Difference between revisions of "Macedonia"

<p> [[Macedonia]] was the northern part of the land known today as Greece, and the centre of power during the time of the [[Greek]] Empire. It later became an important province of the [[Roman]] Empire. [[Ships]] from the port of [[Troas]] in [[Asia]] Minor connected with the port of [[Neapolis]] in Macedonia, from where the main highway led through the [[Macedonian]] town of Philippi, Amphipolis, [[Apollonia]] and [[Thessalonica]] towards [[Rome]] (Acts 16:11-12; Acts 17:1). Another route went south from Thessalonica through [[Berea]] to [[Athens]] (Acts 17:10-15). The administrative centre of the province was Thessalonica. </p> <p> [[Paul]] passed through Macedonia on his second missionary journey and established churches in a number of towns (Acts 16:9-40; Acts 17:1-14; see BEREA; THESSALONICA; PHILIPPI). He revisited the area during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:21; Acts 20:1-6; 1 Corinthians 16:5; 2 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 7:5). At this time Paul was organizing a collection of money for the poor [[Christians]] in Jerusalem, and the Macedonian churches cooperated generously (Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 8:1-4; 2 Corinthians 9:1-4). After being released from his first imprisonment in Rome, Paul visited Macedonia again (1 Timothy 1:3). </p>

<p> History Archaeological discoveries have demonstrated that [[Macedonia]] was settled as early as the [[Middle]] [[Bronze]] [[Age]] (about 1500 B.C.) probably by Thracian and Illyrian tribes. The Macedonians, Hellenic tribes which were part of the Dorian invasion, settled first in the western mountains (the upper Haliacmon valley) before 1200 B.C. They began to conquer the central plains about 700 B.C. The [[Macedonian]] kings established their first capital in Aigai, probably not at modern [[Edessa]] but at modern Vergina south of the Haliacmon river. There a golden sarcophagus, supposedly of King [[Philip]] II (father of Alexander), was found in a vaulted tomb. [[Later]] the capital was moved to [[Pella]] (birthplace of [[Alexander]] the Great) where houses of the Macedonian nobility with beautiful pebble mosaics and the gigantic foundations of the royal palace have been excavated. Between 800,600 B.C. the [[Macedonians]] expelled or subjected the older populations. They extended their realm to the east where they incorporated the lands between the Axios and the Strymon. They also reached southward to the coastal lands between Mount [[Olympus]] and the Aegean Sea. For several centuries, the Macedonian kings were involved in battles for the control of [[Upper]] Macedonia with its mixed Greek, Illyrian, and Thracian population. At the same time, Macedonia came increasingly under the influence of [[Greek]] culture and language (the original Macedonian language was probably a different Hellenic dialect). The famous Greek tragedian [[Euripides]] spent some time at the court of the Macedonian kings; and Aristotle, before he founded his philosophical school in Athens, served as the teacher of the Macedonian prince Alexander. </p> <p> Philip II (359-336 B.C.) established firm control over the entire Macedonian area and extended it to the east beyond the [[Strymon]] into Thrace. There he founded the city of [[Philippi]] in place of the Thracian colony Crenides. It became the chief mining center for the gold and silver mines in the Pangaeon mountain. Philip II also subjected [[Thessaly]] to his rule and incorporated the Chalcidice peninsula into his realm. When he was assassinated in 336 B.C., Macedonia was the strongest military power in Greece. Its military strength and the wealth established by Philip II enabled his son Alexander to defeat the [[Persian]] [[Empire]] and to conquer the entire realm from the eastern [[Mediterranean]] to the [[Indus]] [[River]] (including today's Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, and parts of [[Afghanistan]] and Pakistan). </p> <p> In the [[Hellenistic]] period the capital was moved to Thessalonica, founded 315 B.C. at the head of the Thermaic [[Gulf]] by [[Cassander]] and named for his wife Thessalia. During the Hellenistic period, Macedonia was ruled by the Antigonids, descendants of Alexander's general [[Antigonus]] Monophhythalmus. In 168 B.C. Perseus, the last Macedonian king, was defeated by the Romans. [[Rome]] first divided Macedonia into four independent “free” districts, then established it as a [[Roman]] province (148 B.C.) with [[Thessalonica]] as the capital and [[Beroea]] as the seat of the provinical assembly. During the time of Augustus, some of the Macedonian cities were refounded as Roman colonies: Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympus, became <i> Colonia [[Julia]] [[Augusta]] Diensis; </i> <i> Philip </i> <i> pi </i> , where Marc Antony had defeated the assassins of Caesar—Brutus and Cassius—was settled with Roman veterans and renamed <i> Colonia Augusta Julia </i> <i> Philip </i> <i> pensium </i> . While the general language of Macedonia remained Greek, the official language of the Roman colonies was [[Latin]] (until after A.D. 300 almost all inscriptions found in these cities are in Latin). At the time of the Great [[Persecution]] of the [[Christians]] (303-311), Thessalonica was one of the four capitals of the Roman Empire and served as residence of the emperor Galerius, one of the most fanatic persecutors of Christianity. </p> <p> Religions [[Ancient]] Macedonian religion was dominated by two different elements. (1) The Macedonians who had conquered the country brought their own gods which are on the whole the same as the traditional gods of the Greeks. Among them, [[Zeus]] as the father of Makedon, founding hero of the Macedonians, and [[Herakles]] are the two most important deities. Also the cult of the Greek god [[Dionysus]] was widespread. Both Dionysus and Herakles appear as the patron deities of Alexander the Great. (2) At the same time, the Macedonians adopted several of the older cults and deities of the indigenous population, especially of the Thracians. A female deity of Thracian origin appears under the Greek name Artemis; numerous rock reliefs of this [[Artemis]] have been discovered on the Acropolis of Philippi where she sometimes appears with a tree of life in one hand. In Lefkopetra, a few miles west of Beroea, a temple of the “Aboriginal Mother of the Gods” has recently been discovered. Most important became the acceptance of the Thracian Cabirus. On the island of [[Samothrace]] two [[Cabiri]] were worshiped in a famous mystery cult together with a Thracian mother goddess. In the cities of Thessalonica and Philippi, one Cabirus was venerated as the founding hero of the city. As he is depicted with a hammer in one hand and a drinking horn in the other, he also seems to have been revered as the patron deity of construction workers and miners. In Thessalonica, his role was later assumed by the [[Christian]] martyr Demetrius. A widespread religious symbol was the “Macedonian rider,” depicted on coins of the Macedonian kings and on many tombstones. He may have been understood as a guide to the afterlife. This originally Thracian hero became the prototype for the Christian saint George. [[Belief]] in the judgment of the dead and an afterlife is in evidence in the paintings of a Macedonian tomb found near Lefkadia. </p> <p> In the Hellenistic and Roman periods, new cults were introduced to Macedonia. The cult of the [[Egyptian]] gods Sarapis, Isis, and [[Anubis]] was established in Thessalonica before 100 B.C. The Egyptian sanctuary discovered in Thessalonica included, together with many inscriptions and votive offerings, a dining club for slaves and freedmen under the tutelage of the god Anubis. An Egyptian sanctuary was also excavated on the slope of the acropolis of Philippi and in the Roman colony Dion. [[Worship]] of “God the Most High” (Zeus Hypsistos), elsewhere associated with the [[God]] of the Israelites, is also in evidence. Roman veterans who were settled in the newly founded colonies brought their gods to Macedonia; a sanctuary dedicated to the [[Italian]] god [[Silvanus]] was found on the acropolis of Philippi. [[Temples]] for the worship of the Roman emperor were established in most cities. In Thessalonica the imperial cult appears in the special form of the worship of the Roman benefactors. The evidence for ancient [[Judaism]] in Macedonia is meager. An inscription (still unpublished) recently found in Philippi mentions a synagogue. The only evidence for [[Israelites]] in