On the Sabbath after the Apostle Paul’s arrival at Neapolis and his travel to Philippi, he went to the riverside for prayer. He spoke to the women who were gathered there and among them was “a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth.” (Acts 16:14) She and members of her household were baptized and she then invited Paul and the men with him into her home. Lydia was the Apostle Paul’s first convert in Europe who was receptive to his teachings.
Later, after Paul and Silas were imprisoned and then released, they went to Lydia’s house to “encourage” the people there before they left for Thessalonica.
“Lydia is mentioned only in Acts 16:11-15, 40 where Luke reports that she was a native of Thyatira, a city situated in the western part of the Roman province of Asia, in today’s western Turkey. Its location at the juncture of major trade roads made Thyatira a prosperous commercial and industrial hub. The city was noted for its trade guilds. Many were devoted to the manufacture and dying of textiles, especially products dyed in purple for which Thyatira was well-known in antiquity. Purple dye, which was produced in varying shades and qualities depending on whether it was sourced from mollusks or plants, was a precious commodity. Premium-quality purple products and garments were luxury items which only the elite of imperial society could afford. Luke tells us that Lydia was a porphyropōlis, that is, a seller of purple goods. If shrewd business instincts account for Lydia’s migration to Philippi, an affluent Roman colony which was geographically well-situated for international trade both via land and sea routes, then her instincts paid off. Luke presents her as comfortably settled into Philippi by the time she met Paul. She not only had a home of her own but one large enough to accommodate a community of Christ-believers estimated to have numbered around 35. And she had a household large enough to look after both her property and her affairs. It is also reasonable to imagine that she moved in well-heeled circles. Given her trade in purple, it is probable that her clients were among the upper crust of Philippian society, perhaps even Roman officials and their entourage.
Though a successful businesswoman, Lydia apparently sought more than comfort and success. According to Acts, Paul’s custom upon arrival in a new city was to enter the local synagogue to address fellow Jews. Since Philippi apparently had no synagogue in Paul’s day -the existence of a synagogue is first mentioned in inscriptional evidence dating from ca. the 3rd or 4th century CE- he went in search of a proseuchē, or place for prayer, outside the city by the river. What he found was a prayer gathering of women, presumably members of the household of Lydia who is singled out as “a worshipper of God.” The term proseuchē could refer to any place of religious ritual activity, or specifically, to a place of prayer for Jews. Since this term occurs here in conjunction with “worshipper of God,” an expression used by Jews of gentiles who were sympathetic to Judaism, it is often assumed that Lydia was a Jewish proselyte. However, this is not at all certain. Moreover, it is quite possible that while acknowledging the God of Israel, Lydia may have also continued to pray to one, or more, pagan deities. Devotion to more than one god was certainly not uncommon in the first century Mediterranean world where multiple cults, some local, some imported, existed side by side. A number of these, e.g., the cult of the Diana and Isis, were especially attractive to women who served as priestesses and assumed other leadership roles. Based on the information in Acts, perhaps the most that can be stated, with a measure of certainty, is that Lydia was a pious woman whose heart was open to the stirrings of the one, true, God who rendered her receptive to Paul’s preaching. Once she and her household were baptized, Luke tells us Lydia extended hospitality to Paul.”
Source: www.osservatoreromano.va/en/ne...
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