“To the
present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten,
and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we
bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been
made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now” (1
Corinthians 4:11-13).
In the first letter to Corinthians, Apostle Paul
states that he has worked on preaching the Name of Jesus Christ more than
anyone else has. From the Bible, we know about four missionary journeys of
Apostle Paul, during which he and his followers visited many cities and
countries; they came across many Roman provinces, proclaiming Christ’s name
both to Hellenes and to Hebrews. However, since Apostle Paul worked on
preaching the Holy Gospel more than others did, he consequently became the one who suffered the
most. From the Book of Acts, written by Apostle and Evangelist Luke, who
was Apostle Paul’s follower, we can learn about all the sufferings he faced on
his way.
Apostle Paul writes: “I am more: in labors more
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths
often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times
I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a
night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the
Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2
Corinthians 11:23-27).
As we can see, Apostle Paul suffered for
his Gospel preaching from various persecutions more than one time. For example, in the city of
Lystra, in spite of the healing of the person who was sick from his very birth,
the Hebrews coming from Antioch and Konya, where Paul had preached as well,
managed to persuade the locals to reject the teaching of Jesus Christ. Apostle
Paul was stoned for his preaching and when they thought he was dead, they
brought him out of the city. But the Apostle survived. Despite the threat
of death, he continued his missionary trip.
A little later, after the events of the Apostolic
Council, Apostle Paul began to spread the teaching of the Gospel on the
territory of Europe. When he came to the city of Philippi, he converted and
baptized one woman and the members of her family. Then he casted a mantic
spirit out of a servant, who was following him for many days and shouting various predictions. The masters of the servant, who had much benefit from her
predictions, grabbed Paul and his disciple Silas and brought them to the city square.
There they ripped off the apostles’ clothes, beat them up with sticks and then threw
them in a dungeon.
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| The beating of Apostles Paul and Silas |
It is an incredible fact that although Apostle Paul and Silas
had taken so many hits, were covered with wounds and enchained in the prison,
they were singing and praising God for the whole night and all the prisoners were listening to them. The Book of Acts tells us what happened then:
“Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison
were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains
were loosed” (Acts 16:26). We can draw an interesting analogy between the
imprisonments of Apostles Peter and Paul. Apostle Peter trusted in God; he was
quietly sleeping and was released by an angel so that no one noticed his
disappearance. Peter even thought that what was happening was just a dream.
What concerns Paul and Silas, they were full of enthusiasm. Perhaps, they were
so happy that they had suffered for the Name of Christ, that they began to
praise God, and all the prisoners heard their prayers and became the witnesses
of the miracle. However, the main miracle happened to warden who saw that all
the doors of the dungeon were open and was going to kill himself. Paul did not
let him do this and the person, who was on the edge of death, believed in
Christ and “immediately he and all his family were baptized… and he rejoiced,
having believed in God with all his household” (Acts 16:34-35).
That imprisonment would not be the last one for
Apostle Paul. Many of his letters to various churches and disciples were
written exactly when he was in chains. No matter how much he suffered on his
way, he only became stronger and brought him even more glory both among
Christ’s disciples and among other people in the world. Apostle Paul, as well
as Apostle Peter and other martyrs, were
ready to face any sufferings because of their love towards the One Who “will
wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow,
nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed
away” (Revelation 21:4).
What St.
John Chrysostom writes in his works:
Let us compare, beloved, with that night these nights
of ours, with their revellings, their drunkenness, and wanton excesses, with
their sleep which might as well be death, their watchings which are worse than
sleep. For while some sleep without sense or feeling, others lie awake to
pitiable and wretched purpose, plotting deceits, anxiously thinking about
money, studying how they may be revenged upon those who do them wrong,
meditating enmity, reckoning up the abusive words spoken during the day: thus
do they rake up the smouldering embers of wrath, doing things intolerable.
Mark how Peter slept. Both there, it was wisely
ordered (that he should be asleep) ; for the Angel came to him, and it behoved
that none should see what happened ; and on the other hand it was well ordered
here (that Paul should be awake), in order that the keeper of the prison might
be prevented from killing himself. "And suddenly there was a great
earthquake". And why did no other miracle take place? Because this was, of
all others, the thing sufficient for his conversion, seeing he was personally
in danger : for it is not so much miracles that overpower us, as the things which
issue in our own deliver- ance. That the earthquake should not seem to have
come of itself, there was this concurrent circumstance, bearing witness to it:
"The doors were opened, and all their bonds were loosed." And it
appears in the night-time; for the Apostles did not work for display, but for
men's salvation. "And the keeper of the prison", etc. The keeper was
not an evil-disposed man; that he thrust them into the inner prison, was
because of his having received such a command, not of himself. Why did Paul not
suddenly call upon him? The man' was all in a tumult of perturbation.
Reflections
in the Holy Church tradition:
With a fiery zeal, Paul preached the Gospel everywhere
from the borders of Arabia to Spain, among the Jews and among the Gentiles. As
horrible as his sufferings were, so much more was his superhuman patience.
Throughout all the years of his preaching Paul, from day to day, hung as one on
a weak thread between life and death. Since he fulfilled all days and nights
with labor and suffering for Christ, since he organized the Church in many
places and since he attained such a degree of perfection he was able to say:
“It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me”. (The Synaxarion on
the 29th of June)
To be
continued…
CONVERSATION