YCGL - Friday, June 21, 2024 - Day 9 - Wow! Philippi! Kavala! Thessaloniki! Am I Tired!!! - Draft

 If yesterday was a marathon travel day, today was a marathon sightseeing day.  Up at 6:45, breakfast at 7:15 and on the bus by 8:00, more or less.  too early for a vacation, that's for sure.  

Our first stop was Philippi.  It is about 100 miles east of Thessaloniki, about 2 hours driving with a stop halfway for a government-required stop for the bus driver.  Which was useful for us also.  Mike Rinehart took a selfie of us overlooking the Aegean Sea.

Philippi -  

Philippi is a large area.  It was an important city 2000 years ago, and to understand its significance, we need a little biblical history.  Paul, St. Paul, was an apostle of Christianity soon after Jesus died and rose again.  He would have been about Jesus' age, maybe a little younger, and did his significant travels in the years 37-62 or 64 CE.  His second missionary trip took him to Asia Minor, i.e., Turkey, and then, following a dream, to Greece.  He landed in Neopolis, now known as Kavala.  His first important stop was to Philippi.  

He would normally go to Jewish Synagogues and preach to the Jews and those interested in Judaism  about Jesus' life, death and resurrection.  However, there was not a synagogue in Philippi.  So, on the sabbath, he went to the nearby river where people gathered to wash and he started preaching there.  One person he influenced was Lydia, a woman of some means because she was a merchant in purple cloth, made  a rare and expensive dye at that time.  Eventually, he baptized Lydia and her household, the first believer in European soil was a woman of means.  It is likely then that Paul was able to start a small church in her home and work from there.  

Our first stop was at the site generally considered to be where Paul baptized Lydia.  The site is outside the city walls and upstream from Philippi.  We got there early enough that we were the only people there.  We had a brief reaffirmation of baptism ceremony along the bank of the stream lead by Pastor Dave Hansen and Bishop Mike Rinehart.  

Dave Hansen

                   Our Group                                                           A small Shrine to Lydia

                                        An Orthodox church at the site

A mosaic of Paul and Lydia

The Acropolis of Philippi

The area is huge, probably 40 acres or so.

Site of 4th century Christian church