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    The martyrdom of the apostle paul
    The martyrdom of the apostle paul
    The martyrdom of the apostle paul
    Ebook64 pages35 minutes

    The martyrdom of the apostle paul

    By Massimo Serretti

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    About this ebook

    This essay narrates the martyrdom of the apostle Paul and is unfolded in the interlacement of two threads: the one is historical-narrative and the other is theological-meditative. The narration approaches the argument with the imagination and the affection to the simple but involving concreteness, to the places, to the people, to the stories that Paul met in his journey. This also makes his biography and what the Lord has wanted to operate through the apostle colorful and tasteful. The theological meditation that he gives us in his epistolary and that we draw from the writings of Luca gives sense and order to every concrete detail.
    To do this the Author refers to a base of recent specialized studies and resources, but the result is linear and accessible to everybody.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMassimo Serretti
    Release dateNov 21, 2017
    ISBN9788827520703
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      Book preview

      The martyrdom of the apostle paul - Massimo Serretti

      The martyrdom of the apostle paul

      Massimo Serretti

        1. Stephen and Saul

      «The blood of the martyrs is

      the seed of Christians»

      (Tertullian, Apologeticum, 50, 13)

        As we start our journey following the last stages of Paul’s life and testimony in Rome, through memories and through the spirit, let us pause to look back at his first steps in Jerusalem and in particular let us look at the episode which sees him as an eye witness to the deacon (protomartyr of the Church) Stephen’s testimony to Jesus.

        This episode, narrated by Luke in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, entwines the martyrdom of Stephen by stoning at the hands of the Jews in Jerusalem, to that of Paul in Rome by beheading at the hands of the Romans. In the scene in Jerusalem, which initiates a vast persecution of Christians, we find united the persecutor and the persecuted, as well as the martyrdom which took place in Jerusalem and that which took place in Rome.

      «Saul – says Luke – approved of the killing» (Acts 8, 1).

      Later, Saul himself, speaking about his zeal in persecuting Christians, in the speech he gave in the Temple of Jerusalem, as if speaking before the Lord, said:  «I used to have imprisoned and flogged in the synagogue those who believed in You; when the blood of Stephen, Your witness, was shed, I, too, was standing by, in full agreement with his murderers and in charge of their clothes» (Acts 22, 19-20). Saul is not the material executor of the stoning of Stephen, but he approved¹ and voted in favour of the condemning to death of the witnesses of Christ (Acts 26, 10) and, as he himself said, he was «so extreme» (Acts 26, 11).

      His youthful role of inexperience in that summary execution, stemming from a spirit of adversity to the signs that Stephen carried out and to the glorious splendour of his testimony which convinced many, too many according to the leaders of the people, was to preserve the cloaks of the «false witnesses» who, by law, had to cast the first stones of the stoning.

      The stoning of Stephen not only failed to make Saul see reason and mend his ways, but also provoked an even greater fury (Acts 8, 3). Nonetheless, it is still true to say that «the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Christians» and also in this case, the first, was exactly like that. If, initially, it seemed as though Saul had won the day over Stephen, subsequently it was Stephen, whose name means crown who was victorious over Saul and Saul will follow Stephen, so far as to resemble him in attaining the crown of martyrs.

      A

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