Thessalonica comes from a [[Samaritan]] inscription dating after A.D. 400. A [[Jewish]] synagogue has been excavated recently in the Macedonian city of Stobi in the valley of the Axios (Vardar) River (in Yugoslav Macedonia). </p> <p> [[Christianity]] in Macedonia The Christian message came to Macedonia through the preaching of the apostle Paul. Acts 16:9-10 describes the dream vision that came to [[Paul]] in Troas: a Macedonian appeared to him and invited him to Macedonia. Paul and his associates, sailing from [[Troas]] via Samothrace, arrived in [[Neapolis]] (today Kavalla), the most important port of eastern Macedonia, and went inland to Philippi where, according to the account of Acts 16:14-15 , they were received by Lydia, a God-fearer from Thyatira, and founded the first Christian community in Europe, probably in the year A.D. 50. The correspondence of Paul with this church, now preserved in the [[Epistle]] to the Philippians, gives testimony to the early development, organization, and generosity of this church. [[Forced]] to leave Philippi after an apparently brief stay (Acts 16:16-40 reports the incident of the healing of a possessed slave girl and Paul's subsequent imprisonment), Paul went to the capital Thessalonica via [[Amphipolis]] on the Via Egnatia ( Acts 17:1 ). The church which he founded in Thessalonica (compare Acts 17:2-12 ) was the recipient of the oldest Christian writing, i.e., the First Letter to the Thessalonians which Paul wrote from [[Corinth]] after he had preached in Beroea and in [[Athens]] (Acts 17:13-15 ). </p> <p> [[Apart]] from this [[Pauline]] correspondence, our information about the Macedonian churches in the first three Christian centuries is extremely slim. [[Shortly]] after A.D. 100, bishop [[Polycarp]] of [[Smyrna]] wrote to the Philippians who had asked him to forward copies of the letters of the famous martyr [[Ignatius]] of Antioch. Polycarp also wrote to advise the Philippians with respect to the case of a presbyter who had embezzled funds. Otherwise, almost no detailed information is available for the time before Constantine. </p> <p> Helmut Koester </p>

<p> '''''mas''''' -'''''ḗ''''' -'''''dō´ni''''' -'''''a''''' ( Μακεδονία , <i> '''''Makedonı́a''''' </i> , ethnic Μακεδών , <i> '''''Makedṓn''''' </i> ): </p> <p> I. The [[Macedonian]] People And Land </p> <p> II. History Of [[Macedonia]] </p> <p> 1. [[Philip]] and [[Alexander]] </p> <p> 2. [[Roman]] Intervention </p> <p> 3. Roman Conquest </p> <p> 4. Macedonia a Roman [[Province]] </p> <p> 5. [[Later]] History </p> <p> III. [[Paul]] And Macedonia </p> <p> 1. Paul's First [[Visit]] </p> <p> 2. Paul's Second Visit </p> <p> 3. Paul's Third Visit </p> <p> 4. Paul's Later Visits </p> <p> IV. The Macedonian [[Church]] </p> <p> 1. Prominence of [[Women]] </p> <p> 2. [[Marked]] Characteristics </p> <p> 3. Its [[Members]] </p> <p> [[Literature]] </p> <p> A country lying to the North of Greece, afterward enlarged and formed into a Roman province; it is to the latter that the term always refers when used in the New Testament. </p> I. The Macedonian People and Land. <p> Ethnologists differ about the origin of the Macedonian race and the degree of its affinity to the Hellenes. But we find a well-marked tradition in ancient times that the race comprised a Hellenic element and a non-Hellenic, though Aryan, element, closely akin to the Phrygian and other Thracian stocks. The dominant race, the [[Macedonians]] in the narrower sense of the term, including the royal family, which was acknowledged to be [[Greek]] and traced its descent through the Temenids of Argos back to [[Heracles]] (Herodotus v. 22), settled in the fertile plains about the lower Haliacmon ( <i> Karasu </i> or <i> Vistritza </i> ) and Axius ( <i> Vardar </i> ), to the North and Northwest of the Thermaic Gulf. Their capital, which was originally at [[Edessa]] or Aegae ( <i> Vodhena </i> ), was afterward transferred to [[Pella]] by Philip II. The other and older element - the Lyncestians, Orestians, Pelagonians and other tribes - were pushed back northward and westward into the highlands, where they struggled for generations to maintain their independence and weakened the Macedonian state by constant risings and by making common cause with the wild hordes of Illyrians and Thracians, with