I discovered I did not post this part of my trip to Greece and Turkey. In our “In the Footsteps of Paul” series, my daughter and I also traveled to Thessalonika and Berea. We were not alone, though. On this week-long Collette tour, we joined a larger group from San Angelo, TX, from a Catholic diocese there. We were the only protestants in the group, but they treated us with open arms. They were a fun group of people.

To retrace the steps of St. Paul in Thessaloniki, you can visit several key sites. The Vlatadon Monastery is believed to be built on the site where St. Paul preached here. Near the monastery, a spring is a pilgrimage site, connected with the tradition that Paul escaped through a nearby city gate. There is also the city’s Roman Forum, the ruins of the ancient city market where St. Paul would have been present during his ministry here.

In Acts, we know Timothy stayed in Thessalonica, probably on instructions from Paul, while the Apostle and his companion Silas made their way to the town of Beroea, about forty miles to the west.

Now those (in Beroea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures (the Old Testament) daily to see if these things were so. As a result, a great number of them believed, including not a few of the honorable (upper class) Greek women and men (Acts 17:11 – 12) 

The first convert of Beroea was Sosipatros, who is a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church. Sosipatros is called Sopater in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Paul was with him in Corinth when he wrote the Epistle to the Romans, as his name, spelt Sosipater, appears in that letter.

In Berea today you can see The Altar of the Apostle Paul, a modern monument the Bereans erected to remind them of Paul’s visit to their city nearly 2,000 years ago. This “Triptych monument” includes three steps (in the center) believed to be from the ancient synagogue where Paul taught, and it depicts scenes related to Paul’s work in Berea, such as the Macedonian man vision and his address to the Bereans which was from the Bema in Beroea, a type of raised platform. 

We also learned a lot about the Greek Orthodox and what makes them different from the Catholics and Protestants. One major difference is they refrain from using figurines, but use iconography. We visited a state-funded place where they still teach this and observed a demonstration.