Subj : July 8th - SS. Aquila and Priscilla To : All From : rich Date : Fri Jul 07 2017 09:58:10 From: rich July 8th - SS. Aquila and Priscilla (1st Century) The Acts of the Apostles and their letters sometimes mention the names of the earliest Christian converts. One might wish to know more about these pioneer Christians, but the writers of the New Testament did not have the time to indulge our curiosity. There was, however, one praiseworthy husband and wife who were especially active in promoting the Church. Because of their total dedication, enough is said about them by St. Luke and St. Paul to give us a fair acquaintance with their lives as converts. Today the Church venerates them on July 8 as SS. Aquila and Priscilla. Paul met Aquila and Priscilla when he landed in Corinth, Greece, on his first missionary journey (AD 50-52): =E2=80=9Ca Jew named Aquila, a nat= ive of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered the Jews to leave Rome=E2=80=9D (Acts, 18:1-3)= ... (The expulsion took place in AD 49 or 50. The pagan biographer of Claudius says that this Roman emperor exiled the Jews in Rome because they were fighting among themselves, and that a man named =E2=80=9CChrestos= =E2=80=9D had started the fight. It seems quite likely, however, from the garbled report, that the name of the =E2=80=9Ctroublemaker=E2=80=9D should = have been =E2=80=9CChristos=E2=80=9D, that is, Christ, and that the Jews were quarrel= ing because Jewish converts to Christianity were arguing that Jesus was the Messiah.) There is a legend in Rome that St. Peter baptized Aquila and Priscilla before they were driven out of Rome. Like many Jews who lived outside Palestine, they had adopted non-Jewish names. Thus =E2=80=9CAquila=E2=80=9D= is Latin for =E2=80=9Ceagle.=E2=80=9D (Many Jews who immigrated into Germany centuri= es later, took this same name in German as =E2=80=9CAdler=E2=80=9D. =E2=80=9CPriscill= a=E2=80=9D is a diminutive form of the Roman name =E2=80=9CPrisca=E2=80=9D, as Paul always called her.= It means =E2=80=9Csteadfast=E2=80=9D or, in a good sense, =E2=80=9Cold-fashioned=E2= =80=9D.) When Paul met the couple and learned that they were by profession tentmakers like himself, he decided to live in their home/shop and work with them part-time (as he did wherever he went) to earn his keep. St. Paul remained 18 months in Corinth, preaching first to Jews and then to Gentiles. At length the Jews who rejected his teaching tried to silence him by bringing him before the Roman magistrate. The magistrate refused to listen to the charges, so Paul set out for Antioch to complete his missionary journey. Aquila and Priscilla went with him as far as Ephesus. There they opened their home to the Ephesian Christians. One day Apollos, a Jewish convert from Alexandria, arrived in town and began to preach powerfully to the Jews about Jesus as Messiah. Aquila and Priscilla noticed, however, that his Christian knowledge was limited. He did not know, for example, about the sacrament of baptism. So they took him aside and filled in the gaps of his knowledge. When Paul returned to Ephesus on his third journey, he stayed with Aquila. From Ephesus, he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, in which he said, =E2=80=9CAquila and Prisca, together with the church in thei= r house, send you many greetings in the Lord.=E2=80=9D (I Cor. 16-19). Later on, these two =E2=80=9Ccoworkers=E2=80=9D of St. Paul (as he called t= hem) returned to Rome. There, too, their home became a Christian center or a =E2=80=9Chouse-church=E2=80=9D as Paul indicates in Rom. 16:3,5. Subseque= ntly they went back to Ephesus, for St. Paul greets them in his second letter to Timothy, written from Rome around AD 67, not long before his death (2 Tim. 4:19). This letter from Rome is the last scriptural reference to Prisca and Aquila. It is not certain what happened to them later after Paul died. In the Roman tradition they were martyred at Rome. St. Paul had all but canonized them during his lifetime for their holy labors. They =E2=80=9Crisked their lives for my life, to whom not only I am grateful but also the churches of the Gentiles.=E2=80=9D (Rom. 16:3). Not by chance does Paul compare, in the Letter to the Ephesians, the matrimonial relationship to the spousal communion that happens between Christ and the Church (cf. Eph 5: 25-33). Even more, we can maintain that the Apostle indirectly models the life of the entire Church on that of the family. And the Church, in reality, is the family of God. Therefore, we honour Aquila and Priscilla as models of conjugal life responsibly committed to the service of the entire Christian community. And we find in them the model of the Church, God's famil= y for all times. Priscilla and Aquila are regarded as saints in most Christian churches that canonize saints. The Orthodox Church commemorates them both together on February 13. The Lutheran Church commemorates them the same day along with Apollos. Other Orthodox Churches commemorate Aquila only as an apostle on July 14. In the Catholic Church the Roman Martyrology lists their feast as July 8.[ Saint Quote: When I pronounce the name of Mary, I feel myself inflamed with such love and joy, that between the tears and happiness which I pronounce this beautiful name, I feel as though my heart might leave my breast. For this sweet name is like a honeycomb dissolving in the innermost recesses of my soul. --Blessed Henry Suso Bible Quote: "Then for Zion will come a redeemer, for those who stop rebelling in Jacob, declares Yahweh. 'For my part, this is my covenant with them, says Yahweh. My spirit with which I endowed you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not leave your mouth, or the mouths of your children, or the mouths of your children's children, says Yahweh, henceforth and for ever.'" [Isaiah 59:20-21] <><><><> Prayer of Supplication to the Holy Spirit Holy Spirit, you who solve all problems, who light all roads so that I can attain my goals, you who give me the divine gift to forgive and to forget all evil against me and that in all instances of my life you are with me. I want in this short prayer to thank you for all things and to confirm once again that I never want to be separated from you, even in spite of all material illusion I wish to be with you in eternal glory. Thank you for= your mercy toward me and mine. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 # Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) * Origin: Region 15 HQ (1:15/0) .