Thomas Stearns Eliot begins his essay by stating his belief that the "attitudes and beliefs of Liberalism are destined to disappear". He bases this belief on his own analysis and observations of society. In fact, he says, they are "already disappearing". While I am not as optimistic as Eliot over the imminent demise of 'Liberalism' within Western society, I do share his belief in its ultimate end. Eliot points out that "out of Liberalism itself come philosophies which deny it." He sees a primary danger within the acceptance and promulgation of 'Liberalism' as a paramount philosophy for a society. He warns that ultimately it is a belief whereby "We are in danger of finding ourselves with nothing to stand for except a dislike of everything..." He analyses the dangers facing any society and concludes, "The more highly industrialized the country, the more easily a materialistic philosophy will flourish in it...the tendency of unlimited industrialism is to create bodies of men and women...detached from tradition, alienated from religion, and susceptible to mass suggestion..." As Liberalism takes hold of society more and more strongly, Eliot suggests the problem grows more rampant because of the liberal notion that religion is "a matter of private belief and of conduct in private life". This separation of religion and public life (rule of society), culminates in "the growth of an un-Christian society about us, its more obvious intrusion upon our lives, has been breaking down the comfortable distinction between public and private morality. The problem of leading a Christian life in a non-Christian society is now very present to us, and it is a very different problem from that of the accommodation between an Established Church and dissenters...It is the problem constituted by our implication in a network of institutions from which we cannot dissociate ourselves: institutions the operation of which appears no longer neutral, but non-Christian. And as for the Christian who is not conscious of his dilemma - and he is in the majority - he is becoming more and more de-Christianized by all sorts of unconscious pressure".
What is it that Eliot fears most? Most obvious is that he fears intolerance toward Christianity and a Christian minority. He can easily forsee persecution of this minority taking any of a number of forms. Interestingly enough, what he fears most is "it may turn out that the most intolerable thing for Christians is to be tolerated." What he means by this statement, I believe, is that a Christian minority, left without outright persecution, is left to cope on its own with the insideous pressures and persecutions that engender loss of faith among followers who are not steadfast in their faith and vigilant in their practice. He postulates, "We might, of course, merely sink into an apathetic decline: without faith, and therefore without faith in ourselves; without a philosophy of life, either Christian or pagan; and without art...a state of affairs in which we shall have regimentation and conformity, without respect for the needs of the individual soul; the puritanism of a hyhienic morality in the interest of efficiency; uniformity of opinion through propaganda, and art only encouraged when it flatters the official doctrines of the time." The only true recourse is that of the true Christian society. He projects, "That prospect involves, at least, discipline, inconvenience and discomfort".
Eliot suggests that one of the great faults of a society based solely on liberal principles is that of a lack of continuity and coherence in societal culture. Without such, there is little to differentiate between the educated and uneducated. he states, "In a negative liberal society you have no agreement as to there being any body of knowledge which any educated persons should have acquired at any particular time...A nation's system of education is much more important than its system of government". Education simply becomes, before long, synonymous with instruction. "The next step to be taken by the clericalism of secularism, is the inculcation of the political principles approved by the party in power". This is an attack on the individual and on individula freedoms. What are some of the signs? He points out, "people who consider it 'unnatural' and therefore repugnant, that a person of either sex should elect a life of celibacy, consider it perfectly 'natural' that families should be limited to one or two children. It would perhaps be more natural, as well as in better conformity with the Will of God, if there were more celibates and if those who were married had larger families." What lies at the heart of these discrepancies? He prognosticates, "a wrong attitude toward nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude towards God, and that the consequence is an inevitable doom". What is the only recourse, and way forward? "We need to know how to see the world as the Christian Fathers saw it; and the purpose of reascending to origins is that we should be able to return, with greater spiritual knowledge, to our own situation. We need to recover the sense of religious fear, so that it may be overcome by religious hope."
