ON ST. LYDIA THE SELLER OF PURPLE,
AT PHILIPPI IN MACEDONIA.
From the Acts of the Apostles.
After the middle of the first century.
CommentaryLydia the seller of purple, at Philippi in Macedonia (S.)
P. B.
It is indeed remarkable that the memory of so distinguished a matron was observed in the ecclesiastical registers neither in the West nor in the East, until at last, in the restored and enlarged Roman Martyrology, it began to be read, inserted at this day thus: Her cult At Philippi in Macedonia, of St. Lydia the seller of purple; who, while St. Paul the Apostle was preaching there, first of all believed the Gospel. And indeed she deserved this honor, she who had had as the very herald of her praises the Holy Spirit himself in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16; where, having narrated the arrival of Sts. Paul, Luke, Silas, and Timothy among the Philippians, the sacred writer thus continues at verse 12: And we were in this city some days, conferring together. And upon the Sabbath day we went forth outside the gate, by the riverside, where prayer seemed to be; and sitting down we spoke to the women who had come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of the Thyatirans, one that worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened to attend to those things which were said by Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. Upon which text, observe in passing what is found more fully explained among the interpreters of Sacred Scripture.
[2] And first indeed prayer, in Greek προσευχή, here seems to be taken for a place of prayer, and her eulogy or a suburban oratory, such as the Jews had in many places: since therefore Lydia was even then already accustomed to gather there, she was without doubt a proselyte of the Jews, and thus a worshipper of God. 2. The name Lydia was proper to her among the Philippians; though perhaps given for this reason, because she was a native of Lydia, a province of Asia Minor, to which, according to certain ancient geographers, Thyatira belonged. 3. She is called a seller of purple, in Greek πορφυρόπωλις, because she sold purple. This trade was once a special one, and not granted to just anyone: whence some conclude that this matron was of the more honorable sort. 4. She was altogether outstanding in hospitality, inasmuch as she received Paul, with at least three companions, when constrained into her lodging, and cherished them, as is clear from verse 18, for many days; and she would have detained them still longer, had he not, on account of the freeing of the Pythoness, been forced into prison. 5. But how kindly she treated those guests is shown by this, that St. Paul, when led out of custody and asked to depart from the city, would not do so until he had returned to the hospitable house and bidden Lydia farewell: And going out (verse 40) of the prison, they entered in to Lydia; and, having seen the brethren (the newly baptized Christians, gathered there as in the primitive church of the Philippians), they comforted them, and departed. 6. From her example, then, took its beginning that so beneficent affection of the Philippians toward the Apostle even when absent, which he both elsewhere himself, and especially in the Epistle given to them about the year of Christ 61, so greatly commends: in which Epistle, accordingly, the name of Lydia too would without doubt have been read expressly, had not Paul understood that she had already departed this life: whence it is very likely that she did not long survive after the Apostle's departure, that is, the year of Christ 52: although we know neither the year of her death, nor the month, nor the day; just as neither anything more of her deeds than what we have here given.