Patrick Comerford
In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England. This week began with the Second Sunday before Advent (19 November 2023).
The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (23 November) remembers Clement (ca 100), Bishop of Rome, Martyr.
Throughout this week, I am reflecting on the seven churches in cities or places that give their names to the titles of nine letters or epistles by Saint Paul: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.
My reflections this morning follow this pattern:
1, A reflection on a Pauline church;
2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.
Saint Paul’s Philippi:
The Apostle Paul wrote 14 of the 27 books the New Testament. He founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD, and wrote letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and Thessaloniki.
The Letter to the Philippians is the eleventh book in the New Testament. The Letter is attributed to the Apostle Paul and Saint Timothy is named as the co-author or co-sender.
Philippi (Φίλιπποι, Phílippoi) was a major Greek city north-west of the island of Thasos. It was established by colonists from Thasos in 360-359 BCE. The original name of the city was Krenides (Κρηνῖδες, ‘Fountains’), and it was renamed by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BCE.
The town offered control of the local gold mines and the route between Amphipolis and Neapolis, part of the great royal route running east-west across Macedonia and later a part of the Roman Via Egnatia. Philip II preserved the city’s autonomy within the kingdom of Macedon, but Philippi became fully integrated into the kingdom during the last years of the reign of Philip V of Macedon (221 to 179 BCE) or the reign of Perseus of Macedon.
The archaeological remains include walls, the Greek theatre, the foundations of a house under the Roman forum and a small temple dedicated to a hero cult.
After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Caesar’s heirs Mark Antony and Octavian confronted the forces of the assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE. The city was refounded as Colonia Victrix Philippensium, was renamed Colonia Iulia Philippensis and then Colonia Augusta Iulia Philippensis, and became a ‘miniature Rome.’
The Apostle Paul visited Philippi during his second missionary journey, probably in 49 or 50 CE, accompanied by Silas, Timothy and possibly Luke. When Saint Paul preached in Philippi, it was the first time any Christian ever preached on European soil. He visited Philippi on two other occasions, in 56 and 57 CE. His Letter to the Philippians dates from ca 61-62 CE.
A century later, Saint Polycarp wrote a letter from Smyrna to the church in Philippi ca 160 CE.
Although Philippi had one of the oldest churches in Europe, it seem to have had a bishop only from the 4th century. The first recorded church in the city is a small building. The Basilica of Saint Paul is identified by a mosaic inscription on the pavement, and is dated ca 343 from a reference by Bishop Porphyrios, who attended the Council of Serdica that year.
Seven churches were built in Philippi between the mid-fourth century and late sixth centuries. Some of them competed in size and decoration with the most beautiful churches in Thessaloniki and Constantinople. The church known as Basilica B has been compared with Hagia Sophia and Saint Irene in Constantinople. The complex cathedral that took the place of the Basilica of Saint Paul at the end of the fifth century was built around an octagonal church and also rivalled the churches of Constantinople.
The city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake ca 619, and became hardly more than a village. The Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas rebuilt the fortifications on the acropolis and in part of the city ca 969. Bishop Basil Kartzimopoulos rebuilt part of the defences inside the city in 1077, and Philippi began to prosper once more as a centre of business and wine production.
Philippi was occupied briefly by the Franks after the Fourth Crusade and the capture of Constantinople in 1204, and was then captured by the Serbs. It was abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman conquest. By the 1540s, the Turks were using the ruins as a quarry.
The first modern archaeological description, based on a visit in 1856, was published in 1860 by Georges Perrot. More extensive investigations by French archaeologists followed. Later excavations were interrupted by World War I, but continued until 1937, and the Greek theatre, the forum, Basilicas A and B, the baths, and the walls were excavated. Greek archaeologists returned after World War II and uncovered the bishop’s quarter and the octagonal church, large private residences, a basilica near the museum, and two others in the necropolis east of the city.
The present village of Filippoi is near the ruins of the ancient city and is part of the Greek region of East Macedonia and Thrace in Kavala. The archaeological site is a Unesco World Heritage Site due to its exceptional Roman architecture, its urban layout as a smaller reflection of Rome itself, and its importance in early Christianity.
There is a general consensus that the Letter to the Philippians consists of authentic Pauline material, and that it is a composite of multiple letter fragments from Paul to the church in Philippi. These letters could have been written from Ephesus in 52-55 CE or Caesarea Maritima in 57-59 CE, but it seems most likely they were written in Rome ca 62 CE, or about 10 years after Paul’s first visit to Philippi.
Many biblical scholars agree that Philippians is a compilation of fragments from three separate letters written by Saint Paul, edited into a single document in Greek, sometime during the 50s or early 60s CE:
1, Philippians 4: 10-20, a short thank-you note to the Philippian church for gifts.
2, Philippians 1: 1 to 3:1, and perhaps also 4: 4-9 and 4: 21-23.
3, Philippians 3: 2 to 4:1, and perhaps also 4: 2-3.
In Chapters 1 and 2, Saint Paul sends word to the Philippians of his upcoming sentence in Rome and of his optimism in the face of death. He assures the Philippians that his imprisonment is helping to spread the Christian message, rather than hindering it.
In Chapter 3, he warns the Philippians about those Christians who insist that circumcision is necessary for salvation.
In Chapter 4, he urges the Philippians to resolve their conflicts with one another. He thanks them for their gifts and assures them that God will reward their generosity.
There is a sense of optimism throughout the epistle. Saint Paul is hopeful that he will be released, he promises to send Timothy to the Philippians, and expects visit them again. Chapter 2 also contains a famous Christological poem describing the nature of Christ, with the often-quoted concluding words (Philippians 2: 9-11):
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Saint Paul constantly tells his readers that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5: 5). On more than one occasion, he summarises the Christian message in this way. In the Letter to the Galatians, for example, he says: ‘The only thing that counts is faith working through love’ (Galatians 5: 6). He also writes, ‘For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.’ (Galatians 5: 14)
In the Letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul writes: ‘If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, and compassion and sympathy. Make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind’ (Philippians 2: 1-2).
Luke 19: 41-44 (NRSVA):
41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.’
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 23 November 2023):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’. This theme was introduced on Sunday.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (23 November 2023, International Day for Tolerance) invites us to pray in these words:
Lord, we pray that women might receive greater acknowledgement for their role in sustaining our churches and our communities. Amen.
The Collect:
Creator and Father of eternity,
whose martyr Clement bore witness with his blood
to the love he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached:
give us thankful hearts as we celebrate your faithfulness,
revealed to us in the lives of your saints,
and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God our redeemer,
whose Church was strengthened by the blood of your martyr Clement:
so bind us, in life and death, to Christ’s sacrifice
that our lives, broken and offered with his,
may carry his death and proclaim his resurrection in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection (Ephesus)
Continued Tomorrow (Colossae)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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