Отдел восьмой. Церковь среди язычников от обращения Савла до его мученичества в Риме

XXXIV. Conversion of Saul. His initiation into the ranks of the apostles and his special purpose The very course of the spread of the Gospel already showed that its preaching should not have been limited to the Jewish people, even if including all the sons of the dispersion, renegades of the Samaritan family and proselytes of both kinds. Besides them, there was also an immense world of pagan peoples who had absolutely no contact with the Jewish people, did not know the Old Testament law and were guided in their lives by natural reason. The Jews looked at these peoples with arrogant contempt as doomed to destruction; but they too were sons of Adam, and since the guilt of original sin weighed on them in the same way as on the Jews, and even to a greater extent, because they were left to their own strengths and did not have beneficent guidance from above, now the work of redemption had to extend to them, and even to a greater extent, in accordance with their greater spiritual need. But to spread the Gospel among them, a special preacher was required, such as had never been found among the Apostles, namely a person equally familiar with the Jewish and pagan worlds and who had comprehended to the highest degree the mystery of Christianity as a new and universal religion. Such a preacher appeared in the person of the Apostle Paul, whose story provides a striking example of how the Providence of God, in every spiritual need, puts forward great figures, sometimes calling them from the very midst of the bitter enemies of the truth. During the terrible martyrdom of St. Stephen, the tormentors who stoned him laid their clothes “at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7:58). This was the great chosen one of God. Although he himself apparently did not take part in the stoning of the first martyr, he was so bitter against the great preacher of Christianity that he “approved of his murder” (Acts 8:1), and even after this bloodthirsty deed he did not calm down, but “torn the church, entering houses and dragging out men and women, and delivering them to prison” (Acts 8:3). This furious persecutor of Christianity was a Jew, originally from Tarsus, in Cilicia. He thus belonged to the Jews of the Dispersion, but came from a family that was proud of the purity of its Jewish blood, remembered its origins from the tribe of Benjamin, and gave its very name to its son in honor of the king from this tribe - Saul. Being thus “a Jew of the Jews” (Phil. 3:5), Saul at the same time possessed a very important civil right, namely the right of a free Roman citizen, which ensured the inviolability of his person throughout the vast expanse of the Roman Empire. This right was probably acquired by his father for some service to the Romans during the civil wars and passed from him to his son. Tarsus, located on the banks of the Cydnus in a narrow fertile plain between the Mediterranean Sea and the snowy heights of the Taurus, was a large commercial and industrial city, in which there was a warehouse for goods that constituted the subject of trade between eastern and Asia Minor. But the special craft of the inhabitants was the preparation of woolen materials, carpets and tents from goat hair, which was famous throughout the East, and Saul was prepared by his parents for this craft, precisely as a tent maker. This does not mean that his parents were poor and did not have the opportunity to prepare their son for any higher social position. It was simply a common custom among the Jews to teach their children to some kind of craft in order to give them the opportunity to earn bread in all the vicissitudes of life, and Saul actually had to remember his parents with gratitude more than once when it was he who had to resort to his craft for food. Having taught their son a craft, his parents then gave him a good general education. Since the Greek language was current in such a large city as Tarsus, Saul knew it perfectly and was so familiar with Greek literature that he freely quoted quotes from Greek poets (Acts 18:28; Titus 1:2) and even deeply understood the very spirit of Hellenism. This high education made him a particularly suitable instrument for the purpose for which Providence was preparing him, namely, to be the “apostle of the nations.” But this was only one side of his education. Having given their son a general classical education, his parents took special care to give him a higher Jewish education. For this purpose, Saul was sent to Jerusalem, where various higher schools flourished, and there he was “educated at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), the most famous lawyer of his time, distinguished not only by the depth and breadth of his learning, but also by a remarkable spirit of tolerance towards the opinions of people who disagreed with the established views of people. In the school of this great teacher, Saul was “carefully instructed in the law of his fathers” and was zealous for God (Acts 22:3). All this extensive education, combined with high natural talents, made Saul a very prominent person, and already in Jerusalem, among the Pharisees, he enjoyed great fame not only for his learning, but also because he “lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest teaching in the Jewish religion” (Acts 26:5). After completing his education, Saul probably returned to Tarsus; but this city was now too small for the highly learned and ardent young man, his soul asked for a wider field, and he soon appeared in Jerusalem again. And then he had to face for the first time new preachers who were successfully preaching some new teaching unknown to him. The highly learned Pharisee from Tarsus did not fail to listen to these new preachers, and to his horror and indignation he learned that they preached the abolition of the Mosaic Law and in its place taught the teaching of some dark Galilean, Jesus of Nazareth, who, for his rebellion and blasphemy, was condemned to death and crucified between two villains. To him, as an ardent zealot of the law and at the same time a highly educated connoisseur of it, all this could only seem like blatant madness, to which it would not be worth paying the slightest attention if the preachers of this new teaching were only illiterate villagers, like those who in crowds followed the very Founder of the teaching, and not such educated Hellenists as Stephen. It is clear that this teaching had already taken deep roots and could not be ignored. It was necessary to refute and defeat these preachers, and Saul did speak out against Stephen and was undoubtedly one of those "certain from Cilicia who had a dispute with Stephen" (Acts 6:9). The dispute between such opponents could only be the most heated, and Saul, to his horror, saw that with all his learning he “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (Acts 6:10) his opponent. And then his jealousy took on a bloodthirsty character. He could wash away the shame of his defeat only with the blood of Stefan, and approved his murder. The circumstances accompanying this terrible martyrdom could not pass without a trace for such an ardent person as Saul, and a terrible feeling of regret and repentance stirred in his soul that he had gone so far in his jealousy, and at the same time a spark of doubt about his own rightness began to glimmer. But it was a heavy feeling; it was necessary to suppress it, and this could only be achieved through new and intensified zeal in defending the Mosaic Law and in persecuting his enemies. If such a highly educated and heroic preacher as Stephen is destroyed, then the mass of his followers no longer deserve any regret; it must be destroyed, and then the hated teaching will be uprooted. With such thoughts and feelings, Saul, contrary to the instructions of his great teacher Gamaliel, positively began to “tear the church” and persecuted its members “to death” (Acts 8:3; 22:4). And this persecution terrified Christians. In the face of the formidable persecutor, they scattered and disappeared. Jerusalem apparently was completely cleared of them. There was no more preaching or miracles at Solomon's porch, crowds no longer gathered in the streets waiting for the passing of the shadow of App. Peter and John; there were no longer crowded meetings in the house of Mary, Mark’s mother. If Christians gathered, they gathered only timidly and secretly, in small numbers, and meals of love, if they were celebrated at all, probably took place as in the first days after the Resurrection, with the doors locked - for the sake of Jewish fear. Some of the Christians suffered severe torture for their faith; less devoted members of the Church undoubtedly fell away from it; the majority immediately fled even before the storm of persecution arrived. Such a success of the case should have greatly pleased the high priests and elders of the Jews, who could finally hope for the complete extermination of the sect that had caused them so much trouble. They would even be pleased with what was done; but Saul wanted to see it through to the end, and “in excessive rage against them, he persecuted them even in foreign cities” (Acts 26:11). There were especially many Christians, he heard, in Damascus, where they had built a nest for themselves under the rule of the Arabian prince Aretas. And so, in order to destroy this nest, Saul turned to the high priest so that he would give him letters of authority to Damascus, with which he could arrange a trial there and bring from there in chains to Jerusalem everyone he could find among Christians, both men and women, with the aim of carrying out the highest court over them, the example of truth and mercy of which could be the fate of St. Stefan. And so, having received the letters, he set off, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), but according to the inscrutable intentions of God’s Providence, this path led him to a completely unexpected outcome for him, and he left Damascus not as a formidable persecutor, with a whole party of Christians chained in chains and trembling for their fate, but as a humble and defeated Nazarene, a follower of that very same Jesus of Nazareth, whose very name had hitherto sounded contempt for him and aroused in him ineradicable hatred. This miraculous revolution took place on the road, not far from Damascus, near the village of Kaukaba (as legend indicates). Before the noble traveler, who was traveling accompanied by a significant retinue, spread out the “Damascus Desert,” bounded to the north by the chain of the Lebanese Mountains, barely visible in the distant blue of the sky; in the direct direction one could see the towers of Damascus itself, the roofs of which sparkled brightly under the scorching rays of the midday sun. The path was terribly difficult and tiring at these hours of the day, and Saul impatiently sought to quickly get to the city famous for its gardens, in order to rest under their sweet shadow from the path and then immediately get down to business. And suddenly - it was all over. An extraordinary light from the sky suddenly shone around the travelers. It was not only Saul who saw him, but also all his companions. In Syria and in general, the midday sun shines and burns unbearably; but this light from the sky was even more striking in its brightness and even more piercing in its flame. Along with the light, a terrible but indistinct voice reached Saul’s companions. As if by some menacing wave from the sky, they were all thrown to the ground in a daze. When the others stood up and partially recovered from the horror, Saul was still lying on the ground, and in this prone position he saw an extraordinary Human image and heard a Human voice saying to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is difficult for you to go against the pricks” (Acts 26:14). But at this terrible moment, Saul did not recognize the One who spoke to him, because he had never seen Him on earth. “Who are you, Lord?” he said. “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute!” (Acts 22:8). This answer struck Saul with horror, and in his soul instantly and in terrifying clarity everything that he had done against this Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected. In unbearable awe and horror, he asked Him: “Lord! What will you have me do?” and to this came a merciful answer: “Get up and go into the city; and it will be told to you what you need to do.” “The people who walked with him stood dumbfounded, hearing the voice, but seeing no one” (Acts 9:6-7). Saul stood up, but everything around him was dark. The dazzling vision disappeared, but with it the sun itself darkened for Saul’s gaze. He was blind. His frightened companions took him by the hand and led him to Damascus. Upon his arrival in the city, he was taken to the house of Judas, on a long street that runs through the entire city and, then as now, is called Straight. There, with torment in his soul, in blindness, in bodily suffering, in mental agitation, without food or drink, Saul lay for three days; and the brilliance of the light that had struck him constantly appeared before his dark eyes, and the sounds of that reproachful voice still thundered in his ears. No one can say what his soul experienced during these three days. Finally, the storm of his mental state found relief in prayer, and then one Christian came to him, respected by everyone, and even by the Jews, Ananias, to whom the Lord appeared in a vision and revealed that this merciless persecutor would be the chosen vessel to proclaim the name of Christ before the pagans, kings and children of Israel. “And I will show him how much he must suffer for My name” (Acts 9:16), said the Lord. Good Ananias, who was at first afraid to go to the well-known bloodthirsty persecutor, did not hesitate any longer. He entered the house of Judas, and addressed the sufferer with dear greetings as a brother and, laying his hands on his darkened eyes, ordered him to stand, look and be filled with the Holy Spirit. “And immediately it was as if scales fell from his eyes; and suddenly he received his sight, and stood up and was baptized, and having eaten food, he was strengthened” (Acts 9:18–19). After spending several days in the company of Ananias, who undoubtedly encouraged his spirit with his conversation and taught him the rudiments of Christian truths, Saul was completely reborn spiritually and felt like a completely different person. An impassable abyss lay between his past and his present. His eyes were opened to the essence of things, and now he saw to amazement that everything in which he believed his glory and his greatness was outdated rags and darkness in comparison with the true light of persecuted Christianity. And at the mere recollection that he was a persecutor of the Church, horror struck his God-enlightened soul, and with all the more zeal he now sought to atone for this past persecution of his by preaching Christ. Having recovered from mental and physical shock, he immediately acted as a preacher of the Gospel, and in the synagogues of Damascus everyone was amazed at how this furious persecutor of Christianity now preached the Gospel with inspiration. But Saul's soul was broken and required longer reassurance. He needed a rest during which he could completely break away from the world around him, withdraw into himself, check his state of mind and, in a solitary conversation with God, find final confirmation of his calling. And so Saul, like the great righteous men of the Old Testament, left Damascus for Arabia, where he stayed for about three years. Only after this long stay in the desert, undoubtedly spent in deep spiritual self-examination, Saul again returned to Damascus, and there he began preaching about Christ. The appearance of such a great preacher, who might have already been partially forgotten, drew general attention to him, and since he completely turned all his previous learning, supported by even higher revelations, to preaching and defending the Gospel, none of the Jewish scribes and lawyers could stand against him. This naturally aroused extreme indignation against him among the Jews, and they even formed a plot to kill him. Even the ruler of Damascus took part in this conspiracy, and posted guards at the city gates. The danger was terrible, especially since it threatened at the very beginning to stop the activities of Saul, who had not yet managed to at least to some extent atone for the sins of his former life. It was necessary to avoid it, and in this regard the disciples who had already begun to gather around him helped him. They took advantage of the fact that the houses in the east overlooked the city wall, and, putting Saul in a large basket, lowered him on a rope over the wall, just as Rahab saved the spies in ancient times. Having escaped danger, Saul then headed to Jerusalem. There he no longer had a place among the elders of the Jews, and he had to seek refuge among his new fellow Christians. While still a persecutor, he probably heard about St. Peter, who stood out among the other Apostles for his courage in preaching and was famous for his miracles. It was with him that Saul decided to “see” (Gal. 1:18) in order to find in him a courageous friend and mentor. Ap. Peter received him with his characteristic cordiality, so that Saul stayed with him for fifteen days (Gal. 1:18), and during this time he also became acquainted with James, the brother of the Lord. Some of the other Apostles were not in Jerusalem at that time, and partly they continued to be distrustful of the converted ferocious persecutor, suggesting in his conversion only an insidious device for finding out all the secrets of life among Christians. But the generous Barnabas, himself a Hellenist, having become closely acquainted with Saul, finally convinced the Apostles that before them was no longer the former persecutor, but a humble Christian who had received a terrible revelation on the way to Damascus. And then, having been accepted into the society of the Apostles, Saul was completely strengthened morally, and again came out to preach Christ in the synagogues of the Jews, boldly competing with the Hellenists, at the head of whom he had once defended the Old Testament against Stephen. Such a move by him to the side of his former opponents naturally aroused extreme irritation among the Jews, and he was threatened with the fate of St. Stefan. Saul was extremely despondent and one day he was praying in the church to such an extent that he went into a frenzy. And at this time he had a new revelation of Christ, who, commanding him to leave Jerusalem, at the same time gave him the great commission to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. “Go, said Christ, I will send you far to the Gentiles” (Acts 22:21). Humbly accepting this great commission, Saul, with the help of his disciples, secretly boarded a ship and, thus avoiding the danger that threatened him, went to Caesarea, and from there he was conveyed to Tarsus, where he stayed for fourteen years, preparing for his great calling - the Apostleship among the pagans. XXXV. Conversion of Cornelius the Ap. Peter. Preaching to the pagans in Antioch and the first Church of the pagans. Persecution in Jerusalem and martyrdom of St. Jacob After Saul's conversion, there was a temporary lull in the state of the Church from external persecutions, so that “The churches throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria were at peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord; and, being encouraged by the Holy Spirit, they multiplied” (Acts 9:31). This was during the first half of the reign of Emperor Caius Caligula (37–39 AD), and was explained by the fact that at that time the Jewish world was in terrible excitement, diverting its attention from the persecution of Christians. Annoyed by the Jews, the emperor wanted to prove to them his unlimited autocracy and ordered that his statue be placed in the sanctuary of the Jerusalem temple. Such a command, which threatened the terrible desecration of the temple with a pagan image, plunged the Jews into indescribable horror and they used all their strength to ward off such a disaster. And so, when the worst enemies of the Church were forced with all their might to defend the Old Testament temple from desecration by the pagans, the New Testament Church “multiplied with the consolation of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:31) and opened its doors to the pagans. The first step in this regard was taken by inspiration from above. Peter. Fulfilling his Apostolic calling, St. Peter from time to time visited Christian communities scattered in different places, edifying them in the faith and preaching the Gospel. He accompanied his preaching with great miracles, which showed that the spiritual gifts the Apostles received from their Divine Teacher had not weakened. Thus, in the city of Lydda, the Apostle in the name of Jesus Christ healed Aeneas, who had been in paralysis for eight years, and this miracle resulted in a conversion to faith not only of all the inhabitants of the city, but also of the population of the vast plain of Sharon. Fourteen versts from Lydda was the famous port city of Joppa (present-day Jaffa). There was also a Christian community there, but it was extremely saddened by the fact that one of the most famous Christians, distinguished by good deeds and extensive charity, named Tabitha (i.e. chamois - a name given in ancient times for beauty) “fell ill and died” (Acts 9:37). This great loss plunged all the Christians of the city into great sorrow, and they did not know where to look for consolation. Having heard, however, that the ap. Peter is in nearby Lydda; the disciples, with a glimmer of hope, immediately sent for him, asking him to come to them immediately. The apostle actually arrived and consoled the weeping community with a great miracle - the resurrection of Tabitha. Following the example of his God. Teacher (at the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter), Peter, led into the upper room where the deceased lay, “sent everyone out and, kneeling, prayed, and, turning to the body, said: Tabitha! stand up. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up” (Acts 9:40). Giving her his hand, the Apostle raised her and, calling on the assembled Christians and especially the widows, who bitterly mourned the loss of their great benefactress, “set her before them alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord” (Acts 9:41–42). The apostle stopped for some time in Joppa, precisely in the house of a certain Simon the tanner. His house was located on the very shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and from its flat roof a marvelous view of the sea and the entire city opened up. On this roof up. Peter went out every day to pray, and it so happened that his prayer coincided with the prayer of a certain pious man in Caesarea. This was Cornelius, a Roman centurion from the Italian cohort, who was stationed there to maintain the power of Rome. A pagan by birth, he possessed a deeply religious spirit, and, not finding satisfaction of his religious needs in outdated paganism, he, like many of his contemporaries, adopted Judaism. Carefully fulfilling the laws of Moses, he was a man “pious and fearing God with all his house, giving much alms to the people and always praying to God” (Acts 10:2). But even Judaism did not satisfy his truth-hungry spirit, and in his prayers he apparently asked the Lord to reveal to him the sources of true and perfect knowledge of God and worship of God. His prayer was heard. One day, during prayer, an Angel appeared to him, who revealed to him that he must call the Apostle Peter, and he would reveal to him the teaching by which he could be saved. Cornelius was extremely frightened by such an unusual vision for him, but encouraged by the Angel, he did as he commanded him, namely, he sent for the apostle. Peter to Joppa. And when the messengers approached the city, St. Peter had a vision that just prepared him for the task ahead. Precisely, having gone up to the roof of the house to pray at about the sixth hour, the Apostle felt hungry, and since dinner was not yet ready, he busied himself with pious reflections. Under the rays of the scorching sun, something like a frenzy happened to him. The sky opened before him, and from it something like a large canvas, supported by ropes tied to its four edges, descended to the earth towards the Apostle. In it, as in some kind of ark, there were all sorts of four-legged creatures of the earth, animals, reptiles and birds of the air, and a voice came to him: “Arise, Peter, kill and eat” (Acts 10:12–13). But with all his hunger, even more intensified by the sight of food, Peter did not forget the rules of his upbringing. Among these animals and reptiles there were creatures that did not discard their cud and did not have cloven hooves, all of which were clearly prohibited as food by law. It is better to die of hunger than to violate the law, and that is the very thought of which aroused horror in the Jews. It seemed strange to Peter that a voice from heaven, without any restrictions, ordered him to kill and eat creatures, among which the unclean were so mixed with the clean. Moreover, the very presence of the unclean among them apparently desecrated the entire canvas. As a result, he answered with his characteristic liveliness and self-confidence: “No, Lord, because I have never eaten anything bad or unclean.” Then another time it was said to him: “What God has cleansed, do not consider unclean” (Acts 10:14–15). This happened three times, and then the vision disappeared: the canvas was immediately pulled back to the sky. The frenzy is over. Peter was alone with his own thoughts; everything was quiet; there was not the slightest whisper from the scorching sky; The sparkling sea silently spread at his feet. While the Apostle was pondering what all this vision could mean, three pagans appeared in the courtyard, who, to his amazement, asked specifically about him. The thought immediately flashed through his mind about the connection between the vision he had just seen and the appearance of these pagans, and this was confirmed to him by the latter, who addressed him with an invitation on behalf of the centurion Cornelius to visit his house and teach him and his family edification. The Apostle, seeing in all this the highest indication, immediately agreed, and taking with him six of his fellow Christians, he set off for Caesarea, where the pious centurion was waiting for him with impatience and reverence. Having learned about the approach of the apostle, Cornelius went out to meet him and threw himself at his feet. Peter immediately raised up the pious warrior and, undoubtedly to the surprise of the brethren accompanying him, perhaps even to his own surprise, violated all the traditions of his life, as well as the national customs of many centuries, entering into a free conversation with the pagan in the presence of the assembled relatives of the centurion. He did this not out of forgetfulness due to special enthusiasm, but with full consciousness that he, now doing what had hitherto been considered wicked, was acting in accordance with Divine revelation. Cornelius then related his reasons for sending for Peter, and the apostle began his solemn speech to them with the famous declaration that he now saw with undoubted certainty that “God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35). After this, the apostle told the pagans the entire earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ, about His ministry and how He went everywhere, doing good and healing all those who suffered under the slavery of the devil; then about the crucifixion and resurrection from the dead, witnessed by the disciples, destined to testify through the voice of their risen Savior that He is the predestined Judge of the living and the dead. And while Peter continued to explain on the basis of the prophets that all who believe in Him should receive forgiveness of sins in His name, suddenly that supreme inspiration descended on these unbaptized pagans, as well as on the Jews present, which gave them the gift of tongues, as it did to the apostles at Pentecost: “The Holy Spirit came upon all” (Acts 10:44). This means that Christ did not reject the pagans, which means that the doors to His Kingdom were opened to them too. In this case, what forbade them to be baptized? And the apostle actually baptized immediately all those who believed in Christ. And the apostle stayed with these newly converted pagan Christians for several days, strengthening them in faith and guiding them in life. When the news of this extraordinary