Friday, 27 July 2012
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
T. S. Eliot on Religion and Literature.
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1888. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 to attend Merton College, Oxford and became a British subject in 1927. In June, 1927 he converted to Anglicanism. He died in 1965 in London and was commemorated by the setting of a large stone on the floor in 'Poet's Corner' in Westminster Abbey in 1967. In 1965 his ashes were taken and placed in St. Michael's Church in East Coker, "the village from which his ancestors had emigrated to America. A wall plaque commemorates him with a quotation from his poem "East Coker, 'In my beginning is my end. In my end is my beginning.'"
He is well known as a writer in a number of areas: poetry, prose and drama. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.
Quote Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot
In 1935 Eliot wrote a remarkable essay titled 'Religion and Literature'. Reading it today, the essay is a fresh, vibrant and illuminating as it must have been some seventy-seven years ago. There is a two-fold purpose in this piece, to expound on the state of religion as he found it in his day, and to parlay his thoughts on this topic into a practical anaylsis of necessities facing mankind in exposing themselves to worldly pressures exerted insiduously through choices made in the field of literature.
Personal Comment:
Eliot says that readers today, particularly Christians, need to be acutely aware of two things - what they like, and what they 'ought' to like. "The two forms of self-consciousness, knowing what we are and what we ought to be, must go together..What I believe to incumbent upon all Christians is the duty of maintaining consciously certain standards and criteria of criticism over and above those applied by the rest of the world; and that by these criteria and standards everything that we read must be tested...the greater part of our current reading matter is written for us by people who have no real belief in a supernatural order...And a greater part of our reading matter is coming to be written by people who not only have no such belief, but are even ignorant of the fact that there are still people in the world so 'backward' or so 'eccentric' as to continue to believe." He feels that by applying Christian principles and standards to our literary choices (and I add in here musical, theatrical, tv and movies), we are in the advantageous position of being able to extract from it all what good it has to offer us. A great problem that a Christian should have with those who promote Secularism is, "they concern themselves only with changes of a temporal, material, and external nature; they concern themselves with morals only of a collective nature...but I think that we should all repudiate a morality which has no higher ideal to set before us than that." Secularism is a gospel of this world and of this world alone...It is simply that it repudiates, or is wholly ignoarant of, our most fundamental and important beliefs."
He is well known as a writer in a number of areas: poetry, prose and drama. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.
Quote Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot
Religion and Literature
In 1935 Eliot wrote a remarkable essay titled 'Religion and Literature'. Reading it today, the essay is a fresh, vibrant and illuminating as it must have been some seventy-seven years ago. There is a two-fold purpose in this piece, to expound on the state of religion as he found it in his day, and to parlay his thoughts on this topic into a practical anaylsis of necessities facing mankind in exposing themselves to worldly pressures exerted insiduously through choices made in the field of literature.
Blog Essay on T.S. Eliot
"The essay ‘Religion and Literature’ written by T.S. Eliot can be viewed as a reaction against the tradition of viewing a literary work from purely aesthetic point of view. Many critics, especially the New Critics, believed that literature is not to be valued for its ethical and theological significance. But T.S. Eliot held the opinion that only literary criticism was not sufficient. After a literary work has been viewed as a work of imagination, it should also be considered from ethical and theological point of view. It is all the more important in our age when there is no agreement on ethical and theological values. For ascertaining the greatness of a literary work, that work of imagination should be appreciated from ethical and theological angles.
