Acts 13:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The believers had need of greater teachers. Observe how in Seleucia also they do not delay. They knew that its inhabitants could receive great benefit from the neighboring city. But from there they hastened to the more necessary works. Observe how well it is ordered that Paul does not preach in Jerusalem. There it was enough merely to hear that he had believed. They would not have listened to his preaching because of their hatred for him. Therefore he goes far away, where they did not know him.

Therefore he greatly desired to hear what new teaching Barnabas and Paul were preaching. Yet, drawn by religious needs that he himself did not clearly understand, he was caught in the nets of a deceiver, the Jewish magician Bar-Jesus. In the following period, these magicians were the strongest enemies of Christianity. Christianity threatened to destroy their power over the pagans. Therefore Bar-Jesus also used every effort to hinder the spread of the Gospel and to turn the proconsul against it. But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, pronounced the judgment that he deserved as a hater of the light. At the apostle's word, he lost his sight. This proof of the power of the new teaching against its enemies acted decisively upon the proconsul, and he believed in the Gospel.

Therefore, when preaching the Gospel in Gentile lands, the apostle always kept the rule of first proclaiming Christ to the Jews. So in the present case, when Barnabas and Saul arrived in Salamis, they opened their evangelical preaching in the Jewish synagogues. During this preaching they had John Mark with them (Acts 12:25) for service, that is, to carry out various commissions.

By the very fact of their island position, they had to live in closer contact with the pagan population there than on the mainland. Finally, the inhabitants of the island, Jews and Gentiles, were engaged in maritime trade. They had extensive connections with the surrounding mainlands, especially with the southern provinces of Asia Minor. From Cyprus, as we see in verse 13 and following, the apostles sailed there. For all these reasons, Cyprus presented one of the best points of departure to the Gentiles for the apostles Barnabas and Saul. To go from Antioch to Cyprus, they had to come to Seleucia, also called Pieria. This was a small port city at the mouth of the Orontes River, on which Antioch lay farther upstream. See the note on Acts 11:19. There they boarded a ship and sailed to Cyprus.

Moreover, a special love for their own people also moved them to this, and especially Barnabas, as a native of the island of Cyprus. Clearly there were many Jews in Salamis, because they had more than one synagogue there.

In these synagogues the apostles preached, probably in turn. Yet John Mark did not have equal participation, for it is noted that he was only there for service. This was considered no small honor.

Perhaps he was also there to perform baptisms for those converted (cf. Acts 10:48; 1 Cor 1:14). According to Artobolevsky, "The preaching of Barnabas and Saul was the first necessary shoot of the life of the Apostolic Church, rich in inner content.

It was a shoot that developed into a luxuriant tree and covered with its branches a large part of the Greco-Roman world of that time. Setting out for the work to which the Holy Spirit had called them, Barnabas and Saul preserved the most living and close connection with the Church (see Acts 14:27).

In the present case this connection was expressed in the blessing of the whole Church, of which the writer of Acts has just spoken."

As for the places mentioned here, Seleucia, Cyprus, and Salamis, Artobolevsky devotes many pages to their historical description, especially in the religious respect. We refer those interested in these places to those pages.

Among other things, he says here: "The route of the journey was undoubtedly formed first of all under the influence of the whole Church of Antioch and of the special relations that existed between that Church and Cyprus.

It is known that among the founders of the Church of Antioch themselves were Cypriots. When they came to Antioch, they spoke to the Greeks, preaching the Lord Jesus (Acts 11:20).

Among these Cypriots there may very well have been that Mnason of Cyprus who is called an early disciple (see Acts 21:16). In addition, Cyprus was the homeland of Barnabas (see Acts 4:36), who had labored so much for the further establishment of Christianity in Antioch.

Having given material help to the Church of Jerusalem, and now preparing to share its spiritual wealth with others, the Church of Antioch, by the feeling of natural gratitude alone, had first to direct its spiritual help there.

It had to turn to the place from which it had partly borrowed this wealth, the island of Cyprus. At that time, most of its population was still plunged into the darkness of the deepest paganism.

Barnabas, with his tenderness of heart, could not fail to suffer in soul for his fellow countrymen who sat in darkness. After taking leave of the brethren, Barnabas and Saul came to the neighboring city of Seleucia.

It was 120 stadia from Antioch and 40 from the mouth of the Orontes, a distance of two hours. The apostles reached Seleucia on foot.

Seleucia, like neighboring Antioch, was sunk in crude service to pagan deities and in the moral corruption corresponding to it. Around 160 years before the Nativity of Christ, Jews flowed into this place.

According to talmudic laws, in every place where up to ten householders live, there must be a synagogue. Where there was no synagogue, there was a house of prayer (see Acts 16:13), or an open-air gathering place.

Such a place was usually by a river (see Acts 16:13; Ps 136:3-6). These places were well known to pagans and were often visited by them.

The brotherly love that animated all members of the community filled the soul of the pagan with reverence and instilled in it an involuntary disposition toward Judaism. Thus there arose a class of sympathizers with the Jews, about whom Tacitus complains and whom Juvenal mocks."