| Beroea | |
|---|---|
 Archaeological Museum of Veria | |
 Interactive map of Beroea | |
Beroea (Ancient Greek:Βέροια,romanized: Béroia, also trascribed asBerea) was an ancient city of theHellenistic period andRoman Empire now known asVeria (or Veroia) inMacedonia,Northern Greece. It is a small city on the eastern side of theVermio Mountains north ofMount Olympus. The town is mentioned in theActs of the Apostles as a place in which theapostlesPaul,Silas andTimothy preached theChristian Gospel.
Berea was in southwesternMacedonia. The city's foundation stood whereVeria, or Kar-Verria, in Greece is today. In its unique position, it had a variety of terrain surrounding the city since then.
Berea sat at the base ofMount Bermius, which is part of the Vermio Mountains and provides an ample supply of water for the city and the region. The main sources of water were theHaliacmon andAxios Rivers, which supportedapple,peach andpearorchards. The area is prosperous with ahydroelectric dam on the Haliacmon powering the area's industrial sector.[1]
The city is reputed to have been named by itsmythical founder Beres (also spelled Pheres) or from the daughter of the king of Berroia, who was thought to be the son ofMacedon.
A city of the same name that is mentioned in a section ofThucydides's history, which dates it to be around 432 BC. InPolybius's history there were two insertions about an inscription that dates the city back to the later part of the 4th century BC. No one has verified the historical date of the establishment of the city although it has been known to have been surrendered to theRomans from theMacedonians after theBattle of Pydna in 168 BC.[citation needed]
Veria enjoyed great prosperity under the kings of theArgead Dynasty, whose most famous member wasAlexander the Great, who made it their second-most important city afterPella. Veria reached the height of its glory and influence in theHellenistic period, during the reign of theAntigonid Dynasty. During that time, Veria became the seat of theKoinon of Macedonians (Κοινόν Μακεδόνων), minted its owncoinage and held sports games namedAlexandreia in honour of Alexander the Great, withathletes from all overGreece competing in them.[2]
The city was the firstcity of theMacedonian region to fall to theRoman Empire, after theBattle of Pydna in 168 BC. In the 1st, century there were two major roads joining the towns ofThessalonica and Beroea, one of them passing close to the ancient city of Pella.[citation needed] There are some assumptions that the Apostle Paul used that route when he visited Beroea.[citation needed]
Within the city there was aJewish settlement in which Paul,[3] after he had leftThessalonica, and his companion,Silas, preached to the Jewish and Greek communities of the city in AD 50/51 or 54/55.
In the 7th century, theSlavic tribe of theDrougoubitai raided the lowlands below the city, and in the late-8th century, EmpressIrene of Athens is said to have rebuilt and expanded the city and named itIrenopolis after herself, but some sources place that Berrhoea-Irenopolis further east.[4] For subsequent history, seeHistory of Veria.
Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled to Beroea by night after fleeing fromThessalonica, as recorded inActs 17:10. They 'immediately' went to thesynagogue to preach, and theBeroeans were accepting; the writer of theActs of the Apostles noted the difference between the Thessalonians' response to thegospel and the Beroeans' response: the Beroeans were 'open-minded'[5] or 'fair-minded'[6] and willing to 'examine thescriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth'.[7] Many of the Beroeans believed, both men and women, but when the Jewish Thessalonian non-believers heard about that, they came to Beroea; stirred up crowds; started riots and ensured that Paul, Silas, and Timothy could not preach. Then, the believers sent Paul to the coast while Timothy and Silas stayed behind. Paul was taken toAthens, and word was given to Timothy and Silas to join him as soon as possible. (Acts 17:10–15)
Paul and Silas ministered to theJewish community of Beroea around 54 and 55 A.D. The two men had been driven out of the city of Thessalonica by an angry mob for spreading the gospel there. Paul and Silas made their journey from Thessalonica to Beroea by night (Acts 17:10). It is also said thatTimothy, a student of Paul, joined him during the journey to Beroea. The people of Beroea were more accepting than the people of Thessalonica of the message from the Apostle and his companions. The community was said to consider carefully what they learned from Paul before truly believing it (Acts 17:11–12).
After Paul, Silas and the other members of their group had spent several days in Beroea, some Jews from Thessalonica got word that Paul and Silas were preaching in Beroea and stirred up trouble, and Paul was again forced to leave. Some members of the congregation helped Paul to get to Athens, but Silas and Timothy stayed in Beroea, then later caught up with Paul in the city ofCorinth (Acts 18:5). Later,Sopater of Berea joined Paul on his journey (Acts 20:4). It is said[citation needed] that Sopater was ordered by a delegation from Beroea to go to Judea with funds that would help the needy of that region.
Abishopric at Beroea goes back to theNew Testament. The formerdiocese of the ancient city of Beroea was within the Roman province of Macedonia, in today's northern Greece. Presently the diocese is part of theecclesiastical province ofThessaloniki. TheRoman Catholicepiscopal see ofBerrhoea, centred on northern Greece, is today a vacanttitular see.
Onesimus, formerlyPhilemon's slave, was its first bishop according to theApostolic Constitutions (VII, 46). Known bishops attended ecclesiastical councils: Gerontius took part in theCouncil of Sardica (c. 344), Lucas in theSecond Council of Ephesus (449), Sebastian in theCouncil of Chalcedon (451), Timothy in the synod convoked by the patriarchMenas of Constantinople in 536, and Joseph in theFourth Council of Constantinople (869) that condemnedPhotius.[8][9]
The Byzantine emperorMichael VIII Palaiologos promoted the local see to anarchbishopric after 1261, and it advanced further to the rank of ametropolitan see by 1300.[10] Berrhoea is listed by the Roman Catholic Church as a titular see.[11][12]
At the time of the last partition of the empire, it was allotted to Macedonia Prima,[13] and its see made suffragan toThessalonica.
UnderAndronicus II (1283–1328) Beroea was made a metropolis.
The Greek metropolitans added the title ofNaoussa, a neighbouring city. It has about 10,000 inhabitants.[14]
Amongst its bishops were:
Media related toBeroea at Wikimedia Commons