Although literature has been judged from moral standards, yet it has been believed for a long time that there is no relationship between religion and literature. T.S. Eliot believes that there is and should be a relationship between the two. In his essay ‘Religion and Literature’ he has discussed the application of religion to literary criticism. According to Eliot the essay is not about religious literature, but he as a degression, mentions three types of religious literature. First, is the religious literature, which has literary qualities in it. For instance, the authorized version of the Bible or the works of Jeremy Taylor. Those persons, who describe Bible only as a literary work and talk of its influence on English literature, have been referred to as ‘parasites’. According to Eliot, Bible is to be considered as ‘word of God’. Secondly, he mentions devotional poetry. A devotional poet he says is not the one who treats the subject matter in the religious spirit, but the one who treats a part of the subject matter. Eliot considers poets like Spencer, Hopkins, Vaughan and Southwell as minor poets while Dante, Corneille and Racine as major poets. Thirdly, he states, are the works of authors who want to forward the cause of religion. These types of works come under propaganda, for instance, Chesterton’s ‘Man who was Thursday’ and ‘Father Brown’.
Eliot laments over the irrationality behind the separation of our literary and religious judgment. Exemplifying literature by the way of novel (as it has the effect upon the greatest numbers), he says this secularization has been a gradual process for the last three hundred years. Since Defoe the process has been continuous. The process can be divided into three phases. In the first phase fall the novels in which Faith is taken for granted and omitted from its picture of life. The author belonging to this phase are: Fielding and Thackeray. In the second phase novels, Faith is doubted, worried about and contested. It includes authors like George Eliot, George Meredith and Thomas Hardy. The third phase is the age in which we are living and authors included are all contemporary novelists except James Joyce.
This secularization is evident in the way a reader reads a novel – without caring for the effect it has upon one’s behavior. The common factor between religion and literature is behavior. Our religion imposes upon us ethics, judgment and criticism of ourselves, and our behavior with our fellow men. Literature too has an effect on our behavior. Whatever the intentions of the author, his works affect us wholly as human beings. Even if we read a literary work purely for aesthetic purposes (keeping our ethics and morality in a separate compartment), it affects us as human beings, whether we intend it or not.
Modern readers have lost their religious values. They don’t have the wisdom to be able to obtain knowledge of life, comparing one view against the other. Moreover, the knowledge of life that we obtain from fiction is not of life itself but is knowledge of other people’s knowledge of life. What adds to the problem is that there are too many books and the reader is confused. Only modern writers of eminence have an improving effect, otherwise the contemporary writers have an effect that is degrading. The reader must keep in mind two things – ‘what we like’, that is, what we really feel; and ‘what we ought to like’, that is, understanding our shortcomings. As honest men we must not assume that what we like is what we ought to like; and as honest Christians we should assume that we do like what we ought to like.
Eliot is mainly concerned with secularization of literature. It does not concern itself with things of spirit. It is simply oblivious or ignorant of the primacy of the supernatural over the natural world. Most of the books are written by people who have no real belief in supernatural order. Moreover, they are ignorant of the fact that the world has still many believers. It is the duty of the Christians to use certain standards in addition to those used by the rest of the world. If a Christian is conscious of the gulf between him and contemporary literature, he won’t be harmed by it.
Majority of the people consider economic ills as cause of all the problems and call for drastic economic changes, while others want more or less drastic social changes. Both types of changes are opposed to each other but a common point is that they hold the assumption of secularization. Some want the individual to subordinate his interests to those of the state. But Eliot does not agree with these people. Eliot does not complain about modern literature because it is immoral or even amoral but because it instigates people to try out every kind of experience and not to stay back or miss any. A Christian reader should add to the literary criticism followed by the rest of the world. He should, in addition, apply ethical and theological standards to it."
By: Amritbir Kaur
Personal Comment:
In the first paragraph of his essay, Eliot makes the point "it is more necessary for Christian readers to scrutinize their reading, especially of works of imagination, with explicit ethical and theological standards." His point here is that literary works cannot be left on their own terms to be judged solely by the moral standards of the day. He argued, "moral judgments of literary works are made only according to the moral code accepted by each generation...when the common code is detached from its theological background...it is exposed both to prejudice and to change." In other words, moral codes change from generation to generation. He goes on to elaborate that "I am concerned with what should be the relation between Religion and all Literature...What I want is a literature which should be unconsciously, rather than deliberately and defiantly, Christian". Anything less than this, Eliot asserts, leaves people with a false sense of security. The point is, "The author of a work of imagination is trying to affect us wholly, as human beings, whether he knows it or not; and we affected by it, as human beings".
Eliot argues that "Contemporary literature as a whole tends to be degrading". He feels that one guard against the dangers of much of the contemporary literature at our disposal is through an approach of wide-reading. "It is valuable because in the process of being affected by one powerful personality after another, we cease to be dominated by any one, or by a small number." Delving into the problem with contemporary literature more deeply, he surmises that "the liberal-minded...are convinced that if everybody says what he thinks, and does what he likes, things will somehow, by some automatic compensation and adjustment, come out right in the end...These liberals are convinced that only by what is called unrestrained individualism will truth ever emerge...Anyone who dissents from this view must be either a mediaevalist. wishful only to set back the clock, or else a fascist, and probably both."
Eliot believes that what sets modern day society apart from what has transpired in the past is that "There never was a time, I believe, when those who read at all, read so many more books by living authors than books by dead authors; there never was a time so completely parochial, so shut off from the past...it is more difficult today to be an individual than it ever was before." He sees a great vice prevalent in contemporary literature and society. He says, "the whole of modern literature is corrupted by what I call Secularism, that it is simply unaware of, simply cannot understand the meaning of, the primacy of the supernatural over natural life".
Eliot says that readers today, particularly Christians, need to be acutely aware of two things - what they like, and what they 'ought' to like. "The two forms of self-consciousness, knowing what we are and what we ought to be, must go together..What I believe to incumbent upon all Christians is the duty of maintaining consciously certain standards and criteria of criticism over and above those applied by the rest of the world; and that by these criteria and standards everything that we read must be tested...the greater part of our current reading matter is written for us by people who have no real belief in a supernatural order...And a greater part of our reading matter is coming to be written by people who not only have no such belief, but are even ignorant of the fact that there are still people in the world so 'backward' or so 'eccentric' as to continue to believe." He feels that by applying Christian principles and standards to our literary choices (and I add in here musical, theatrical, tv and movies), we are in the advantageous position of being able to extract from it all what good it has to offer us. A great problem that a Christian should have with those who promote Secularism is, "they concern themselves only with changes of a temporal, material, and external nature; they concern themselves with morals only of a collective nature...but I think that we should all repudiate a morality which has no higher ideal to set before us than that." Secularism is a gospel of this world and of this world alone...It is simply that it repudiates, or is wholly ignoarant of, our most fundamental and important beliefs."
EssayLink:
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
St. Peter and St. Paul,
Two great Apostles, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, are commemorated together on June 29th. One, a simple fisherman, who became the rock on which Christ built His church. The other, educated, dedicated, and claimed personally by Jesus as an apostle. Two contrasts in style. At times, a clash in personalities and direction. Peter, who anchored the church through its early years. Paul, who stretched the limits of understanding to include his mission to the gentiles. Two men, whose lives were not always saintly, become saints of God through their unalterable faith, their determination to do God's will, and their willingness to sacrifice all in obedience to God the Father.
O Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy Holy Wors, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O God, who through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world; Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his manifold labours in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
ALL SAINTS
O God, we give Thee most high praise and hearty thanks for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all Thy saints, who have been the choice vessels of Thy grace, and lights of the world in their several generations; most humbly beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow the example of their steadfastness,
that we, with all those who are of the mystical body of Thy Son, may be set on His right hand, Who reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen.
Gospel: Matthew 10:13-19
"St. Peter traditionally is regarded as the leader of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus. He was intimately connected with the earthly life and ministry of our Lord, and after His death tried to preserve the spiritual legacy left by Jesus to him followers. In the course of his missionary journeys, Peter founded the Church in Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. St. Peter is regarded by the Church as the first Bishop of Antioch, and the present-day Patriarch of Antioch is his successor in that Apostolic See.
