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 Archaeological Museum of Veria | |
Beroea (or Berea) was an ancient city of the Hellenistic period and Roman Empire now known as Veria (or Veroia) in Macedonia, Northern Greece. It is a small city on the eastern side of the Vermio Mountains north of Mount Olympus. The town is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a place in which the apostles Paul, Silas and Timothy preached the Christian Gospel.
Berea was in southwestern Macedonia. The city's foundation stood where Veria, or Kar-Verria, in Greece is today. Its a unique position has had a variety of terrain surrounding the city since then.
Berea sat at the base of Mount Bermius, which is part of the Vermio Mountains and provides an ample supply of water for the city and the region. The main sources of water were the Haliacmon and Axios Rivers, which supported apple, peach and pear orchards. The area is prosperous with a hydroelectric dam on the Haliacmon powering the area's industrial sector. [1]
The city is reputed to have been named by its mythical founder Beres (also spelled Pheres) or from the daughter of the king of Berroia, who was thought to be the son of Macedon.
A city of the same name that is mentioned in a section of Thucydides's history, which dates it to be around 432 BC. In Polybius's history there were two insertions about an inscription that dates the city back to the later part of the 4th century BC. No one has verified the historical date of the establishment of the city although it has been known to have been surrendered to the Romans from the Macedonians after the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC.[ citation needed ]
Veria enjoyed great prosperity under the kings of the Argead Dynasty, whose most famous member was Alexander the Great, who made it their second-most important city after Pella. Veria reached the height of its glory and influence in the Hellenistic period, during the reign of the Antigonid Dynasty. During that time, Veria became the seat of the Koinon of Macedonians (Κοινόν Μακεδόνων), minted its own coinage and held sports games named Alexandreia in honour of Alexander the Great, with athletes from all over Greece competing in them. [2]
The city was the first city of the Macedonian region to fall to the Roman Empire, after the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. In the 1st, century there were two major roads joining the towns of Thessalonica and Beroea, one of them passing close to the ancient city of Pella. There are some assumptions that the Apostle Paul used that route when he visited Beroea.[ citation needed ]
Within the city there was a Jewish settlement in which Paul, [3] after he had left Thessalonica, and his companion, Silas, preached to the Jewish and Greek communities of the city in AD 50/51 or 54/55.
In the 7th century, the Slavic tribe of the Drougoubitai raided the lowlands below the city, and in the late-8th century, Empress Irene of Athens is said to have rebuilt and expanded the city and named it Irenopolis after herself, but some sources place that Berrhoea-Irenopolis further east. [4] For subsequent history, see History of Veria.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled to Beroea by night after fleeing from Thessalonica, as recorded in Acts 17:10. They 'immediately' went to the synagogue to preach, and the Beroeans were accepting; the writer of the Acts of the Apostles noted the difference between the Thessalonians' response to the gospel and the Beroeans' response: the Beroeans were 'open-minded' [5] or 'fair-minded' [6] and willing to 'examine the scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth'. [7] Many of the Beroeans believed, both men and women, but when the Jewish Thessalonian non-believers heard about that, they came to Beroea; stirred up crowds; started riots and ensured that Paul, Silas, and Timothy could not preach. Then, the believers sent Paul to the coast while Timothy and Silas stayed behind. Paul was taken to Athens, and word was given to Timothy and Silas to join him as soon as possible. (Acts 17:10–15 )
Paul and Silas ministered to the Jewish community of Beroea around 54 and 55 A.D. The two men had been driven out of the city of Thessalonica by an angry mob for spreading the gospel there. Paul and Silas made their journey from Thessalonica to Beroea by night (Acts 17:10). It is also said that Timothy, a student of Paul, joined him during the journey to Beroea. The people of Beroea were more accepting than the people of Thessalonica of the message from the Apostle and his companions. The community was said to consider carefully what they learned from Paul before truly believing it (Acts 17:11–12).
After Paul, Silas and the other members of their group had spent several days in Beroea, some Jews from Thessalonica got word that Paul and Silas were preaching in Beroea and stirred up trouble, and Paul was again forced to leave. Some members of the congregation helped Paul to get to Athens, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Beroea, then later caught up with Paul in the city of Corinth (Acts 18:5). Later, Sopater of Berea joined Paul on his journey (Acts 20:4). It is said[ citation needed ] that Sopater was ordered by a delegation from Beroea to go to Judea with funds that would help the needy of that region.
