Lydia

Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira in Asia Minor — a prosperous trade, since purple dye was expensive and associated with wealth and status. She was living in Philippi, the leading Roman colony in Macedonia, when Paul and his companions arrived there on his second missionary journey. The city had no synagogue; a small group of women gathered by the river on the Sabbath for prayer. Paul sat down and began speaking to them.

The text notes simply: "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul." She and her household were baptized. She then insisted — the word used implies persistence — that Paul's group stay at her house: "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." Her household became the base of operations for the Philippian church, the first Christian community on European soil. When Paul and Silas were released from prison in Philippi, they returned to her house, encouraged the brothers, and then departed. The church of Philippi — the congregation Paul would later call his "joy and crown" — began in her home.