whom we find the Macedonian kings in frequent conflict. In order to maintain their position they entered into a good understanding from time to time with the states of [[Greece]] or acknowledged temporarily [[Persian]] suzerainty, and thus gradually extended the sphere of their power. </p> II. History of Macedonia. <p> [[Herodotus]] (viii. 137-39) traces the royal line from [[Perdiccas]] I through Argaeus, Philip I, Aeropus, Alcetas and Amyntas I to Alexander I, who was king at the time of the Persian invasions of Greece. He and his son and grandson, Perdiccas 2 and Archelaus, did much to consolidate Macedonian power, but the death of [[Archelaus]] (399 BC) was followed by 40 years of disunion and weakness. </p> <p> <b> 1. Philip and Alexander: </b> </p> <p> With the accession of Philip II, son of Amyntas II, in 359 BC, Macedonia came under the rule of a man powerful alike in body and in mind, an able general and an astute diplomatist, one, moreover, who started out with a clear perception of the end at which he must aim, the creation of a great national army and a nation-state, and worked consistently and untiringly throughout his reign of 23 years to gain that object. He welded the Macedonian tribes into a single nation, won by force and fraud the important positions of Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, Olynthus, Abdera and Maronea, and secured a plentiful supply of gold by founding [[Philippi]] on the site of Crenides. Gradually extending his rule over barbarians and [[Greeks]] alike, he finally, after the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), secured his recognition by the Greeks themselves as captain-general of the Hellenic states and leader of a Greco-Macedonian crusade against Persia. On the eve of this projected eastern expedition, however, he was assassinated by order of his dishonored wife [[Olympias]] (336 BC), whose son, Alexander the Great, succeeded to the throne. After securing his hold on Thrace, [[Illyria]] and Greece, Alexander turned eastward and, in a series of brilliant campaigns, overthrew the Persian empire. The battle of the Granicus (334 BC) was followed by the submission or subjugation of most of [[Asia]] Minor. By the battle of [[Issus]] (333), in which [[Darius]] himself was defeated, Alexander's way was opened to [[Phoenicia]] and Egypt; Darius' second defeat, at [[Arbela]] (331), sealed the fate of the Persian power. Babylon, Susa, [[Persepolis]] and [[Ecbatana]] were taken in turn, and Alexander then pressed eastward through Hyrcania, Aria, Arachosia, Bactria and Sogdiana to India, which he conquered as far as the Hyphasis ( <i> ''''' [[Sutlej]] ''''' </i> ): thence he returned through Gedrosia, Carmania and [[Persis]] to Babylon, to make preparations for the conquest of Arabia. A sketch of his career is given in 1 [[Maccabees]] 1:1-7 , where he is spoken of as "Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of Chittim" (1:1): his invasion of [[Persia]] is also referred to in 1 Maccabees 6:2 , where he is described as "the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks," i.e. the first who united in a single empire all the Greek states, except those which lay to the West of the Adriatic. It is the conception of the Macedonian power as the deadly foe of Persia which is responsible for the description of [[Haman]] in Additions to Esther 16:10 as a Macedonian, "an alien in truth from the Persian blood," and for the attribution to him of a plot to transfer the Persian empire to the Macedonians (verse 14), and this same thought appears in the Septuagint's rendering of the [[Hebrew]] [[Agagite]] ( אגגי , <i> ''''' 'ăghāghı̄ ''''' </i> ) in Esther 9:24 as Macedonian ( <i> '''''Makedōn''''' </i> ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Roman Intervention: </b> </p> <p> Alexander died in June 323 BC, and his empire fell a prey to the rivalries of his chief generals (1 Maccabees 1:9 ); after a period of struggle and chaos, three powerful kingdoms were formed, taking their names from Macedonia, [[Syria]] and Egypt. Even in Syria, however, Macedonian influences remained strong, and we find Macedonian troops in the service of the Seleucid monarchs (2 Maccabees 8:20 ). In 215 King Philip V, son of [[Demetrius]] 2 and successor of [[Antigonus]] Doson (229-220 BC), formed an alliance with Hannibal, who had defeated the Roman forces at [[Lake]] Trasimene (217) and at Cannae (216), and set about trying to recover Illyria. After some years of desultory and indecisive warfare, peace was concluded in 205, Philip binding himself to abstain from attacking the Roman possessions on the East of the Adriatic. The Second Macedonian War, caused by a combined attack of [[Antiochus]] 3 of Syria and Philip of Macedon on Egypt, broke out in 200 and ended 3 years later in the crushing defeat of Philip's forces by T. Quinctius Flamininus at Cynoscephalae in [[Thessaly]] (compare 1 Maccabees 8:5 ). By the treaty which followed this battle, Philip surrendered his conquests in Greece, Illyria, Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean, gave up his fleet, reduced his army to 5,000 men, and undertook to declare no war and conclude no alliance without Roman consent. </p> <p> <b> 3. Roman Conquest: </b> </p> <p> In 179 Philip was succeeded by his son Perseus, who at once renewed the Roman alliance, but set to work to consolidate and extend his power. In 172 war again broke out, and after several Roman reverses the consul [[Lucius]] [[Aemilius]] [[Paulus]] decisively defeated the Macedonians at Pydna in 168 Bc (compare 1 Maccabees 8:5 , where [[Perseus]] is called "king of [[Chittim]] "). The kingship was abolished and Perseus was banished to Italy. The Macedonians were declared free and autonomous; their land was divided into four regions, with their capitals at Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella and Pelagonia respectively, and each of them was governed by its own council; <i> commercium </i> and <i> connubium </i> were forbidden between them and the gold and silver mines were closed. A tribute was to be paid annually to the Roman treasury, amounting to half the land tax hitherto exacted by the Macedonian kings. </p> <p> <b> 4. Macedonia a Roman Province: </b> </p> <p> But this compromise between freedom and subjection could not be of long duration, and after the revolt of Andriscus, the pseudo-Philip, was quelled (148 BC), Macedonia was constituted a Roman province and enlarged by the addition of parts of Illyria, Epirus, the Ionian islands and Thessaly. Each year a governor was dispatched from [[Rome]] with supreme military and judicial powers; the partition fell into abeyance and communication within the province was improved by the construction of the <i> Via Egnatia </i> from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, whence it was afterward continued eastward to the Nestus and the Hellespont. In 146 the Acheans, who had declared war on Rome, were crushed by Q. [[Caecilius]] Metellus and L. Mummius, [[Corinth]] was sacked and destroyed, the Achean league was dissolved, and Greece, under the name of Achea, was made a province and placed under the control of the governor of Macedonia. In 27 BC, when the administration of the provinces was divided between [[Augustus]] and the Senate, Macedonia and [[Achea]] fell to the share of the latter (Strabo, p. 840; [[Dio]] [[Cassius]] liii. 12) and were governed separately by ex-praetors sent out annually with the title of proconsul. In 15 AD, however, senatorial mismanagement had brought the provinces to the verge of ruin, and they were transferred to [[Tiberius]] (Tacitus, <i> Annals </i> , i. 76), who united them under the government of a <i> legatus [[Augusti]] pro praetore </i> until, in 44 AD, [[Claudius]] restored them to the [[Senate]] (Suetonius, <i> Claudius </i> 25; Dio Cassius 60 .24). It is owing to this close historical and geographical connection that we find Macedonia and Achia frequently mentioned together in the New Testament, Macedonia being always placed first ( Acts 19:21; Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 9:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:7 , 1 Thessalonians 1:8 ). </p> <p> <b> 5. Later History: </b> </p> <p> [[Diocletian]] (284-305 AD) detached from Macedonia Thessaly and the Illyrian coast lands and formed them into two provinces, the latter under the name of Epirus Nova. Toward the end of the 4th century what remained of Macedonia was broken up into two provinces, <i> Macedonia </i> <i> prima </i> and <i> Macedonia </i> <i> secunda </i> or <i> salutaris </i> , and when in 395 the Roman world was divided into the western and eastern empires, Macedonia was included in the latter. During the next few years it was overrun and plundered by the [[Goths]] under Alaric, and later, in the latter half of the 6th century, immense numbers of [[Slavonians]] settled there. In the 10th century a large part of it was under Bulgarian rule, and afterward colonies of various Asiatic tribes were settled there by the Byzantine emperors. In 1204 it became a [[Latin]] kingdom under Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, but 20 years later Theodore, the Greek despot of Epirus, founded a Greek empire of Thessalonica. During the 2nd half of the 14th century the greater part of it was part of the Servian dominions, but in 1430 [[Thessalonica]] fell before the Ottoman Turks, and from that time down to the year 1913 Macedonia has formed part of the Turkish empire. Its history thus accounts for the very mixed character of its population, which consists chiefly of Turks, Albanians, Greeks and Bulgarians, but has in it a considerable element of Jews, Gypsies, Vlachs, Servians and other races. </p> III. Paul and Macedonia. <p> In the narrative of Paul's journeys as given us in Acts 13 through 28 and in the [[Pauline]] Epistles, Macedonia plays a prominent part. The apostle's relations with the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and [[Berea]] will be found discussed under those several headings; here we will merely recount in outline his visits to the province. </p> <p> <b> 1. Paul's First Visit: </b> </p> <p> On his 2nd missionary journey Paul came to Troas, and from there sailed with Silas, Timothy and Luke to Neapolis, the nearest Macedonian seaport, in obedience to the vision of a Macedonian (whom Ramsay identifies with Luke: see under the word "Philippi") urging him to cross to Macedonia and preach the gospel there (Acts 16:9 ). From [[Neapolis]] he journeyed inland to Philippi, which is described as "a city of Macedonia, the first of the district" (Acts 16:12 ). [[Thence]] Paul and his two companions (for Luke appears to have remained in Philippi for the next 5 years) traveled along the Ignatian road, passing through [[Amphipolis]] and Apollonia, to Thessalonica, which, though a "free city," and therefore technically exempt from the jurisdiction of the Roman governor, was practically the provincial capital. Driven thence by the hostility of the Jews, the evangelists preached in Berea, where [[Silas]] and Timothy remained for a short time after a renewed outbreak of [[Jewish]] animosity had forced Paul to leave Macedonia for the neighboring province of [[Achaia]] (Acts 17:14 ). Although he sent a message to his companions to join him with all speed at [[Athens]] (Acts 17:15 ), yet so great was his anxiety for the welfare of the newly founded Macedonian churches that he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica almost immediately (1 Thessalonians 3:1 , 1 Thessalonians 3:2 ), and perhaps Silas to some other part of Macedonia, nor did they again join him until after he had settled for some time in Corinth (Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:6 ). The rapid extension of the [[Christian]] faith in Macedonia at this time may be judged from the phrases used by Paul in his 1st [[Epistle]] to the Thessalonians, the earliest of his extant letters, written during this visit to Corinth. He there speaks of the [[Thessalonian]] converts as being an example "to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia" (1 Thessalonians 1:7 ), and he commends their love "toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia" (1 Thessalonians 4:10 ). Still more striking are the words, "From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth" (1 Thessalonians 1:8 ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Paul's Second Visit: </b> </p> <p> On his 3missionary journey, the apostle paid two further visits to Macedonia. During the course of a long stay at [[Ephesus]] he laid plans for a 2nd journey through Macedonia and Achaia, and dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia to prepare for his visit (Acts 19:21 , Acts 19:22 ). Some time later, after the uproar at Ephesus raised by Demetrius and his fellow-silversmiths (Acts 