Acts 20:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In the spring, around Pascha of the year 58 or 59, Paul left Corinth. Some of his companions crossed over to Troas before him (Acts 20:4-5). Paul spent Pascha in Philippi and took Luke from there, whom he had previously left there. He spent a week in Troas to make up for the shortness of his previous stay there, which had been caused by his desire to learn quickly the state of the Corinthian Church (2 Cor 2:12). There, on the first day of the week, he was present at the Church's worship and conversed with the brethren in a house. Providence, seeing the need to confirm the faithful in the teaching they had received and to spread it among the Gentiles, opened an occasion for the divine power active in the Apostle to show itself most strikingly.

After the riot ceased, Paul took leave of the Ephesian Christians, departed, and came to Macedonia. There he visited the Churches he had founded earlier and gave the faithful abundant instruction. From there the Apostle Paul sent the Second Epistle to Corinth. From Macedonia he went for the same purpose to Hellas, or Achaia. The Apostle remained there for three months. At this time, probably in Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans. It was intended to precede his personal coming to Rome, where he planned to go during his proposed fourth journey (Acts 19:21). A disturbance raised against him by the Jews forced him to leave Greece, and he directed his way toward Syria. The more convenient and shorter route there was by sea.

Having completed his ministry in Corinth and gathered a considerable alms for the suffering Christians of the holy city, the Apostle Paul resolved to visit Jerusalem once more, specifically for the feast of Pascha. He wished to sail directly from Corinth by ship to Syria. But on the eve of departure his co-workers discovered a base plot by the Jews. Its aim was to destroy the Apostle during the sea voyage, which was very easy for them because of their connections with sailors and direct bribery. Therefore the Apostle Paul was forced to go by land through Macedonia, accompanied by his friends and fellow ministers. He spent Pascha in Philippi in the peaceful and loving circle of his disciples and co-workers. Among them again was the chronicler of his activity, St. Luke. Only after this did he sail to Asia and stop in Troas for a week's rest.

On this return journey through Macedonia he was accompanied as far as Asia by many of his disciples and companions, seven in all. Three were Macedonians by birth, and four were natives of Asia Minor. One of them was a Berean (Acts 17:10), from Berea, the first city to which Paul had to come after crossing from Achaia into Macedonia. This disciple's name was Sopater, son of Pyrrhus. He may be the same man whom the Apostle mentions in the Epistle to the Romans (Acts 16:21). The two other Macedonians were Thessalonians (Acts 17:1 and following): Aristarchus, mentioned above (Acts 19:29), and Secundus, otherwise unknown from the apostolic writings.

The companions of the Apostle Paul were partly men of Asia Minor, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus, and partly Macedonians, Sopater, Aristarchus, and Secundus. Some of them accompanied Paul afterward as well, such as Trophimus to Jerusalem (see Acts 21:29), Aristarchus to Rome (see Acts 27:2), and Timothy almost everywhere. Despite their different origins, they were all firmly devoted to the Apostle. He loved them warmly and spoke of them with deep sympathy, especially of Timothy (see Rom 16:21). He did not forget Tychicus (see Eph 6:21), Trophimus (see 2 Tim 4:20), or Sopater (see Rom 16:21).