RELIGION

SAINT STEPHEN
• The Twelve apostles were called to attend to the ministry of the Word – to preach
• Asked the community to choose seven holy men to attend to the material needs of
the Church (Acts 6:2-4)
• Stephen and six others were chosen - DEACONS: ministers of the Church’s
pastoral mission
• He had done a lot of good (Acts 6:8)
• Sanhedrin accused him (Acts 6:13), cast him out of the city and stoned him, (Act
7:58)
• Execution of St. Stephen marked the beginning of the sever persecution of the
early Church in Jerusalem
• He provided an example to all Christians
• Martyrdom: is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means
bearing witnesses even unto death. The martyr bears witnesses to Christ who
died and rose, to whom he is united by charity. He bears witness to the truth of
the faith and of the Christian doctrine. He endures death through the act of
fortitude. (CCC 2473)
• Example to the early church as a most admirable way to imitate Christ
• Feast day: Dec. 26
SAINT PAUL
CONVERSION
• On his way to Damascus (Acts 9:3-9)
• Who is Ananias? (Acts 9:15)
• Saul’s profession of faith (Acts9:20)
St. Paul’s conversion is one of the Church’s great ironies. (This is because Christ calls
even sinners to lead his Church and He became one of Christianity’s greatest
evangelizers)
Apostle of the Gentiles
FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY
• Acts 13-14:28
• Length – 2 years
• 45-47 A.D.
• Total miles traveled: 1,235
• Route: Antioch on the Orontes - Seleucia Pieria - Salamis - Paphos - Perge -
Antioch in Pisidia - Iconium - Lystra - Derbe - Lystra - Iconium - Antioch in
Pisidia - Perge - Attaleia - Seleucia Pieria - Antioch on the Orontes(Acts 13:1 -
14:28)
• Started in Antioch
Concerning the Church, Antioch is a city of first
First recorded city to have Gentile Congregation
First recorded city to send missionaries
First recorded city to provide relief aid to another congregation
First city in which followers of Christ were called CHRISTIANS
 • Paul's first missionary journey (46-48 A.D.) was the shortest, in time and
distance, of the first three, but it was nevertheless a very significant development
in the history of the new Christian church.
• It established Paul as a leader in the spreading of The Word of God. He went on
to write a large portion of the New Testament
• Fact Finder: What guided Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey? (Acts
13:4)
• It was in Antioch…
The controversy over circumcision stirred to the surface. Acts 15:1-2
Starting point of all three of Paul’s three evangelist tours
• NOTE: Paul’s first recorded miracle. Acts 13:8-11
1. Struck a Jewish false prophet, and sorcerer, (Elymas) with blindness for a season. Acts
12:11
2. Elymas had sought to turn Sergius Paulus away from the faith.
• The first time Saul is referred to as Paul. Acts 13:9
• Paul’s first recorded sermon is preached at Antioch in Pisidia
• From Antioch in Syria to the turn-around point at Derbe, Paul had traveled
approximately 604 miles, of which some 240 miles were by water. The first
missionary journey covered a total of some 1,208 miles wherein Paul and
Barnabas established more than a dozen congregations. In all, they had been gone
a little over two years.
SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY
• Acts 15:30-18:12
• Length – 3 years
• 51 - 54 A.D.
• Route: Antioch on the Orontes - Derbe - Lystra - Iconium - Antioch in Pisidia -
Alexandria Troas - Neapolis - Philippi - Thessalonica - Beroea - Athens - Corinth
- Ephesus - Caesarea - Antioch on the Orontes
• Total miles traveled – Approximately 2,700+ miles (1,290 by sea, and 1.410 by
land)
• This is the first time Christianity reached Europe
• What European city had the first Christian converts? (Acts 16:13-15;
• Philippi of Macedonia: was the foremost city of that part of Macedonia.
Acts 16:12
• Built in 385 B.C. on the site of the older city of Crenides.
• Named for Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great
• Located on the Egnatian road (Egnatian Way), the main highway
between Rome and Asia.
• It was in Troas that Paul received the “Macedonian Call.” (Acts
16:9) – “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of
Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ’Come over to
Macedonia and help us.’”
THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY
• Acts 18:23 – 21:15
• Length – 4 years
• 54 - 58 A.D.
 • Total miles traveled – Approximately 2,515+ miles (1,190 by sea, and 1.325 by
land)
• Route: Antioch on the Orontes - Derbe - Lystra - Iconium - Antioch in Pisidia -
Ephesus - Alexandria Troas - Corinth - Philippi - Thessalonica - Beroea -
Alexandria Troas - Assos - Lesbos - Chios - Samos - Trogyllium - Miletus - Cos -
Rhodes - Patara - Tyre - Ptolemais - Caesarea - Jerusalem
(Acts 18:23 - 21:16)
• Ephesus becomes an important work in Paul’s ministry.
