A leatherworker from Macedonia talks about meeting Paul and becoming a Christian
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Hello, my name is Alexander and I live in Thessalonica, the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia (that’s Greece to you). This is a really wealthy city, and there are some amazing buildings here, like the emperor’s palace and big stone houses and an open-air theatre. The main trade road from east to west passes right through the middle of the city, and the port brings ships from all over the Empire. Sometimes it seems as if the whole world is on our doorstep, especially when the city is full of visitors for the annual games.
Our temples
There are lots of temples here, too. People worship Dionysus, the god of wine, and in the Roman temples they pray for the emperor and even treat him like a god. We also have temples to our local god, Cabirus. He’s supposed to protect manual workers and sailors. There are images of him on some of our coins, but these days most coins show Caesar’s face. Cabirus was killed by his brothers, but people believe he comes from heaven to help them and bring them good luck. Whatever religion people follow here, it gives them hope, especially in life after death.
Our faith
My family are all leather workers, so Cabirus was very important to us. I say ‘was’ because a couple of years ago we started to believe in Jesus Christ. We heard about him through the preacher Paul when he visited the synagogue in our city. While he was here, he earned his living in our workshop. He’s a very good tent maker. We work long hours, and that gave Paul plenty of time to tell us about Jesus. He said that Jesus was killed by the leaders of his own people, and that God raised him from the dead. Now he lives in heaven, and will come from God to rescue us from our earthly troubles. Until he comes, his Spirit is with us to help us to live as we should. Paul said we can feel the Spirit’s presence and power when we pray to God and worship Jesus together.
Our fears
We haven’t seen Paul for a long time. He had to leave us very suddenly after he upset people at the synagogue. Some of its leaders stirred up trouble against people who believe in Jesus. It was too dangerous for Paul to stay in Thessalonica. But it was dangerous for us too, and we had no choice about staying. One night, three members of our workplace church were attacked and murdered. We still don’t know who did it, but we think it was local troublemakers bribed by the people from the synagogue who didn’t like Paul. As you can imagine we were absolutely devastated – and so disappointed too. We prayed and prayed for Jesus to help us. We didn’t think that anyone who believed in Jesus would die before he came from heaven to rescue us from all this trouble. But we were wrong.Some members of our church have been criticising Paul for leaving us and staying away when we need him most. They accuse him of being just like all the other visiting teachers, who see people like us as a way of making easy money, and only care about themselves. I’m not sure what I believe any more – about Paul, or Jesus for that matter. I just feel let down. Someone in the workshop told me today that a letter has arrived for us from Paul. Tonight after we’ve finished work, one of our members will read it to us when we meet for our fellowship meal. After all that’s happened, I wonder what Paul has to say to us.