FEAST
DAY – JANUARY 25
St
Paul's Early life
In the time of Paul, Tarsus, the home of famous Stoic
philosophers, was on the main trade route between East and West. Like many of the Jews
there Paul inherited Roman citizenship, probably granted by the Romans as a reward for
mercenary service in the previous century. This fact explains his two names. He used his
Jewish name, Saul, within the Jewish community and his Roman surname, Paul, when speaking
Greek. Though he had a strict Jewish upbringing, he also grew up with a good command of
idiomatic Greek and the experience of a cosmopolitan city, which fitted him for his
special vocation to bring the gospel to the Gentiles (non-Jews). At some stage he became
an enthusiastic member of the Pharisees,
a Jewish sect that promoted purity and fidelity to the Law of Moses. According to Acts, he
received training as a rabbi in Jerusalem under Gamaliel I. His knowledge of the Law and
of rabbinic methods of interpreting it is evident in his letters. Like most rabbis he
supported himself with a manual trade--tent making--probably learned from his father. It
is clear that he never met Jesus while in Jerusalem, if, indeed, he was there before the
Crucifixion. He learned enough about Jesus and his followers, however, to regard the
Christian movement as a threat to the Pharisaic Judaism that he had embraced so eagerly.
Thus he first appears on the scene of history as a persecutor of the newly founded church.
Serious persecution of Christians first arose in
connection with converts among the Hellenists (Greek-speaking
Jews) in Jerusalem. When one of them, Stephen, was stoned to death, the murderers
"laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul" (Acts 7:58). At
that time Paul shared the sense of outrage aroused by the Hellenist converts. They had not
only proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah and heavenly Lord, a man who had been crucified and
therefore accursed by God (Deut. 21:23), but they also claimed that the temple and its
sacrifices were superseded by the sacrificial death of Jesus and that therefore the Law
could be disregarded (the subject of another curse, Deut. 27:26). Paul thus joined in the
effort to stamp out the Christian movement. The Hellenist converts fled to the foreign
cities where they had family connections, while the original Aramaic-speaking group in
Jerusalem kept a low profile to avoid giving provocation.
St Paul’s Conversion (Acts 9:1-20)
"In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats
of murder against the followers of the Lord. He
went to the High Priest and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in
Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would
be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.
As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly
a light from the sky flashed round him. He
fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” he asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you persecute,” the voice
said,. “But get up and go into the city,
where you will be told what you must do.”
The men who were travelling with Saul had stopped, not
saying a word; they heard the voice but could not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground and opened his eyes,
but could not see a thing. So they took him
by the hand and led him into Damascus. For
three days he was not able to see, and during that time he did not eat or drink anything.
There was a Christian in Damascus named Ananias. He had a vision, in which the Lord said to him,
“Ananias!”
“Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord said to him, “Get ready and go to
Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying, and in a vision he has seen a man
named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he might see again.”
Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me
about this man and about all the terrible things he has done to your people in Jerusalem. And he has come to Damascus with authority from
the chief priests to arrest all who worship you.”
The Lord said to him, “Go, because I have chosen
him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel. And I myself will show him all hat he must
suffer for my sake.”
So Ananias went, entered the house where Saul was, and
placed his hands on him. ‘Brother Saul,”
he said, “the Lord has sent me – Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road
as you were coming here. He sent me so that
you might see again and be filled with the Holly Spirit.” At once something like fish scales fell from Saul’s
eyes, and he was able to see again. He stood
up and was baptized; and after he had eaten, his strength came back.
Saul stayed for a few days with the believers in
Damascus. He went straight to the synagogues
and began to preach that Jesus was the Son of God."
| Reading |
From a homily by Saint John
Chrysostom, bishop |
| For love of Christ, Paul bore every
burden |
Paul, more than anyone else, has
shown us what man really is, and in what our nobility consists, and of
what virtue this particular animal is capable. Each day he aimed ever
higher; each day he rose up with greater ardour and faced with new
eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in
the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead.
When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be
glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said:
I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he
called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived
immense profit from them.
Thus, amid the traps set for him by his enemies, with exultant heart he
turned their every attack into a victory for himself; constantly beaten,
abused and cursed, he boasted of it as though he were celebrating a
triumphal procession and taking trophies home, and offered thanks to God
for it all: Thanks be to God who is always victorious in us! This is why
he was far more eager for the shameful abuse that his zeal in preaching
brought upon him than we are for the most pleasing honours, more eager
for death than we are for life, for poverty than we are for wealth; he
yearned for toil far more than others yearn for rest after toil. The one
thing he feared, indeed dreaded, was to offend God; nothing else could
sway him. Therefore, the only thing he really wanted was always to
please God.
The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew
himself to be loved by Christ. Enjoying this love, he considered himself
happier than anyone else; were he without it, it would be no
satisfaction to be the friend of principalities and powers. He preferred
to be thus loved and be the least of all, or even to be among the
damned, than to be without that love and be among the great and honoured.
To be separated from that love was, in his eyes, the greatest and most
extraordinary of torments; the pain of that loss would alone have been
hell, and endless, unbearable torture.
So too, in being loved by Christ he thought of himself as possessing
life, the world, the angels, present and future, the kingdom, the
promise and countless blessings. Apart from that love nothing saddened
or delighted him; for nothing earthly did he regard as bitter or sweet.
Paul set no store by the things that fill our visible world, any more
than a man sets value on the withered grass of the field. As for
tyrannical rulers or the people enraged against him, he paid them no
more heed than gnats. Death itself and pain and whatever torments might
come were but child’s play to him, provided that thereby he might bear
some burden for the sake of Christ. |
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