Photos - Notes

Philippi was an important city, in many respects, when the Apostle Paul visited it. He had been waiting for divine direction at Troas of Asia Minor with his companions in the ministry of the gospel, when the Macedonian call came. Philippi was about fifteen kilometers inland from Neapolis, the port town, where the Apostle disembarked. From Luke's narration one should think they spent no time at Neapolis, today's important and thriving Greek city in Macedonia called Kavala. God had prepared a harvest for His servants at Philippi and in that direction they moved without delay. Philippi's previous name was Crenides (Krenides, place of small fountains). As for the name Philippi the most prevalent aspect is that it was given it by Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Luke tells us, at the time, it was a colony, which meant that a lot of Romans lived there. The first thing Paul did upon setting foot at Philippi, as he did in every town or place he went, was to ask if there was a synagogue there and how could they find it. It seems the number of Jews and Proselytes was not enough to have and maintain a synagogue, but he was told somewhere by the little river Aggistas, every sabbath day, some women met for prayer. That was it! Right away the group made for the place, where, indeed, found some women met for that purpose. Among them was the now well-known Lydia. She was from Thyatira, a city in Asia Minor known from the book of Revelation. What had brought Lydia and her family to Philippi we are not told. Some other information about her that Luke gives is that she was a seller of purple, most probably, of a deep red dyeing substance coming from a species of mollusks. Paul spoke of Christ to those women and what we read about Lydia is marvelous. In the first place, she was a Proselyte, of those called "Worshippers of God", otherwise she wouldn't have been there. Then Luke goes on to say, she heard us:"Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things spoken of Paul." (Acts 16:14). So Lydia and her household believed and were baptized, thus becoming the firstfruits of one of the most spiritual and soul-winning churches. There followed important and significant events, as the deliverance of that damsel possessed with a spirit of divination and the subsequent imprisonment of Paul and Silas. The miraculous earthquake resulting in the salvation of the jailer and his household and the founding of the blessed church known to us from Paul's relevant Epistle to the Philippians.The picture on the left shows the modified place where, according to tradition, Lydia's baptism was performed.