7. Обращение Савла (41 г. по Р. X.)

While the Christian faith was spreading among the Jews and Samaritans, the Lord Jesus Christ in a special, extraordinary way called the great apostle to preach to the pagans. It was Saul, a Jew from the city of Tarsus. Endowed by nature with extraordinary talents, Saul received his initial education in his native city, and for his final education he was sent to Jerusalem. Here he listened to the famous teacher of the law Gamaliel and soon acquired all the Jewish wisdom. Although Gamaliel himself was distinguished by prudence and impartiality, Saul, due to his youth and ardor of character, was carried away by the opinion of the majority of the Pharisees regarding Christians and thought that he would please God when he persecuted them (John 16:2). In this error, the young man Saul took part in the murder of the first martyr Stephen and afterward did not cease to persecute Christians in Jerusalem. But then he hears that, despite the persecution, the holy faith is not destroyed, and that many of the Jews accepted it in Damascus (the capital of the Syrian kingdom, adjacent to Judea). Then he takes authority from the high priest and goes there to look for Christians and send them to Jerusalem. When Saul was already near Damascus, a strong light from heaven suddenly shone around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice: “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? - “Who are you, Lord?” - Saul called. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute. It’s hard for you to go against the grain!” Saul, in awe and horror, exclaimed: “Lord, what will you have me do?” He was ordered to go to the city and wait there for instruction. Saul rose from the ground: his eyes were open, but he saw nothing. Then the companions (they heard a voice, but saw no one and were themselves in a daze of horror) took him by the hand and led him to Damascus. Saul spent three days in fasting and prayer, went deep into himself, recognized the poverty of his soul and with all his heart desired enlightenment and salvation. One of the seventy disciples of the Lord, Ananias, was in Damascus at that time. The Lord appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to go to Saul and baptize him. “Lord,” said Ananias, “I have heard from many how much evil this man has done to Thy saints in Jerusalem.” “Go, he is My chosen vessel,” the Lord told him. Ananias went to Saul, told him about the will of the Lord and laid his hands on him: immediately, as if scales fell from Saul’s eyes. He received his sight, stood up, was baptized, and immediately began preaching in the synagogues about the Lord the Savior. Seeing such a change in Saul, the Jews wanted to kill him and waited for him at the gate day and night. The Christians, however, found it possible to save Saul by lowering him from the wall at night in a basket. From Syria, Saul did not return to Jerusalem, but went to Arabia, where he stayed for three years. Here, in strict solitude, near the mountains of Sinai and Horeb, sacred to Jews, through self-deepening and prayer, under the action of the omnipotent grace of God, he was completely transformed and from a zealot of the letter of the law became a great herald of the gospel truth. From Arabia he returned to Damascus and from there he went to Jerusalem. Here he became close to the Apostle Peter as called, like him, from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and an authorized apostle. Saul was eager to suffer for Christ in this city, where he had so recently persecuted the Church, and fervently prayed about this in the Jerusalem temple, but the Lord once again appeared to him and said: “Get out of Jerusalem quickly, because here they will not accept your testimony about Me. I will send you far away to the Gentiles." Thus, the Lord Himself indicated to Saul the field for apostolic work. Saul retired to his hometown of Tarsus for a time. Meanwhile, the door to the Church was already open to the pagans, and it was opened by the same Apostle Peter, who laid the foundation for the Church among the Jews. You might be interested in: