Day 4 Revisit Part 2 - Phillipi

Phillipi Theater

Day Four Revisit Part 2 - Wednesday June 9th - Phillipi
After lunch, back on the bus at 1:50 and headed to the area of Phillipi. This is a bit north (20 minutes) of Kavala. Acts 16:9-40 describes Paul's time in the Phillipi area, the conversion and baptism of Lydia, the arrest and imprisonment, and the miracle with the prison being opened. We looked at the Theather that Phillip II built after he took over the city and renamed it after himself hile our guide Aliki told us about the area and the site. Aliki mentioned that after the Romans took over this area, that they turned the Theater into a colleseum, and that it was likely that Chirstians were martyred here.

We walked a few minutes and got under some shade while Pastor Wayne taught from Acts 16, and compared Lydia (the first European gentile convert to Chritianity) and the jailer. He mentioned that there are three aspects to salvation: 1. Justification, 2: Santification, and 3: Glorification. Many of the questions around salvation can be answered by looking carefully at which of these three the passage is speaking about. Justification is the process of being made right with God, and that only happens "by faith alone, through Jesus Christ alone, by God's grace alone". This happens when we believe in Jesus and cannot be lost. Santification is the process of becoming more like God, and this is what we are called to work on. Glorification is what happens when we get our heavenly bodies and is obviously in the future. Pastor Wayne also talked about baptism, which means "identify with". When we are baptized, we are identifying with Christ. When Christ was baptized, He was identifying with John's message "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand".

Prison of Paul at Phillipi

We then walked around and saw the "Prison of Paul". While we cannot be sure, this could be the site where Paul was imprisoned in Acts 16:22-30 and the jailer was saved. Pastor Wayne mentioned the changed lives of Lydia and the jailer.

Via Egnatia - Roman Road

In walking to the next place, we saw a good example of the old Roman Road, the Via Egnatia.

Mosaic floor Octagon Church Phillipi

We then looked at the ruins of the Forum of Philippi (which the French had excavated) and the Octagonal Church (which the Greek had excavated). While looking at the Octagonal Church, a short but heavy rainstorm came up and we spent more time there, as it was one of the few places in the area that was covered with a metal roof. We also saw a baptistry in the form of a cross. We had some time to explore on our own - there is a huge area that was once the agora/forum and another set of excavations that is likely the main city area - and then get back to the bus at 4:45.


Prev: Day 4 Part 1 <=> Next: Day 4 Part 3
Dale's Pics for Day 4 - Phillipi: here