event reached Jerusalem, some of the Christians and even the apostles there were surprised at Peter’s free treatment of unclean pagans, and when he returned, they reproached him for this, saying: “You went to uncircumcised people and ate with them” (Acts 11:3), i.e. you became defiled by communication with them. But when Peter spoke in detail about everything that had happened, adding in conclusion: “Who am I that I should hinder God” (Acts 11:17), then the disciples “having heard this, they calmed down and glorified God, saying: it is clear that God has given repentance to life to the Gentiles” (Acts 11:18). Thus, on the basis of Christianity, the merger of two hostile and hitherto irreconcilable worlds - Jewish and pagan - took place. Both were equally called to the Church, and the only condition for joining it was considered to be faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and not belonging to one or another nationality, or to one or another tribe. Now representatives of all faiths and tribes were admitted into the Church: Jews and Samaritans, an Ethiopian proselyte from the distant south and pagans from the very capital of the world - Rome, and this freedom of access to the Church for all pagans has now received double confirmation: in the person of St. Peter, who accepted the firstborn from the pagan world, and in the person of St. Paul, who received a special commission to preach the gospel to the pagan peoples and had already begun his great work in various cities of Syria and Cilicia. But that was not all. News arrived in Jerusalem that the Gospel had begun to spread successfully in the famous Greek capital of the east, Antioch, which was soon destined to become the first capital of Christianity. Antioch, founded in 300 BC by Seleucus Nicator and named after his father Antiochus, was the capital of the Greek kings of Syria and subsequently became the seat of the Roman governors of the province of the same name. Situated in the corner formed by the chains of Lebanon and Taurus, on the banks of the rapid Orontes, Antioch occupied a highly advantageous position in geographical, political and commercial terms, since it served as a center where threads from all surrounding countries converged. As a result, it had the most heterogeneous population and Jews came into close contact with the Greeks. When the persecution of Christians began in Jerusalem, some of the fleeing Christians took refuge in Antioch, and some of the Hellenists did not fail to preach the Gospel not only to the Jews, but also to the mixed population of Antioch in general - to the pagans, namely the Greeks, in whose language they spoke freely, and to their great joy, the preaching was accompanied by significant success: “a great number, having believed, turned to Lord" (Acts 11:21). It is very possible that these Greeks were in the same state of mind as Cornelius, that is, they thirsted for religious truth, were strangers to the gates and joyfully listened to the gospel, which could heal their spiritual wounds. Since this event apparently took place after the conversion of Cornelius, the apostles, no longer embarrassed by this circumstance and, seeing the action of the highest Providence, immediately took measures to confirm the converts. For this purpose, they sent Barnabas to Antioch, who, as a Levite and at the same time a Hellenist, with Fr. Cyprus could serve as the best mediator between Jews and pagans on the basis of Christian brotherhood. His arrival in Antioch was accompanied by great benefits for the Church. Seeing the grace of God in this whole movement, Barnabas rejoiced and with his influential word “convinced everyone to hold on to the Lord with a sincere heart” (Acts 11:23). And the pagans, seeing before them a man so “good and full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24), willingly and in significant numbers joined the Church. Thus, the first Church of the pagans was formed in Antioch. Thanks to the strong movement of the population from here in all directions, Christianity from here first spread throughout all the eastern provinces of the empire, and then spread to Europe all the way to Rome. Meanwhile, the temporary peace that the churches in Judea had enjoyed had ended. After the violent death of Caligula, the praetorians proclaimed Claudius emperor, and one of the first acts of the new emperor was to reward Herod Agrippa I, who had provided him with important services during his accession to the throne, with the kingdom of Judea. This king tried by all means to gain popularity among his people and for this purpose, being a perfect pagan at heart, outwardly observed all the provisions of the Law of Moses. With the death of Caligula, of course, the idea of ​​placing his statue in the sanctuary of the church was abandoned, and the Jews were again free to direct their enmity and hatred towards Christians, whom they considered not only fanatics, but also apostates who rejected the covenant made by God with their ancestors. Without neglecting any means, Herod Agrippa decided to take advantage of this particular hatred in order to especially demonstrate his imaginary zeal for the law and to please the strong Pharisaic party. Therefore, during the Passover, when Jewish fanaticism was especially excited, he “raised his hands against some of those belonging to the church to do them harm, and killed James the brother of John with the sword; Seeing that this pleased the Jews, he then took Peter also” (Acts 12:1-2). With insidious foresight, he directed his weapon against the main leaders of Christianity, and St. James was chosen as the first victim because he was the elder brother of his beloved disciple, one of the foremost among the chosen apostles, and in general a man who occupied the most prominent position in Jerusalem. And this apostle, who had once asked Christ for advantage in His Kingdom, now received it and was the first of the twelve apostles to be a martyr for the faith. Ap. Jacob was destined to fall from the sword of the tormentor before Easter. The general approval that accompanied this bloody deed on the part of the Jews and which became even more noticeable due to the presence of huge masses of people who had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Easter, incited the king, delighted by the voice of popular approval, to deal an even more severe blow to the Christians, namely by arresting the most famous of the apostles. For this purpose, the ap was captured. Peter, but since before Easter there was no longer time to complete his trial, and the Jews themselves did not want to put him to death during the holiday, they kept him in prison until the expiration of the seven sacred days, so that they could then put him to death with the greatest possible solemnity in front of a huge crowd of people. Day after day, the apostle remained under strict guard, tied with both hands to two soldiers and guarded by the other two soldiers. Seeing the unrewarding deprivation of such a courageous, so devoted, so gifted with the spirit and wisdom of the apostle, the Christians of Jerusalem poured out their hearts and souls in prayers for his deliverance. But everything seemed in vain. The last night of the holiday arrived: the dawn of the next morning was supposed to announce to Peter about the torture ahead of him at the trial and about the terrible death. It seemed that the day had already come when, as the Savior predicted to him, another would gird him and take him where he did not want to go. But in this last extreme, God did not abandon His Apostle and His Church. On the very last night, an Angel appeared in prison and freed him from his bonds, and this deliverance was so sudden, mysterious and amazing that to Peter himself, when he was fully convinced of his salvation, it seemed like a vision (Acts 12:9). Having briefly described the circumstances of the deliverance to the brethren who had gathered in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, he instructed them to convey the same news to James, the brother of the Lord, and other Christians who were not present here, and withdrew for a while into safe solitude, while Herod was left to pour out his powerless vengeance on the innocent detachment of soldiers who kept guard at the prison. Struck by such a strange event in his opinion, Herod went from here to Caesarea and there, at one big festival, during his solemn appearance to the people, in the theater he suffered the terrible wrath of God. Struck by a fatal disease, he was eaten by worms and soon died in well-deserved suffering. XXXVI. Arrival of Saul in Antioch. A benefit for Jerusalem Christians. Sending Barnabas and Saul to preach to the pagans. First missionary journey. Pavel. Cathedral of Jerusalem The success of Christian preaching in Antioch foreshadowed a rich harvest among pagan peoples in general. There was a lot of harvest, but there was a need for special workers for it. The enlightened Barnabas worked at this harvest, but he saw that his strength was not enough, since the field was ripe for the harvest faster than his hands could manage. Then he remembered Saul and his special destiny for preaching to the pagan peoples, and went after him to Tarsus, where he lived in solitude, preparing for the great field of the Apostleship. Finding him there, he arrived with him in Antioch, and here the whole church grouped around them. They preached the Gospel and taught with such success that their meetings took a definite place among the religious and philosophical schools of this enlightened city, and their disciples for the first time began to be called “Christians.” The Antiochian Church, in addition to spiritual gifts, was also abundant in material gifts, since among the converts there were quite a few wealthy individuals, and it soon proved its Christian spirit by generous charity to its needy brethren in Jerusalem. It was around this time that a severe famine occurred, plunging the Christians of Jerusalem into great need. To get them out of this difficulty, the Antiochian Christians made a collection among themselves and sent Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem with this benefit, who handed it over to the suffering Christians. Having fulfilled this order, they returned to Antioch, bringing with them the young man John Mark, who decided to follow them and help them with his services. Meanwhile, the Church in Antioch became so strong and strengthened that it felt a desire to enter the field of missionary activity to convert the pagans of surrounding countries and cities. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, representatives of the church chose Barnabas and Saul for this purpose, who were sent with prayerful wishes to the great service. The field ahead of them was extremely difficult. The pagan world was at this time in its worst condition. Greece, which once shone with its intellectual enlightenment and was famous for its scientists and philosophers, was a pitiful slave that humiliatedly groveled before Rome, trying to seduce it with its faded charms and indulging in the most vile licentiousness. Rome, famous for the simplicity of its morals, has now lost this virtue and, according to Seneca, was a sewer pit of all abomination, or, according to the saying of St. John, was a harlot who forced the nations to drink the cup of her fornication. Being under the yoke of unbridled, half-crazed emperors; corrupted by dirty theatrical performances and embittered by the bloody spectacles of the amphitheater; teeming with all kinds of parasites and deceivers, prison guards and the most dissolute slaves; having no serious religion, no public education; frightened by insolent soldiers and an impoverished mob, the capital of the world presented in this period a picture of shame and disaster unparalleled in the annals of the world. Choking from internal exhaustion, the Roman world sought consolation in superstition, sensuality and stoicism. Superstition consisted mainly of attachment to the mysterious systems of the Eastern priesthood, to rites exciting the sensuality, to terrible propitiatory sacrifices borrowed from the decaying mythologies of Egypt or from the grossly sensual religions of Galatia and Phrygia. All this was so dangerous for morality and order that long before this time the Senate tried in vain to prohibit the rites performed in honor of Isis and Serapis. But it was all in vain. Paganism was apparently decaying and was in a painful agony, which it vainly tried to soften with the pleasures of the most shameful sensuality and debauchery. And among this general corruption there were only a few who still valued virtue and adhered to the simplicity of ancient family life and religion. These few sought refuge in stern stoicism, but even this was too soulless to give any satisfaction to the suffering souls who thirsted for truth in its most perfect expression. And the humble apostles from Antioch set out to preach this truth to the pagan world. Taking John Mark with them, Barnabas and Saul went to the seaside port of Seleucia and sailed by ship to the island. Cyprus, as the birthplace of Barnabas and, therefore, the area that could serve as the best field for the beginning of great activity among the pagans. Cyprus had the most heterogeneous population and among it there were quite a few Jews, so that there were synagogues in the main cities. The apostles, although their main purpose was to preach to the pagans, never missed an opportunity to preach the gospel to the Jews. This was not only in accordance with the commandment of their God. Teachers, but at the same time only through the Jews, precisely through the Hellenists and proselytes, could the pagans be best reached. The main subject of the sermon was the word of God and the proof based on it that Jesus Christ, crucified by the Jews, was the Messiah, the Savior of the world. With this sermon they went around the entire island, from Salamis on the eastern shore to Paphos on the western shore. This latter city, famous in Greek history for its orgies in honor of Venus, was now the residence of the Roman proconsul, Sergius Paulus. He was an educated and noble Roman, but like all his contemporaries, he had already lost faith in his gods and devoted the leisure of his service to the mysterious and strange superstitions with which he was surrounded on all sides. In general, this was a century when unbelief coexisted next to the grossest superstition. The proud Romans, having lost all solid ground in their national religion, felt forced by some instinctive necessity to seek at least some kind of communication with the invisible world, even through the mystical magic of the East. It is known that Mari turned to the prediction of the Jewish woman Martha. During this remarkable period, augurs, astrologers, Chaldeans, mathematicians, astrologers, magicians, prophets, fortune tellers, ventriloquists, dream-readers from everywhere flocked to Rome in great numbers and acquired such importance that they incurred the indignation of both satirists and historians. Some of them, like Apollonius of Tyana and later Alexander of Abonotichus and the cynic Peregrinus, attracted general attention. There was hardly a Roman family that did not have its own fortune teller, and Juvenal sarcastically says that Emperor Tiberius, having retired from Rome to the island of Caprea, lived there surrounded by “a whole herd of Chaldeans.” The same thing happened with Sergius Paul, who kept with him as a sorcerer one Jewish deceiver named Variesus. When he heard about the preaching of two strangers from Antioch, he became interested in them and wanted to listen to their teaching. But the sorcerer (Elymas) saw this as a danger to his advantageous position and, in order to humiliate the apostles, entered into open competition with them, not embarrassed, of course, by either arguments or insults in his attempt to convince Sergius Paul of the absurdity of the new faith. Then Saul, who from that time began to be called Paul, courageously opposed the impudent deceiver and immediately revealed his low, greedy soul to everyone. Fixing his irresistible gaze on the false soothsayer, the apostle exclaimed: “O, full of all deceit and all villainy, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness! will you stop turning aside from the straight paths of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10). And then, noticing the horror that overwhelmed the soul of the exposed hypocrite as a result of this bold and thunderous blow, he immediately added: “And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you: you will be blind and will not see the sun until the time comes” (Acts 13:11). The spell instantly took effect; the magician immediately felt that his deception was exposed and that he himself was destroyed, that he stood before the face of punitive justice. The fog clouded his vision, complete darkness came for him, and, spreading his arms in despair, he looked for a counselor. All this made a strong impression on the proconsul, and he “believed, marveling at the teaching of the Lord” (Acts 13:12). Having traveled all over Cyprus, the preachers boarded a ship and crossed to the shore of Asia Minor, namely to Perga, in Pamphylia, but young Mark, frightened by the upcoming labors and dangers, returned to Jerusalem. From here the apostles headed to Pisidian Antioch, as a city which, lying on a large trade road that connected it with many neighboring cities, had a large diverse and multilingual population and represented a convenient field for preaching. But the preaching of the apostles at first was addressed not to the natural Pisidians and not to the Greeks, who made up the sedimentary layer of the population, but to the Jews, who arrived there along with the flow of the Roman population, which ensured for them the same rights as other inhabitants. There was a synagogue in the city; On the very first Sabbath day, the apostles went to it and took their places. The rumor about their arrival had already spread throughout the city, and the head of the synagogue invited them, as was usually done in relation to noble and generally famous foreigners, to preach a sermon. Then up. Paul stood up and, giving a sign with his hand, addressed the meeting with a speech, which he began with the words: “Men of Israel and those who fear God! listen” (Acts 13:16). Then, briefly conveying the entire wonderful history of the Israeli people, which was a preparation for accepting the Deliverer of the world, he said that the Jewish leaders did not recognize this Deliverer-Messiah and, without any guilt, crucified him and put him in a tomb, “but God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:30). “Therefore, said the apostles, let it be known to you, men and brethren, that for His sake the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you” (Acts 13:38). Despite the fact that this sermon dealt a terrible blow to Judaism, it made a tremendous impression, so that when the apostles left the synagogue, they were surrounded by a crowd of pagans (proselytes), who asked them to speak about the same thing on the next Saturday. The next Saturday, the synagogue could no longer accommodate everyone who wanted to listen to the wondrous sermon, since “almost the whole city gathered to listen to the word of God” (Acts 13:44). But this success immediately aroused envy among the Jews, so that they openly opposed the apostle, and during the sermon they contradicted him in every possible way and were not embarrassed by all kinds of slander. Things got to the point where preaching became impossible, and then the apostles expressed to their Jewish enemies the bitter truth they deserved. Turning to the Jews, the apostles courageously told them: “You should have been the first to preach the word of God, but since you reject it and make yourselves unworthy of eternal life, so we turn to the pagans. For thus the Lord commanded us through the prophet Isaiah, who said of the Savior that He was destined for a light to the Gentiles and for salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:46–47). With joy and gratitude the pagans welcomed the sermon, which now offered great blessings exclusively to them, without the legalistic demands of Judaism. All who, by the grace of God, decided to enter the ranks of those who thirsted for eternal life accepted faith. The word of the Lord began to spread more and more. But the Jews were strong in the city, where they controlled all trade in their hands, and therefore they even achieved that the Roman authorities took their side and the apostles had to leave Antioch and go to the city of Iconium, where they could calm down from the excitement they had experienced, because the power of the Roman propraetor no longer extended here. And the disciples they left in Antioch were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52). The same thing happened in Iconium as in Antioch. The preaching of the apostles was a great success, “a great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed” (Acts 14:1); but this success excited and irritated the unbelieving Jews. The excitement was so strong that the city was divided into two halves, some of which were on the side of the Jews, and others on the side of the apostles. Finally, it came to the point that the leaders of the hostile party of Jews and pagans formed a conspiracy to kill the apostles. They were given information about this in advance, and they once again had to flee. Leaving the tetrarchy of Iconium, they still continued on the high road and, having covered sixty miles, reached the district of Antiochus IV, king of Commagene, and entered the small city of Lystra of Lycaonia. Both in Lystra itself and in the surrounding villages, the apostles apparently preached with success and remained for some time. In one case ap. Paul noticed among his listeners a man who was crippled from birth. His obvious desire to listen led him to come forward to the apostle as one who could perform miraculous works. And he was not mistaken. Fixing his gaze on the sick man, the apostle exclaimed in a loud voice: “Stand up straight!” (Acts 14:10). Startled by the miraculous power, the cripple stood up and began to walk. All those present were amazed by this event, and many in the crowd shouted out of indescribable amazement: “the gods have come down to us in human form” (Acts 14:11), and called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Ermias, “because he was ruler in the word” (Acts 14:12). This rumor spread throughout the city and soon even the priest of Zeus appeared, who brought oxen and brought wreaths for the sacrifice. Not understanding the native dialect, the apostles only learned after everyone else that they wanted to make them the subject of idolatry. But when they heard about this, with their vivid awareness of the terrible greatness of the one true God, they were struck with horror to such a degree as the pagans could hardly understand: tearing their clothes, they rushed with shouts to the crowd, exhorted and begged them to believe that they were only ordinary mortals like themselves, and that the very purpose of their mission was to turn them away from this empty idolatry to the one, living and true God, who created heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them (Acts 14:15). Thus, little by little, forcing the crowd to pay attention to their exhortations, they explained that during past generations God seemed to allow all nations to walk in their own ways and did not give them special revelations; but even in those days He did not cease to testify of Himself with good deeds, giving them “rains from heaven and fruitful times, and filling our hearts with food and joy” (Acts 14:17). This sermon forced the people to dissuade themselves from their delusion and abandon the thought of sacrifice, and the apostles continued to preach to them about Christ. But soon their preaching was interrupted in the most rude manner. Several Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, who began to stir up the people against the apostles, saying: “they say nothing true, but they all lie” (Acts 14:19). And they succeeded in stirring up these fickle people so much that the mob quickly indulged in rebellion and rioting. She started beating him. Paul with stones, and, thinking that he was already dead, she dragged him out of the city and threw him there. But the apostle was alive, and when he woke up, the disciples secretly carried him to the city, where he recovered from the terrible shock. After such cruel treatment, it was obviously impossible to remain in Lystra, and the apostles left this city and headed to Derbe, where they could calm down from their labors and shocks, since their worst enemies, not knowing anything about the fact that the apostle. Paul came to life; they could not pursue them there. Derbe represented the last point of their missionary journey, and from here the apostles decided to return to Antioch. But they did not take the closest route - through Tarsus, and despite all the dangers they had endured, they decided to return the same way they had arrived, in order to again visit the cities they had just visited along the way and strengthen the believers in them. And now, passing again through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch of Pisidia, they “confirmed the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and teaching that through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). At the same time, elders were ordained in each church, entrusting the newly converted flock to their care. From the seaside city of Attalia, they finally sailed to Antioch, and there, at a meeting of the whole church, “they told everything that God had done to them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). For some time, the missionary apostles rested peacefully from their labors among the community of Christians of Antioch, who, although they consisted of different peoples, both Jews and pagans, lived among themselves in brotherly love and complete harmony. But this peace was soon disrupted by the invasion of dangerous false brothers, who, having arrived from Judea and being extreme zealots of the Mosaic Law, began to teach that in the Kingdom of Christ there could be no complete equality between Jews and pagans, and that the latter, in order to be saved, must necessarily go through the stage of Judaism and undergo circumcision. These zealots were obviously one of those converts who entered the Church from a strong Pharisaic party and, imbued with the leaven of Pharisaism, wanted to adhere to their views in the Church of Christ. Such a demand threatened with great danger, since it would introduce a false concept of the relationship of the law to the Gospel, Moses to Christ, giving the idea that the redemptive merit of Christ was insufficient in itself and that it had to be replenished by the deeds of the Mosaic Law. At the same time, equality between Christians was violated; Jews were recognized as having an advantage that pagan Christians did not have, and to obtain which they had to take upon themselves the heavy burden of circumcision and other regulations of a law alien to them. The ap. rebelled against such a misconception. Paul and Barnabas as the main evangelists to the pagans. Naturally, a dispute arose, and since it threatened to disrupt the peace of the Church, the Christians of Antioch decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem so that they could discuss this important issue with the apostles and representatives of the Church. Along the road that lay through Phenicia and Samaria, they talked everywhere about the conversion of the pagans “and brought great joy to all the brothers” (Acts 15:3). Upon arrival in Jerusalem, they were joyfully received by “the church, the apostles and elders, and declared everything that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 15:4). But Pharisaical Christians were found here too and began to insist that pagans cannot be accepted into the Church without their acceptance of Judaism, “which should circumcise them and command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Then, to resolve an important issue, the apostles turned to the method that later became the usual way of resolving issues that arose in the Church, namely, they convened a council, composed of the apostles, leaders of the church and people present in Jerusalem. From a long preliminary discussion it became clear that the majority stood for the equality of pagans and only a small party of Pharisaic Jews defended the need for circumcision and, in general, the Mosaic Law for all those entering the Church. Then the ap stood up. Peter, to settle the matter with his powerful