Expeditions

Paphos, Cyprus

Paul in The Diaspora

On his first missionary journey (c. 47–49 A.D.), Paul hoped to spread the word of Jesus among his fellow Jews; ironically, his most stunning convert turned out to be a gentile—the Roman pro-consul, or governor, of Cyprus! According to the Bible, Paul and Barnabas, a Cypriot Jew, departed from Antioch, where followers of Jesus were just beginning to call themselves “Christians.” They traveled overland to Seleucia, then sailed to Salamis, Cyprus, where they “proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews” (Acts 13:5). After crossing the island, Paul and Barnabas arrived in Paphos, which the Romans had made the capital of Cyprus. Here they were received by a Jewish magician named Bar-Jesus, who summoned them to meet with the Roman governor, Sergius Paulus. During the meeting, the magician denied that Paul knew the word of God; Paul responded, “The hand of the Lord is against you; you will be blind…unable to see the sun” (Acts: 13:11). On realizing that his magician had gone blind, Sergius Paulus “believed.”