19:23-41), Paul himself set out for Macedonia (Acts 20:1 ). Of this visit Luke gives us a very summary account, telling us merely that Paul, "when he had gone through those parts, and had given them much exhortation,... came into Greece" (Acts 20:2 ); but from 2 Cor, written from Macedonia (probably from Philippi) during the course of this visit, we learn more of the apostle's movements and feelings. While at Ephesus, Paul had changed his plans. His intention at first had been to travel across the Aegean [[Sea]] to Corinth, to pay a visit from there to Macedonia and to return to Corinth, so as to sail direct to Syria (2 Corinthians 1:15 , 2 Corinthians 1:16 ). But by the time at which he wrote the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, probably near the end of his stay at Ephesus, he had made up his mind to go to Corinth by way of Macedonia, as we have seen that he actually did (1 Corinthians 16:5 , 1 Corinthians 16:6 ). From 2 Corinthians 2:13 we learn that he traveled from Ephesus to Troas, where he expected to find Titus. Titus, however, did not yet arrive, and Paul, who "had no relief for (his) spirit," left [[Troas]] and sailed to Macedonia. Even here the same restlessness pursued him: "fightings without, fears within" oppressed him, till the presence of Titus brought some relief ( 2 Corinthians 7:5 , 2 Corinthians 7:6 ). The apostle was also cheered by "the grace of [[God]] which had been given in the churches of Macedonia" (2 Corinthians 8:1 ); in the midst of severe persecution, they bore their trials with abounding joy, and their deep poverty did not prevent them begging to be allowed to raise a contribution to send to the [[Christians]] in [[Jerusalem]] (Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 8:2-4 ). [[Liberality]] was, indeed, from the very outset one of the characteristic virtues of the Macedonian churches. The Philippians had sent money to Paul on two occasions during his first visit to Thessalonica (Philippians 4:16 ), and again when he had left Macedonia and was staying at Corinth (2 Corinthians 11:9; Philippians 4:15 ). On the present occasion, however, the Corinthians seem to have taken the lead and to have prepared their bounty in the previous year, on account of which the apostle boasts of them to the Macedonian Christians (2 Corinthians 9:2 ). He suggests that on his approaching visit to Achaia he may be accompanied by some of these Macedonians (2 Corinthians 9:4 ), but whether this was actually the case we are not told. </p> <p> <b> 3. Paul's Third Visit: </b> </p> <p> The 3visit of Paul to Macedonia took place some 3 months later and was occasioned by a plot against his life laid by the [[Jews]] of Corinth, which led him to alter his plan of sailing from Cenchrea, the eastern seaport of Corinth, to Syria (2 Corinthians 1:16; Acts 20:3 ). He returned to Macedonia accompanied as far as Asia by 3 Macedonian Christians - S opater, [[Aristarchus]] and [[Secundus]] - and by 4 from Asia Minor. Probably Paul took the familiar route by the <i> Via Egnatia </i> , and reached Philippi immediately before the days of unleavened bread; his companions preceded him to Troas (Acts 20:5 ), while he himself remained at Philippi until after the [[Passover]] (Thursday, April 7, 57 AD, according to Ramsay's chronology), when he sailed from Neapolis together with Luke, and joined his friends in Troas (Acts 20:6 ). </p> <p> <b> 4. Paul's Later Visits: </b> </p> <p> Toward the close of his 1st imprisonment at Rome Paul planned a fresh visit to Macedonia as soon as he should be released (Philippians 1:26; Philippians 2:24 ), and even before that he intended to send Timothy to visit the [[Philippian]] church and doubtless those of Berea and Thessalonica also. [[Whether]] Timothy actually went on this mission we cannot say; that Paul himself went back to Macedonia once more we learn from 1 Timothy 1:3 , and we may infer a 5th visit from the reference to the apostle's stay at Troas, which in all probability belongs to a later occasion (2 Timothy 4:13 ). </p> IV. The Macedonian Church. <p> <b> 1. Prominence of Women: </b> </p> <p> Of the churches of Macedonia in general, little need be said here. A striking fact is the prominence in them of women, which is probably due to the higher social position held by women in this province than in Asia Minor (Lightfoot, Philippians4,55 ff). We find only two references to women in connection with Paul's previous missionary work; the women proselytes of high social standing take a share in driving him from Pisidian [[Antioch]] (Acts 13:50 ), and Timothy's mother is mentioned as a [[Jewess]] who believed (Acts 16:1 ). But in Macedonia all is changed. To women the gospel was first preached at Philippi (Acts 16:13 ); a woman was the first convert and the hostess of the evangelists (Acts 16:14 , Acts 16:15 ); a slave girl was restored to soundness of mind by the apostle (Acts 16:18 ), and long afterward Paul mentions two women as having "labored with (him) in the gospel" and as endangering the peace of the church by their rivalry (Philippians 4:2 , Philippians 4:3 ). At Thessalonica a considerable number of women of the first rank appear among the earliest converts (Acts 17:4 ), while at Berea also the church included from the outset numerous Greek women of high position (Acts 17:12 ). </p> <p> <b> 2. Marked Characteristics: </b> </p> <p> The bond uniting Paul and the Macedonian Christians seems to have been a peculiarly close and affectionate one. Their liberality and open-heartedness, their joyousness and patience in trial and persecution, their activity in spreading the Christian faith, their love of the brethren - these are a few of the characteristics which Paul specially commends in them (1,2 Thessalonians; Philippians; 2 Corinthians 8:1-8 ), while they also seem to have been much freer than the churches of Asia Minor from [[Judaizing]] tendencies and from the allurements of "philosophy and vain deceit." </p> <p> <b> 3. Its Members: </b> </p> <p> We know the names of a few of the early members of the Macedonian churches - S opater (Acts 20:4 ) or [[Sosipater]] (Romans 16:21 : the identification is a probable, though not a certain, one) of Berea; Aristarchus ( Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Acts 27:2; Colossians 4:10; Philippians 1:24 ), [[Jason]] (Acts 17:5-9; Romans 16:21 ?) and Secundus (Acts 20:4 ) of Thessalonica; [[Clement]] (Philippians 4:3 ), [[Epaphroditus]] (Philippians 2:25; Philippians 4:18 ), [[Euodia]] (Philippians 4:2; this, not [[Euodias]] (the King James Version), is the true form), [[Syntyche]] (same place) , [[Lydia]] (Acts 16:14 , Acts 16:40; a native of Thyatira), and possibly Luke (Ramsay, <i> St. Paul the Traveler </i> , 201 ff) of Philippi. [[Gaius]] is also mentioned as a Macedonian in Acts 19:29 , but perhaps the reading of a few manuscripts Μακεδόνα is to be preferred to the Textus Receptus of the New [[Testament]] Μακεδόνας in which case Aristarchus alone would be a Macedonian, and this Gaius would probably be identical with the Gaius of [[Derbe]] mentioned in Acts 20:4 as a companion of Paul (Ramsay, op. cit., 280). The later history of the Macedonian churches, together with lists of all their known bishops, will be found in [[Le]] Quien, <i> Oriens [[Christianus]] </i> , II, 1 ff; III, 1089 ff 1045 f. </p> Literature. <p> General: C. Nicolaides, <i> Macedonien </i> , Berlin, 1899; Berard, <i> La Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1897; "Odysseus," <i> [[Turkey]] in [[Europe]] </i> , London, 1900. Secular History: Hogarth, <i> Philip and Alexander of Macedon </i> , London, 1897, and the histories of the [[Hellenistic]] period by Holm, Niese, [[Droysen]] and Kaerst. Ethnography and Language: O. Hoffmann, <i> [[Die]] Makedonen, ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum </i> , Gottingen, 1906. Topography and Antiquities: Heuzey and Daumet, <i> [[Mission]] archeologique de Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1876; Cousinery, <i> [[Voyage]] dans la Macedoine </i> , Paris, 1831; Clarke, Travels 4, VII, VIII, London, 1818; Leake, <i> Travels in [[Northern]] Greece </i> , III, London, 1835; Duchesne and Bayet, <i> Memoire sur une mission en Macedoine et au Mont [[Athos]] </i> , Paris, 1876; Hahn, <i> Reise von Belgrad nach Saloniki </i> , Vienna, 1861. Coins: Head, <i> Historia Nummorum </i> , 193 f; <i> British [[Museum]] Catalogue of Coins: Macedonia, etc </i> ., London, 1879. Inscriptions: <i> Cig </i> , Numbers 1951-2010; <i> Cil </i> , III, 1 and III, Suppl.; Dimitsas, Ἡ Μακεδονία Athens, 1896. </p>