word. He reminded the congregation how God himself, when converting the centurion Cornelius and his household, clearly resolved this issue: He, the Knower of the Heart, gave them the Holy Spirit in the same fullness as He did to the believing Jews, and without making any difference between them, by faith he cleansed their hearts. “Why are you now, the apostle addressed the Pharisees, not listening to God, desiring to place on your necks a yoke that neither our fathers nor we could bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved, just as they were” (Acts 15:10–11). This argument was too strong and came from the lips of too much authority to be resisted, and the whole assembly fell silent and “listened to Barnabas and Paul telling what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles” (Acts 15:12). Then the ap stood up. Jacob, the brother of the Lord, who, due to the severity of his life, was highly respected even among the Jews. He pointed out that the beginning of the conversion of the pagans is in full agreement with the prophecies and is one of the works of God’s economy. Therefore, we should not impose the yoke of the law on the pagans. It is enough for them if they observe the general requirements of the moral law, as expressed in the “Noahic Commandments”, namely, they will abstain “from what is defiled by idols, from fornication, from things strangled and from blood, and from doing to others what they do not want for themselves” (Acts 15:20). The voice of the apostles triumphed. The council decided the matter in this very sense and sent a district message to Antioch and other cities with a detailed statement of the council's resolution. And the Christians, having read the message, rejoiced that in such a spirit of brotherhood and love for mankind, the important issue of admitting pagans into the Church of Christ was resolved. XXXVII. Second missionary journey. Pavel. The beginning of the preaching of the Gospel in Europe Upon returning to Antioch, St. Paul, as the main apostle of the pagan world, had a natural desire to revisit the churches he founded and verify the fruits of his preaching. And he set off on his second missionary journey, which was accompanied by the greatest consequences for the Christian Church. His companion this time was Silas or Silouan, who, as can be seen from his very Roman name, apparently was, like the apostle himself, a Roman citizen, had connections with the pagan world and could therefore be the most suitable assistant and collaborator of the apostle of the pagans. Encouraged by the goodwill of their brethren, the apostles set out from Antioch, first of all, to Syria and Cilicia, where they established churches. Then they visited the cities of Derbe and Lystra, and in the last ap. Paul found himself a new colleague, the young man Timothy, who became the most beloved and devoted disciple of the great apostle. This was the son of the widow Eunice, who, as a pious Jew, but who was married to a Greek, gave her son a good upbringing - in the fear of God and in respect for elders. From childhood he studied the Holy Scriptures and, both by upbringing and by his character, was a man who was capable of any self-sacrifice for the sake of faith and therefore was highly valued by the apostle. Despite his youth, he decided to accompany the apostle. Paul on his great missionary journey and provided important services both to the apostle personally and to the entire Christian Church. From Lystra ap. Paul and his two co-workers moved on, and “passing through the cities, they commanded the faithful to observe the ordinances made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. And the churches were established by faith and increased daily in number” (Acts 16:4–5). Then they passed through Phrygia and Galatia, and in this last country a church was founded, to which the ap. Paul subsequently wrote a special letter (Galatians). The population of this country consisted of the descendants of that great Celtic horde, which, emerging from the vast steppes of Central Asia, moved through Asia Minor to Europe. There, under the name of the Gauls, four centuries BC they burned and plundered Rome, and in the third century they filled northern Greece with the horrors of bloodshed and destructive barbarism. Some of them settled in the central highlands of Asia Minor. There they mastered the Greek language, as a result of which they began to be called Gallo-Greeks, and became fanatical worshipers of Dibele, the mother of the gods, whose idolatry was accompanied by the most vile orgies, which had an irresistible attractive force for this frivolous and addicted people. In Galatia, the apostle was detained for quite a long time, precisely by an attack of a special illness from which he often suffered and saw in it a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7) deliberately given to him so that he would feel his insignificance and would not become arrogant. According to the most probable assumption, it was a severe eye pain, which at times subjected the apostle to terrible suffering, making him completely helpless and depriving him of any activity. The preaching in Galatia was successful. Responsive to everything new and good, the Galatians quickly accepted the Gospel and were baptized; but their inconstancy caused the apostle a lot of all sorts of grief, about which he complains in his letter to them. From Galatia, a direct route led to the neighboring region of Bithynia, and the apostles wanted to go there; “but the Spirit did not allow them” (Acts 16:7). A more extensive and glorious field lay ahead of them, and this was revealed to the apostle. Paul in Troas. Great historical memories were associated with this city. Four centuries earlier, the great Macedonian conqueror, having crossed the Hellespont to liberate the peoples of Asia from the yoke of eastern despotism that weighed on them, in this very city, standing on the site of ancient Troy, indulged in dreams of such glory that would eclipse the glory of his great ancestor Achilles. And now in the same city there was a vision calling the Apostle Paul to such a conquest that was supposed to eclipse the glory of the great Macedonian conqueror. “A certain Macedonian man appeared to him, asking him and saying: come to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). This was the cry of the Western world, asking the apostle to come to free it from the yoke of unbelief and sin that weighed on it. The people who had once led Europe to conquer Asia with weapons were now the first to call for conquerors with the spiritual weapons that came from Asia. And the apostle immediately responded to the call. Seeing this as a call from the Lord to preach the gospel there, he decided to go to Macedonia. At this time, by the way, he was joined by Luke, his beloved physician, who, helping the apostle with his medical skill in his bodily infirmities, decided to follow him on his great journey through Europe. Having boarded a ship in Troas, the preachers arrived in the Greek city of Naples two days later and from there headed to the main city of eastern Macedonia, Philippi. The city was associated with the memory of the defeat of Brutus and Cassius, the last defenders of the republic in Rome. In memory of this event, Emperor Augustus founded a Roman colony near the location of the ancient city founded by the great Macedonian, and this colony grew into a large city, which, however, had a more military than commercial character. Its population consisted of Roman settlers and Greeks, and among them there were also a few Jews, but so few that they did not even have a synagogue, but only a prayer house outside the city by the river. On the Sabbath day, the apostles went there, and there their preaching was crowned with the conversion of one rich woman from the city of Thyatira, Lydia, who sold scarlet, that is, purple mothers, in various cities. Convinced by the sermon of St. Paul, she was baptized with all her household and showed the apostle and companions the most cordial hospitality. But this good beginning of preaching in Macedonia was soon overshadowed by a very unpleasant event. Greek paganism at this time had already lost its real strength, and faith in the gods of Olympus gave way to some pitiful mixture of doubt and superstition, and the latter became all the more pitiful because quite a few hunters of easy money appeared at the expense of the gullibility of the crowd. This is the situation the apostles had to face. On the way to the prayer house, they met a servant who, according to popular belief, was possessed by a reproachful spirit, similar to that which characterized the famous Delphic Pythia. In reality, the unfortunate woman was possessed by a demon, but she became famous for her imaginary prophecies and thereby brought great income to her masters. Feeling the presence of people who were given the power to cast out demons, she began to relentlessly follow them, constantly repeating: “these men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). This went on for several days, and since she interfered with the sermon, St. Paul cast the spirit out of her in the name of Jesus Christ, she was healed and ceased to prophesy. But this healing of the maid aroused extreme indignation among her masters, since they lost a good income. And so they furiously attacked the apostles, dragged them to the square to the leaders and accused them of being Jews, disturbing the city and preaching customs that the Romans should neither accept nor practice. The city mob took their side, and without investigating the matter, the city governors followed them, who “torn off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with sticks. And after giving them many blows, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep a tight guard over them” (Acts 16:22:23). Concluding from such an order that the prisoners were guilty of some particularly serious crime, the jailer threw them into the strongest inner room of the dungeon and ordered, in addition, to hammer their feet into a block, that is, into a beam that had five holes into which the arms, legs and necks of the criminals were driven. This time the jailer hammered only the apostles’ legs, but even this situation, after the beatings suffered in the square, was painfully difficult. But the great evangelists did not lose heart and throughout the night filled the gloomy walls of the prison with sweet chants, to which all the prisoners involuntarily listened. And then at midnight suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundation of the prison shook. The doors of the dungeon opened from a terrible shaking; The chains of the prisoners were broken from the rings in the wall (Acts 16:26). Awakened from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, the prison governor immediately drew his sword and wanted to kill himself, thinking that his prisoners had escaped, and in that case he himself had to answer for them with his life. Suicide at that time was a common refuge from disaster, and in Filippki it would perhaps be considered not only a natural, but also a heroic act. Ap. Paul, however, immediately noticed his intention, and always in perfect control of himself even in the midst of danger, shouted to him in a loud voice: “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here” (Acts 16:28). All these circumstances - the earthquake, the attack of sudden horror, the outburst of joy that turned him away from suicide, the modest patience and calm forgiveness on the part of the prisoners - melted the heart of this man. Having asked for light, he rushed into the interior of the prison and, in awe of excitement, threw himself at the feet of Paul and Silas. Then, freeing their feet from the blocks and leading them out of their inner confinement, he exclaimed: “My lords, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The very tone of his speech showed deep reverence in him. And the apostles answered him: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your whole house will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Deeply touched, the warden immediately gathered his entire family, washed their wounds, and having received the first lessons of the truth of the Gospel, he and his entire household were baptized. This turn of affairs extremely embarrassed the city governors, and they, fearing any kind of revenge for yesterday’s cruelties, sent lictors with orders to escort the apostles out of the city as quickly as possible. But the Apostle Paul wanted to teach the governors a lesson of caution for the future. Having sent lictors for the governors themselves, the apostle sternly told them: “We, Roman citizens, were publicly beaten without trial and thrown into prison, and now we are secretly being released? no, let them come and lead us out themselves” (Acts 16:37). The lictors went with this news to the governors, and it plunged the latter into considerable alarm. Through their ignorance, prejudice and superior arrogance, they committed a flagrant violation of Roman law. They condemned two Roman citizens without giving them the legal right to open trial, and, having condemned them, insulted the high right and privilege of citizenship by bringing them to the pillory and scourging. By this they violated Roman law in the eyes of the entire mob of the forum, and, moreover, in the presence of persons, some of whom, at least, could quite willingly get involved in the matter and report all this to the higher authorities. By their action they publicly insulted the greatness of Rome. They were in extreme danger of having to appear before the proconsul's court to answer for this flagrant lawlessness: therefore, they hastened to apologize to the apostles and asked them to quickly leave the city. But the apostles, feeling the great right of Roman citizenship, did not immediately fulfill this request of the low commanders, but went to the hospitable house of Lydia, taught the Christians gathered there, and then left the city in peace. Leaving Philippi, the missionary apostles passed through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia, with which some of the most famous events in Greek history were associated, and then arrived in Thessalonica, which was the capital of all Macedonia and at the same time the residence of the Roman proconsul. In this city there was a synagogue, in which the apostles preached to the Jews and pagan proselytes, proving and revealing on the basis of Holy Scripture, “that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and that this Christ is Jesus” (Acts 17:3), whom they preached. Many of the listeners, especially the Greeks and noble women, believed; but such success again aroused hatred among the unbelieving Jews. They persuaded the city mob and with them attacked the house of one noble Christian, Jason, where the apostles lived, dragged them out to the city square and shouted that “these world-wide troublemakers came here, and Jason received them, and they all act against the commands of Caesar, considering another king, Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7). But the haters failed to achieve their goal. The city authorities, having investigated the case, found the accusation unproven and released the accused. However, the excitement in the city was so great that the apostles did not find it possible to continue their preaching and, under the cover of darkness, they left Thessalonica and went to the nearest city of Veria, and only Timothy was temporarily left in Thessalonica to confirm the converts in the faith. There was also a large Jewish population in Berea, but these Jews were “more generous than those of Thessalonica” (Acts 17:11), and St. Paul could rest among them from the shocks he had experienced. According to custom, he preached in the synagogue, and the Bereans not only did not interfere with him in this regard and did not reject the preached Gospel with blind fanaticism, as was the case in other places, but they themselves daily and diligently examined the Holy Scriptures in order to verify the arguments and references of the apostle. Paul with an authentic testimony of the word of God. The consequence of this was that both the Greeks and many of the Jews believed, not only the men, but also the women of the more respectable classes. Among these good-natured Bereans, the apostle probably spent several weeks of peace, because during his stay there the apostle. Paul twice conceived the intention of going again to his beloved Thessalonians. Unforeseen circumstances prevented this (1 Thess. 2:18), and the situation of this persecuted church so concerned his soul that either from Berea, or subsequently from Athens, he again sent Timothy to them, so that he would report to him about its condition. In Veria, in the person of Sopater, one devoted and faithful friend was acquired, who provided important services as a personal ap. Paul, and the cause of Christianity in general. But of course it was impossible to hope that everything would go just as well in the future, especially when the news of the success of the sermon of St. Paul in Berea reached the Thessalonian synagogue. The hated name of Paul, like a spark, ignited the evil rage of the Jews, and they immediately sent messengers to incite the mob against him in Berea. Ap. Paul received a warning about this in advance from one of his devoted friends. There was no way to resist this persistent and bitter hostility, which now pursued the preachers from city to city. And since it was clear that Paul, and not Silas, was the main subject of persecution, they decided that Paul should again leave the city, and Silas and Timothy, who had again joined them, who had been his colleagues during his stay in Berea, should remain there in order to take care of the needs of the church and water the good seed that began to grow in it. The danger was apparently great, and the removal was carried out hastily and probably under the cover of darkness. So the prince of this world fiercely persecuted the great preacher of the Kingdom of Christ; but he himself did not know what blow he was preparing for his dominion over the world when he with such fury and haste drove the Apostle of the pagans into the very centers of the most enlightened paganism. The brothers carried out the up. Paul to the seashore, and there he boarded a ship, which brought him to the capital of all educated mankind - Athens. XXXVIII. Ap. Paul in Athens. His speech is in the Areopagus. Life and preaching in Corinth. First messages When the ship landed at the famous Athenian pier - Piraeus, and the famous city opened up before the eyes of the apostle of the pagans, it is not difficult to imagine what stream of thoughts passed through Paul’s soul. Before him lay a city whose fame resounded throughout the world and whose very name delighted every educated person. Even at school, Saul perhaps cherished the dream of visiting this center of world learning, where young people from all over the earth flocked to complete their education. Now this dream has come true - but in what form? The present Paul did not come here to study, but to teach... Anyone would be embarrassed by such a dramatic change in position; but the one who was endowed with power from above and fearlessly went to meet all kinds of dangers and even death, the divinely inspired preacher of the cross, boldly entered the philosophical city. Walking through the streets of the city, the apostle looked with surprise at the wealth and diversity of its historical and artistic monuments. Everything here vividly recalled the majestic images of the great past. There were statues of great men and heroes in the streets and squares; but next to them the keen eye of the apostle noticed many such statues that depicted gods: altars were smoking in front of them. There were so many similar statues with churches adjacent to them that the ap. Paul was troubled in spirit. But his spirit became even more indignant when he looked closely at the Athenians themselves: some bowed with reverence before the idols, others walked around them with a grin, and all of them bore the stamp of some kind of emptiness and frivolity. No, Athenians, as the indignant apostle would say to himself: you are not the light of the world, but darkness for it! It was not for nothing that the whimsical sage lit a torch in the middle of the day in order to find at least one person between you with it... The saddened gaze of the apostle once again ran along the rows of smoking altars of human folly; on one of the altars his gaze was caught by an inscription that read: “To the unknown God.” The apostle's face brightened, and he immediately realized that the soul of the pagan Athenians was looking for the true God and unconsciously worshiped Him under the guise of this “unknown God” (Acts 17:23). This encouraged the apostle, and he, as if feeling a new surge of powerful strength within himself, quickly went to the city square. The square, as usual, was crowded with people: some gathered here on trade matters, others out of curiosity to hear something new, others to listen to philosophers who, shaking their long hair and waving their wide cloaks, were conducting philosophical debates and expounding philosophical ideas. Philosophy at this time was already in complete decline, and the so-called philosophers, without giving anything new, were engaged only in an empty and pompous retelling of the teachings of their great predecessors, while distorting them to the point that everything turned out to be, as Cicero put it, upside down. Therefore, when ap. Paul preached a teaching that was striking in its novelty, originality and vitality; it immediately attracted attention and many began to listen to it. Encouraged by his success, the apostle, having visited the synagogues to talk with the Jews, began to go to the square every day, and day by day more and more listeners gathered around the divinely inspired preacher. Finally, some of the philosophers, apparently left without listeners, should have paid attention to him. Anger and annoyance seethed in their hearts at a preacher unknown to them, but nevertheless curiosity overcame anger, and from behind the crowd they began to listen to the sermon of the daring stranger who decided to compete with them. And his inspired preaching spread through the masses in a mighty stream and with some miraculous force attracted the attention of the people: the crowds seemed to freeze, and dead silence was the best approval of the apostle’s sermon instead of the noisy applause that the distracted and idle crowd usually endowed with the exaggerated speeches of philosophers. Philosophers with secret envy saw the extraordinary effect of the teachings of an unknown preacher on the masses; but it is strange that they, the sages, themselves could not understand anything from it. The entire stock of their philosophical knowledge did not give them the strength to understand the new teaching, the like of which they had not encountered either in Plato, or in Aristotle, or in Epicurus, or in Zeno, or in other pillars of philosophy, which, according to them, exhausted to the bottom the entire sea of ​​wisdom. The Stoics and Epicureans who were in the crowd, who had hitherto been at enmity with each other, now looked at each other in surprise, trying to find from each other a solution to the riddle that had struck them. But the looks of both expressed only dull bewilderment. A dull murmur of annoyance rushed between them. Some of the bolder philosophers tried to argue with the apostle and stop his speech with objections; but the objections, like hot coals, returned and fell on their heads: there was no correspondence to them in the apostle’s speech. Having taken refuge in the crowd, the objectors again, perplexed, reasoned among themselves: “What does this vain guy want to say?” (Acts 17:18). So these “madmen in their wisdom” wanted to brand the great preacher of the Gospel teaching with a shameful name, but they did not cover up their madness with this; it appeared even more clearly from under their philosophical appearance. Others apparently listened more closely to the new teaching and said: “It seems that he is preaching about foreign deities” (Acts 17:18), and an evil note sounded in these words. How! Does this impudent stranger think of disturbing the people's conscience? He does not honor Minerva, the sacred patroness of the city, does not recognize the famous gods of the people, whose churches and statues adorn the streets and squares in abundance! He dares to undermine the people's faith! He is a rebel against religion, the state and the established order, he is a corrupter of the people and youth... Such an evil and insidious language was spoken by those of the philosophers whose low ambition cost nothing to resort to the most dishonest means, just to eliminate their hated rival. One of the greatest and most virtuous philosophers of the ancient world, Socrates, was forced to drink the cup of poison precisely because he was accused of undermining the people's faith and corrupting youth... The wise men, blinded by malice, were ready to immediately deal with the preacher unknown to them, if they were not afraid of the people, who understood better than them with their simple feeling the truth of what was preached to them and could take terribly revenge on the offenders of their beloved preacher. In view of this, the malicious haters, covering their malice with innocent curiosity, invited the Apostle Paul to the Areopagus, so that he could explain his new teaching to the leaders of the people in more detail. Didn’t they secretly remember at the same time that it was in this supreme court that the sage who exposed sophists like them was once sentenced to drink the deadly cup? On a rocky hill opposite the Acropolis, the supreme council, the Areopagus, gathered in the open air. Members of the Areopagus—famous citizens of the city, statesmen, generals, philosophers, and poets—sat on benches carved into the rock. The slopes of the hill and the adjacent valley were crowded with people. In the middle of the platform formed by the benches, two massive stones rose one against the other: during formal court hearings, the accused stood on one of them, and the accuser on the other 2 . One of them, as one might think, was now assigned to the Apostle Paul. His eyes met a brilliant collection that he had never seen before. A cloudless sky hung above him, from where he once heard the Divine voice calling him to apostolic service. The apostle felt in his heart the scorching fire of apostolic zeal. Having surveyed the meeting with a fiery, penetrating gaze, before which the heart of the insidious philosophers would involuntarily tremble, the apostle began to speak. "Athenians!" he exclaimed. The meeting strained the ears. “I see from everything,” the apostle continued, that you seem to be especially devout. For as I passed by and examined what you honor, I also found an altar on which was written: To the unknown God. This, whom you ignorantly revere, I preach to you” (Acts 17:22–23). The faces of those present stretched out in amazement. The words of the unknown preacher sounded with such confidence and such power, which the vague speeches of philosophers could not even imagine, and at the same time touched all the listeners so closely that everyone involuntarily looked at each other. Didn’t the great Plato rise up before them, who alone could speak with such power and such a language that the gods themselves would speak to them if they came to earth? Or was the mighty-tongued Demosthenes, at whose speeches the kings trembled, reborn before them? – The apostle’s speech sounded like the speech of these heroes of Greek eloquence. Before the brilliant assembly of the Areopagus there was indeed Plato, but the Plato of the highest Evangelical philosophy, - indeed Demosthenes, but the Demosthenes of the Divine word... For some listeners, namely philosophers, the last words of the speaker thundered with a terrible thunder of irony. They, these vain, arrogant sages, shining with idle and unnecessary phrase-mongering, stopped with dull bewilderment before the mysterious inscription on the altar and could not give an answer to the instinctive request of the people's thought; and now a preacher has appeared who, with bold confidence and irresistible power of conviction, solves the riddle. Anger boiled within them with new fury; but this anger was now completely powerless: the apostle in one word deprived it of its legal basis, saying that he was not preaching foreign gods, but was only shedding light on the knowledge of that God whom the people had already unconsciously worshiped. So the insidiously prepared trial