St. Paul is the greatest of missionaries. The marvelous story of conversion on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-12) is hardly more striking than the rest of his life, one of the greatest adventure stories of history.
The account of Paul's missionary journeys and the letters he wrote to the Churches he founded form an important part of the New Testament. He traveled over vast areas of the Roman world, preaching Christ, and fashioning the Christians Faith for all time. He called himself an Apostle, and he was the greatest of them, even though he was not of the Twelve Disciples. St. Paul was martyred in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Nero, about 87 A.D."
Taken from The Icon Book by Boojamra, Essey, McLuckie, and Matusiak.
"Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome under Emperor Nero in the year 87. Peter was crucified, head down at his own request [so that he would not die in the same way as Christ], and because Paul was a Roman Citizen, he was beheaded. The Church unites them in a common celebration and gives them identical honor.
Peter, a brother of Andrew the First-Called, was from Bethsaida. They were the sons of Jonas, of the tribe of Simeon. They lived by the work of their hands. At the time when John the Baptist was in prison, Jesus came to the Lake of Genesarett, and finding Peter and Andrew mending their nets, He called them and they followed Him without hesitation. Peter preached the Gospel in Judea, founded the Church of Antioch and finally came to Rome.
Paul, a Pharisee, belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. He was born in Tarsus of Asia Minor. At first, he persecuted the Church with great zeal and violence, imprisoning and killing Christians. But Christ appeared to him on the way to Damascus and changed his heart. He was baptized in Damascus by Ananias. He was to become one of the greatest exponents of Christ's teachings, which he explained in letters or epistles."
Taken from Byzantine Daily Worship.
Information Link: http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/06-29.htm
Site Link: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/St.%20Paul's%20Missionary%20Journeys.htm
Map Link: Google Images
Image Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5675461/Oldest-image-of-St-Paul-discovered.html
The Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains, Rome.
Site Link: http://www.piercedhearts.org/treasures/holy_sites/st_peter_in_chains.htm
"This Basilica is one of the “tituli,” one of a set number of Early Christian churches built round the edges of the city of Rome. It is known as the Titulus Eudoxiae o la Eudoxiana. It was constructed over the ruins of the imperial villa in the year 442 AD in order to serve as a home for the chains that bound St. Peter in the Jerusalem prison (Acts of Apostles, chapter 5 and 12). The priest Philip constructed the Church with the help of Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Valentinian III."
According to legend, when the pope held them next to the chains from of Peter's first imprisonment in the Mamertine Prison in Rome, the two chains miraculously fused together."
O Almighty God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy Apostle Saint Peter many excellent gifts, and commandedst him earnestly to feed thy flock; Make, we beseech thee, all Bishops and Pastors diligently to preach thy Holy Wors, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
O God, who through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world; Grant, we beseech thee, that we, having his manifold labours in remembrance, may show forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same, by following the holy doctrine which he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
ALL SAINTS
O God, we give Thee most high praise and hearty thanks for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all Thy saints, who have been the choice vessels of Thy grace, and lights of the world in their several generations; most humbly beseeching Thee to give us grace so to follow the example of their steadfastness,
that we, with all those who are of the mystical body of Thy Son, may be set on His right hand, Who reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Amen.
Image Link: http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/06-29.htm
About the Icon
Saint Peter, on the left, is portrayed as an elderly man with white hair and beard, his inner garment is traditionally green and his outer garment is yellow or gold. Saint Paul, on the right; is portrayed with brown hair and beard; his inner garment is blue and his outer garment is purple. The saints embrace each other to denote their concord of love and faith in Jesus Christ.
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:21-12:9Gospel: Matthew 10:13-19
"St. Peter traditionally is regarded as the leader of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus. He was intimately connected with the earthly life and ministry of our Lord, and after His death tried to preserve the spiritual legacy left by Jesus to him followers. In the course of his missionary journeys, Peter founded the Church in Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. St. Peter is regarded by the Church as the first Bishop of Antioch, and the present-day Patriarch of Antioch is his successor in that Apostolic See.
