Thessalonica
Port city of Macedonia. Paul preached in its synagogue and was forced to leave, and the two letters to the Thessalonians are addressed to the church he founded there.
Thessalonica stood at the head of the Thermaic Gulf. Paul and Silas came to it from Philippi, and Paul argued in the synagogue on three sabbaths. Some Jews, many Greeks and a number of leading women joined them. A crowd then attacked the house of their host Jason and accused the believers before the city magistrates of proclaiming another king, and Paul and Silas were sent away by night (Acts 17:1–10). See Paul Carries the Gospel into Europe.
Paul’s first letter to the church, sent with Silvanus and Timothy, speaks of its members as having turned from idols to the living God and as suffering at the hands of their own countrymen (1 Thessalonians 1:1, 9) (1 Thessalonians 2:14). The Philippians sent him help while he was there (Philippians 4:16).
What happened here
- about AD 49 to AD 52, estimated datePaul Carries the Gospel into Europe
With Silas and Timothy, Paul crosses from Asia Minor to Macedonia and founds churches at Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth. Acts brings him before the proconsul Gallio at Corinth, whose year of office an inscription at Delphi puts at about AD 51–52.
- 27 February AD 380, firm dateThe Edict of Thessalonica
By an edict issued at Thessalonica, the emperor Theodosius orders all his peoples to hold the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria in the one deity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Christians who believe otherwise are declared heretics.
- AD 390, estimated dateAmbrose Calls an Emperor to Penance
After Theodosius orders a massacre at Thessalonica, Ambrose of Milan writes that he cannot celebrate the eucharist in the emperor’s presence until he repents. Theodosius does public penance. Later writers add a confrontation at the church door that is not in the letter.
- AD 863 to AD 885, estimated dateCyril and Methodius among the Slavs
Two brothers from Thessalonica, sent from Constantinople to Moravia, give the Slavs an alphabet, the Scriptures and the liturgy in their own language. Rome’s attitude to the Slavonic liturgy shifts from approval to prohibition and back, and ends in a ban.
- 1341 to 1351, firm dateGregory Palamas and the Hesychast Councils
Councils at Constantinople in 1341 and 1351 uphold the monk Gregory Palamas against Barlaam. God’s essence is beyond reach, they teach, but his uncreated energies, seen as the light of Tabor, are shared by the saints. The Orthodox Church holds this teaching as its own.