• All Asia heard the Word. (Acts 19:10)
• Seven churches (referred to in Revelation)
• a. Ephesus = Revelation 2:1-7
• b. Smyrna = Revelation 2:8-11
• c. Pergamos = Revelation 2:13-17
• d. Thyatira =Revelation 2:18-19
• e. Sardis = Revelation 3:1-6
• f. Philadelphia = Revelation 3:7-13
• g. Laodicea = Revelation 3:14-22
• Paul performed miracles in Ephesus. Acts 19:11-12
• Demetrius the silversmith, maker of shrines of Diana, caused an uproar. Acts
19:23-41
• Acts 20:7 refers to the Lord’s Supper.
• Acts 20:11 refers to a common meal. (Agape)
• Refrain from immoral relationship
• Refrain from eating meat from strangled animal
THE APOSTLES
SAINT PETER
Quo vadis tradition: St. Peter was leaving Rome to escape Nero’s persectuion
It is said that he met Christ along the way asking Him “Domine quo vadis?” (Where
are you going, Lord?”) The Lord replied “I am coming to be crucified again.”
By this St. Peter understood that he should return to Rome and suffer martyrdom.
Earliest apostolic activity of St. Peter in Jerusalem, Judaea, and the districts stretching
northwards as far as Syria (derived mainly from the first portion of the Acts of the
Apostles, and is confirmed by parallel statements incidentally in the Epistles of St.
Paul.)
• Peter now undertook an extensive missionary tour, which brought him to the
maritime cities, Lydda, Joppe, and Caesarea.
In Lydda he cured the palsied Eneas,
In Joppe he raised Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead;
Caesarea, instructed by a vision which he had in Joppe, he baptized and received into
the Church the first non-Jewish Christians, the centurion Cornelius and his
kinsmen (Acts 9:31-10:48). On Peter's return to Jerusalem a little later, the
strict Jewish Christians, who regarded the complete observance of the Jewish
law as binding on all, asked him why he had entered and eaten in the house of
the uncircumcised.
Peter tells of his vision and defends his action, which was ratified by the Apostles and
the faithful in Jerusalem (Acts 11:1-18).
SAINT ANDREW
• St. Peter's brother who is mentioned twice in the Gospel
• His missionaries took him to Scythia.
• His journeys took place in Byzantium and Greece to Patros.
• Patro's governor crucified him on an X-shaped cross
• Patron saint of Scotland, Greece, and Russia
• Feast Day: November 30
SAINT JAMES THE GREATER
• simple fisherman
 joined Sts. Peter and John to form the inner circle among the Twelve.
 He was one to witness the raising of the daughter Jairus, the
Transfiguration, and the agony in the garden of Gethsemane
 he was beheaded
 he was the first of the Twelve to give his life for the Master
 Feast Day: July 25th
BARTHOLEMEW/NATHANIEL
 only mentioned in the Synoptic gospels and in Acts
 may have been Nathaniel
 "son of Tomai"
 could have had another, personal name
 preached the Gospel in and around Persia
 martyred in Armenia where he was flayed alive
 Feast Day: August 24
SAINT MATTHEW
 his mission was directed to the Jews
 his Gospel is the only one written in Aramaic, and tradition says it's to
accommodate the Jewish people
 He corroborated many details of Christ's life and words with the Old Testament
 before an apostle, he was a tax collector
 Jesus told Matthew to follow him and then he ate with St.Matt and other tax
collectors/sinners.
 Pharisees criticized Jesus for socializing with people like Matt.
 Feast Day: September 21
SAINT THOMAS
• "Doubting Thomas"
• he was doubtful but zealous
• urged others to follow Jesus and die with him upon hearing that he was going to
visit Lazarus
• eager but apprehensive (anxious, worried)
• he evangelized the Parthians in present day Iran and Turkmenistan
• it is suggested that he established a church in India, where he was martyred
• the Malabar Christians of India claim St. Thomas as their evangelizer
• Feast Day: July 3
SAINT JAMES THE LESS
 • became the head of the Church in Jerusalem and presided over the Council of
Jerusalem
• shares feast day with St.Philip: May 3
SAINT PHILIP
 many details about him in the Gospel of St.John
 Christ called him, who in turn brought Nathaniel
 he was there at the miracle of the multiplication of the bread and fish
 he presented a group of Greeks to Jesus
 he asked Jesus to show the Father to the Twelve
SAINT JUDE
• brother of James the Less
• referred to as "Judas (not Iscariot) and Thaddeus
• patron saint of lost causes
• authored the Epistle of St. Jude
• martyred in Persia
• Feast Day (shared with St.Simon the Cananean(Zealot, the Less): October 28
JUDAS ISCARIOT
• betrayed Christ to the Jewish authorities
• Judas' fall serves as a warning that even the graces given to Christ's Apostle may
be of no avail if one is unfaithful and does not believe