against the messenger of Divine truth fell upon his enemies with all the force of condemnation! Meanwhile, the inspired preacher continued his speech. Like transparent streams of a life-giving spring, it flowed from his lips and enlivened the mind and heart of his listeners. It was a deep philosophy, hitherto unknown to them, but at the same time it was easy to understand and had an irresistible force on the heart. It was a simple speech, but at the same time, every word of it, like lightning, pierced the soul of those who heard it and was clearly imprinted on their faces. Having expounded with extraordinary clarity the sublime concept of God, to which the greatest sages of the ancient world hardly dared to rise, and having shown, on the basis of famous folk poets, all the folly of worshiping idols made by human hands, the apostle finally moved on to preaching about the Lord who called him to apostolic service, to whom he devoted all his genius, his entire life. “So,” he said, leaving behind the times of ignorance, God now commands people everywhere to repent. For He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has predestined, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead”... (Acts 17:30–31). Suddenly, confusion occurred in the Areopagus: having heard about the resurrection from the dead, the followers of Epicurean philosophy did not have the strength to remain calm any longer; the last words in the mouth of the inspired preacher, like fiery arrows, pierced their hearts, perverted by sensual philosophy, and revealed to them a terrifying picture of righteous retribution for the abyss of sin in which their whole life passed, guided by a grossly sensual principle: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die. But in order to hide their heartache from those present, they covered it with mockery and began to mock the teaching, terrible for lawlessness. This teaching made a calmer impression on the Stoics, and they were not averse to listening to it, but, taking advantage of the turmoil, they indifferently, and perhaps not without irony, said to the apostle: “We will hear you about this at another time” (Acts. 17:32), and of course they did not try to catch this time. The confusion in the congregation continued. Seeing the impossibility of further preaching, the apostle left the Areopagus. Soon the whole assembly dispersed, and the stone seats of the Areopagus members, as hard as their hearts, were empty again. So, has the word of the apostle really remained fruitless? – No, the word of God is alive and active: it sank deeply into the hearts of some of those present and bore fruit. “Some of the men who came to Paul believed; among them was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damar, and others with them” (Acts 17:34). This was the first trophy of the Gospel in the center of philosophical paganism. This was the first meeting of the Gospel with pagan philosophy. Already at the first meeting with him, the hitherto invincible mistress of minds became confused and immediately felt the threatening power of the unknown stranger. But, embarrassed, she did not want to immediately bow her banner before him. For another five whole centuries she tried to support her banner in the name of paganism and its wisdom: but the worm of time tirelessly sharpened the shaft of this banner, and it finally collapsed, leaning towards the foot of the cross. From Athens ap. Paul went to Corinth. In its then state, it was an even more famous city than Athens, since it was considered the main Roman residence of Greece. Washed by two seas, on one side the Ionian and on the other the Aegean, Corinth combined the lush luxury of Asia with the culture of Europe. Since ancient times it has been famous for its arts and sciences. Destroyed in 146 BC by the Roman commander Mummius, it was rebuilt by Caesar and became the capital of Achaia, and by this time it had again achieved its former splendor. Its wonderful climate, wealth drawn from the east and west, a huge influx of foreigners and merchants, all this contributed to the extreme effeminacy and at the same time licentiousness of morals, for which Corinth was known not only throughout Greece, but throughout the world. The shameless cult of Aphrodite was in full prosperity there, and the “Corinthian way of life” even became a proverb to denote the most unbridled licentiousness. Next to refined wealth coexisted the most miserable poverty, which was also infected with the prevailing vices, and the masses of Corinth represented that terrible abyss of joyless decline to which only a person can reach. To establish the Church of Christ in this kingdom of sin and corruption, it was necessary not only the divinely inspired word of such a preacher as the ap. Paul, but also clearly the highest help, a moral miracle. With his sermon, St. Paul was no longer addressing the higher educated classes, who in Athens had sufficiently revealed their obduracy in imaginary philosophical wisdom, but to those miserable scum of society who most of all needed the consolation of the Gospel. His activity began among small craft classes, partly consisting of Jews, and the first fruits of his preaching were the conversion to faith of the families of Aquila and Priscilla, who, having fled from Rome as a result of the decree of Emperor Claudius on the expulsion of the Jews, arrived in Corinth and began to engage in a modest craft - making tents. The conversion of this family was a great benefit to the apostle. He made friends with them for life, found a place with them and even worked with them, earning his daily bread. On Saturdays he preached in the Jewish synagogue and acquired several more followers, and among them Crispus, the leader of the synagogue. But since the Jews of Corinth were generally hostile to the apostle, he, “shaking out his clothes, said: Your blood is on your heads; I am clean; From now on I go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6). From that time on, he left the synagogue and exclusively preached to the pagans, among whom he had significant success. Among the converted pagans were the later famous Gaius and Stephen, distinguished by truly Christian hospitality and loving charity (Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 16:15–17). The apostle chose the house of a certain Justus, which was located near the synagogue, as the place of his meetings, and there was the first temple of prayer and meetings of Corinthian Christians. The hostile attitude of the Jews temporarily led the apostle to despondency, and he wanted to stop his preaching; but his spirit was strengthened by a night vision of the Lord, who told him: “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no one will harm you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9–10). This vision calmed and encouraged the apostle, and he remained in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching its inhabitants the word of God. But the anger of the Jews did not weaken and, over time, inflamed to the point of fury, especially when they saw their powerlessness to withstand the irresistible arguments of the apostle, which destroyed their most cherished beliefs and hopes. They took advantage of the first opportunity just to take revenge on the hated preacher. At this time, a new proconsul was appointed to Achaia, Gallio, brother of the famous philosopher Seneca, and like him, a highly enlightened and humane man. Taking advantage of his inexperience and counting on some impunity, the Jews revolted and captured the apostle. Paul and dragged him to the square, demanding that the proconsul put him on trial on the charge that he was “teaching people to honor God not according to the law” (Acts 18:13). Although Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, their religion was still religio licita, that is, permitted by the state; but the religion of “this man,” as they insisted, although it could pass under the name of Judaism, was not Judaism at all. It was a false counterfeit of Judaism and, going against the Mosaic Law, thereby becoming a religio illicita, an unlawful religion. This was the accusation that the Jews insisted on with hubbub, and as soon as it became clear, St. Pavel was ready to defend himself. But Gallio did not intend to bother himself with listening to this disorderly procedure. Fully knowing and respecting the existing laws and, at the same time, distinguished by a purely Roman dislike of flattering conciliatory language and even more so by Roman arrogance towards the people, which he, like his brother, probably hated and despised, he stopped the whole matter by declaring that their accusation against Paul as a violator of Moses or, in general, of any law that he could recognize, was extremely unfounded. “If there was some civil crime or against a moral act, then I would have reason to delve into the matter and listen to you, but when it comes to doctrine, about simple names and about your law, then sort it out for yourself; I don’t want to be a judge in this” (Acts 18:14–15). Having thus extinguished the matter, Gallio ordered the lictors to clear the court, which they did with exemplary diligence, “driving them out of the judgment seat” (Acts 18:16). This turn of events encouraged the city mob, which had long hated the Jews for their renegadeness and inhuman usury, and so they seized the main Jewish leader, Sosthenes, the head of the synagogue, and immediately before the court, in front of Gallio, subjected him to merciless beatings, and this was a well-deserved lesson in their own riotousness and fanaticism. After delivering such a blow to Jewish insolence, for the ap. Paul began a period of prolonged peace, and during this period he continued not only to preach the word of God in Corinth itself, but also to monitor the state of the churches in other cities. His employees continually visited the surrounding churches and reported to him about their religious and moral state. Among some of the young churches, left without authoritative leadership in the faith, various perplexities arose, the resolution of which required the authoritative word of the apostle himself; but since he himself was busy preaching in Corinth, which required his constant personal presence, for the edification of other churches he resorted to a method that later acquired enormous significance for the Church, namely writing. And it was in Corinth that the first letters were written by him. The reason for them was a rumor that reached him from Thessalonica that there had been confusion among Christians regarding the second coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead, and in order to clarify these confusions, the apostle wrote two letters one after another, known as “the first and second epistles to the Thessalonians.” Since writing these messages required considerable work, the apostle usually did not write them himself, but dictated them to the scribe, and with his own hand added only the final greeting, which served as proof for Christians of the authenticity of the messages. This was the beginning of the divinely inspired messages of the Apostle to the Nations. Having arranged all his affairs in Corinth, the apostle finally left it to visit Jerusalem for the upcoming great feast of Pentecost. Upon leaving Corinth, he took upon himself the vow of a Nazarite and, together with Aquila and Priscilla, sailed to Ephesus, the famous port of the Mediterranean Sea, which was in constant trade relations with Corinth. The pious couple remained in Ephesus, where they could count on good earnings, and the apostle went further to Caesarea and Jerusalem, and from there he hurried to Antioch. There, among his beloved brethren, he spent several days of peace and joy, so necessary for him after the labors he had endured and the shocks he had experienced. XXXIX. Third missionary journey Pavel. Stay in Ephesus. Epistles to the Galatians and Corinthians. Rebellion in Ephesus But such a tireless worker as the Apostle Paul was, could not enjoy peace for long. He was attracted by the scope of wide activity, even if associated with extraordinary labors and dangers, and he, feeling the responsibility of the pastoral leadership of the numerous churches he founded, during several days of rest, drew up a plan for the third great missionary journey, precisely with the goal of visiting all the churches he founded. And so he, “having spent some time in Antioch, went out and went through the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, confirming all the disciples” (Acts 18:23). In Galatia, he made an order that on Sundays alms should be collected in favor of the poor of Jerusalem, and then, going around the surrounding churches, he headed to Ephesus, which he chose this time as the center of his apostolic activity. And it was impossible to choose a better city than this, from which the Gospel could easily spread throughout Asia. Ephesus, as the capital of ancient Ionia, was the center of that famous Ionian civilization, which, after being transplanted to Greece, found its highest development in Athens. Located near the bay of the Mediterranean Sea, between Smyrna and Miletus, Ephesus was that famous city where east and west, Asia and Europe met, and many merchant ships made constant voyages between it and Corinth. But despite the influx of Western views into him, he preserved with extraordinary fidelity the religion of the ancient Asian gods, and his most revered deity was Artemis. This was the famous Asian Astarte, only under a Greek name, and her cult, as based on the idolization of the crude productive forces of nature, was distinguished by the most unbridled licentiousness. The Church of Ephesus Artemis was famous throughout the world and was considered one of the wonders of the world. Burnt by Herostratus, it was rebuilt with even greater splendor, so that with her glory Artemis overshadowed the other deities of Asia. Since this church enjoyed the right of refuge, everything criminal and dirty usually gathered around it, and this, together with the corrupting influence of the cult itself, made Ephesus one of the most corrupt cities in the world. Like Corinth, it was one of the largest cities of the pagan world, and in it all kinds of religions and ideas met and coexisted. As in other large cities, there was a Jewish synagogue in it, and next to it there were also schools that were something between Judaism and Christianity; was eg. a school of disciples of John the Baptist who, having accepted his preaching of repentance, considered it final and formed a special community. The diversity of religious schools and communities contributed to the extraordinary excitement of religious thought, and preachers often spoke in the Jewish synagogue, shining with the eloquence and power of their preaching. Particularly remarkable among them was Apollos, who, being from Alexandria and having been educated in its famous philosophical and religious schools, delighted the synagogue listeners with his sermons. The peculiarity of his teaching was that, under the influence of Alexandrian scholars, considering the usual view of the Old Testament Jewish religion too crude, he tried to reconcile it with philosophy and therefore gave symbolic meaning to biblical stories. At the same time, he apparently already had some information about Christian teaching, from which he also borrowed some parts. In general, he was an extremely educated man, a deep connoisseur of Holy Scripture and a highly gifted speaker. During the absence of ap. Paul, he met Aquila and Priscilla and, having become more familiar with Christianity from them, completely leaned towards his side and then decided to go to Corinth. Rejoiced at acquiring such a glorious preacher for the church and noticing how his preaching activities could be useful among the subtle and developed Greeks, they wrote a letter of recommendation for him to the Corinthian elders. In Corinth, his eloquence made a huge impression, and he became a strong support for his brothers. He used the sermon of the apostle with such skill. Paul, as far as he could get to know her from conversations with Priscilla and Aquila, that in his public disputes with hostile Jews with irresistible force, on the basis of their own Scripture, he tied up the messiahship of Christ and thus was as pleasant to Christians as terrible for the Jews. He watered what he planted. Paul. Ap. Paul arrived in Ephesus after Apollos had left and, according to custom, became a regular visitor to the synagogue, where he also preached the Gospel. Here he first of all turned to those who had been prepared for Christianity by the brilliant sermons of Apollos, and then in general began to preach the truths of Christianity to the Jews. Since he taught Christianity not under a tempting philosophical form, but in all its simplicity and directness, his preaching naturally aroused hostility among the obdurate Jews, and it came to such a point that the apostle, after three months of labor, found himself forced to leave the synagogue and hired for the meetings of his students and listeners the school of a certain Tyrannus, one of the pagan sophists, of whom there were many in Ephesus at that time. This new place of worship gave the apostle the opportunity to see his brethren every day, whereas in the synagogue this was possible only three times a week. His works and preaching were not without success. For two whole years, Ephesus served as the center of his missionary activity, and since the glory of his preaching began to spread everywhere, he undoubtedly himself undertook small trips to the surrounding places, so that, according to the testimony of St. Luke: “all the inhabitants of Asia heard the preaching of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). In Ephesus itself, his fame reached an extraordinary degree - especially due to the great miracles “which God performed by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19:11). Even his scarves and aprons had healing powers, and his fame spread so much that many of the Jewish spellcasters who practiced magic and all kinds of lamentations (superstitious Ephesus was filled with such spellcasters) began to envy him. One of them, Skeva, tried to imitate him, in the hope that, using the name of Jesus, which was little understood to him, he would perform miracles as successfully as the apostle performed them. Paul. But two of his sons, who were engaged in spells, suffered complete failure, which led to the complete eradication of such charlatanism in Ephesus. They were called to perform a spell on a man who was obviously suffering from violent demons. Turning to the evil spirits, they exclaimed: “We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches” (Acts 19:13). This time, however, the spell had no power. The demoniac with an evil grin answered them: “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15) and then, rushing at them, with incredible force tore their clothes and inflicted such beatings on them that they barely escaped from the house - beaten and naked. Such a remarkable event could not go unnoticed. The rumor about him spread like lightning among the chattering Ephesians and caused a lot of horror and confusion, the consequence of which was one extremely beneficial event. It turned out that in Ephesus not only pagans, but also some of the newly converted Christians were engaged in spells. Frightened by what had happened, they openly repented of their sin and, as proof of the sincerity of their repentance, brought their expensive Kabbalistic books, which served as tools for them in their craft, and publicly burned them. This secret warlock was practiced on such a wide scale that the value of the books thus burned by the warlocks in a fit of repentance rose to fifty thousand drachmas of silver, which would amount to at least 12,500 rubles in gold. This extraordinary fire, which probably lasted for quite some time, was such a striking exposure of the prevailing gullibility that this was undoubtedly one of the circumstances that gave the preaching of the apostle. Paul is so widely known throughout Asia. During his two-year stay in Ephesus, the apostle not only preached orally, but also in writing. Through his associates he was in constant communication with various churches, and for the edification of two of them, namely Corinth and Galatia, he wrote two letters known as the “epistles to the Galatians” and the “first epistle to the Corinthians.” The first of them was caused by the sad rumor that the Galatians, who so willingly accepted the faith from the apostle. Paul, out of his usual frivolity, was carried away by other preachers, namely the Judaizing opponents of the apostle. The latter, in order to destroy the work of the apostle they hated, began to so temptingly portray to the Galatians the advantages of the sons of Abraham that they even had a desire to “be under the law” (Gal. 4:21). At the same time, the very authority of the apostle was undermined in their souls. Pavel. To warn them against this dangerous error, the apostle wrote a letter to them, in which with amazing clarity he sets forth the advantages of the New Testament over the Old and says that the sons of Abraham are not those who trace a carnal lineage from him, but namely those who believe in Christ (Gal. 3:7,29). In defense of his apostleship, he reminded them of his extraordinary conversion, adding that the Gospel he preached was not a human one, for he “received it and learned it not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11, 12). The Epistle to the Corinthians was prompted by completely different circumstances. The apostle heard a sad rumor that the Corinthian Christians, having violated fraternal unity, were divided into several parties and, like the Greek schools that bore the name of one or another sophist, some considered themselves followers of Paul, others of Apollos, others of Cephas, and some of Christ. Some of the brethren reached such an error that they began to deny the resurrection of the dead. The moral laxity with which Corinth was generally distinguished also invaded the environment of the church, and the community tolerated in its midst one vile sinner, from whom even the pagans turned away with disgust. All these disturbances forced the apostle to turn to the Corinthians with an extensive letter, in which he, with apostolic authority, exhorted them to leave their divisions, since for all of them one and the same Christ fell apart, and all other preachers are just simple ministers of the word: they plant and water, but God gives the increase. “Therefore, he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but God who makes everything grow” (1 Cor. 3:7). The source of these divisions was the mental pride of the Corinthians, and the apostle reminded them that for them, as Christians, earthly wisdom should take a back seat, “for the foolish things of God are wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). Having then refuted the error of those who denied the resurrection of the dead, and commanded that the grave sinner be severely punished, the apostle gives a whole series of instructions on various issues of church and social life and concluded with his own loving greeting: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you. And my love is with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen" (1 Cor. 16:23–24). After two years, the apostle, considering his work in Ephesus completed, drew up a plan for his further journey. He intended to leave Ephesus after Pentecost to once again visit the churches of Macedonia and Achaia, founded by him during his second journey, and to sail from Corinth for a fifth visit to Jerusalem, after which he hoped to see Rome, the great capital of the then civilized world. In accordance with this plan, he had already sent two of his employees, Timothy and Erastus, who had been converted by him in Ephesus, to Macedonia with orders for them to join him again in Corinth. Erastus, the former treasurer of the city, was an influential man and therefore could best take care of both the preparations for the reception of the apostle and the implementation of the weekly collections, with which the apostle was very busy at that time. Paul. A visit to Jerusalem became necessary in order to deliver alms to the poor Christians of this city, which the apostle now collected from among the pagan churches they had founded. But this plan was upset by one event that exposed the very life of the apostle to terrible danger and accelerated his departure from Ephesus. The month of May arrived, in which the famous Ephesian fair took place in Ephesus, marked by a whole series of festivals dedicated to Artemis. During these celebrations, a wooden image of the goddess, which according to popular legend descended from heaven, was exhibited in the church for public worship. For a whole month the city was crowded with people flocking from all the surrounding countries, and groaned with all kinds of wonders. Magnificent and elegant processions constantly moved to the church, priests and various spellcasters reaped a rich harvest in the field of popular superstition; All kinds of amusements and games were organized, and all this was accompanied by the wildest drunkenness and revelry. Under such circumstances, outbursts of popular fanaticism were inevitable, which often marked celebrations in Ephesus. The same thing happened now. This year there was a visible decrease in the reckless revelry during Ephesia, and the reason for this decline was quite known. Not only in Ephesus, but in all the main cities of proconsular Asia, deep interest was aroused by the preaching of a certain Paul, who, in the very capital of idolatry, as is known, calmly preached that those who are made by human hands are not gods at all. Many people were inclined to accept this sermon; There were even more of those who, at least under her influence, began to be indifferent to meaningless rituals and lamentations, and even to churches and idols. The consequence of this was that in Ephesus “there was no small rebellion against the way of the Lord” (Acts 19:23). Paul and his sermon, the “brethren” and their meetings, were on everyone’s tongue, and not a few murmuring curses were uttered against them by the priests and priestesses, as well as by hundreds of hangers-on who gathered around every great institution. Finally, this thinly concealed anger burst out. The one who suffered the most losses from the decrease in reverence for the goddess and her sanctuary was a certain silversmith named Demetrius, who sold fans small silver models of the church and images in memory of their visit to Ephesus and its church. And not only in Ephesus, but also in every famous center of pagan cult, the demand for these things caused a large supply of them from industrialists. Demetrius found that his industry was beginning to be undermined, and he, hiding behind jealousy of the church and the goddess, decided, as far as possible for him, to take measures to stop the ruin that threatened him. Having summoned to a meeting all the artists and simple workers engaged in this craft, he addressed them with a speech in which he first aroused their passions with a warning about the ruin that threatened them, and then appealed to their dormant fanaticism for revenge for the insulted grandeur of their church and the falling splendor of the goddess, whom all of Asia and the whole world supposedly idolized. This speech was like a spark for combustible material. A furious cry was heard among the listeners: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!” (Acts 19:28) and confusion broke out throughout the city. Burning with vengeance against the main culprit of the losses incurred, the rebel artists and artisans wanted to seize the apostle himself. Paul, but not finding him personally, they seized his two colleagues Gaius and Aristarchus, and dragged them to the theater - for revenge and desecration of the crowd. Having learned about the danger of his beloved colleagues, the apostle wanted to go to the theater himself to sacrifice himself; but the city authorities held him back, as they feared increasing popular unrest. This confusion threatened the danger of massacre not only for Christians, but also for Jews, whom the people did not distinguish from Christians. To ward off this danger, a certain Alexander came out from among the Jews and tried to address the crowd with a speech that the Jews were not at all to blame for this matter. But as soon as the crowd saw the Jewish features of the speaker, they drowned out his speech with a furious cry: “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!” (Acts. 19:34) and was ready to begin one of those terrible