Paul’s Preaching in Philippi

About the year 50 C.E., Paul first set foot in Europe and began to preach in Philippi.a When he arrived in a new city, it was Paul’s custom to visit the synagogue to preach first to the Jews and proselytes who gathered there. (Compare Acts 13:4, 5, 13, 14; 14:1.) According to some, however, Roman law prohibited the Jews from practicing their religion within the “sacred confines” of Philippi. Therefore, after spending “some days” there, on the Sabbath day the missionaries found a place beside a river outside the city where ‘they thought there was a place of prayer.’ (Acts 16:12, 13) This was apparently the River Gangites. There the missionaries found only women, one of whom was Lydia.