer is worthy of his hire.
constrained us. St Luke uses the same verb (παραβιαζομαι) when speaking of the disciples of Emmaus (St Luke xxiv. 29), but no other New Testament writer employs it. St Paul yielded to this generous hospitable constraint.
“So she proved herself indeed a woman ‘who used hospitality to strangers,’ and in taking them in she ‘entertained angels unawares.’ Her house became the home of the four missionaries and the first ‘ church ’ in Philippi (verse 40). When Paul and Silas went on to Thessalonica, it continued to be St Luke’s home ; and when pecuniary help was sent to Paul, no doubt it came mainly out of Lydia’s wealth. Lydia is one of the striking women who were, so to speak, the nursing mothers of the infant Church (Isa. xlix. 23). Like Dorcas, she was a woman devoted to good works ; like Eunice, she entertained the apostle ; like Mary, the mother of John Mark, she had a church in her house ; like Priscilla, she ‘ laboured with the apostle in the gospel’ ” (Rackham, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 283).
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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