massacres that the Jews endured more than once in Alexandria and other large cities of the east. The danger was terrible, but fortunately it was averted by the courage of the city guardian of order, who enjoyed the general respect of the population. Disregarding any personal danger, he boldly stepped out in front of the angry crowd and addressed it with a calm but impressive speech, which brought the crowd to reason. “Ephesians! he exclaimed: what person does not know that Ephesus is the servant of the great goddess Artemis and Diopetus? If there is no dispute about this, then you need to be calm and not act rashly. And you brought these men who neither robbed the church of Artemidin, nor blasphemed your goddess. If Demetrius and other artists with him have a complaint against someone, that is, there are court meetings, and there are proconsuls: let them complain against each other. And if you are looking for something else, then it will be decided in the legal assembly. For we are in danger of being accused of indignation for what has now happened, since there is no reason by which we could justify such a gathering” (Acts 19:35-40). This speech immediately produced an amazing effect. The confusion stopped. The intelligent speech of a well-respected man made the crowd repent of their foolish rebellion and fear its possible consequences, as the guardian of order hinted in his speech, alternately acting with flattery, intimidation, admonition and reassurance. She vividly reminded them that since Asia was a senatorial and not an imperial province and was therefore governed by a proconsul with several officials, and not by a propraetor with a legion of soldiers, they themselves were responsible for maintaining good order and would probably be considered the culprits for disturbing the peace. A day of disorder could negatively affect their privileges for years. And in general, such confusion on the part of the Ephesians was (as the guardian of order argued) unworthy, since the greatness of their church was not subject to any insult; it was not justified by anything, since nothing could be proven against these persons; it was unnecessary, since other more legal means of retaliating against them were at hand; finally, if neither pride nor justice could influence them, then at least the fear of the Romans could restrain them. The people were extremely ashamed of their action, and the guardian of order was given the opportunity to dismiss him from the theater. Thus, the danger for Christians and Jews was averted for a while, but personally for the apostle. Paul's further stay in the city became impossible, since his mere appearance would be enough to re-ignite the wild fanaticism of the Ephesians. Therefore, he hastened to leave the city and headed to Macedonia. XL. On the way to Macedonia. Second Epistle to the Corinthians. In Corinth. Epistle to the Romans. State of the Roman Church After leaving Ephesus, St. Paul went to Troas. Not long before that, he sent one of his young companions, namely Titus, to Corinth in order to verify through him what effect his first message had produced there, and ordered him to come to meet him in Troas. But after waiting there in vain, the apostle finally decided to visit the churches of Macedonia himself. He found them in a flourishing state, saw their devotion to themselves, firmness in faith, tempered by persecution, and readiness to contribute to the collection of alms in favor of the needy Christians of Palestine. All this was a great consolation for the apostle after the grief and adversity he experienced. Finally Titus joined him and told him about the saving effect that his letter to the Corinthians had produced. The unrest disappeared, devotion to the apostle intensified, and in general there was a visible improvement in the church-religious and moral life of Corinth, although complete calm had not yet been completely restored. The enemies of the apostle tried to cast a shadow of doubt on the very right of Paul’s apostleship, but this was already a powerless malice that did not have sufficient ground for itself. To further contribute to the restoration of peace in the Corinthian Church, St. Paul wrote a second letter to the Corinthians, in which he expressed his joy at the pacification of the church and gave a whole series of new instructions on various issues. In this letter, among other things, the apostle confirmed his rights to the apostleship, pointed out the disasters and sufferings he had endured and endured for Christ, and also mentioned the cross that Christ had given him for the rest of his life, so that he would not become arrogant, namely “a thorn in the flesh, the angel of Satan” (2 Cor. 12:7). This “thorn in the flesh,” as mentioned above, was most likely an eye disease, from which the apostle suffered constantly, and it sometimes became so painful that it deprived him of any possibility of activity and forced him to turn to God with a tearful prayer for relief. “Three times I prayed to the Lord, as the apostle said, to remove him from me; but the Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:8–9). And as if to confirm this, the apostle had just previously spoken about the extraordinary revelation that he had once received, namely, when he was caught up to the third heaven, into paradise, and “heard unspeakable words, which it is impossible for a man to retell” (2 Cor. 12:4). This revelation came to him soon after his conversion, and from that time on, with his tireless, truly heroic activity, he fully justified his election, having worked and endured even more of all kinds of disasters and suffering for the cause of Christ than the other apostles. As a servant of Christ, he, in his own words, was much more “in labor, immensely in wounds, more in prisons and many times at the point of death. Five times the Jews gave me forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with sticks, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, night and day in the depths of the sea. Many times I have been on journeys, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from fellow tribesmen, in dangers from pagans, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brethren, in labor and in exhaustion, often in watching, in hunger and thirst, often in fasting, in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor. 11:23–27). Before such greatness of the apostolic labors, the tongue of his most ardent enemies had to be silenced, and peace was established in Corinth, so that when the apostle arrived there, the community received him with open arms. In Corinth, the apostle met most of his beloved co-workers - Timothy, Titus, Aristarchus, Luke and many others, in community with whom he spent three months, organizing the affairs of the church and together observing the state of the surrounding and Macedonian churches. Corinth was in frequent relations with the capital of the world, Rome, and the apostle involuntarily cherished the idea of ​​visiting there in order to proclaim the Gospel of Christ there too, precisely in the center of the pagan world. But circumstances did not give him the opportunity to undertake this great journey now, especially since the apostle knew that a Christian church already existed there, and he did not want to build on someone else’s foundation. Therefore, for a time, the apostle limited himself to correspondence relations with the Roman Church, through fellow Christians who, on various matters, had to travel between the three main centers of world trade - Ephesus, Corinth and Rome. It is unknown when Christianity itself penetrated the shores of Italy and Rome. But one can probably think that the Gospel was first brought there by some of those Jews and proselytes from Rome who, on the day of Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit, heard the divinely inspired speech of the apostle. Peter's in Jerusalem. There were many Jews in Rome, especially since the time when Pompey, after the conquest of Palestine, resettled a significant number of them in the capital of the world. There they were not slow to discover that amazing self-help and resourcefulness that was already distinguished at that time among other peoples. They were not suitable for slaves and were not accepted; they soon achieved their liberation and began to quickly multiply and grow rich. The friendly relations that existed between Augustus and Herod the Great further contributed to the improvement of their position, and at the dawn of the Christian era they were already so recognized as an integral part of the Roman population with rights and their own religion that the politically wise emperor assigned them a special quarter beyond the Tiber, which they occupied during the following centuries. From the gloomy alleys of this quarter they went to sell sulfur matches, old clothes and broken dishes, and also went out onto the Cestian or Fabrician bridges to ask for alms and tell fortunes. They soon multiplied to the point that they began to inspire fear in the government, and the emperors more than once issued decrees expelling them from the capital. One of these decrees, namely the decree of Claudius (Acts 18:2), led the apostle to friendship. Paul with Aquila and Priscilla, and he can probably be identified with the measure mentioned by Suetonius in the famous place where he speaks of the "Impulsor Chrestus" ("rebel Chrestus", as the Romans mispronounced the name of Christ). If so, it is almost certain that the Christians were not separated from the Jews in this common misfortune caused by their messianic differences. But, as Tacitus admits, speaking of the attempt to expel astrologers from Italy, these measures were generally useless. The Jews, having left Rome for a while, soon returned to it again. Their underground proselytism, even already during the reign of Nero, had received such strong development that Seneca, who spoke of the Jews as “the most evil people in the world,” testifies to their extraordinary spread. Therefore, when ap. Paul wrote his letter to the Romans; the Jews, despite the still unrescinded decree of Claudius, given only six years earlier, already constituted such a large community that they were again the subject of concern for the imperial government. On major holidays, they went in droves to Jerusalem, often joining trade enterprises with this, and it was there that some of them heard the sermon of St. Peter and became the first evangelists of the Gospel in the capital of the world. This thereby overthrows the belief of the Roman Church that the founder of Christianity in Rome was the ap. Peter. This legend, as is known, was later expanded even to the point that the ap. Peter was recognized as the first bishop of Rome, where he allegedly served as bishop for twenty-five years. But such a legend cannot find any support in history, which, on the contrary, can only admit one thing: that St. Peter suffered a martyr's death in Rome, at the same time as the apostle. Pavel. This beginning of Christianity in Rome at the same time makes it possible to understand what the original composition of the Roman church was. At first it consisted of Jews and proselytes, but then many pagans began to join it, so that the pagan element soon even became predominant. But this pagan element consisted not so much of the Romans themselves, but of the Greeks, of whom there were many in Rome and who were more likely to join the Christian church than the arrogant Romans. That is why in the final chapter of the epistle of St. Paul to the Romans there are so many faces with Greek names. But these names belong mostly to the middle and lower classes of society. Christianity first found adherents not among the rich and noble, but among small traders and industrialists, among soldiers, slaves and freedmen of the imperial palace and those servants who huddled in densely populated “dovecotes” (columbaria), as the lodging houses and dwellings of the poor working people were called in Rome. Among the personal friends of the apostle at that time in Rome were the famous Aquila and Priscilla, who, after a temporary absence, again returned to earn money in Rome, where their house was a meeting place for believers. How great the Roman Church was in general in terms of the composition of its members can be judged by the fact that during Nero’s persecution, according to Tacitus, “a great multitude” died there. This is also indicated by the fact that in the final chapter of the letter to the Romans the apostle sends greetings by name to twenty-six persons, that is, to such persons who, by their position in the church, required personal mention. Many of them are welcomed by the apostle as acquaintances, collaborators and relatives, and this is explained by the fact that many of the Christians converted by the apostle subsequently ended up in Rome and strengthened the Roman church, which soon gained such fame among other churches that the faith of its members was “proclaimed throughout the world” (Rom. 1:8). It was to this church in the very capital of the then world that the apostle turned. Paul with a message that, in terms of the depth of theological thought and the height of the divinely inspired revelation of the truth of Christianity, rightly takes first place among the messages of the great apostle of the pagans. He could have had many motives for this. As the apostle of the pagans, he naturally wanted to personally proclaim the Gospel in that center of the world from which the rays of the Christian gospel could best spread throughout the whole world, so that preaching there could be the natural conclusion of preaching to the pagan world in general; and since circumstances did not yet allow him to undertake such a long journey, he limited himself to a written presentation of his gospel. But there could be other more specific reasons. Between the two classes composing the Roman Church, disputes apparently arose as to superiority, as happened almost everywhere where Jews met with pagans. Since the founders of the church were Jews, they naturally tried to take a leading position in it and, of course, relied on their title as the chosen people to whom the law and all the promises were given. They began to attach such importance to the law that without it they did not recognize the possibility of salvation or justification before God. On the other hand, the pagans, protesting against such a claim, declared that they had their own moral law, which was sufficient to prepare them for acceptance into the church, that their wise men were no less inspired by God, like the Old Testament prophets. Both claims were obviously dangerous delusions, and before things came to an open rupture, the apostle hastened to explain to them the great truth of salvation. First of all, he turned to the pagans and proved to them that their opinion that the natural law of morality is sufficient in a certain sense for salvation is unfounded, and this was proven by the very fact that the pagan world by this time had come to a state of terrifying moral decline. It was enough to look at those horrors of moral decay that appeared most clearly and shamelessly in Rome to see how unfounded this position of the pagans was. The terrible picture of the abyss of immorality that the apostle depicted in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans (1:24-32) was intended to serve as a refutation of their unfounded claims. On the other hand, the claims of the Jews were also unfounded. Although they have a great advantage on their side in the fact that they were “entrusted with the word of God” (Rom. 3:2); but this alone is not enough for salvation. We must justify this trust of God. And hence “he is not a Jew who is such in appearance, nor is the circumcision that is outwardly in the flesh; but he who is a Jew inwardly, and that circumcision which is in the heart, is in the Spirit, and not in the letter: his praise is not from men, but from God” (Rom. 2:28, 29). In a word, since both Jews and Greeks are equally in bondage to sin, justification becomes possible neither by the power of the law or circumcision, nor by the power of natural reason, but by the power of a single saving faith in Christ - such a faith which, by its vitality, is capable of eliminating any question about the law and about good works, since they themselves inevitably appear as fruit on a healthy tree full of vital sap. In this very sense, “a person is justified by faith, apart from the works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). Then the apostle develops this basic idea in detail, confirming it with examples and quotations from Holy Scripture, and, having set out a number of edifying truths, concludes with all kinds of good wishes and greetings to Roman Christians, along with an expression of the desire to personally visit the famous capital of the world. The scribe of the letter was a colleague of the Apostle Tertius, and it was sent with Thebe, a deaconess of the Church of Cenchrea, near Corinth. Introducing the latter to the Roman Christians, the apostle asks them to accept her as befitting saints and to help her whatever she needs; “For, he adds, she also was a helper to many and to myself” (Rom. 16:1,2). XLI. On the way to Jerusalem. Sunday worship in Troas. Conversation in Miletus with the Ephesian elders. In Tire and Caesarea Having completed his ministry in Corinth and having collected significant alms for poor Christians, St. cities, ap. Paul decided to visit Jerusalem again, precisely for the holiday of Easter. He wanted to sail directly from Corinth by ship to Syria, but on the eve of sailing, his employees discovered a low conspiracy on the part of the Jews, whose goal was to destroy the apostle during the sea voyage, which was very easy for them due to connections with sailors and direct bribery of them. Therefore ap. Paul was forced to travel by land through Macedonia, accompanied by his friends and co-workers, and spent Easter in Philippi in the peaceful and loving circle of his disciples and collaborators, among whom was again the chronicler of his activities, St. Luke. Then he sailed to Asia and stopped for a week's rest in Troas. One event happened in this city, showing that Christians at that time already had regular liturgical meetings on Sundays. On the eve of the apostle's departure there was an evening meeting, at which the entire Church of Troas was present, having gathered for the last time to listen to the sweet conversation of the great preacher. The meeting was in one of the upper rooms, that is, those upper rooms of the third floor, which were the coolest and most pleasant part of the house in the east. The upper room was ablaze with lamps, and from the lips of the apostle flowed a divinely inspired conversation that lasted until midnight, and everyone listened to it in silent reverence. On the windowsill of one of the open windows, the shutters of which were wide open to allow the cool sea breeze to enter, sat a young man named Eutychus. The time was very late, the conversation was unusually long, the subjects discussed probably exceeded his understanding. Although he was sitting in the most pleasant place in the room, where he could enjoy free access to fresh air, the heat from the crowded meeting and the light of many lamps, as well as the continuous stream of speech of the preacher, completely lulled Eutychus. Unnoticed by others, he began to sink, his heavy head fell onto his chest, and then, with a cry of horror, he fell through the window and fell from the third floor down into the courtyard. There was general confusion, and shouts were heard, which immediately interrupted the preacher's voice; some of those gathered rushed down the stairs to see what had happened. The poor young man lay unconscious and was raised dead. A cry of horror escaped from those around him; but “Paul came down and fell on him, and embracing him with his arms, said: Do not worry, for his life is in him” (Acts 20:10). Having calmed his excitement with this remark, he left the young man under the beneficial influence of peace and quiet, and perhaps also the kind solicitude of the deaconesses and other women present; because the narrative simply adds that the apostle went up again and after “breaking bread” (as the Eucharistic celebration was called) and eating, which was then called agape, he continued to talk with the congregation until daylight and then went out. Meanwhile, Eutychus had fully recovered, and he was brought alive - apparently to the upper room, and everyone was comforted quite a bit. The next morning the apostle set off with his companions on their further journey and after a few days they arrived in Miletus. Since the ship had to stay there for some time, the apostle took advantage of this circumstance to see and talk not only with local Christians, but also with the elders of the church of the violent Ephesus. For this purpose, he sent a messenger to Ephesus, about fifty miles from Miletus, so that they would come to see him. The presbyters joyfully took advantage of the opportunity to see their great archpastor once again and arrived to see him in Miletus the very next day, which was probably Sunday. He spent that day in their company, and before parting with them, he addressed them with a speech in which he depicted in deeply touching terms his activities in Ephesus. “You know,” he said, “how from the first day on which I came to Asia, I was with you all the time, working for the Lord with all humility and many tears, among the temptations that befell me through the malice of the Jews; how I did not miss anything useful, anything I preached to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, proclaiming to the Jews and Greeks repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, now, at the pull of the Spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing what will meet me there. Only the Holy Spirit testifies in all cities, saying that bonds and sorrows await me. But I do not look at anything and do not value my life, just to finish my race with joy and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to preach the Gospel of the grace of God. And now I know that all of you among whom I walked preaching the Kingdom of God will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am pure from the blood of all, for I did not fail to proclaim to you the whole will of God. So, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which He purchased for Himself with His Blood. For I know that after I am gone, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among yourselves men will arise who will speak perverse things, so as to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, stay awake, remembering that for three years, night and day, I taught each of you without ceasing with tears. And now I commend you, brethren, to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to edify you more and give you an inheritance with all those who are sanctified. I did not want silver, gold, or clothing from anyone, you yourself know that these hands served my needs and the needs of those who were with me (and at the same time he stretched out his thin hands, exhausted by labor, before them). In everything I have shown you that, while working in this way, you must support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for He Himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:18-35). This speech, which so vividly portrays the tireless industry, deep humility, and complete dedication of his apostolic ministry, made a deep impression on everyone. He ended his conversation amid an explosion of crying, and when they said goodbye to him, worried about his future, worried about their own future, they all bowed their heads to his neck and kissed him passionately, especially saddened by his remark that they would never see him as they had seen him before, would never again look at the dear face of their teacher, who had endured so much for their sake and whom they loved so much. If ap. Paul aroused strong hatred for himself in his opponents, but at the same time he also inspired the strongest love and affection for himself. He had to, according to the literal expression of St. Luke (Acts 21:1), escape from them. Sad and suppressed by various gloomy forebodings, they went with him to the ship, which at that time was waiting for him, and one can be sure that the ap. Paul wept bitterly as he stepped onto the deck of the ship, and in turn, on the shore, the weeping of his brethren was heard until the sails merged into a vague white spot on the distant horizon and the elders of Ephesus with a heavy heart returned back to once again, without any hope of help from their spiritual father, to face the test that awaited them in the city of Artemis. The ship arrived safely in Patara, and from there the apostle, transferring to another ship bound for Phenicia, set off for Tyre, famous for its maritime trade. There were many Christians there, and the apostle arrived with them for seven days. The brothers, loving and devoted to the apostle, received a special inspiration from above about the danger facing the apostle in Jerusalem and asked him to abandon his intention and not go to Jerusalem. And the apostle himself had a presentiment of danger, but in everything he relied on the highest Providence, and after a week he left Tire, admonished by the tears and prayers of his local brethren, who, with their wives and children, saw off their great teacher. Having sailed by ship to Ptolemais, the apostle and his colleagues headed by land to Caesarea. There he stayed for several days, and these were the last happy days of the freedom that he had enjoyed until then. God was pleased to refresh his spirit with a short period of joyful communication and peace. In Caesarea they visited someone who was associated with St. Paul with close ties of deepest sympathy, namely with Philip the Evangelist. Being like him an enlightened Hellenist, Deacon Philip, as is known, was one of the first who showed the Apostle Paul that sympathy and clear understanding, without which the very work of the Apostle of the Nations would have been impossible. It was Philip who preached the gospel to the hated Samaritans and had the courage to baptize the Ethiopian eunuch. The fate of these two noble workers was closely linked. The furious persecution of Saul the Pharisee was the main reason that led to the dispersion of the Church of Jerusalem and thus modified the appointment of the seven deacons. As a result of his flight from this very persecution, Philip's activities changed. On the other hand, this new activity began precisely with what was the task of the entire life of Paul the Apostle. When ap. Paul and Philip talked with each other in these few precious hours, they could sort through in their souls many touching memories of those days when the heavenly light, which once shone on the face of Stephen, turned to heaven in the agony of martyrdom, was also reflected with a portentous fire on the face of the young man, whose name was Saul. And in addition to the communication of thoughts and memories, ap. During his stay in Philip's house, Paul was able to benefit from the tender care of his four daughters, who, having been brought up under the beneficial influence of their father, devoted themselves to the virgin life and to the service of the Gospel. In Caesarea ap. Paul received a new warning about the danger that threatened him. The prophet Agav arrived here from Judea and, taking on the symbolic image of the ancient prophets, approached the apostle. Paul, untied the belt with which his tunic was tied, and, binding his hands and feet with it, said: “Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man whose belt is this will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles” (Acts 21:11). The brethren themselves already knew about the danger associated with the upcoming visit, but they had not yet had such a definite notice of this, nor did they foresee that the Jewish attack could end in Roman imprisonment. Hearing this, comrades ap. Paul earnestly asked him to remain in Caesarea, and they alone would go to Jerusalem and deliver the offering from the pagan churches; and even the members of the Church of Caesarea joined their tearful supplications with those of his beloved companions, begging him not to go into obvious danger. But the apostle was adamant. "What are you doing? Why are you crying and breaking my heart?” He told them, “I not only want to be a prisoner, but I am ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). Then it became clear to everyone that further begging would be painful for him and at the same time useless. So they calmed down and wiped away their tears, saying: “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14). XLII. Ap. Paul in Jerusalem. Riot in the church. The arrest of the apostle and his sending to Caesarea. At Felix's trial The Feast of Pentecost was approaching, and the ap now hurried to it. Paul. According to custom, a large number of people gathered in Jerusalem, so it was not without difficulty that a room could be found. But it was found in the house of a certain Mnason Cyprianin, one of the early disciples, and under his roof the apostle could find rest after such a long journey. The brethren received the great apostle with joy, and the next day a solemn meeting of Christians took place under the chairmanship of James, the brother of the Lord, and there the Apostle Paul, “having greeted them, told in detail what God had done among the pagans through his ministry” (Acts 21:19). Then the congregation, having heard him, “glorified God” (Acts 21:20), but at the same time found themselves forced to warn the apostle about the danger threatening him. In Jerusalem there were many Jews who had already believed, as many as thousands, counting those who came from everywhere for the holiday, “and they were all zealous for the law” (Acts 21:20). They obviously belonged to that large party that considered the law necessary for salvation, at least for the Jews who believed, and therefore were suspicious of the preaching of St. Paul that the law has already lost its meaning. The popular rumor about this sermon reached them in a distorted form, and in Jerusalem everyone had heard that the apostle “taught the Jews living among the pagans to deviate from the Law of Moses, saying that they should not circumcise their children and should not act according to the customs of their fathers” (Acts 21:21). This rumor, supported and fanned by the enemies of the apostle, turned all Palestinian and especially Jerusalem Jewish Christians against him so hostile that his very appearance in the holy city was unsafe. But if he had already appeared, then it was necessary to somehow refute the false rumor and publicly prove its groundlessness. The meeting advised Ap. Paul, for this purpose, performed the rite of the Nazirite and took on the costs of four other Jewish Christians who also took the vow, but did not have enough funds to cover all the expenses necessary for this rite. “Then everyone will know that what they have heard about you is unjust, but that you yourself continue to fulfill the law” (Acts 21:24). The danger was indeed great. The people, irritated by the unjust oppression of the Romans, were in extreme excitement and were ready to vent their discontent on the first person who could arouse their suspicion. As a result, the apostle agreed to the proposal and for seven days performed the Nazarite rite in the church together with the other four brothers, whose expenses he took upon himself. It was already the last day of the ritual, and it seemed that everything would end well, when suddenly everything changed, and the apostle almost became a victim of popular fanaticism. Among the huge crowd of pilgrims in the courtyards of the church, several Jews from Ephesus and other cities of Asia appeared. When they saw the apostle they knew, they immediately burned with the fire of furious fanaticism. In his face they saw a terrible apostate who taught “apostasy from the Law of Moses” and now dared with his presence to desecrate the boundaries of the people’s shrine. The news of his presence instantly spread through the excited crowd of pilgrims and the mob became agitated. The wild Asians rushed at the apostle and frantically shouted: “Men of Israel, help! This man teaches everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place; at the same time he brought the Greeks into the church and desecrated this holy place” (Acts 21:28). With app. There were so many Greeks whom Paul converted, whom the apostle allegedly took with him to the church and thereby, in the opinion of the rebels, desecrated it. The Jews extremely jealously protected their shrine from the invasion of foreigners and people of other faiths, so that there was even a special “wall of separation”, on which the inscription in Greek and Latin read that: “no foreigner should enter this wall under pain of death.” Here, then, was an excellent opportunity for due revenge on the apostate who taught apostasy. The crowd rushed towards the app. Paul and the cry “help!” echoed throughout the streets. It was impossible to defend ourselves. But ap. Paul was saved by the sanctity of the place and the vigilance of the Roman guard. When the brawlers, so as not to desecrate the church with blood, dragged the apostle beyond its borders, the Roman centurion, standing guard in the tower of Antonia, noticed the popular confusion and, fearing a riot, immediately sent to Lysias, the commandant of the tower, with the news of what had happened. Lysias quickly came to the scene with a detachment of soldiers and delivered the apostle from the hands of his furious enemies. Having taken him into custody, Lysias asked him “who he was and what he had done” (Acts 21:33). In response, such disorderly shouts arose from the crowd that nothing could be made out, and despairing of achieving anything definite in this state of affairs, Lysias ordered the apostle to be taken to the barracks. But as soon as he managed to climb the stairs leading to the top of the building and then to the fortress, the mob, fearing that they would be deprived of the pleasure of carrying out their revenge, made a new attack on him with wild cries of “death to him!” (Acts 21:36) and St. Pavel, unable to walk on his own due to the beatings he received, was taken into the arms of the soldiers and carried away from the crowd. He was spared the fate of being torn to pieces mainly because Lysias kept him close to him. And when the detachment that saved him was ready to enter the barracks, ap. Paul spoke to Lysias in Greek: “Can I tell you something”? - “Do you know Greek?” (Acts 21:37) the commandant asked in surprise; “So are you not the Egyptian who, just before these days, caused a disturbance and led four thousand robbers into the desert?” (Acts 21:38). This unknown Egyptian had recently carried out a great rebellion, the suppression of which required a lot of effort on the part of the Romans. Although the rebels were defeated and executed, the Egyptian himself disappeared, and now Lysias had an involuntary assumption when he saw the apostle. Paul, isn't he this Egyptian? “No,” answered Paul, “I am a Judean, a Tarsian, a citizen of the well-known city of Cilicia; I ask you, let me speak to the people” (Acts 21:39). Such courage on the part of a man who had just been saved from certain death at the hands of this very people amazed Lysias, and he allowed him to address the people with an explanation. The Apostle boldly stepped forward, gave a sign with his hand about his desire to speak, and when silence fell, he addressed the people in Hebrew with a long speech, which he began with the words: “Men, brothers and fathers! Hear now my justification before you” (Acts 22:1). The people, hearing the Jewish speech, became even more silent, and the apostle told in detail the story of his life and conversion. The speech was inspired and amazed with its eloquence, but fanaticism did not bow to such speech. As soon as the apostle in his story reached the message that in a vision he received a command to go preaching to the pagans, when the whole mob became agitated again. The word "pagans", confirming their suspicions, again inflamed their fanaticism. As soon as he uttered it, a terrible cry arose: “Destroy this one from the earth, for he should not live!” (Acts 22:22). The eastern mob, mad with impotent rage, howled, cackled, cursed, gnashed their teeth, waved their arms, tore their clothes, threw handfuls of dust into the air, accompanying all this with the wildest gestures of which unbridled fanaticism is capable. But ap. Paul was beyond the reach of the furious rage of the Jews. They had the courage to shake the air with their desperate and wild cries and make the courtyard of the church like a refuge for a crowd of madmen, but they did not dare to rush to the edge of the Roman swords pointed at them. In terrible excitement, Lysias ordered the prisoner to be taken to the barracks and subjected to torture by scourging, since he completely did not understand what the apostle was saying. Pavel, he wanted to know what exactly he had done to provoke these furious screams. The soldiers immediately tied his hands, stripped him naked and bent him into the position of that terrible and often fatal torture to which the Savior was once subjected not far from this very place. Three times already before that app. Paul bore the rods of the Roman lictors; Five times he was subjected to Jewish scourging, forty blows minus one. Here a new type of torment awaited, namely from the scourge, which the Romans used to force through torture to consciousness of the truth. But this time app. Paul, without losing his self-control even in extremity, objected to the order. He boldly declared that he was a Roman citizen and free from corporal punishment. This statement also embarrassed Lysias himself, who could have feared trouble for himself if the apostle had brought a complaint about his treatment, and he tried to quickly hand over the prisoner to the Sanhedrin in order to get rid of all responsibility in this, obviously more religious than civil matter. The Sanhedrin gathered, to which the prisoner Lysias was brought - ap. Paul. The chairman of the Sanhedrin was the high priest Ananias. He was the same arrogant, devoted to the world and little-faithful Sadducee as the others from the vipers of the house of Anna, but he also surpassed them in his cruelty and insatiable greed. With greedy heartlessness and greed, he brought the lower priests almost to starvation, depriving them of the tithes that belonged to them, and in general was such a predator that he sent his servants with clubs to the threshing floor to take the tithes by force. He held the office of high priest for a period which, in these troubled times, was unusually long, although it was interrupted by his absence, when he was sent as a prisoner to Rome to answer for his criminal actions. In this case, thanks to low intrigues, he apparently won his case; but was afterwards deposed, and few regretted him when he was drawn from the drain-pipe where he had hidden himself, and was killed by the enraged rebels. And so, under the leadership of such and such a high priest, the Sanhedrin met, gathered to judge the apostle. From childhood, accustomed to reverently treating the supreme court of the people and its head, the apostle believed in its justice and wanted to explain his position in a speech. Having taken the usual position of a speaker, he began his speech with the words: “Men and brethren! I have lived with all my good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). But as soon as the apostle expressed the first point of his defensive speech, Ananias, with hideous illegality, ordered the bailiffs to hit him on the mouth. Struck by such a blatant insult, such undeserved violence, St. Paul was ashamed of the supreme court of his people and, unable to tolerate such a gross violation of all justice, exclaimed: “God will beat you, whitewashed wall!” How do you sit to judge according to the law, and, contrary to the law, order me to be beaten? (Acts 23:3). Those present were apparently amazed at the boldness of the apostle’s reproach. Paul and said to him: “Do you revile the High Priest of God?” (Acts 23:4). The apostle's anger subsided in this instantaneous explosion, and he immediately apologized with dignity and self-control. “I did not know, brethren,” he said, “that he was a high priest,” adding to this that if he had known this, he would not have addressed him with the reproachful name of “whitewashed wall,” because he always acted according to the instructions of St. Scripture: “Do not speak evil of the ruler of your generation” (Acts 23:5). When the confusion caused by this incident had subsided, the trial of the case began, and it immediately appeared that the members of the Sanhedrin were still mainly divided into two parties: the Sadducean priests and the Pharisaic elders and scribes. The latter were popular and numerous, while the former were rich and powerful. Ap. Paul was well aware that these two parties were in irreconcilable hostility, which ceased only in the presence of an object of common hatred. He also knew that one of the main subjects of dispute between them was the question of the invisible world and life beyond the grave. Seeing therefore that he would not find either justice or mercy in this court, he decided to throw an apple of discord between them, and, amid the Babylonian confusion of languages, he shouted: “Men and brethren! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; I am being judged for hoping for the resurrection of the dead!” (Acts 23:6). Such a statement immediately forced the Pharisees to take his side, and they clashed with their worst enemies - the Sadducees and their head, the high priest Ananias, who was so unloved by the Pharisees that a century later stories about his violence and greed were still circulating among them. Immediately a terrible noise of angry voices arose, and the scribes, who sided with the Pharisees, all rose to announce the apostle. Paul innocent. “We don’t find anything bad in this man; if the Spirit or the Angel spoke to him, let us not resist God” (Acts 23:9). The Jews, even these noble hierarchs and rabbis, again showed a complete inability to self-control. Even within the sacred precincts of the Sanhedrin, such great confusion ensued that St. Paul was once again in danger of being torn to pieces, and this time at the hands of scholars and nobles. Lysias, more and more amazed at the riotousness of the Jews, who at first attacked Paul with such unanimity in the church and half of whom in the Sanhedrin apparently now fought in his defense, decided not to give up his fellow citizen to the shameful fate awaiting him and ordered the soldiers to take him away from the Sanhedrin. And there, in the barracks of foreign conquerors, the Lord again appeared to his courageous apostle and said to him: “Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). But the life of the apostle was unsafe in Jerusalem, even under the cover of the Romans. The next day it was discovered that a conspiracy had been formed against him by fanatics, sealed with an oath. Jewish fanaticism at this time was in extreme excitement, and was brought to a painful frenzy by all kinds of unrest and violence. There were many secret killers or so-called sicarii who were ready to plunge a dagger into anyone who seemed dangerous to the people, their faith or political rights. And now forty people swore not to eat or drink until they kill the apostle. Pavel. Having learned about this desperate plot, Lysias secretly and under strong military cover sent the prisoner to Caesarea, to his superior, procurator Felix, with a formal attitude about the prisoner and his case. Felix was a freedman of the Emperor Claudius and belonged to those Roman administrators, famous for their baseness and greed, who achieved their positions through low flattery and bribery and used their position for shameful profit at the expense of the regions entrusted to their management. According to the testimony of the Roman historian Tacitus, Felix was at the same time dissolute and cruel, and performed his almost royal duties with the spirit of a slave. In order to secure his position in Judea, he married Drusilla, the daughter of Herod Agrippa, and considering himself unpunished, he robbed and insulted the Jews in every possible way, but he also had to constantly fight terrible revolts, raised either by Sicarii and robbers, or by false missions. The Jews hated him and he hated them. Justice could not be expected from such a person, but since the apostle was a Roman citizen, this alone could serve as a guarantee that the procurator would take his side against the Jewish elders who hated him. Felix summoned members of the Sanhedrin to Caesarea to investigate the case. Although such a journey was not particularly pleasant for the members of the supreme court, it was impossible to bypass it, and the high priest Ananias himself went to Caesarea, with the goal of taking revenge at all costs on the man who called him “a whitewashed wall.” For greater success in the case, the Jews even hired a special lawyer, Tertullus, and conducted the case in the most formal manner. After the usual questioning of witnesses, the court speeches began, and Tertullus was given the first word. Having said many flattering pleasantries to Felix, Tertullus began to accuse the prisoner, firstly, of being a social plague, living by inciting discord between Jews throughout the world, and secondly, that he was a master of the Nazareth heresy; and thirdly, that he tried to desecrate the church. As a result, it was the Jews who seized him and wanted to try him according to their own law, but Lysias forcibly intervened in their case and took him out of their hands, ordering his accusers to appear before the procurator. The procurator, turning to Lysias, could fully verify the truth of these accusations. When the speech ended, the Jews, in the absence of real witnesses, one after another began to speak against the apostle. Paul, confirming the truth of everything said by Tertullus (Acts 24:1-8). Then the procurator, already quite convinced that this, as Lysias informed him, was some kind of Jewish unrest regarding the trifles of the Mosaic Law, arrogantly signaled to the prisoner to say something against the accusation. In his speech, Ap. Paul simply and with dignity noted that he could defend himself with greater pleasure before Felix, since the latter had now been procurator for a very considerable time and therefore, due to his acquaintance with Jewish affairs, could easily understand the essence of the matter. He could ascertain that only twelve days had passed since the Feast of Pentecost, to which the Apostle had come not at all with any rebellious purposes, but simply to pray in Jerusalem, and that during this time he had not conversed with anyone and had no occasion to attract crowds or cause disturbance either in the temple, or in the synagogue, or in any part of the city. Therefore, he positively refuted the first and third points of the accusation and demanded that the Jews present witnesses to confirm them. As for the second point, he really belongs to a special society; but this is the same society as the one to which they themselves belong, since he worships God, whom he, as a Jew, was taught to worship from childhood, openly accepted all Holy Scripture, believed, like most of them, in the resurrection of the righteous and the unjust. As a result of this particular faith, he always tried to be with a clear conscience both before God and before people. Previously, he had not been in Jerusalem for five years and, upon returning with alms for the poor of his people and with offerings for the church, the Jews found him in the church, where he calmly purified himself according to the law. He was innocent of the rebellion that followed. He was raised by some Asian Jews, who should have been present as witnesses, and whose absence was evidence of the weakness of the accusation against him. But if it was impossible to bring them as witnesses, then he demanded from the accusers themselves that they present the result of their trial against him before the Sanhedrin, and prove whether they had at least one piece of evidence against him, except for his exclamation, made by him during the trial of his case in the Sanhedrin, that he was tried on the question of the resurrection from the dead. The accusation obviously turned out to be unfounded. Made by up. Paul's presentation of the circumstances of the case directly contradicted the only testimony made against him. Disagreements in doctrine between the Jews and them could in no way be the subject of legal proceedings, since they concerned issues that were not subject to the jurisdiction of Roman law. Ap. Paul had no need to prove the doctrine of the Nazarenes or justify himself in accepting it, since at this time it had not yet been declared religio illicita (religion illicit). Felix was fully aware of this. He had a much more accurate knowledge of this doctrine than the Jews and their hired lawyer. He did not want to hand Paul over to the Sanhedrin, which could be dangerous and would undoubtedly be unjust; but at the same time he did not want to offend these influential persons. Therefore, he postponed the trial of the case, precisely on the basis of the absence of Lysias, who could have been an important witness in the case, promising to give his final decision as soon as the latter arrived in Caesarea. Ap. Paul was taken into custody, but Felix gave special orders to the centurion that the guards should not be cruel to him and that his friends should be allowed free access to his prison. For his part, Felix was so interested in the prisoner that he later called him to himself to show him to his wife Drusilla. The apostle did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance to turn to Felix with strict reproofs for his untruths. The procurator's conscience was touched and he even wanted to completely free the prisoner if the ap. Pavel understood his hint and promised to give him a bribe. Since the apostle had no money, and did not want to seek liberation through such low means, he had to languish for two years in a Roman prison in Caesarea. But Felix himself soon suffered a well-deserved fate. A year after the apostle was imprisoned in Caesarea, a bloody battle took place between the Greeks and Jews, and since victory remained on the side of the Jews, who decided to cruelly take revenge on their enemies, Felix sent his army against them and carried out a terrible beating of them. Following a complaint against him to Rome, he was recalled from his post and, in order to get out of the difficulty, had to spend most of his unjustly acquired wealth. In his place, Porcius Festus was appointed procurator to Caesarea, under whom the apostle’s case was again considered. Pavel. XLIII. Proceedings of the case Paul before Festus. Ap. Paul and Agrippa II. Appeal to Caesar. Journey to Rome and shipwreck The new procurator was a more worthy and fair man, and from the very first he showed himself to be quick in his management and efficiency. He arrived in Palestine around the month of August and three days after his arrival in Caesarea he went straight to Jerusalem. One of the first issues he had to face was the matter of the ap. Pavel. A two-year imprisonment, which prevented the execution of the evil intentions of the Jews, could not suppress in them a mortal hatred of the man who, by freely offering the Gospel to the pagans, gave in their eyes one of the most fatal omens of the downfall that threatened them. The terrible massacre in the market square between the Jews and the Syrian Greeks, which caused the resignation of Felix, left behind ineradicable enmity, and the Caesarea Jews unanimously demanded the immediate punishment of the apostle. Pavel. When Festus arrived in Jerusalem, he was greeted with a cry about the same thing, and the death of Paul was demanded not only by the mob, but also by deputations of the main representatives of Jerusalem, foreseen by Ishmael Ben-Fabi, the new high priest. The Jews, with their characteristic dexterity, always took advantage of the inexperience of any new ruler who arrived to them, in order to, if possible, turn him in their favor, while he had not yet had time to get used to his position and naturally wanted to make a favorable impression on everyone. But Festus was not one of those low and weak-willed procurators who were ready to commit a crime just to gain popularity. The Palestinian Jews soon found that they had to deal with a man who was by no means inclined to condone them. The people, led by their hierarchs, asked him, as his first mercy to them, not to exclude the matter of St. Paul is out of their jurisdiction, but to bring the prisoner to Jerusalem to once again subject him to the court of the Sanhedrin, at which all measures will be taken to ensure that he cannot evade this court by stirring up theological disputes between them. In fact, these ritualists, far less embarrassed by murder than by ceremonial desecration, had already taken care that if Festus agreed to their request, their hired killers would immediately put an end to the apostle. Pavel is still on the road. Festus, however, penetrated into their evil intentions and declined to agree to their request, under the plausible pretext that since the ap. Paul is now in Caesarea, he will immediately return there and fully listen to their complaints. Since the Jews continued to insist on their request, Festus gave them an arrogant and purely Roman answer that it was not the custom of the Romans to sacrifice the life of an individual in favor of his accusers and that therefore he must put the accused on a personal stake with the accusers and give the accused the full opportunity of self-defense. The high priest and his accomplices, finding that they could gain nothing either by intimidating Festus or flattering him, had to once again limit themselves to drawing up the most influential deputation in order to be successful in the accusation. Eight or ten days later, Festus returned to the palace in Caesarea and the next day took his judicial seat at the tribunal to hear the case. The Jews now found it possible to do without a hired lawyer, and the legal proceedings turned into a scene of passionate noise, in which the apostle. Paul responded to many of the accusations against him with calm denial. The Jews, noisily surrounding the court, repeated their accusations of heresy, sacrilege and treason; but since not a single witness came forward against him, the ap. Pavel had no choice but to restate the circumstances of the case. At this time, the Jews apparently more accurately defined the essence of the accusation, namely, that Paul was stirring up trouble among the Jews of the Diaspora, and they tried to intimidate Festus, as they once intimidated Pilate, in the name of Caesar (Acts 25:8). But Festus clearly saw that he had before him a matter beyond his jurisdiction, since the whole question concerned a subject that fell within the realm of Jewish theology, and that even if there was even a drop of truth in the Jewish accusations, still the ap. Paul was not guilty of anything approaching a criminal offense. Wanting to put an end to this scene (and for the dignity of a well-bred Roman nothing could be more disgusting than these howling faces, sparkling eyes and angry cries of the despicable Jews), Festus asked the apostle. Paul, whether he wishes to go to Jerusalem and undergo the judgment of the Sanhedrin under his protection. In practice, it was a proposal to transfer the case from Roman to Jewish jurisdiction. But ap. Paul knew very well that he could count much more on justice in the hands of the Romans than in the hands of the Jews, whose crimes were now leading to the destruction of Jerusalem itself. The Jewish courts constantly and furiously accused him; pagan tribunals with judges such as Gallio, Lysias, Felix, Festus, even such a monster as Nero, always found him innocent. But he was already tired of these delays, this furious repetition of slander, which he had already refuted ten times; he was tired of being a bone of contention for mutual enmity, just as he was tired of the arbitrary whims of regional rulers. The boring barracks of Caesarea were as terrible for Paul's fiery jealousy as the gloomy prison of Jaher for the free soul of John the Baptist, and he longed to get out of this languid state. He saw that he had nothing more to expect from the high priests or procurators, and therefore he took the first favorable opportunity to get rid of all this. As a Roman citizen he had one important advantage, namely, the right of appeal to Caesar, which was one of the highest advantages of the Roman people. He had only to say the word “appello” and all the enemies who thirsted for his blood should have been silent for a while. He decided to exercise this right. The procurator was only a shadow of Caesar. His offer was apparently in good faith, but Ap. Paul foresaw its consequences. “I stand,” he said, “before the judgment of Caesar, where I should be judged. I did not offend the Jews in any way, as you well know. For if I am wrong and have done something worthy of death, then I do not refuse to die: but if there is nothing of