Socrates Koursoumis
The Apostle Paul in Roman Corinth
Pagans, Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire
Foinikas Publications, 2015
Pages: 104
Dimensions: 16 Χ 24
Price: 12 euro

Preface
From its
first steps in the 1st century AD until today, Christianity has sought out with
particular interest the “traces” of Jesus Christ’s Apostles in the Graeco-Roman
world. The recollection of the presence and the active participation of the
Apostles in the foundation of the first churches of the Greek-speaking East and
of the Latin-speaking West consisted in an honorary title for those local
churches. This does not merely mean immediate affiliation with the original
cells of the Christian faith but also indicated the responsibility for its
proper management and its promotion. The precious memory had to be safeguarded
in every possible way – through the medium of ecclesiastic writings, narratives
but principally through constructing places of worship, there where sacred
“traces” had been detected. By way of the worship ceremonies hosted therein,
these places revived the memory and the unshakable bond attaching local
churches to the original conveyors of the message of the Christian faith.
Further
investigation of this relationship continues to be a constant preoccupation of
the scientific world, the ecclesiastic community and all those who are
interested in a better understanding of the extreme velocity with which the
Christian teachings spread and were embraced during the last centuries of
Antiquity in a multicultural world with intense social fluidity but also
powerful national religious traditions. The present book by focusing on the
Roman city of Corinth will attempt to explore the relation of the city to one
of the Protocoryphaeus of the Apostles, Paul. We will examine the historical
data about the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD along with remains which came
to light from archaeological digs, two thousand years after Paul’s day, and
were linked to his sojourn and his teaching in one of the most important cities
of the eastern/Eastern Roman Empire.
Dr. Socrates Koursoumis