The Transition of the Preaching of the Gospel of Christ to Europe
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council
Acts 20:16-18;28-36; John 17:1-13
Today, I would like to draw your attention to a passage from The Acts of the Holy Apostles, for the actions of the Apostle Paul and his companions--the Apostles Silas and Timothy, as well as the Apostle Luke--were of historical importance. This was a great turning point in the preaching of the Gospel, for it moved
a) From the east to the west, from Asia to Europe;
b) From preaching among the Jewish communities in different countries and cities, Apostle Paul and his companions moved on to preaching among the Greeks, and in general among non-Jews.
The starting point was Troas. This is the province where, in its time, Troy was once famous: referenced in The Aeneid of the Latin writer Virgil, and The Aeneid of Ivan Kotliarevsky. In the 1890s, archaeological excavations were conducted there by German scientists).
Some historians say that the Roman emperor Caesar wanted to move his capital from Rome to Troy (Troas in Greek) so that the capital would be on the border of Europe and Asia. But when St. Paul arrived in Troy with Timothy and Silas, he met for the first time with St. Luke (who is considered author of The Acts of the Holy Apostles). The apostles planned to go to the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor, but the Holy Spirit directed them to move to Macedonia, to Europe, to the west.
We read in The Acts of the Holy Apostles:
"After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:7-10)
And the arrival of ap. Paul with his companions to Philippi, the capital of Macedonia (Macedonia was a Greek province, there were no Slavs there at that time) was the starting point and when the word of God, the gospel, began to be preached in Europe.
Later, the apostle Paul went to the south of Greece, through Thessalonica to Athens, and preached the gospel word to the philosophers of Athens, among others. But the city of Philippi was the first place historically where the gospel of salvation in Christ Jesus was first preached in Europe.
The apostles stayed in Philippi for several days, preaching about the one God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The first person to believe in Christ as Saviour was a woman named Lydia, "She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God." (Acts 16:14)
The newly baptized woman considered it a great honour to have preachers of the Gospel in her house, and she asked them to stay in her home. As written in The Acts:
"And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’ So she persuaded us." (16:15).
The great theologian and researcher of the work of Ap. Paul draws attention to the fact that Christian women were among the last to remain at the cross on which Christ was crucified. They were the first to arrive at the tomb of the Lord after the resurrection of Jesus, and the woman Lydia was the first person in Europe to believe in Jesus Christ and be baptized.
I would also like to draw your attention to the words of Ap. Paul, with whom he addressed the Ephesians:
“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:29-30)
Many such wolves have arisen in our time: in sheep's clothing, hiding behind the name of Christ, the Bible, who want to lead our people away from the path of true Orthodox recognition of Christ the Lord with flattering words, to tear them away from the Church of salvation. It is important to emphasize this today, on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council (325 in Nicaea), which condemned the false teaching of Arius that Jesus Christ is not God. Today's scribes - the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses - also say the same thing.
At the aforementioned 1st Ecumenical Council, the first part of The Creed was drawn up, which sets forth the basic truths of the Christian faith on the basis of The Holy Scriptures - The Bible. The same basic truths of Christ's faith remain unchanged today and are the guiding principles for every Christian for life, until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