which these accuse me, then no one can hand me over to them,” and then he exclaimed: “I demand the judgment of Caesar” (Acts 25:10–11) (Caesarem appello). This statement was immediately supposed to put an end to all legal proceedings, and the procurator approved this demand, solemnly saying: “You have demanded the judgment of Caesar, and you will go to Caesar” (Acts 25:12). Thus, the great apostle of the nations was soon to go to the capital of the world, where he had long been striving in spirit, but to go in chains. But before going to Rome, St. Paul had the opportunity to proclaim the truth of Christianity before a brilliant assembly of the most important representatives of the Jewish and pagan world, precisely on the occasion of the arrival of Agrippa II in Caesarea. This king, the last of the Herods, arrived with his sister Bernice in Caesarea to declare his respects to the new procurator. This was a courtesy that could not be omitted without prejudice, and therefore they successively made similar visits to each new procurator. The royal power of Agrippa, given its then position, depended not on popular support, but simply and solely on the will of the emperor; therefore, the “kings of the Jews” servilely groveled even before the Roman procurators. During this visit of Agrippa, Festus drew the attention of his distinguished guest to the difficult case of the prisoner Paul. He told Agrippa about the rage that was aroused in the entire Jewish people at the mere mention of the name of this man and about the futility of the results of the just completed trial. No matter how the Jews tried to distort the essence of the matter, it was clear that it consisted in the subtleties of the Mosaic Law, as well as in the question of “a certain Jesus who died, of whom Paul affirmed that He was alive” (Acts 25:19), and in general in subjects that were not within the jurisdiction of Festus. Agrippa agreed to “listen to this man” (Acts 25:22), and Festus the very next day took care of satisfying the king’s wishes. He ordered a special room to be prepared for this occasion and invited all the main commanders of the army and the most important inhabitants of the city. The Herods loved spectacle, and Festus satisfied their passion with a magnificent ceremony. He undoubtedly appeared in his purple cloak, with a full retinue of lictors and bodyguards, who stood with arms in their hands behind the gilded chairs placed for him and his distinguished guests. St. Luke clearly says that Agrippa and Bernice solemnly entered the praetorium: she, undoubtedly, in the splendor of all her jewels, and he in his purple robe, both with gold crowns on their heads, and accompanied by a large retinue in all the luxury of oriental attire. When the ap. was introduced into this brilliant meeting. Paul, then, after Festus had outlined the essence of the matter, Agrippa importantly said to the apostle: “You are allowed to speak for yourself” (Acts 26:1). Having surveyed the assembly with his penetrating glance, the apostle, holding out his hand in the manner of ancient orators, began his speech with the remark that he was especially happy to make his defense before King Agrippa, because that prince had received from his father (whose zeal in the execution of the law, both written and oral, was known to everyone) a careful education in everything relating to the Jewish religion and ritual, and therefore could not help feeling an interest in a subject in which he was so competent judge. He therefore asked to be heard patiently, and once again set forth the well-known story of his conversion from a strict and fanatical Pharisee to the faith, declaring that the Messianic hope of his people had already been truly fulfilled in the person of that Jesus of Nazareth, whose followers he had at first violently persecuted, but who, having personally revealed to him His glory, led them to the knowledge that He had risen from the dead. Why might this belief seem implausible to his listeners? At first she was like that for himself; but how could he resist the personal testimony of Christ himself? And how could he disobey the heavenly voice, which sent him to open the eyes of both Jews and Gentiles, that they might be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Jesus they might receive remission of sins, and a part with the saints? He was not disobedient to this command. In Damascus, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and subsequently among the pagans, he was a preacher of repentance and turning to God, as well as a life corresponding to this. That is why the Jews seized him in the church and wanted to tear him into pieces; but in this, as in every other danger, God came to his aid, and the testimony which he bore to both small and great was neither blasphemy nor apostasy, but a simple truth, directly consistent with the teaching of Moses and the prophets, that it was the Messiah who was to suffer, and that from his resurrection from the dead a light should shine for the enlightenment of both the heathen and his people. The apostle was carried away by the flow of divinely inspired eloquence, but for Festus all this seemed so extraordinary and monstrous that he could not stand it and interrupted the speaker with a rude remark: “You are crazy, Paul! Much learning drives you to madness” (Acts 26:24). This unexpected exclamation stopped the majestic flow of the apostle's eloquence, but it did not weaken his refined politeness. “No, venerable Festus,” he said, “I am not mad, but I speak words of truth and common sense” (Acts 26:25). But Festus was not the main person to whom the apostle’s speech was addressed, and, moreover, he could hardly understand such arguments. Agrippa is a different matter. He had read Moses and the prophets, and had heard from many witnesses at least the events pointed out by Paul. Therefore, the apostle turned to him with proof of his perfect sanity. “For,” he said, the king knows about this, before whom I speak boldly. I do not at all believe that any of this was hidden from him; for this did not happen in a corner” (Acts 26:26). And then, wanting to continue the thread of his argument at the very point where it was interrupted and where it could be most striking for a Jew, he asked: “Do you, King Agrippa, believe the prophets? I know that you believe” (Acts 26:27). But Agrippa did not want to interfere in this reasoning, much less express his agreement, and therefore he found it convenient to evade the answer with a half-mocking remark. “You will probably soon make me a Christian too!” (Acts. 26:28) he said with a half-suppressed smile, and with this deft twist of courtly courtesy he avoided answering the serious question of the apostle. Pavel. His exquisite remark undoubtedly sounded very witty to the whole noble assembly, and they could hardly suppress their laughter at the mere thought that Agrippa, the favorite of Elaudius, the friend of Nero, would be inclined to convince this strange Jew! That Paul could make the king a Christian seemed too ridiculous. But this laughter was immediately suppressed when the apostle, with all the ardor of a sincerely loving heart, exclaimed: “I would pray to God that soon, or for a long time, not only you, but all those who listen to me today, would become like me, except,” he added, raising his shackled hand, “except these bonds” (Acts 26:29). They saw that this was no ordinary prisoner; a man who could make such arguments as he did, and speak as he spoke, was obviously a personality such as they had never seen or known, either in the world of Judaism or in the world of paganism. But it was useless to continue this spectacle. Curiosity was now sufficiently satisfied, and now, more than ever, it became clear that although Paul the prisoner may be considered a dreamy enthusiast or an enthusiastic fanatic, he was in no way a criminal. The king, rising from his seat, gave a sign to end the meeting, and when the noble assembly began to disperse, remarks were heard from all sides that Paul did not deserve death or even imprisonment. Agrippa's decision was entirely in favor of his acquittal. “This man,” he told Festus, “might have been released if he had not demanded judgment from Caesar” (Acts 26:32). The decision of this day saved the life of the ap. Pavel for a few more years. According to the statement of app. Paul, he, along with other similar prisoners, was sent by ship to Rome, under a Roman escort, under the command of the centurion Julius. The prisoners had to sail on one of those ships that supplied wheat and other grain products to the all-consuming capital of the world - Rome. It was already deep autumn, and time was approaching the closure of navigation, and therefore, when the ship, struggling with contrary winds, somehow sailed to the so-called Good Marinas, on the southern shore of the island. Crete, near the city of Lacea, then ap. Pavel, who managed to gain the respect of those around him in the sad situation of a prisoner, advised him to stay here for the winter, rightly warning against further sailing in such a stormy time. But nearby was the port of Phoenix, the usual winter stop for Alexandrian ships, and therefore the captain of the ship definitely wanted to spend the winter there, especially since under ordinary circumstances this would require only a few hours of sailing. Centurion Julius agreed with the captain, and the ship really set off. A soft southern breeze inflated the sails, and everything apparently foreshadowed a happy voyage to the intended wintering place in the port of Phoenix or, as it is called in Russian translation, Finik. But alas, this breeze turned out to be like a deceptive siren song, beckoning the ship to its destruction. As soon as they rounded the neighboring cape, a terrible hurricane, Eurocleidon, rushed from the gorges of Cretan Ida, which immediately captured the ship and with wild fury dragged it along the menacingly swaying sea, making all the efforts of the brave sailors futile. The island of Klavda, which was on the way, brought some relief, but then a new danger presented itself of running aground, which would inevitably be followed by complete death. Therefore, all efforts were used to somehow avert this danger, which was done, and the ship was again caught by a hurricane and rushed with wild force across the boundless sea, and, moreover, in a completely different direction from Phoenix. The whistle and roar of the hurricane, furiously tearing the rigging and masts, the huge ferocious shafts, like a splinter, tossing the heavy wheat ship and dousing the deck with foamy cold moisture, the tearing creak of the breaking beams and the fastening of the ill-fated ship - all this was a terrible sign of an impending shipwreck. Soon a strong leak opened from the rupture of the beams and, in order to prevent the complete collapse of the ship, it turned out to be necessary to somehow tie it together with ropes. Everything, not excluding prisoners, and, consequently, an. Pavel, worked until exhaustion at water pumping stations; but the water kept rising, and it was necessary to throw out the cargo in order to at least lighten the ship. Several days passed like this - terrible and gloomy; neither the sun nor the stars were visible, so that “all hope of salvation finally disappeared” (Acts 27:20). For thirteen days they rushed like this at the behest of a hurricane, finding significant support in the courageous encouragement of the great apostle. Finally, on the fourteenth day, with the surrounding impenetrable darkness of the night, the sensitive ears of the sailors, amid the roar of the storm, heard the peculiar noise of the coastal surf. They were obviously not far from the shore - but where, and would the ill-fated ship now fly into pieces, hitting a rocky cliff with all its might? Despair gave new strength to the sailors, who, however, were now more concerned about their own salvation and, holding the ship with abandoned anchors, they themselves wanted to fraudulently board a rescue boat and get ashore, leaving the ship to its own ill-fated fate, which would soon have befallen it if the warriors, on the advice of St. Paul, did not prevent the implementation of their inhuman plan. With the dawn of the day, the shore actually appeared, onto the sloping part of which the travelers directed their dilapidated ship; but not far from reaching the shore, his nose crashed into the sand, “and the stern was broken by the force of the waves” (Acts 27:41). There was only one salvation left - to throw yourself into the water and use any means - swimming, on planks and other fragments of the broken ship - to make your way to the shore. But what to do with the prisoners? Will they take this opportunity to escape? And the soldiers answered with their lives for each prisoner. In desperation, they decided it would be better to kill them on deck in order to be freed from further responsibility, and they would undoubtedly have fulfilled their intention if the noble centurion Julius, who apparently understood all the greatness and nobility of the ap. Paul, with his power did not avert this bloody plan. Somehow everyone made it to the deserted shore and there, near a hastily built fire and with the common efforts, the thoroughly wet, cold and hungry wrecks warmed up their numb limbs. The smoke from the fire attracted the native inhabitants, who explained that it was the island of Melite (now Malta). Thus, the hurricane carried them 900 miles beyond the port of Finik, and due to the final destruction of the ship, they had to spend the winter, of necessity, on this particular island of the Mediterranean Sea. The island of Melite at that time was dependent on Sicily and was ruled by a dignitary mentioned on the inscriptions with the exact title given to him in the story of St. Luke about the shipwreck, precisely with the title of protos (Acts 28:7). Due to its advantageous position on the Mediterranean Sea and convenient harbours, Melite has always been important in trade and war. At first it was just a colony of Phoenicians, and its inhabitants continued to speak a corrupted Phoenician language even during the time of St. Pavel. The island passed from the Carthaginians to the Romans after the Punic War. It was famous for its honey and fruits, cotton products, excellent building stone and a special breed of dogs, highly valued by Roman aristocrats. Shortly before the involuntary visit of his ap. Paul, it became a permanent refuge for Cilician pirates, who carried out devastation among merchant ships. This circumstance alone serves as sufficient proof that the island was sparsely populated and abounded in forests. The residents received the wrecks with kindness and helped them collect firewood to warm their limbs, numb from the cold and dampness. Ap. Paul also collected firewood. But when he, bringing a large armful of dry brushwood, threw it into the fire, a warmed viper jumped out of it and “hung on the hand” (Acts 28:3) of the apostle. Seeing a poisonous snake hanging on his hand and noticing that he was a convict, the simple-minded islanders began to talk to each other that it must be some kind of murderer, when righteous vengeance was pursuing him, who had escaped from the sea, on land. The apostle, not at all alarmed, calmly shook the viper into the fire without suffering any harm. The natives expected him to drop dead immediately. For a long time they watched him with alarm, and when they noticed that no harm followed, then, like the rude inhabitants of Lystra, they changed their minds and said that he was God. For three months, until the beginning of February, when navigation opened, the shipwrecks lived on Melita, and during this period, thanks again to the influence of St. Paul, the inhabitants treated both him and his companions with extreme kindness. Not far from the site of the shipwreck lay a city now called Alta Vecchia, the residence of Publius, the ruler of the island, who was probably the legate of the praetor of Sicily. Since the centurion Julius was a noble person, this Roman dignitary, the so-called protos, showed him kind hospitality, in which the apostle was allowed to take part. Pavel and his friends. It happened that at this time Publius’s father lay in a fever, complicated by abdominal pain. St. Luke was a doctor, but his art was not as effective as the power of the saint’s prayer. Paul, who, entering the sick man's room, prayed at his bedside, laid his hands on him and healed him. The rumor about this healing spread throughout the island, as a result of which residents from everywhere began to bring the sick to him, and they received healing. You can be sure that app. Paul, although he did not establish a church here, did not miss a favorable opportunity to preach the Gospel. He made a deep and extremely favorable impression on everyone, and was surrounded on all sides by signs of respect. During the shipwreck they probably lost everything, except perhaps the money that could have been saved on their own; Therefore, they were in dire need of help and received it in abundance from the love and gratitude of the islanders, for whom the involuntary presence of the apostle was a source of great spiritual and physical benefits. With the opening of navigation, the centurion Julius put his prisoners on another Alexandrian ship, the Dioscuri, which also wintered on the island of Melite and was now heading to Rome. At the beginning of February, the ship headed first to Syracuse, where it stayed for three days, and then sailed to Rigia, already on the Italian side of the Messianic Strait. From there, with a good fair wind, the ship quickly arrived at Puteoli, one of the main trading grain ports of Italy, and the prisoners had to leave it and go further by land. In such a lively port there were several Christians who joyfully met the apostle, who spent a week with them at their request, which at the same time serves as clear proof of the centurion’s extreme courtesy to the great prisoner. “Then they went to Rome” (Acts 28:14). The capital of the world was no longer far from here, only 200 miles away. The news of the approach of the great apostle quickly spread among local Christians, and they came out to meet him in the famous Appian Square. Seventeen miles further, at Three Hotels, they met another group of Christians who were also expecting them. Although there were not many devotees in Rome. Paul of people, but he knew the power, numbers and rebellion of a huge synagogue congregation in a big city, and his future fate, humanly speaking, should largely depend on their favor or hostility. It is natural, therefore, that when he saw this small crowd of Christians, he thanked God and was encouraged by such proof of their love. Nothing encouraged and inspired him so much as human sympathy, and the greeting from these brethren must have illuminated with a happy omen his approach to the city, into which, with all his long-standing desire to see it, he was now entering under much sadder circumstances than he could ever have expected. Finally, here is the capital of the world - with its endless streets and vast squares, overflowing with a sea of ​​​​human beings. The Apostles entered Rome in the seventh year of the reign of Nero. Thus the long-standing dream of the great Apostle of Nations was fulfilled, although he entered Rome not as a free preacher, but as a chained prisoner. There, before the trial of the case, he was placed under military supervision, which, however, was so light that the apostle was given significant freedom, which he used for the glory of God and the spread of the faith of Christ. XLIV. Ap. Paul in Rome. Two-year bond. Epistles written from Rome - Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians and Philemon. The Deliverance of the Apostle and the Epistle to the Hebrews Having become accustomed to his new position in Rome, St. Paul first of all wanted to preach the Gospel to his brothers in blood - the Jews. Having summoned the most important representatives of the Jewish population of the capital, he addressed them as “brothers” and tried to explain to them his position. He assured them that he was not hostile to their people and was not destroying their institutions. Despite this, he was captured in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman authorities; however, the Romans, after investigating the case, declared him completely innocent and were ready to release him if the opposition of the Jews had not forced him to submit his case to the decision of Caesar. The Apostle tried in every possible way to make them understand that he did not mean by this to restore Roman power against his people, and that the reason for his chains was faith in the fulfillment of the messianic hope that all Israel cherished. The Jews' response was very diplomatic. The divisions in their own midst, which arose as a result of disputes about Christ, aroused in everyone such indignation against them that some ten years before they were subjected to a ruinous and shameful expulsion from Rome, by order of the Emperor Claudius. This decree, however, was not carried out with all severity; but the Jews did not want to be subjected to such a devastating disaster again. Therefore, they gave a vague answer, declaring (how truly we do not know) that they had not received any bad news about the apostle, either in writing or verbally. If any of the Jews set out to support before Caesar the accusation against him by the Sanhedrin, they could only set off at the same time as Julius and thus could be delayed by the same storms. The Jews, however, wanted to learn from St. Paul, the essence of his religious views, and in view of the fact that he was an avowed Christian, they could only say, “that this teaching is being disputed everywhere” (Acts 28:22). In order to become more familiar with this teaching, they expressed a desire to talk more with the apostle and the next time they came to him in significant numbers. There were up to 60,000 Jews in Rome at that time, they had seven synagogues, and there were so many leaders alone that it was probably only to them that the apostle could turn with his sermon. Throughout the whole day, from dawn to evening, he laid before them his personal testimony and presented arguments from Holy Scripture. That his conversation did not pass without a trace is evident from its very duration; but still only a few were convinced, and all the others remained in their disbelief. The conversation even became somewhat stormy toward the end, and before it ended, ap. Paul addressed the unbelievers with a speech in which he applied to them a passage from the prophet Isaiah, once quoted by the Savior, namely, that they will not see or hear, for they do not want to see or hear, and that their blindness and deafness are the punishing consequence of the hardening of their hearts. And then he sternly warned them that the salvation of God was now being sent to the pagans, and that the latter would hear the gospel offered to them. From now on, ap. Paul went his own way, making no further dealings with his stubborn countrymen. For two whole years he remained a prisoner in Rome, but lived on his own account, encouraged by the visits of his most devoted and beloved co-workers, among whom were Luke, Timothy, Aristarchus and others. He, of course, could have little hope for justice from the emperor, who at that time, as Tacitus put it, was already clearly inclined towards a life of crime, and therefore he took every opportunity to preach the word of God, even to those stern warriors who took turns guarding him every day. His bonds, however, throughout his two-year imprisonment were so light that he “received everyone who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without restraint” (Acts 28:30–31). The reason for such a long captivity of the apostle is not difficult to understand. To hear his case, the personal presence of his accusers, the Jews, was necessary, but they were slow to appear. In the first year of the apostle’s imprisonment, a deputation from Jerusalem came to Rome, led by the high priest Ishmael and the treasurer of the church, Hilkiah, on a controversial issue between Agrippa, the procurator and the Jews regarding the church wall. Even if this deputation was entrusted with the work of Ap. Paul, then she could hardly deal with him, since in Rome Nero was suspicious of her, and the Jews themselves found it necessary to drag out the matter for a while and thus keep the apostle in prison as long as possible, whose condemnation they could hardly ever hope to achieve before the Roman government. Meanwhile, for the apostle, this captivity was a time of unceasing apostolic labors, which were so successful that he soon had spiritual children born to him in prison (Phil. 4:10), and his preaching even penetrated to the house of Caesar (Phil. 4:22). But the apostle did not limit himself to this activity. While in prison in distant Rome, he did not cease to care about the other churches he had founded earlier. He maintained constant relations with these churches through his collaborators and brethren, who alternately arrived in Rome from the most distant countries and went back to them with various assignments from the apostle. Therefore ap. Paul had every opportunity to monitor the condition of all the churches known to him and, in case of need, not being able to personally instruct them, he addressed them with messages. He wrote four such messages, three of which were addressed to churches and one to a private individual, on a private occasion. These are precisely the letters to the Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians to Philemon. All these messages are filled with the same spirit of fatherly love that breathes in other messages of St. Paul, and at the same time represent further stages in the revelation of those truths of the Gospel, the preaching of which was especially entrusted to the Apostle of the Gentiles and which consisted in the proclamation of the abolition of ancient legal slavery. They were directed partly against the Judaizers, who continued to slavishly adhere to the forms of the abolished law, and partly against new errors that were beginning to arise on the basis of paganism itself, which was the so-called Gnosticism, and thus clearly testify to the vigilance with which the apostle stood guard over the protection of the churches he founded from any attack by hostile forces that threatened them from one side or another. The Epistle to the Philippians was written by the apostle as an expression of his personal love and devotion to them for the care that they showed for the apostle in his bonds: they sent him financial assistance, which gave him the opportunity to live in Rome on his own. The allowance was brought by Epaphroditus, a devoted colleague of the apostle, who suffered a serious illness along the way. With him, upon his return, the apostle sent a message in which he pours out feelings of love and gratitude, reports about his prison life and says that “his bonds in Christ became known to the whole praetorium” and the Gospel was preached even in the house of Caesar. The Epistle to the Philippians was apparently written towards the end of the apostle's two-year captivity. Previously, his letter to the Colossians was written, i.e. to the residents of the city of Colossus. It is not mentioned anywhere in the history of the apostle’s missionary work, so it is unknown when exactly the apostle visited this city, and whether he ever visited during his missionary travels. It was an ancient, but already fallen city of Phrygia, lying on the high road between Ephesus and the Euphrates. Situated on the banks of the river. Lika, it was located next to the cities of Laodicea and Hierapolis, which over time obscured it. The church there was founded probably by one of the apostle’s closest associates, but he himself treated it with extraordinary attention and joyfully received all the news that testified to the good state of the church. Thus, by the way, the news was brought to the apostle in Rome by the Colossian citizen Epaphras, who was apparently a clergyman of the church and “always labored for its members in prayer, so that they might remain perfect and fulfilled in everything that pleases God” (Col. 4:12). But along with the good news, the apostle heard from Epaphras also news about the dangers threatening the church from various false teachers, namely the Judaizers, who took every opportunity to destroy the work of the apostle and return those converted by him to the abolished yoke of legal slavery. The Judaizers preached to the Colossians at the same time some kind of Gnostic philosophy, and the apostle warns against it as “empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). Then