A bishopric at Beroea goes back to the New Testament. The former diocese of the ancient city of Beroea was within the Roman province of Macedonia, in today's northern Greece. Presently the diocese is part of the ecclesiastical province of Thessaloniki. The Roman Catholic episcopal see of Berrhoea, centred on northern Greece, is today a vacant titular see.
Onesimus, formerly Philemon's slave, was its first bishop according to the Apostolic Constitutions (VII, 46). Known bishops attended ecclesiastical councils: Gerontius took part in the Council of Sardica (c. 344), Lucas in the Second Council of Ephesus (449), Sebastian in the Council of Chalcedon (451), Timothy in the synod convoked by the patriarch Menas of Constantinople in 536, and Joseph in the Fourth Council of Constantinople (869) that condemned Photius. [8] [9]
The Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos promoted the local see to an archbishopric after 1261, and it advanced further to the rank of a metropolitan see by 1300. [10] Berrhoea is listed by the Roman Catholic Church as a titular see. [11] [12]
At the time of the last partition of the empire, it was allotted to Macedonia Prima, [13] and its see made suffragan to Thessalonica.
Under Andronicus II (1283–1328) Beroea was made a metropolis.
The Greek metropolitans added the title of Naoussa, a neighbouring city. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. [14]
Amongst its bishops were:
The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle, and is addressed to the church in Thessalonica, in modern-day Greece. It is likely among the first of Paul's letters, probably written by the end of AD 52, in the reign of Claudius although some scholars believe the Epistle to the Galatians may have been written by AD 48. The original language is Koine Greek.
Paul, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, and he also founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD.
Philippi was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides after its establishment by Thasian colonists in 360/359 BC. The city was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. The present village of Filippoi is located near the ruins of the ancient city and is part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace in Kavala, Greece. The archaeological site was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 because of its exceptional Roman architecture, its urban layout as a smaller reflection of Rome itself, and its importance in early Christianity.
Timothy or Timothy of Ephesus was an early Christian evangelist and the first Christian bishop of Ephesus, who tradition relates died around the year AD 97.
Trophimus or Trophimus the Ephesian was a Christian who accompanied Paul during a part of his third missionary journey. He was with Paul in Jerusalem, and the Jews, supposing that the apostle had brought him into the temple, raised a tumult which resulted in Paul's imprisonment.. In writing to Timothy, the apostle comments that he left Trophimus in Miletus due to illness. This must refer to some event not noticed in the Acts.
Silas or Silvanus was a leading member of the Early Christian community, who according to the New Testament accompanied Paul the Apostle on his second missionary journey.
An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism, the phrase "The Apostolic See" when capitalized refers specifically to the See of Rome.
In ancient times, the Bereans were the inhabitants of the city of Berea, also referred to as Beroea in the Bible. Today, the city is known as Veria in what is today northern Greece. The name has been taken up by certain groups within Protestantism based on the Bereans' emphasis on apologetics and studying Scripture.
Sopater was the son of Pyrhus, a man from the city of Berea, mentioned in Acts 20:4. Sopater and others accompanied Paul out of Macedonia after a group of Jews began to plot against Paul, and then sailed from Philippi to Alexandria Troas where they met Paul who had gone by land.
Veria, officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of Imathia. It is located 511 kilometres north-northwest of the capital Athens and 73 km (45 mi) west-southwest of Thessaloniki.
Jason of Thessalonica was a Jewish convert and early Christian believer mentioned in the New Testament in Acts 17:5–9 and Romans 16:21.
Sosipater is a person mentioned in the New Testament, in Romans 16:21. He is probably the same person as Sopater mentioned in Acts 20:4.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity:
Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic Age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era.
The Areopagus sermon refers to a sermon delivered by Apostle Paul in Athens, at the Areopagus, and recounted in Acts 17:16–34. The Areopagus sermon is the most dramatic and most fully-reported speech of the missionary career of Saint Paul and followed a shorter address in Lystra recorded in Acts 14:15–17.
Acts 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
Acts 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
Acts 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records part of the third missionary journey of Paul. The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
Acts 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian New Testament of the Bible. It records the third missionary journey of Paul the Apostle. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
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