Thessaloniki & Berea
We started our journey in Thessaloniki, and I’ve written about that elsewhere. Paul and his buddy Silas came to Thessalonica (as it was then called) around AD 49, on his second missionary trip; they stayed at the house of a certain Jason. There was a synagogue there, but Paul’s teachings were not well received. The Book of Acts says that a crowd of “some wicked men” (ἄνδρας τινὰς πονηροὺς) formed a mob and were searching for Paul in order to “bring him out to the Assembly” on the crime of “turning the world upside down” and also proclaiming a King other than the Roman Emperor (we’ve heard that before!) [Acts 17:1–17.9].
Paul and Silas had to flee Thessalonica. This episode was bad P.R. for the city, and there are (as far as I can find) no cities in the United States named Thessalonica, Salonica, or any other version of the name.
The missionaries did find refuge in Beroea (Βέροια), which is now Veria or Veroia, about 30 miles to the west of Thessaloniki. Amy and I did not stop in Veroia on our travels, but we did drive through it on the A2 highway (or, rather, αυτοκινητόδρομοι (aftokinitodromi, “car-racetrack”).
I did however live for a year in “Berea”, a small town, mostly former mill-villages, now incorporated into Greenville, South Carolina. The Greek Beroea extended hospitality to Paul and Silas, and the Carolina Berea did likewise for me and Amy before we bought our first house. Our Berea is a modest place, but has a history of its own.