the apostle gives a series of instructions in the field of religious, moral and social life and, in conclusion, sends greetings from himself and his closest colleagues, among whom Epaphras, Luke “beloved physician” (Col. 4:14), Aristarchus, Mark and others are mentioned. The letter was sent with Tychicus and Onesimus, who were to verbally convey details of the apostle's Roman life. The epistle ends with the usual handwritten greeting of the apostle, in which he says: “Greetings with my hand, Paul’s. Remember my bonds. Grace be with you all. Amen” (Col. 4:18). To deliver the message to its destination, Onesimus was sent along with Tychicus, whom the apostle calls his “faithful and beloved brother” (Col. 4:9), from among the Colossians themselves. He also carried another letter from the apostle to a private person, namely to his former master Philemon, and trembled for his fate. He was a slave of Philemon, but having offended him for something and fearing punishment, he fled from him and, like a runaway slave, sought refuge in the dirty slums of Rome. There he wandered for some time and soon, of course, lived what he could steal from his master. He faced inevitable death from hunger and general rejection. But in this extreme distress, he turned to the great apostle, who, with truly fatherly love, received and caressed him, and thereby saved not only his body, but also his soul. The worthless Phrygian slave, who according to Roman laws deserved only eternal hard labor or even crucifixion, was accepted into the society of Christians and became a “beloved brother.” To finally restore him to his human rights, the apostle sent him to Colossae with a letter to his former master Philemon, a noble and wealthy man who occupied a prominent position among the Colossian church. In this letter, the apostle touchingly urges to forgive Onesimus, whom the apostle calls his son, “born in his bonds.” “He was, writes the apostle, unfit for you, but now he is fit for you and me; I restore it” (Phil. 1:11). Then the apostle convinces Philemon to accept Onesimus again, but “not as a slave, but above a slave, as a beloved brother” (Phil. 1:16). The extent to which the loving apostle cared for Onesimus is shown by the fact that he promises in the letter to personally pay for Onesimus everything that he owes to Philemon. The apostle concludes his message with an expression of confidence that Philemon will fulfill the request addressed to him and do even more than it. At the same time, he asks to prepare a room for himself, as he hopes for a speedy release. – The Epistle to Philemon, despite its brevity, had enormous social significance in the sense of clarifying the attitude of Christianity to the greatest evil of the pagan world - slavery. Hitherto, the laws of almost all the peoples of the civilized world divided people into two categories - free and slaves, those with full rights and those without rights, and human dignity was recognized only for the former. This view was so deeply rooted in the consciousness of ancient humanity that it could not imagine a society without slaves as special working beings obliged to unquestioningly carry out the will of their masters. Even the greatest thinkers, like Plato and Aristotle, recognized such a division of people as necessary and looked at slaves as a soulless tool. Rome implemented this view with all its might and developed slavery to terrifying proportions. All the houses and estates of rich and noble people were filled with slaves, and the law treated them with such inhumanity that it allowed cruel and capricious masters to mock them in every possible way, to execute, crucify or even give them to be eaten by dogs in kennels and fish in cages on a personal whim or for the slightest crime. There were cases when, for the slightest crime of a slave against his master, his entire clan was beaten, even though none of its other members had the slightest connection to the crime, and such cruelty was directly confirmed by a special law. This state of affairs, depriving slaves (and they were twice as numerous as free ones) of any human dignity, relegated them to the level of dumb work animals, and on the other hand, corrupted the masters, developing in them a false consciousness of their immeasurable superiority over people like them. And from here slavery became the greatest social evil, from which the very foundations of the social, state and moral life of ancient humanity decayed, and terrible upheavals and bloodshed occurred, as was the case especially in the last period of the Roman Republic. And now the apostle proclaimed a truth to which the greatest minds of antiquity could not rise, namely, that a slave is the same person as his master, the same soul lives in him as in others, and under beneficial moral influence the most unworthy slave can become a beloved brother, as was the case with Onesimus. This dealt a decisive blow to slavery, precisely at its very core. Christianity did not proclaim the abolition of slavery, which would have led to fruitless uprisings of slaves and bloodshed, and on the contrary, the same apostle who wrote the letter to Philemon, in his other letters, often exhorted slaves to obey their masters. But the very idea of ​​spiritual equality and brotherhood between slave and master destroyed the very foundations of slavery, and this evil henceforth had to inevitably diminish and disappear, just as an ice floe diminishes and disappears under the ever-increasing rays of the spring sun. Those sent to Colossae had to travel through Ephesus, and the apostle took advantage of this circumstance to write a letter to his beloved Ephesians, with whose elders he spoke so touchingly and said goodbye while passing through Miletus. As being written almost simultaneously with Colossians, Ephesians has much in common with it in its content. In it, in addition to clarifying the main truth that Christ is the head of the Church and everything that exists, the author of our salvation and the guarantee of our future inheritance, the essence of the New Testament Church, its hierarchical structure and the relationship in it between shepherds and flocks is clarified in detail. In the last chapters various moral instructions are given to husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves, and in general to all members of the Christian Church. All these messages were obviously written shortly before the apostle was released from his two-year stay in prison. In some of them, as in the letter to the Philippians and especially in the letter to Philemon, the apostle expresses a clear hope for a speedy resolution of his case and precisely in his favor, so that he asked Philemon to even prepare a room for him. But the matter was not resolved soon, and one could fear even the worst, because the state of affairs in Rome was increasingly deteriorating. Every year Nero became an increasingly cruel and dissolute despot, who removed from himself all the more or less honest servants of the throne, such as he was. the famous philosopher Seneca, and entrusted power to his close favorites, who in every possible way encouraged the vile inclinations of the emperor. In this state of affairs, it was difficult to hope for justice, especially since Nero, having killed his wife, Octavia, then married his concubine Poppea, who, as a proselyte of Judaism, under the influence of the Jews, could turn her husband-emperor hostile against the hated apostle. Fortunately, Nero's best feelings triumphed in regard to the apostle's work. For all his extravagance, Nero, brought up under the influence of Seneca’s strict discipline, retained part of his sense of justice and Roman conscientiousness. Therefore, when the case of the apostle was presented to him, he, probably considering him a simple fellow tribesman and fellow believer of Poppaea, acquitted him without further investigation of the case. Upon his release from bonds, the apostle decided to go east to visit his beloved churches. At the same time, he involuntarily remembered that he would have to meet mainly with his fellow tribesmen and former co-religionists - the Jews. Some of them accepted Christianity, but the majority rejected it and even tried in every possible way to counteract its spread. This thought resonated with pain in the apostle’s heart, and he decided to turn to his compatriots with a message in which he finally clarified their error and showed the truth and superiority of Christianity, for which all the Old Testament dispensation was only a preparation. The apostle outlined all this in his famous epistle to the Hebrews, in which at the same time the Christian doctrine of justification was finally developed and clarified, namely, that a person is justified by faith, proven by good works. The epistle was written from Italy, since it contains a greeting from the “Italian” (brethren), and it was shortly after the apostle’s release from bonds, when he was going to visit the east (Heb. 13:23–24). XLV. Activities of the ap. Paul upon his release from his first bonds. Visiting the East. Pastoral Epistles to Timothy and Titus. Travel to Spain. New arrest in Ephesus, second bonds in Rome and martyrdom After his liberation from the first bonds, ap. Paul probably fulfilled his desire to visit the churches he founded in the east, although in this regard, in the absence of direct historical evidence, there is only a few assumptions. According to the most probable assumption, confirmed by tradition, the apostle once again visited Jerusalem and then went to visit those churches that, despite their spiritual connection with him, had not yet “seen his face in the flesh” (Col. 2:1), namely Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. Having found a room, as he had expected, in the hospitable house of Philemon, the apostle once again surveyed the surrounding churches of Asia Minor and, by the way, Ephesus. Since in this latter he noticed various disorders in church life and even the germs of error, against which he prophetically warned the Ephesian elders in his farewell conversation with them in Miletus, then, leaving Ephesus, he found it necessary to leave himself a successor there in managing church affairs, and he entrusted this important position to Timothy, who was the first bishop outside the circle of the apostles. The responsibilities assigned to Timothy were important and difficult. He had to manage the elders, many of whom were older than him in years, distribute remuneration among them according to the labors of each of them, sort out strife and greed, manage the affairs of charity and women's dormitories, ordain elders and deacons. In addition, the young bishop had to pacify the passions of those dissatisfied with his leadership, and with the apostle himself, who, due to his old age, some considered incapable of further apostolic activity and the management of churches. Taking advantage of the long absence of the apostle, daring impostors appeared in Ephesus, who, like Hymenaeus, Philetus and Alexander, came up with new creeds that were contrary to true Christianity and rejected the authority of the apostle. On the one hand, the delusion of the Judaizers, on the other, the nonsense of Alexandrian philosophy began to spread among the Ephesian Christians and darken their bright and pure faith, which they received from the Apostle. In view of so many difficulties, the apostle did not leave the young bishop without his authoritative leadership, and soon after leaving Ephesus he wrote his first letter to him, in which he outlined a number of instructions for him on how to act in difficult circumstances. In this letter, among other things, the apostle taught his beloved son and co-worker the commandment “to fight as a good soldier, having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and have suffered shipwreck in the faith. Such, adds the apostle, are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan, so that they would learn not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:18–20). The entire letter is filled with truly pastoral instructions, which Timothy could have seen in the performance of his high duty as the archpastor of the church in such a large and noisy city as Ephesus. The apostle ended his message by repeating the warning expressed earlier. “Oh Timofey! keep what is devoted to you, turning away from worthless idle talk and the contradictions of false knowledge, to which some have abandoned the faith by indulging in it. Grace be with you” (1 Tim. 6:20–21). From Ephesus the apostle apparently went to Macedonia, visited Corinth and from there visited, together with his other beloved colleague Titus, the island of Crete or Candia. The apostle had already visited the southern shores of this island during the short stay of that Alexandrian ship, which was completely wrecked near Fr. Malta. One might think that at that time the Apostle of the Nations sown the seeds of Christianity on this island; but since a short stop at “Good Landings” was not enough for this, it is more likely to assume that the first seeds of Christianity were brought here by those Cretan Jews who heard the wonderful sermon of the apostle. Peter on the Feast of Pentecost. The Cretans did not enjoy a good reputation, and even their compatriot Epimenides composed a caustic epigram about them, which read: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies”; Therefore, it is not surprising that Christianity did not grow with such success among them as it did in other places. It soon became mixed with various local Jewish superstitions, and troubles began within the church itself. In order to arrange church affairs there and support the truth of the Christian gospel, the apostle left Titus in Crete, ordaining him, like Timothy, as a bishop. Titus was also one of the most devoted and beloved members of the noble circle of friends and students of St. Pavel. Since he was Greek by birth, the ap. Paul, whose convert he was, took him with him to Jerusalem during that memorable visit, which ended with the recognition of the freedom of the Gentiles from the yoke of the Mosaic law (Gal. 3; Titus 1:4). Titus had a particularly close relationship with Corinth, to which the apostle sent him three times during the unrest in this frivolous community (2 Cor. 7-8). The warmth with which Paul always speaks of him as his brother, companion and co-worker, and the melancholy anxiety that made him positively unhappy when he failed to meet him at Troas, show how dear he was to the apostle as an assistant in his great apostolic works. To support him in the difficult duties of the office entrusted to him, the apostle, soon after leaving Crete, wrote a letter to him, filled, like the letter to Timothy, with various instructions that he might need in carrying out his episcopal service in the church entrusted to his administration. This letter is known as the Epistle to Titus. In it, the apostle, among other things, warns Titus against various false teachers and orders him to “rebuke the Cretans strictly, so that they may be sound in the faith, not heeding Jewish fables and the decrees of people who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:13–14). As the apostle had previously instructed Timothy, so he now instructed Titus - “to avoid foolish competitions and genealogies, and disputes, and strife about the law; for they are useless and vain” (Titus 3:9). By the way, this message for the first time speaks of “heretics” in the precise church sense of the word, as people who not only broke with the Church, but also with its sound teaching. The apostle gave instructions on how to treat such people. “A heretic, he says, after the first and second admonition, turn away, knowing that such a one has become corrupt and sins, being self-condemned” (Titus 3:10–11). Having improved church affairs in the east, the apostle again went to the west and this time, according to legend, even penetrated Spain, where the apostle’s thought had long been directed (Rom. 15:24). This distant Iberian Peninsula at that time was considered the same wonderland as the newly discovered America was later considered for the old world. The fabulous riches of the country attracted numerous settlers and industrialists to its shores, and soon the wild country with its miserable hovels of native savages was covered with flourishing cities and cut through by magnificent Roman roads. The Iberians quickly became accustomed to Roman culture, adopted the Roman language and Roman customs, and famous thinkers and writers began to emerge from among them, including the famous philosopher Seneca, a native of the Spanish city of Corduba. Such a country represented a rich field for Christian preaching, and according to legend, it was brought here by the great apostle of the nations, who wanted to exactly fulfill the commandment of his Divine Teacher, who commanded him to go and teach all nations - to the ends of the earth. Stay ap. Paul in Spain was not only a new success for the Kingdom of God in the world, but also served in the hands of Divine Providence as a means of preserving the life of the apostle from the great danger to which it would undoubtedly have been exposed if he had remained in Rome. Around this time, a terrible storm broke out in Rome, raised by the pagan world against Christianity. The madness of Nero, who year after year increasingly turned into a terrible monster of vice and all vileness, ended in the tenth year of his reign with a terrible fire, which, on the anniversary of the burning of Rome by the Gauls, again turned the capital of the world into a pile of ashes and ruins. The people were driven out of patience by this terrible disaster and thirsted for revenge. There was an ominous rumor among the people that the culprit of the terrible disaster was supposedly Nero himself, who not only did not take any measures to stop the destructive elements, but from the height of his palace tower in full theatrical attire, in view of the menacing spectacle, sang the capture of Troy. Moreover, after the fire, he not only did not take any measures to alleviate the plight of the inhabitants, but took advantage of the fire in order to seize as much empty space as possible, on which he began, with insane luxury, to build himself a so-called “golden house”, declaring that now he would finally acquire premises at least somewhat decent to his human dignity. All this involuntarily contributed to the emergence and spread of suspicion of Nero’s guilt in this terrible disaster. A terrible danger obviously threatened, from which no forces of the Praetorian Guard surrounding him could have saved the emperor. It was necessary to avert this danger, and Nero, with satanic callousness, laid all the blame on the most innocent and humble of people, namely on the Roman Christians, with whom he was already familiar partly from the trial of St. Pavel. The people thirsted for revenge, and as soon as these imaginary enemies were pointed out to them, they attacked them with truly brutal cruelty and bloodthirstiness. Nero himself became the head of this heinous crime, and the streets, which had just been devastated by fire, were stained with the blood of a thousand innocent people. And to the shame of humanity, not only the mob, but also (at least morally) the most enlightened people of that time took part in this terrible massacre of innocent people. Narrating about this massacre of Christians, the enlightened Roman historian Tacitus did not fail to express several of the most vile slander against Christians, about which he obviously had only very vague ideas. “Nero, according to Tacitus, accused and tortured with the most exquisite punishments a class of people hated for their infamy, whom the common people called Christians. Christ, the founder of this sect, was executed during the reign of Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate, and the destructive superstition, suppressed for a while, began to arise again not only in Judea, where this evil was especially rooted, but even in the city, where everything terrible and shameful flocks from all sides and finds adherents. Arrogant contempt prevented Tacitus from becoming thoroughly acquainted with the faith and life of Christians, and speaking about them, he limits himself to only the most unfounded accusations against them. He speaks of their teaching as wild and shameful, although it breathed peace and purity; he accuses them of being animated by ineradicable hatred, while the fundamental truth of their teaching was universal love for mankind. The people, he says, called them “Christians”; although they, in his opinion, were innocent of the accusation leveled against them as rebellious arsonists, for which they were given a painful death, nevertheless, in his eyes, they represented such a class of criminal and vile sectarians who could be classified in the same category with the worst scum of Roman society. Then Tacitus says that first “those who admitted (to belonging to Christianity) were captured, and then, according to their testimony, a huge number of them were convicted not so much on charges of arson, but for their hatred of mankind.” Here, obviously, the famous Roman historian completely echoed the rumors of the street mob and, accusing Christians of misanthropy, clearly confused them with the Jews, whom he elsewhere accused precisely of being “hostile to everyone except themselves.” But at the same time it also gives a terrible picture of the persecution itself. “To execute them,” he says, all kinds of abuse were used. Covering them with the skins of wild animals, they were given to be eaten by stray dogs or nailed to crosses; thrown into the fire and burned after twilight in the form of night illumination. Nero offered his own gardens for these spectacles and organized a horse race in a chariot, mingling with the mob, dressed as a rider, or riding around in the middle of it. Hence, no matter how guilty the victims were and no matter how deserving of the worst punishments, a feeling of compassion began to appear towards them, since the people realized that they were sacrificed not for the sake of the public good, but only to satisfy the wild bloodthirstiness of an individual person.” Where the huge church of the apostle now rises. Peter, once there were the gardens of Nero. In these terrible days they were crowded with triumphant crowds of people, among whom the emperor rode in his frivolous humiliation, and on all sides innocent people died a slow death on shameful crosses. Along the alleys of these gardens, on dark autumn nights, terrible torches burned, under which the soil turned black and purple from streams of smoking blood: each of these living torches was a Christian martyr in his fiery robe. At the same time, in the amphitheater, in front of 22,000 spectators, hungry dogs were tearing to pieces some of the best and purest husbands and wives, wrapped with vile ingenuity in the skins of bears or wolves! So Nero baptized in the blood of martyrs a city that was to be the capital of an entire half of the world for centuries! Although the Apostle Paul avoided the main storm of persecution of Christians and could continue his work for some time to spread the Gospel and establish churches, his end was apparently approaching. The persecution raised against Christians in Rome found a sympathetic echo in many provincial cities, where various representatives of the Roman government, slavishly listening to the pulse of public life in Rome itself, obsequiously imitated it in the cities entrusted to their administration in order to show their zeal in the service of Caesar. It is not surprising that after this the position of Christians everywhere became more difficult and dangerous, since they began to arouse suspicion and enmity against themselves everywhere, and the latter became all the more daring because they could always count on the support of the authorities. Of course, the worst enemies of the apostle did not fail to take advantage of this. Paul, and upon his return from the distant west to the east, they took all measures to satisfy their hatred of him. When he visited Ephesus again, a certain coppersmith Alexander, probably one of those artisans and artists who had already thirsted for the blood of the apostle and caused terrible confusion in the city, pointed him out to the authorities as a dangerous enemy of public peace (2 Tim. 4:14-15). As a result of this, the apostle was again arrested and again sent to Rome in chains. There he no longer enjoyed such comparative freedom as he had during his first bonds, because Christians were looked upon as dangerous state criminals. But even in this difficult situation, the apostle continued his preaching to everyone who came into contact with him, and gained several more converts (2 Tim. 4:21). Meanwhile, the furious cry of the mob was still loudly heard through the streets of Rome, demanding the persecution of Christians. “To the lions of Christians!” - this cry has become, as it were, the motto of the street rabble since the time of the great fire. Therefore, the trial of the apostle could not be delayed for long. But it must be borne in mind that despite the excitement of passions, the Roman court retained its strict impartiality, for which it became famous throughout the world and which the apostle experienced more than once. Paul. The trial of his case had to be carried out according to all the rules of Roman legal proceedings. As a Roman citizen, the apostle could personally defend his innocence, and since there was not sufficient evidence to decide the case, the trial of the apostle was postponed for some time and the apostle had to go again to a dark prison to await his fate. From this prison he wrote his last letter, namely the second letter to his beloved Timothy. Reminding him to “heat up the gift of God which he received through the laying on of hands” (2 Tim. 1:6), the apostle repeated his warning against the obscene idle talk of such false teachers as Hymenaeus and Phillitus, and also predicted what other difficult days await the Church. Then, speaking of his position, the apostle directly declares that he is already becoming a victim, and the time of his departure has come. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. And now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all those who loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7–8). Pointing out his painful loneliness, since all his employees, with the exception of Luke, had gone to different countries, he asked Timothy to come to him as soon as possible and take Mark with him, who turned out to be necessary for his ministry. At the same time, the apostle punished Timothy that when he went, he would take with him the phelonion that he left in Troas with Carp, and books, especially leather ones. Then, warning Timothy against Alexander the coppersmith, who caused so much harm to the apostle, he ends by conveying greetings from his newly converted brethren - Evvul, Pud, Linus and Claudia. “The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen" (2 Tim. 4:22). It is unknown whether Timofey managed to catch the apostle. Pavla is still alive. His case was subjected to a new trial, and this time the majority of the judges, perhaps under pressure from the mob, were inclined to convict, and the ap. Paul was condemned to beheading. His martyrdom took place in the 13th year of the reign of Nero, precisely on June 29, which day is honored by the Church as the day of remembrance of the greatest of the apostles, along with his brother, the Apostle Peter, who suffered martyrdom on the same day as him. This is how the great apostle of the nations, who served the Gospel more than all other apostles, ended his life. It was truly a chosen vessel of God, in which were invested the greatest and most varied gifts. “God gave great gifts to many other saints,” says one recent biography, the ap. Paul, but no other saint of God has ever reached such heights in so many gifts, never received the gifts of the Holy Spirit in such a generous outpouring, or carried such an obvious seal of the Lord in his mortal body. During his life he was by no means inferior to the highest of the apostles, and certainly rises majestically above the greatest of all the saints who have ever since tried to follow his example in the service and devotion of the Lord." The messages he left behind became one of the inexhaustible sources of true knowledge of God and spiritual edification, and the Christian world rightly honors him as its greatest teacher, before whom all other subsequent figures in the field of God pale. The benches and general appearance of the Areopagus meeting place have been preserved to this day. You might be interested in: