And upon the Sabbath day, we went forth without the gate by a river side, where it seemed that there was prayer: and sitting down, we spoke to the women that were assembled.
τη τε ημερα των σαββατων εξηλθομεν εξω της πολεως παρα ποταμον ου ενομιζετο προσευχη ειναι και καθισαντες ελαλουμεν ταις συνελθουσαις γυναιξιν
8 Church Fathers comment on this verse
See how Paul again Judaizes, both with regard to the time and the custom. The Jews prayed not only where there was a synagogue, but also outside it, appointing a special place for this, as people who were fleshly. “On the Sabbath day,” when the people also customarily gather.
“By the river.” This happened mainly because, owing to the small number of Jews there, there was no synagogue. The especially devout among them gathered secretly outside the city by the river. As a more fleshly people, the Jews, where there was no synagogue, also prayed outside it, appointing some place for this. They prayed also on Sabbaths, when the people usually gathered.
You know that Holy Scripture reproaches certain men because they hasten untimely and do not await the counsel of the Master. Therefore it is best at all times to be guided by magnanimity and patience, and to have recourse to prayer. That we are bound to wait, and with prayer and hope to watch what the Lord will do, read in Acts, where Luke says: “We remained some days in the city” of Philippi (Acts 16:12). And that great things are ordered by the providence of God from small occasions, through persons of little account, he says this: “Sitting” outside the city at a place of prayer, “we spoke to the women who had gathered.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, listened to what they said; the Lord opened her heart” to understand accurately (Acts 16:13-14). Call to mind the obscure Samaritan woman mentioned in the Gospel, the Canaanite woman, the woman with an issue of blood, and Simon the leper. Later, Simon the tanner, who received the great Peter into his house, served as a small occasion for the divine preaching in Joppa before great Caesarea in Palestine. He was honored with divine praises, since he too opened the door of salvation to many. Before the time of divine testing, we must not hastily compel God to show His wondrous works to all. Rather, we must endure and await the good pleasure and will from above. Hear attentively what the Master Christ says about this to His disciples: “Remain in Jerusalem, and do not depart from there, but wait for the promise” (Acts 1:4). When you are counted worthy of it, then begin the teaching and the signs. Those who were with the holy Apostle Paul were “forbidden by” the worshipful “Spirit” for a time “to speak the word in Asia” and in Bithynia (Acts 16:6).
The first Macedonian city in which they stayed was Philippi. The number of Jews living there was not so great that they could have a synagogue of their own. Perhaps there were only proselytes there. For prayers, for the performance of sacred rites, and for the necessary purifications, they had a tree-lined area by the river, the so-called προσευχή. Although the kinds of instruction given in Jewish synagogues were not offered there, on Sabbaths the proselytes, and especially the female proselytes, gathered for prayer. Among them Paul could find people ready to receive what they would hear from him. On Saturday morning he went with his companions to the river and entered into conversation on pious subjects with the women of the city who had gathered for prayer.
His words made an impression on the heart of Lydia, a merchant woman from Thyatira, a Lydian city. After the divine service had been completed, she was baptized by them with her whole household and gave them lodging in her house. From Lydia’s household Christianity spread in Philippi. Since there were no Jews in this city, or very few, Christianity met no obstacle from that side. Perhaps, without arousing any persecution, it would have won still more adherents, had not the avarice of certain pagans risen against the apostle when his preaching touched it. Was this not a foreshadowing that the Church in Europe would suffer most of all from the pagans? Tertullian writes in de jejun., ch. 16: iudaicum certe jeiunium ubique celebratur, qunm amissis templis per omnc litus quocunque in aperto aliquando jam preces ad coelum mittant.
The work of Gospel preaching began successfully here. A wealthy woman named Lydia soon turned to faith in Christ and offered the preachers her house as a place to stay. But the expulsion of a divining spirit from a servant girl brought upon Paul and Silas the hatred of her masters, who profited from her divinations. They seized the preacher-wonderworkers and dragged them to the marketplace before the authorities. The authorities gave them many blows and, without trial, threw them into prison (verses 13-23).
Its population consisted of Roman settlers and Greeks. There were also some Jews among them, but so few that they did not even have a synagogue. They had only a house of prayer outside the city by the river.
On the Sabbath day, the day of the synagogue assemblies of the Jews (Acts 13:14 and note). Outside the city, by the river: this does not mean the large river Strymon, which was at least a day’s journey from the city. It means some small stream, such as the Gangas, or another stream in that district rich in brooks and rivulets. Where, according to custom, there was a house of prayer: more precisely, a place of prayer, where people gathered for prayer. Nothing indicates that this was a synagogue, since the author of Acts would have called it that, as usual. Probably it was a place where, for lack of a synagogue and the regular assemblies held there, the local Jews were accustomed to gather for common prayer and other divine-service exercises.
“According to custom” does not mean that Jewish places of prayer were everywhere usually outside cities by rivers. It refers only to the local custom of the Philippian Jews, who gathered outside the city by the river. In such places buildings were sometimes erected. Sometimes they were simply open places where people customarily gathered, as seems to have been the case here. “The Jews prayed not only where there was a synagogue, but also outside it, appointing a special place for this” (Chrysostom). The Philippian Jews were probably accustomed to gather for prayer by or near the river because it was more convenient there to perform the customary washings and purifications before prayer. Sitting down, they spoke, and so forth: it seems that the Jewish community in Philippi was very small, perhaps for this reason having no synagogue. It consisted chiefly of women, perhaps women married to pagans (v. 1 and note). At least no men are mentioned in this assembly, and probably there were none. This is also indicated, and for the same reason, by the fact that Paul and his companions did not deliver an open and rather extended discourse, as was customary in crowded synagogue assemblies. Rather, sitting down, they spoke and held a private mutual conversation with the women gathered there.
The preaching of the apostles in the city of Philippi began near the usual place where the Jews gathered for prayer, outside the city by the river.
Before others, Lydia believed, a seller of purple goods from the city of Thyatira. From there she brought precious Lydian fabrics, chiefly dyed red, that is, purple. She was a proselyte.
In general, there were evidently not very many Jews there. Therefore the apostles did not deliver solemn speeches there, but spoke simply, sitting on the bank of the stream.
Yet this conversation was such that Lydia's heart was opened to hear the apostles as if hearing the Lord Himself.
"See," says Saint John Chrysostom, "how Paul enters into communion with the Jews both according to time and place. See how far he is from pride.
"She was a woman, and moreover of no noble rank, as is clear from her trade. But see what love of wisdom was in her.
"First, it is said that she worshiped God. Then it says that she invited the apostles to her home. And when she was baptized, she and her household.
"Notice how she persuaded all her household. Then consider her prudence, how she entreats the apostles, and how full her words are of humility and wisdom."
Lydia belonged to the best people of paganism. Seeking for her soul more substantial nourishment than the religious tales of the pagans, she became a proselyte of Judaism.
She could have become acquainted with Judaism even in her homeland, for there was also a church there, as is clear from the Apocalypse (see Rev 11:18).
In the apostle's words she found answers to the questions whose resolution was dearest to her. The history of the Messiah that was communicated to her explained the history of her own heart.
It also laid the beginning of a new life. It is no wonder if all her household were also proselytes.
Afterward they proved so prepared for Christianity that they immediately wished to receive Christian baptism as soon as it was offered.
Note. In verses 10, 11, 12, 13, and others in this chapter and those that follow, the writer often speaks of the apostles with the word "we."
This is usually explained to mean that the writer of Acts here acknowledges himself to be acting together with the others. It follows that he was a direct eyewitness of what is described here.
But some Western scholars draw other conclusions from this. For example, they suppose that the writer had other sources for all the following chapters.
The falsity of this conclusion is refuted from every side in a special study. Here are some of its data: "Writers do not always use the connective and other particles desired by criticism.
"To infer from this a duality of writers is at least risky. We see that a connection exists between the sections with 'we' and the neighboring sections, an internal logical connection.
"The writer of Acts passes very skillfully from narration in the third person to narration in the person of 'we,' and back again."
In both parts the writer of Acts often uses the same expressions, such as "a considerable time," "many days," and others.
If one looks more closely at the sections with "we," one can discern in them the same sacred tone that prevails in the first part.
Analysis of the contents of the sections with "we," in relation to the preceding part of Acts, speaks convincingly for the unity and complete reliability of the writer of Acts.
In the narratives of the second part concerning events in Miletus (20:16-38), Jerusalem (21:15-40), and Rome (28:14 and following), "we" appears only at the beginning.
Then the account concerns one apostle. The expression "we" would have been wholly out of place there.
It is different when the writer of Acts himself participates in a certain event and actively experiences it. There "we" is entirely understandable and fitting.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 21 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS