Christian Athens: From Paul to Luke and Philip
Notwithstanding, the story of Christianity in Athens starts with the Apostle Paul’s journey here in 51 AD. The visit was not as successful as he may have expected. The Apostle Paul started preaching in the agora, but he was rejected by the Athenian audience, probably because Athenians believed they were really much more advanced than his teaching, or the average audience at the time of Jesus. Athens was already a center of philosophy for over five hundred years, so what more had Paul to offer the Athenians?
Accordingly, we can estimate a social environment that was much wealthier than other cities of its time. Paul left Athens and never referred to his experience here again, unlike the Apostle Luke who wrote about it in the Book of Acts (chapter 17). Although the response of the audience did not appear very hopeful, we are told in the New Testament that some of that first Athenian audience believed, such as “Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them” (Acts 17:34).
Moreover, Paul is said to have used Stoic sayings. Paul, speaking of God, quotes the fifth line of Aratus’s Phenomena “ we are also His offspring” (τοῦ γάρ καί γένος ἐσμέν). Aratus had met Zeno and his origin was from Tarsus, Paul’s homeland. Epimenides seems to be the source of the first part of Acts 17.28: “For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said” (Ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν, ὡς καί τινες τῶν καθ’ ὑμᾶς ποιητῶν εἰρήκασιν).
Paul’s travel companion and helper was the Apostle Luke, who may also be called the first Christian doctor, as this was his profession. Luke’s martyrdom took place in Thebes. According to one tradition, he was hanged on an olive tree.
It is also claimed that the Apostle Philip had visited Athens around 55-59 AD. Of course the first challengers of the early Christians were not Romans or Greeks, but Jews, since the new religion was considered to be a heresy. Ananias arrived from Jerusalem to Athens, and there was a dispute between the two men. At the point where they both met, a church of Saint Philip was raised later (on the corner of Philippou & Adrianou Streets).
Philip ordained St Narcissus as bishop of Athens. His feast day is October 31. Narcissus of Athens is numbered among the Seventy Disciples. Along with the Apostles Urban of Macedonia, Stachys, Ampliatus, Apelles of Heraklion and Aristobulus of Britannia, he assisted Saint Andrew, brother of Peter.
Athens’ first saints and martyrs: Athenian apologists
Athens was keeping its cosmopolitan tradition in the Christian context as well. The successors of the first bishop were not all Athenians by lineage. They are catalogued as Narkissos, Publius, and Quadratus. Narkissos is stated to have come from Palestine, and Publius from Malta.
Saint Quadratus is revered for having contributed to early Christian literature by writing an apology, which he addressed to the Emperor Hadrian. This was on the occasion of Hadrian’s visit to Athens. Hadrian issued an order not to persecute anyone without specific charges. Quadratus is also counted among the Seventy Apostles in the tradition of the Eastern Churches.
Another Athenian who defended Christianity by writing an apology was Aristides, also in the 2nd century. His apology was directed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aristides was hanged in the center of the agora of Athens.
Athenagoras likewise wrote an apology, describing himself as “Athenagoras, the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian”. There is an indication that he was a Platonist before his conversion, but this is not certain.
In the second century there must have been a considerable community of Christians in Athens, as Hygeinos, Bishop of Rome, is said to have written a letter to the community in the year 139.
Moreover, in 250AD bishop Leonidas of Athens was killed in Corinth and buried in the Illissos basilica that was excavated in 1916. In 267AD Athens was sacked by the Herouli, a Germanic tribe. In Illissos basilica there were also found Athenian lamps dating from the 5th century. Between 267–400 the agora was abandoned. In 280AD Athenians built a new fortification wall and a constructed large houses on the south. In 400AD a gymnasium was built.
Christianity becomes a trend
The 4th century saw the future Fathers of the Church, Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, studying in Athens from the year 349. One of their fellow students would also become an emperor who fought Christianity, known in history as Julian the Apostate. Julian was also initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he would later try to restore.
Moreover, it was the time when Christianity was established as the main religion.
In 325AD the seat of the empire was transferred from Rome to Constantinople (known as New Rome) and the father of Gregory the Theologian converted to Orthodox Christianity. When Gregory was sent to Athens for studies, his ship encountered a violent storm. Terrified, Gregory prayed to Christ that if He would deliver him, he would dedicate his life to His service.
In Athens, Gregory studied under the famous rhetoricians Himerius and Proaeresius (an Armenian Christian teacher and rhetorician originally from Caesarea. He was one of the leading sophists of the era along with Diophantus the Arab and Epiphanius of Syria).
During 353-356 all sacrifices were forbidden, and the pagan world was coming to an end. Basil left Athens in 356, and after travels in Egypt and Syria, he returned to Caesarea, where for around a year he practiced law and taught rhetoric.
In 361 Julian tried to restore ancient religion and banned Christians from holding chairs of education in 362, Prohaeresius being among them. The historian Eunapius was Prohaeresius’ favorite student and biographer.
Gregory left Athens in 361 and returned to Nazianus. In response to the emperor’s rejection of the Christian faith, Gregory composed his Invectives Against Julian between 362 and 363. Fortunately for Christians, Julian died in 363 and Christianity won. Just outside Athens, pagan worship was still active in Eleusis. In 375 Nestorius Ierofantis of Eleusis, tried to put a statue of Achilles in the Parthenon, because it was believed that he saved Athens from earthquake.
Theodosius, Alaric and the end of Classical Greece
In 379, during the reign of emperor Theodosius (formerly an army commander from Spain), ancient temples were sacked and antiquities stolen. On 26 November 380, two days after he had arrived in Constantinople, Theodosius expelled the non-Nicene bishop Demophilus and appointed Gregory the Theologian in his place as Patriarch of Constantinople. Theodosius had just been baptized by bishop Ascholius of Thessalonica during a severe illness, as was common in the early Christian world. In 393, Theodosius banned the pagan rituals of the Olympic Games.
The Parthenon acquired an altered appearance compared to Pericles’ era. A new rooftop of clay tiles -not marble ones- covered the alcove and was dedicated to Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), thus becoming a Christian place of worship during Justinian’s reign, around 530AD.
In an anonymous hand written description of the 15th century, kept in the Vienna Library, the Parthenon is mentioned as “the church of Panagia that is at Acropolis was made by Apollontas and Eulygios” who were of the time of Justinian and Tiberius II. In 662 Parthenon was rededicated in honor of the Mother of God, as Panagia Atheniotissa (the Blessed Virgin of Athens), and remained so until 1204, when it was renamed Santa ti Atene.
After the destruction that Alaric I (396-397) brought upon Athens and Eleusis, the way for Christians was open. Several years later, another Roman official, Herculius (408–412AD), split equally the space of Hadrian’s Library equally for pagans and Christians. The restructured sides of the Library were given to pagans and the yard to Christians, and a new temple was built. It is the Tetraconch in the yard of Hadrian’s Library in the Roman Agora. It had a central square hall with conches in its four sides – hence its name Tetraconch. Marble revetments and rich decoration characterized the building, which was associated with the Athenian empress of Byzantium, Eudokia, who was daughter of Leontius, teacher in Athens, and whose original name was Athinais. It seems that the monument was converted into a three-aisled basilica in the beginning of the 6th century, and in the following centuries it became known as Megali Panagia. Nowadays, it is totally ruined. In 426, Theodosius II converted pagan temples into Christian churches. The temple of Olympian Zeus in Olympia was burnt.
Proclus and the last 100 years of Athens’ fame
In 450 the director of Plato’s Academy was Proclus. He studied rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics in Alexandria, with the intent of pursuing a judicial position like his father. In 431 he arrived in Athens to study at the Neoplatonic successor of the famous Academy founded 800 years earlier (in 387BC). There he was taught by Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus and Asclepigenia. In the end, he succeeded Syrianus as head of the Academy, and would in turn be succeeded on his death by Marinus of Neapolis.
Proclus’ house has been discovered recently in Athens, under the pavement of Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, south of Acropolis, opposite the theater of Dionysus. He had a great devotion to the goddess Athena, who he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream and announced that the “Athenian Lady” wished to stay at his home. Proclus died aged 73, and was buried in a tomb near Mount Lycabettus. It is reported that he wrote 700 lines each day.
A few decades after Proclus, in 529, Justinian forbade pagans to teach. Some feared that the Academy would favor and promote anti-Christian views (and therefore anti-government views) that the world was without end. So the Academy could be a threat to imperial power. Justinian made reforms, built Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and introduced various changes in the empire. 529 was the same year that Benedict founded Montecassino in Italy.
Furthermore, the invasion 50 years later of Slavs in Greece (582) marks the end of Athens as a center of education. The burden of providing education passed to Constantinople, Rome and Alexandria.
Here you can find more info about Plaka churches and you have to visit Byzantine museum.