25th January is the day of fortelling vegatation and crop and it is the day when half of the winter is over. If this day is a nice one with sunshine the rest of the winter will be cold but the crop will be good. But if the day of Paul is windy the crop will be poor. If this day is foggy animals will day. But today really cold weather arrived in Hungary. The story of Saint Paul is below: 25th January is the name-day of Paul. (Saint Paul). This day is called in Hungary: The change of Paul or the Turn Around of Paul because Apotle Paus used to be a severe persecutor of Christianity but at those times his name was still Saul. He wanted to be sent to Damascus and gather all the Christians while on his way to Damascus Jesus Christ appeared for him and suddenly his attitude changed. He became an ambitious Christian and converter. Although when he saw Jesus he had turned blind from that incredibly sharp and glittering light that the appearance of Jesus emanated later he got his eyesight back micaculously when he had himself crucified. After his conversion, Paul went to Damascus, where Acts states he was healed of his blindness and baptized by Ananias of Damascus.[43] Paul says that it was in Damascus that he barely escaped death.[2 Cor. 11:32] Paul also says that he then went first to Arabia, and then came back to Damascus.[Gal. 1:17][44] Pauls trip to Arabia is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and some suppose he actually traveled to Mt. Sinai for meditations in the desert.[45][46][47] He describes in Galatians how three years after his conversion he went to Jerusalem. There he met James and stayed with Simon Peter for 15 days.[Gal. 1:13-24] Afterwards, Paul proclaims that Mount Sinai is located in Arabia.[Gal. 4:24-25] Paul asserted that he received the Gospel not from an apostle, but directly by the revelation of Jesus Christ.[Gal. 1:11-12] Paul said he was almost totally independent from the Jerusalem community.[3]:pp.316–320 He appeared eager to bring material support to Jerusalem from the various budding Gentile churches that he planted. In his writings, Paul used the persecutions he endured, in terms of physical beatings and verbal assaults, to avow proximity and union with Jesus and as a validation of his teaching. Pauls narrative in Galatians states that 14 years after his conversion he went again to Jerusalem.[Gal. 2:1-10] It is not completely known what happened during these unknown years, but both Acts and Galatians provide some partial details.[48] At the end of this time, Barnabas went to find Paul and brought him back to Antioch. [Acts 11:26] When a famine occurred in Judea, around 45–46,[49] Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Jerusalem to deliver financial support from the Antioch community.[50] According to Acts, Antioch had become an alternative center for Christians following the dispersion of the believers after the death of Stephen. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.[Acts 11:26] First missionary journey[edit] The author of the Acts arranges Pauls travels into three separate journeys. The first journey,[Acts 13-14] led initially by Barnabas,[51] takes Paul from Antioch to Cyprus then southern Asia Minor (Anatolia), and back to Antioch. In Cyprus, Paul rebukes and blinds Elymas the magician[Acts 13:8-12] who was criticizing their teachings. From this point on, Paul is described as the leader of the group.[52] They sail to Perga in Pamphylia. John Mark leaves them and returns to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas go on to Pisidian Antioch. On Sabbath they go to the synagogue. The leaders invite them to speak. Paul reviews Israelite history from life in Egypt to King David. He introduces Jesus as a descendant of David brought to Israel by God. He said that his team came to town to bring the message of salvation. He recounts the story of Jesus death and resurrection. He quotes from the Septuagint[53] to assert that Jesus was the promised Christos who brought them forgiveness for their sins. Both the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles invited them to talk more next Sabbath. At that time almost the whole city gathered. This upset some influential Jews who spoke against them. Paul used the occasion to announce a change in his mission which from then on would be to the Gentiles.[Acts 13:13-48] Antioch served as a major Christian center for Pauls evangelizing.[3] Second missionary journey[edit] Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus sermon in Athens, by Raphael, 1515. This sermon addressed early issues in Christology.[54][55] Paul left for his second missionary journey from Jerusalem, in late Autumn 49,[56] after the meeting of the Council of Jerusalem where the circumcision question was debated. On their trip around the Mediterranean sea, Paul and his companion Barnabas stopped in Antioch where they had a sharp argument about taking John Mark with them on their trips. The book of Acts said that John Mark had left them in a previous trip and gone home. Unable to resolve the dispute, Paul and Barnabas decided to separate; Barnabas took John Mark with him, while Silas joined Paul. Paul and Silas initially visited Tarsus (Pauls birthplace), Derbe and Lystra. In Lystra, they met Timothy, a disciple who was spoken well of, and decided to take him with them. The Church kept growing, adding believers, and strengthening in faith daily.[Acts 16:5] In Philippi, Paul cast a spirit of divination out of a servant girl, whose masters were then unhappy about the loss of income her soothsaying provided. (Acts 16:16–24) They turned the city against the missionaries, and Paul and Silas were put in jail. After a miraculous earthquake, the gates of the prison fell apart and Paul and Silas could have escaped but remained; this event led to the conversion of the jailor.(Acts 16:25–40) They continued traveling, going by Berea and then to Athens where Paul preached to the Jews and God-fearing Greeks in the synagogue and to the Greek intellectuals in the Areopagus. Around 50–52, Paul spent 18 months in Corinth.[15] The reference in Acts to Proconsul Gallio helps ascertain this date (cf. Gallio inscription).[15] In Corinth, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila who became faithful believers and helped Paul through his other missionary journeys. The couple followed Paul and his companions to Ephesus, and stayed there to start one of the strongest and most faithful churches at that time. In 52, the missionaries sailed to Caesarea to greet the Church there and then traveled north to Antioch where they stayed for about a year before leaving again on their third missionary journey.[57] Third missionary journey[edit] Paul began his third missionary journey by traveling all around the region of Galatia and Phrygia to strengthen, teach and rebuke the believers. Paul then traveled to Ephesus, an important center of early Christianity, and stayed there for almost three years. He performed numerous miracles, healing people and casting out demons, and he apparently organized missionary activity in other regions.[58] Paul left Ephesus after an attack from a local silversmith resulted in a pro-Artemis riot involving most of the city.[15] During his stay in Ephesus, Paul wrote four letters to the church in Corinth admonishing them for their pagan behavior.[39] Paul went through Macedonia into Achaea and made ready to continue on to Syria, but he changed his plans and traveled back through Macedonia because of Jews who had made a plot against him. At this time (56–57), it is likely that Paul visited Corinth for three months.[15] In Romans 15:19 Paul wrote that he visited Illyricum, but he may have meant what would now be called Illyria Graeca,[59] which lay in the northern part of modern Albania, but was at that time a division of the Roman province of Macedonia.[60] Paul and his companions visited other cities on their way back to Jerusalem such as Philippi, Troas, Miletus, Rhodes, and Tyre. Paul finished his trip with a stop in Caesarea where he and his companions stayed with Philip the Evangelist before finally arriving at Jerusalem.[61] [Acts 21:8-10] [21:15] Journey to Rome and beyond[edit] After Pauls arrival in Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey, he became involved in a serious conflict with some Asian Jews (most likely from Roman Asia). The conflict eventually led to Pauls arrest and imprisonment in Caesarea for two years. Finally, Paul and his companions sailed for Rome where Paul was to stand trial for his alleged crimes. Acts states that Paul preached in Rome for two years from his rented home while awaiting trial. It does not state what happened after this time, but some sources state that Paul was freed by Nero and continued to preach in Rome, even though that seems unlikely based on Neros historical cruelty to Early Christians. It is possible that Paul also traveled to other countries like Spain and Britain.[62] See His final days spent in Rome section below. Among the writings of the early Christians, Clement of Rome said that Paul was Herald (of the Gospel of Christ) in the West, and that he had gone to the extremity of the west.[63][64] Chrysostom indicated that Paul preached in Spain: For after he had been in Rome, he returned to Spain, but whether he came thence again into these parts, we know not.[65] Cyril of Jerusalem said that Paul, fully preached the Gospel, and instructed even imperial Rome, and carried the earnestness of his preaching as far as Spain, undergoing conflicts innumerable, and performing Signs and wonders.[66] The Muratorian fragment mentions the departure of Paul from the city [of Rome] [5a] (39) when he journeyed to Spain. And this is how his conversion happened as it is described: Pauls conversion can be dated to by his reference to it in one of his letters.[15] There are three accounts of his conversion (Greek: μετάνοια metanoia) in the Acts of the Apostles: Acts 9:1-31, 22:1-22, and 26:9-24. It took place on the road to Damascus where he reported having experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus. The account in Acts 9:4 says that he [Saul] fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Saul replied in 9:5, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (The account in Acts 22:9 says his companions saw the light, but did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to Saul.)[39] From that experience he was blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. His sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus. This life-changing experience and revelation convinced Paul that God indeed had chosen Jesus to be the promised messiah. Luke, the author of Acts of the Apostles, likely learned of his conversion from Paul, from the church in Jerusalem, or from the church in Antioch.[39] Reza Aslan states that “The story of Paul’s dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus is a bit of propagandistic legend created by the evangelist Luke; Paul himself never recounts the story of being blinded by the sight of Jesus.”[40] In Galatians 1:16 he writes that God was pleased to reveal his son to me. In 1 Corinthians 15:8, in listing the order in which Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, Paul says last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.(NASB) These two passages have been interpreted to refer to his road-to-Damascus conversion experience which he elsewhere had described as the resurrected Jesus appearing to him, but in none of his own epistles does he mention that profound epiphany.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 08:41:23 +0000
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