St. Paul is the greatest of missionaries. The marvelous story of conversion on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-12) is hardly more striking than the rest of his life, one of the greatest adventure stories of history.
The account of Paul's missionary journeys and the letters he wrote to the Churches he founded form an important part of the New Testament. He traveled over vast areas of the Roman world, preaching Christ, and fashioning the Christians Faith for all time. He called himself an Apostle, and he was the greatest of them, even though he was not of the Twelve Disciples. St. Paul was martyred in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Nero, about 87 A.D."
Taken from The Icon Book by Boojamra, Essey, McLuckie, and Matusiak.
"Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome under Emperor Nero in the year 87. Peter was crucified, head down at his own request [so that he would not die in the same way as Christ], and because Paul was a Roman Citizen, he was beheaded. The Church unites them in a common celebration and gives them identical honor.
Peter, a brother of Andrew the First-Called, was from Bethsaida. They were the sons of Jonas, of the tribe of Simeon. They lived by the work of their hands. At the time when John the Baptist was in prison, Jesus came to the Lake of Genesarett, and finding Peter and Andrew mending their nets, He called them and they followed Him without hesitation. Peter preached the Gospel in Judea, founded the Church of Antioch and finally came to Rome.
Paul, a Pharisee, belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. He was born in Tarsus of Asia Minor. At first, he persecuted the Church with great zeal and violence, imprisoning and killing Christians. But Christ appeared to him on the way to Damascus and changed his heart. He was baptized in Damascus by Ananias. He was to become one of the greatest exponents of Christ's teachings, which he explained in letters or epistles."
Taken from Byzantine Daily Worship.
Information Link: http://www.theologic.com/oflweb/feasts/06-29.htm
THE MANY JOURNEYS OF ST. PAUL-APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES
| ST. PAUL'S CALL TO CONVERSION and NEW LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN | |
| Witnessed St. Stephen's martyrdom | Acts 8:1 |
| Mission to arrest Christians ;for the Sanhedrin | Acts 8:3 |
| Conversion experience on the Road to Damascus | Acts 9:1-19 |
| Paul preaches in Damascus | Acts 9:20-25 |
| Spends 3 years in Arabia | Galatians 1:17-18 |
| Returns to Damascus | Galatians 1:17 |
| Meets with the Apostles Peter, James (Bishop of Jerusalem) , and John in Jerusalem | Acts 9:26-30; Galatians 1:17-19 |
| Goes to Caesarea and from there home to Tarsus | Acts 9:30; Galatians 1:21 |
| Called by Barnabas to join him in Antioch, Syria | Acts 11:26 |
| Takes a famine relief contribution to Jerusalem | Acts 11:30 |
| Returns to Antioch, Syria | Acts 12:25 |
| ST. PAUL'S FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Approximate dates: AD 45 - 49 Companions: Barnabas, John, Mark Mission field: Cyprus and Asia Minor (Turkey) Approximate miles traveled: 1,400 miles Sent by church of Antioch, Syria | |
| Mission to Cyprus by way of Seleucia | Acts 13:4-12 |
| Antioch in Pisidia | Acts 13:13-51 |
| Iconium | Acts 14:1-5 |
| Lystra in Lycaonia | Acts 14:6-19 |
| Derbe | Acts 14:20 |
| Back through Lystra, Iconium and Antioch Pisidia | Acts 14:21-26 |
| Return to home church at Antioch, Syria | Acts 14:27-28 |
| Council of Jerusalem | Acts 15 |
