“Worshiper of God” (First Century)
Sources regarding the role of women in the early Church are limited. Those women, such as St. Lydia, singled out for particular mention, provide some hint of a wider, forgotten history.
Lydia enters the story of the Church when St. Paul and his traveling companion Timothy first ventured onto European soil. In the city of Philippi in Macedonia, the missionaries went to the river where they “supposed there was a place of prayer” (a synagogue). Their audience turned out to consist entirely of women, including one from the city of Thyatira, named Lydia, “a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God.” These mysterious details suggest she was a dealer in expensive purple-dyed fabric and a “God-fearer”—a Gentile who respected Jewish religious law.
Lydia immediately responded to the good news. She was baptized along with her entire household—the first Christian converts in Europe. She in turn pressed Paul to remain in her house: “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” To this, the narrator of Acts replies in the first person: “And she prevailed upon us.”
The Christian movement originated in such “house churches” as Lydia’s. So it is reasonable to remember her as one of the founders of the Church in Europe. Paul’s letter to “the saints” in Philippi, written while he was imprisoned in Rome, reflects the special place this church occupied in his heart.
“The Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by
Paul.” —Acts 16:14
