{"id":1300,"date":"2019-08-03T11:45:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-03T11:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2025-09-29T16:04:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T16:04:52","slug":"feast-of-st-lydia-follower-of-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/?p=1300","title":{"rendered":"Feast of St. Lydia;  follower of Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"asset-img-link\" href=\"https:\/\/tomfaranda.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d834525a2f69e20240a4727a66200c-pi\" style=\"float: right;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"St. lydia\" class=\"asset  asset-image at-xid-6a00d834525a2f69e20240a4727a66200c img-responsive\" src=\"https:\/\/tomfaranda.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d834525a2f69e20240a4727a66200c-200wi\" style=\"width: 160px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;\" title=\"St. lydia\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the first documented converts, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span class=\"text Acts-16-13\" id=\"en-NIV-27497\"><sup class=\"versenum\">13&#0160;<\/sup>On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.<\/span> <span class=\"text Acts-16-14\" id=\"en-NIV-27498\"><sup class=\"versenum\">14&#0160;<\/sup>One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul\u2019s message.<\/span> <span class=\"text Acts-16-15\" id=\"en-NIV-27499\"><sup class=\"versenum\">15&#0160;<\/sup>When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. \u201cIf you consider me a believer in the Lord,\u201d she said, \u201ccome and stay at my house.\u201d And she persuaded us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"text Acts-16-15\" style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">St. Lydia Purpuraria, also called Lydia of Thyatira (1st. c), was a pious and wealthy woman involved in the textile trade in Philippi, Macedonia. She and her husband manufactured and traded in the lucrative business of purple dyes and fabrics, a luxury for the elite. Lydia was a worshiper of the true God, and when St. Paul&#39;s missionary journeys brought him to Philippi in about 50 A.D., God opened Lydia&#39;s heart to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lydia and her family became St. Paul&#39;s very first converts to Christianity, as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. After her family was baptized, Lydia invited Paul and his companion, St. Timothy, to stay in her home. Lydia served the Lord through her gift of hospitality, and her home became a meeting place for the early Christians. After Paul and Silas were released from prison, it was to Lydia&#39;s home that they first went to meet and encourage the believers gathered there. St. Lydia&#39;s feast day is August 3.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#0160;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the first documented converts, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16. 13&#0160;On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14&#0160;One of those listening was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6494,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/6494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomfarandasfolly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}