Bible Gem 2218 – I Couldn’t Resist Adding One More City & Church

I am sure if you gave it some thought after my comment at the foot of the last Gem, you would have come up with the church that came to my mind. It is the obvious one to be added. It is not found in the Roman Province of Asia. But it is a city and church of the First Century AD. It is a Paul inspired church. As I have pursued this idea of checking out the seven churches of Revelation included in The Letter, this church begged to be added to the investigation. I have wanted to know how these seven churches fared and whether they survived given their starting point and the words Jesus spoke about them. Of course we can’t add words from Jesus which were not in fact spoken. I have read the letters from Paul to other churches to see if any of them evidence the kind of criticism seen in the Letter to the Seven. But aware too that there were issues they faced for which Paul castigated them. I wanted to find a city and its church which fit the parameters. Which had the historical details available and which would likely receive from Jesus commendation rather than criticism. Are you on track with my thinking yet? Does any church come to mind which fits the search parameters? I believe you will come up with the city and the church I thought of.

I will give you one more clue which I am sure will lead you to the city and church I am thinking of. I have thought it would be good to find a city and church which contrasts with another much like the seven churches of Revelation did. It’s the contrast between the examples which provides both the challenge and the warning to us all; asking ourselves where do we and our churches fit in the scheme of things? The seven exemplars in the letter to the Revelation churches and the two additions, if in fact I use the last contrastive example. It will depend what I find in the end. But it is something I want to test nonetheless. I will share what I have found with the second church only if a number of you ask me to share my findings.

You must certainly be on to the examples I have in mind. Right? Do you have the right examples in mind?

That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. The believers acted at once, sending Paul on to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens; then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.

Acts 17:10-15

And the example which is the foil is this one.

Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women. But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too. And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus.” The people of the city, as well as the city council, were thrown into turmoil by these reports. So the officials forced Jason and the other believers to post bond, and then they released them.

Acts 17:1-9

You will be able to go back to catch the background of these two cities and churches through the Gems I wrote between Bible Gem 1706 and Bible Gem 1713 when I covered this part of Acts in January February 2020. I have given you the links but alternatively you can type the Gem numbers into the search engine on any Gem page and move from one to other via the links at the bottom of each Gem. This time around I want to look at Berea, the city and the church. Depending on your reactions as my readers will determine whether I go further and look at Thessalonica as well. But when I have finished Berea I will look at what I believe to be the power of what Jesus showed to John in vision and words. And yes, I give you my conclusions on Thyatira as well.

Here then is a short history of Berea, the city and church of Berea.

Berea – The City

• Berea was founded in the late 4th century BC
• The Greek city surrendered to the Romans after the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC.
• Paul and Silas, visited the Jewish and Greek communities of the city in AD 50/51 or 54/55 AD.
• Diocletian made Berea one of the two capital cities of a divided Macedonia during his reign as Emperor, 284-305 AD
• In the 7th century, the Slavic tribe of the Drougoubitai raided the lowlands below the city, and again in the late 8th century.
• In 787 AD Empress Irene of Athens rebuilt and expanded the city and renamed it Irenopolis.
• The city was apparently held by the Bulgarian Empire at some point in the late 9th century.
• In the 11th century Berea experienced a brief period of Bulgarian dominance.
• Tsar Boris I built one of his seven cathedrals in Berea during that time of Bulgarian control.  
• The city alternated between Greek and Bulgarian control from 975 to 1001 AD.
• The Byzantine Emperor Basil II quickly regained it in 1001 since its Bulgarian governor, Dobromir, surrendered the city without a fight. 
• The city is not mentioned again until the late 12th century, when it was briefly held by the Normans in 1185 AD during their invasion of the Byzantine Empire.
• After the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD it briefly became part of Boniface of Montferrat’s Kingdom of Thessalonica.
• In 1206 the city was taken by the Bulgarian ruler, Kalojan when many were killed and survivors fled. Kalojan installed Bulgarians as commandant and a bishop, and resettled some of the leading families to Bulgaria.
• By 1220 it was back under Greek control through Theodore Komnenos Doukas, ruler of Epirus, 
• It changed hands again in 1246, being taken by the Emperor of Nicaea, John III Doukas Vatatzes forming part of the restored Byzantine Empire after 1261.
• In 1331 the region was pillaged by the Karasid Turks.
• In 1343/4 Berea was captured by the Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan.
• The city was recovered by the Byzantine ruler John VI Kantakouzenos in 1350, but lost again to Radoslav Hlapen the Serbian warlord after 1358.
• Around 1375 the Serbian Empire disintegrated and Berea went back to Byzantium rule.
• By 1519 the town was called Veria Karaferiye and had 231 Muslim and 578 Christian households.
• In the 17th-century the city was peaceful, without walls or garrison. It had 4000 houses, 16 Muslim quarters, 15 Christian quarters and 2 Jewish congregations.
• According to the 1893 Ottoman General Census, the administrative district of Veria, called Karaferiye, had a total population of 25,034: consisting of 15,103 Greeks, 7,325 Muslims, 2,174 Bulgarians, 393 Jews, and 39 foreign citizens.

