Greece—Two Thousand Years Later
In the summer of 1985, large groups of Jehovah’s Witnesses from around the world converged on Greece to attend a series of international conventions and also to visit sites with particular significance in the history of Christianity. This article, written by a Witness who went to Japan as a missionary in 1966 and has lived there ever since, describes some of the experiences of these visitors.
GREECE—a land charged with history and with a strong attraction for Christians! As we arrived for our tour of this Bible land, questions bubbled up inside us. Would two thousand years melt away so that we could picture how things were in the first century? What would we learn about the apostle Paul, who organized the early Christian congregations in this land? Come and see what we saw in five cities here.
Philippi
We saw where Paul opened up Christian preaching in Europe and where he was persecuted for it. Among the ruins of a very large sixth-century church, we were amazed to find a baptismal pool much like the ones Jehovah’s Witnesses build today. We were surprised that these Greeks had followed the Bible way of baptism for so long. As there is no city of Philippi today, there is no congregation of our brothers by that name.—Acts 16:12-40.
Thessalonica
We shed tears for our brothers here. We saw modern-day faithful sisters witnessing on the streets and being surrounded by jeering youths. As we approached, passersby shouted angrily at us as well as at the local Witnesses. Sometimes a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church would come along like a self-appointed policeman to check on what was happening.
We recalled the opposition that Paul and Silas faced in Thessalonica in the first century. Jews, who should have known Jehovah, “getting jealous, took into their company certain wicked men of the marketplace idlers and formed a mob.” Their complaint? “These men that have overturned the inhabited earth are present here also.”—Acts 17:5, 6.
In the 20th century, the Greek Orthodox Church has the Bible and claims to know God. But the church leaders were especially angry with us. Their complaint? Well, although there are 42 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city, the clergy have vehemently insisted that this is nothing more than a local group. And now this “local group” had organized an international convention in their city! They objected to Jehovah’s Witnesses from all over the world being “present here also.”
How proud we were to wear our Greek convention badges identifying us as Jehovah’s Witnesses and showing the local people that we in other countries are solidly supporting the Greek Witnesses. Our convention was a tremendous success.
Beroea
The Jewish synagogue here is much the same size as many Kingdom Halls. It was thrilling to see the Tetragrammaton above the platform and also to think that the apostle Paul visited a synagogue in Beroea. As our group was coming out of the synagogue, a Japanese Witness remarked: “It must have been just like this in the first century when the meetings finished.”
The Bible records that the Jews in Beroea were “noble-minded” because when they heard the preaching of Paul, they “received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.” Today in this small town, there is a congregation of Christians who show the same ‘noble-mindedness.’—Acts 17:10-14.
Athens
This city was named after the goddess Athena and is dominated by the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to her almost 2,500 years ago. When Paul visited here, “his spirit within him came to be irritated at beholding that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) When the local guides talked endlessly about ancient mythical gods, we shared Paul’s irritation. If only these edifices could have been used for pure worship!
Looking down from the Acropolis, we saw the area of the old marketplace and Mars’ Hill. Some 1,900 years ago, Paul was down there in this city of pagan worshipers. Yet his love for Jehovah strengthened him to speak out boldly to those gathered in that marketplace. Now, there are 10,000 Witnesses in Athens boldly reasoning with the Athenians just as Paul did.—Acts 17:16-34.
Corinth
The ruins of Corinth are among the most interesting in Greece because they are comparatively well preserved and are easy to understand. We climbed the steps to what is thought to have been the judgment seat before which the apostle Paul appeared. (Acts 18:12) We ambled through the marketplace with its old shops, visited the theater, and saw water running in the old aqueducts. (1 Corinthians 10:25) Close by is the sea that brought foreign influences, both good and bad, to Corinth. Prominent are seven monolithic columns, all that is left of a temple to the god Apollo. But these columns have stood for 2,500 years, despite many earthquakes. How much this temple, and the many others in Greece, testify to the high regard the ancient Greeks had for their mythical gods! Now, two congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses, imitating Paul, urge modern-day Corinthians to build even more durably in a spiritual way.—1 Corinthians 3:10-17.
Lasting Impressions
Beautiful Greece with her sunny, azure skies has much to attract tourists. Realizing this has renewed our respect for Paul, because he never made Greece his vacation ground. Single-mindedly, he worked hard. He visited all these five cities in one year (probably 50 C.E.). Considering that he was opposed violently by many Jews and that there were no Christian congregations in Greece before his visit, Paul’s assignment was difficult. (Acts 16:19–18:17) Yet, after a short time in a city, Paul had effectively helped so many to understand the truth that he could form a congregation and, trusting that Jehovah would take care of it, move on. Those of us who have gone out to pioneer new territories were moved to meditate on such effective preaching.
Like Paul, we will long remember the overwhelming love of our Greek brothers and sisters. Everywhere, they labored literally day and night for us, helping us to understand the sights we visited. Although we shed tears for them because of the opposition they face, we were deeply moved by their confidence in Jehovah and their determination to serve faithfully, come what may. It also made us happy to see how the Greek government and the police give our brothers all the protection they can.
Our group attended the convention in Athens. Many memories still bring a lump to our throat. Often when we had language difficulties someone would suddenly say: “Jehovah!” And we hugged one another, rejoicing in the one word we all understood, the name that identified us as spiritual brothers. On buses and at the convention grounds, groups of us from many countries sang Kingdom songs together. Particularly memorable was a scene of blacks, whites, and Orientals joining their voices and singing in perhaps 20 languages the words of the song: “Myriads on myriads of brothers/Stand at my side to be/Each one a faithful witness,/Keeping integrity.” We came away feeling as if our hearts would burst with gratitude to Jehovah for the love and unity we had.
Finally, may our group from Japan represent the thousands of Witnesses from America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia who converged on Greece in 1985 and say to our dear Greek brothers: “We always thank God when we make mention concerning all of you in our prayers, for we bear incessantly in mind your faithful work and your loving labor and your endurance.”—1 Thessalonians 1:2, 3.
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Ruins at Philippi
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Synagogue in Beroea
Acropolis, Athens
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Parthenon, Athens