| ST. PAUL'S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY: Approximate dates: AD 50 - 52 Companions: Silas, Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, Luke Mission field: Syria, Turkey, Greece Approximate miles traveled: 2,800 miles Sent by church of Antioch, Syria | |
| Syria and Cilicia (Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia was Paul's hometown) | Acts 15:23 |
| Derbe and Lystra in Lycaonia (Timothy's home) | Acts 16:1-5 |
| Phrygia and Galatia | Acts 16:6 |
| Mysia to Troas | Acts 16:10 |
| Samothracis and Neapolis | Acts 16:1 |
| Philippi in Macedonia | Acts 16:12-40 |
| Amphipolis and Apollonia | Acts 17:1 |
| Thessalonica | Acts 17:1-9 |
| Beroea (Berea) | Acts 17:10-15 |
| Athens | Acts 17:16-34 |
| Corinth | Acts 18:1-18 |
| Cenchrea (Cenchreae) | Acts 18:18 |
| Ephesus | Acts 18:19-21 |
| Caesarea | Acts 18:22 |
| Antioch, Syria | Acts 18:23 |
| Jerusalem | Acts 18:23 |
| ST. PAUL'S THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY Approximate dates: AD 53 - 58 Companions: Timothy, Luke, and other disciples Mission field: Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, Judea-Samaria-Galilee Approximate miles traveled 2,700 miles Sent by church of Antioch, Syria | |
| Galatia and Phrygia | Acts 18:23 |
| Ephesus | Acts 19:1-20; 23-40 |
| Macedonia | Acts 19:21; 20:1 |
| Greece (Achaia) | 20:2-3 |
| Macedonia, Philippi, and Troas | Acts 20:3-12 |
| Assos, Mitylene; near Chios, Samos, Trogyllium, Miletus | Acts 20:13-38 |
| Cos, Rhodes, Patara | Acts 21:1-2 |
| Tyre and Ptolemais | Acts 21:3-7 |
| Caesarea | Acts 21:8-16 |
| Jerusalem | Acts 21:17-23:22 |
| Caesarea (imprisoned 2 years) | Acts 23:23-26:32 |
| ST. PAUL'S FOURTH JOURNEY TO ROME Approximate date: AD 60/61 Companions: Luke, Roman guards, others By way of Lebanon, Turkey, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Rome Approximate miles traveled: 2,250 miles Sent by Roman Governor Festus | |
| Caesarea | Acts 27:1-3 |
| Sidon, Myra, Cnidus | Acts 27:4-7 |
| Fair Havens (Crete) | Acts 27:8 |
| Clauda (Cauda) | Acts 27:16 |
| Malta (Melita) | Acts 28:1-10 |
| Syracuse, Rhegium, Puteoli | Acts 28:11-13 |
| Forum of Appius and Three Taverns | Acts 28:15 |
| Rome | Acts 28:16 |
Michal Hunt copyright 1998
Site Link: http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/St.%20Paul's%20Missionary%20Journeys.htm
Map Link: Google Images
'Oldest' image of St Paul discovered
Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,600 year old image of St Paul, the oldest one known of, in a Roman catacomb.
Image Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/5675461/Oldest-image-of-St-Paul-discovered.html
The Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains, Rome.
Site Link: http://www.piercedhearts.org/treasures/holy_sites/st_peter_in_chains.htm
"This Basilica is one of the “tituli,” one of a set number of Early Christian churches built round the edges of the city of Rome. It is known as the Titulus Eudoxiae o la Eudoxiana. It was constructed over the ruins of the imperial villa in the year 442 AD in order to serve as a home for the chains that bound St. Peter in the Jerusalem prison (Acts of Apostles, chapter 5 and 12). The priest Philip constructed the Church with the help of Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Valentinian III."
History
"The basilica was first built in the middle of the 5th century to house the relic of the chains that bound Saint Peter while imprisoned in Jerusalem, given to Pope Leo I by Empress Eudoxia (wife of Emperor Valentinian III).According to legend, when the pope held them next to the chains from of Peter's first imprisonment in the Mamertine Prison in Rome, the two chains miraculously fused together."
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