Berea – The Church

• From New Testament times Berea has had a series of Bishops
• Onesimus, the slave of Philemon was reported to be the first.
• Gerontius (344 AD)
• Lucas (449 AD)
• Sebastian (451 AD)
• Timothy (536 AD)
• Joseph (869 AD)
• An un-named Catholic (1235 AD)
• there have been intermittent bishops appointed in the intervening centuries by Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian, Turkish, Ottoman, Greek Orthodox and even the odd Roman Catholic. Which is curious to say the least, how such a varied number of conquerors can appoint a series of different Christian bishops.

• The Diocese of Berrhoea was nominally restored in 1933 by the Catholic Church as the titular bishopric of Berrhœa.
• It has been vacant for decades, having had the following bishops, cardinals or missionaries:

• Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani (Italian) (5/4/1962 – 20/04/1962)
• Pierre-Auguste–Marie–Joseph Douillard (1963.05.22 – 20/08/1963) as emeritate
• Federico Kaiser Depel, (Missionary of the Sacred Heart)(1963.10.29 – death 1993.09.26)

Veria / Beroea in the 21st Century is known for its numerous Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches (about 48 survive today), originally 72, resulting in the name ‘Small Jerusalem’ because there are so many churches. The prime churches recommended to the visitor are: Panagia Dovra Church, Panagia Soumela, Metamorfoseos Sotiros Moutsiani Church, St Clare Catholic Church, Union Church, Greek Evangelical Church of Beroea, Free Apostolic Church of Pentecost. But like some of the Seven Churches of Revelation, some of their churches are ‘historical’, preserved for tourists to visit. It is difficult to determine just how many modern thriving churches there are in Berea [Beria, Veria, Verria, Beroea] because there is no distinction between historical and functioning modern Berean churches. Also as you can imagine there is a multiplicity of cities and towns across the world named Berea, just as there are multiple ‘Jerusalems’ and ‘Bethlehems’. But it is safe to say the Church of Berea in the Greek city of ‘Beroea’ is alive and well.

What is remarkable is the Christian input in terms of churches and cathedrals built or bishops appointed irrespective of whether Greeks, Byzantines, Serbs or Bulgarians and finally Ottoman Turks were involved. Remarkable also is the fact that periods of harmful rulers were brief, and ended with a quick restoration of Christian influence. Note too the multi-religious base of the population of ‘Berea’ over the latter centuries and the seeming harmony between them. There have also been a number of times when Berea was surrendered to the incoming conquerors without a fight, resulting in little damage and a smooth transition between regimes.

All this in the historical record of a city in which the citizens were initially considered more honourable than the Thessalonians. I don’t believe the word [εὐγένης – eugenēs] is referring to a nobleman or noble person of high birth at all, as I commented in Gem 1711. The word also has the meaning of being ‘forthright’ or ‘standing up for truth and what is true’. I suspect it also has a degree of being able to love your enemies and get on with those who persecute you and do all manner of evil against you. It could be that these Bereans were more remarkable than we gave them credit for. I am left wondering if the Lord may have shortened their time of persecution in much the same way as He told those in Smyrna that their time of suffering in prison would only be for ten days. I won’t press that point too strongly, but you have to admit it is interesting to say the least while reading through the historical record of Berea and the church of Berea. The current population of ‘Beroea’ is 48,306 in the Administrative core and 62,064 in the Wider Municipality with 48 historical Byzantian and Post Byzantian Churches and an undefined number of other modern day churches.

It strikes me that God has honoured the dedication of the honourable Bereans back in the first century and through the centuries. I will leave you at this point to ponder these facts and come to your own conclusions. My intention is to draw this to a conclusion in the following Gem, including the position and role of Thyatira as the middle church of the Seven. I will add the contrast of Thessalonica only if more than 10 readers request it. But I suspect like me you have had enough of me delving into the track record of these churches.

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. . . But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.

Revelation 2:10

To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, To them I will give authority over all the nations.

Revelation 2:26

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Revelation 3:5

All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.

Revelation 3:12

Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

Revelation 3:20

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

Revelation 3:22