Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation Volume 45 Issue 6 December 2018 ST. PAUL COMES TO MACEDONIA the world and wept because there were no more worlds In order to understand the background and left to conquer. Nevertheless, Alexander was much more circumstances under which St. Paul wrote his letters, we than a military conqueror. He was more a missionary need to follow his steps as given to us through the Books than a soldier; he dreamed of a world dominated and of Acts. It is the Book of Acts, written by St. Luke, which enlightened by the culture of Greece. Alexander had traces the chronological sequence of St. Paul's missionary declared that he was sent by God to unite the whole journeys. world. He claimed that his aim was to "marry the East to the West." He In Acts 16:6-10, we read about dreamed of an empire in which St. Paul coming to Macedonia, there was “neither Greek nor Jew, (probably in the summer of 50 barbarian or Scythian, slave or free A.D.), to preach the gospel. There man, but Christ is all and in were several other places along the all” (Col. 3: 11). way that St. Paul and his company could have focused their preaching When we dig in a little deeper, it is ministry, but each one met with an easy to see why St. Paul would have obstacle from the Holy Spirit. Asia Alexander the Great in his and Bithynia were off limits for thoughts. St. Paul had left from evangelizing at this point in time. The door to Alexandrian Troas, named after Alexander, and then Macedonia, however, was opened widely. In this, came to Macedonia, which was Alexander’s original St. Paul's second missionary journey, we can truly say it kingdom; he worked at the city of Philippi, which was was by far the most dramatic. named after Alexander’s Father, Philip; he went on to Thessalonica, which was named after Alexander’s The reason being that St. Paul sees a vision of a man of half-sister. Saturated with these memories, St. Paul saw Macedonia who stood before him pleading, “Come over this area as a fertile world for Christ. to Macedonia to help us.” ST. PAUL COMES TO THESSALONICA Macedonia opened up a whole world for St. Paul to bring St. Paul’s coming to Thessalonica becomes extremely Christ to the land of Alexander the Great. Macedonia was significant for the spreading of Christianity, when we the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who had conquered examine the historical importance of this city. Its original name was Thermai, which means, “The Hot Springs”, and 1 it gave its name to the Thermaic Gulf, on which it stood. scholars agree that after the first three weeks those who It has always been a famous harbor. It was there that received St. Paul's message began to meet in the house Xerxes the Persian had his naval base when he invaded of a man named Jason. During this time, he supported Europe; and even in Roman times, it was one of the himself and his companions through skilled labor and world’s great dockyards. through the gifts received from the Christians at Philippi In 315 B.C., Cassander had rebuilt the city and renamed (Phil. 4:6). He made the synagogue the focus of his it Thessalonica, the name of his wife, the daughter of mission, explaining from the Scripture that it was Philip of Macedon. It was a free city in that Roman necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the soldiers had never occupied it. For a time, it was a dead, and that Jesus is the Messiah (Acts 17:2-3). question whether it or Constantinople would be recognized as the capital of the world. The exact length of his stay in Thessalonica is hard to determine. We do know that he was there long enough Perhaps the greatest importance of Thessalonica is that to establish the Church and at the same time enrage the it is seated on the ancient trade route known as the Jews. St. Paul, his life threatened, had to be smuggled Egnatian Way or Road. The Egnatian Road extends from out of the city to Berea (Acts 17:10-12). In Berea, the Asia Minor (on the Bosporus), all the way through Jews of the synagogue were more receptive (“fair Greece to the Adriatic Sea. It remains today as the main minded” Acts 17:11), of St. Paul’s message, but then passage through the city. It is the main road, which links Thessalonian Jews travelled to Berea and stirred up the Rome with East. Crossing from Greece to Italy it changes crowds against him. Once again, he is smuggled out of names to the Appian Way. Berea and makes his escape to Athens. He left Timothy and Silas behind to continue the work of the young It is impossible to overstress the importance of the Church. arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was settled there, it was bound to spread east along the Upon his arrival in Athens, St. Paul sent immediate word Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered and West for Silas and Timothy to bring him news about until it stormed even the city of Rome. St. Paul's mission Thessalonica. While in Athens, waiting to receive an to Thessalonica was crucial in making Christianity spread update, St. Paul made his famous speech at the foot of quickly into a world religion. (We should not forget that the Acropolis at Areopagus, relating to the Athenians the Holy Spirit guided them in this direction). that the “Unknown God” that they worship, he knows and He is “…God who made the world and everything in it…” (Acts 17:24). ST. PAUL'S STAY IN THESSALONICA Timothy brings back good news about the Church in In the Book of Acts chapter 17, verses 1-10, we read Thessalonica. The affection of the people for St. Paul was about St. Paul's stay in Thessalonica. For St. Paul, what as strong as ever; and they were standing fast in the happened in this city was of supreme importance. He faith. They were indeed "his glory and his joy". However, preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths; however there some troubling questions on the minds of the the main thrust of his mission took place in the market, infant community. The disruptions and persecution, in the streets and lanes of Thessalonica. Most biblical which had plagued St. Paul’s labors continued to afflict 2 Continues on page 3 n the young Church. St. Paul’s letter is a response to those time of authorship is placed approximately six months questions. after the Church in Thessalonica was founded, close to Here are the main points in St. Paul’s letter: 50 A.D. The major theme of his letter is very clear to his flock and to us: A holy life leads to eternal life and the 1. The preaching of the Second Coming had heart of his Christian message was the presentation of produced an unhealthy situation in which people Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior. Jesus, the Son had stopped working and had abandoned all of God who rose from the dead was the only Savior that ordinary pursuits to await the Second Coming could rescue those living an immoral life from God’s with a kind of hysterical expectancy. St. Paul wrath. admonishes them to be quiet and to get on with the work (1 Thes. 4:11). St. Paul had the unique and special gift of being able to relate his message to the society in which he 2. They were worried about what was to happen to preached. In speaking to his listeners, he explained the those who died before the Second Coming Second Coming of Jesus sighting a familiar Gentile arrived. St. Paul explains that those who fall custom. When a monarch came to the city on an official visit, they would have a special public ceremony to greet asleep in Jesus will miss none of the glory him. St. John Chrysostom commenting on this in (1 Thes. 4:13-18). st 1 Thessalonians 4:17, says, “During the ceremony, 3. There was the ever-present danger that they those who were in the good graces of the sovereign would relapse into immorality. It was hard to would go forth from the city in order to meet him, but unlearn the point of view of generations and to the criminals were kept within the city where they escape the contagion of the heathen world would await the sentence, which the king would (1 Thes. 4:3-8). pronounce. In the same manner, when the Lord will come, the first group will go out to meet Him with as- 4. A faction slandered St. Paul. They hinted that he surance in the midst of the air, while the guilty and preached the gospel for what he could get out of those who are conscious of having committed many it (1 Thes. 2:5,9); and that he was something of a sins will await below their judge.” dictator (1 Thes. 2:6,7 & 11). There were St. Paul also exhorts and instructs the neophyte destructive rumors challenging St. Paul’s Christians, as a loving spiritual father, to expect trials integrity. It was asserted that his religious appeal and affliction for the sake of the gospel (3:3-4). He was ground in error.