As Holy Week unfolds across Greece and we edge ever closer to Easter – its candlelit processions winding through ancient streets, the air thick with incense and anticipation – we’re reminded that the roots of the Christian faith here run deep. Long before churches crowned every hillside and bells marked the gentle rhythm of village life, a man named Paul walked these same lands, carrying a message that would forever change the world.

Once known as Saul of Tarsus, he was a zealous Pharisee – fierce in his defense of Jewish law and openly hostile to the early Christian movement. But after a dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus, he became Paul the Apostle: the faith’s most relentless missionary, theologian, and traveler. His footsteps crossed the Roman roads of Macedonia and Achaea, his words echoing in the agora of Athens and the port of Corinth. Greece was not just a backdrop – it was a turning point in the early spread of Christianity from the Middle East into Europe.

This is the route we follow. From Philippi and Thessaloniki in the north, to Athens and Corinth in the south, we explore the places where Paul preached, debated, suffered, and persevered. These aren’t just archaeological sites – they are living reminders of radical transformation and the birth of a faith that would outlast empires.

Known today as “The Route that Apostle Paul Followed in Greece,” this pilgrimage leads through all the places where he preached. It’s a path that blends spiritual reflection with historical insight – an ideal journey for believers and history lovers alike, through some of the most beautiful landscapes in Greece.

From Saul to Paul: The Conversion

Before he was a saint, before he was an apostle, and before his name became synonymous with Christian mission, he was Saul — a devout Jew from the city of Tarsus in Asia Minor. Raised in the intellectual traditions of both Jerusalem and Rome, he was deeply committed to the law of Moses. A Pharisee by training – “a Pharisee, born of Pharisees” (Acts 23:6) – and a Roman citizen by birth, Saul stood at a unique cultural crossroads: fluent in Koine (or “Biblical”) Greek, steeped in Jewish scripture, and fiercely loyal to what he believed was the true path of God.

And he was no friend to the early followers of Christ.

In fact, he was their most relentless persecutor. To Saul, the growing Christian movement in the early 30s AD was a dangerous heresy – an affront to Jewish tradition and an offense to God. The followers of “the Way,” as they were then known, were, in his eyes, corrupting the faith. Determined to stop them, he actively sought out believers for punishment, and is even said to have witnessed and approved the stoning of Stephen – the first Christian martyr. According to the Book of Acts, Saul’s campaign began in Jerusalem, where he traveled from synagogue to synagogue, urging the punishment of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah.

That all changed on the road to Damascus.

A Blinding Light

Imagine the scene: a man burning with righteous fury, on a mission to suppress a fledgling sect, suddenly struck blind by a blinding light. As described in Acts 9:1–9, Saul falls to the ground. A voice, unmistakable and divine, speaks:

“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

Startled and trembling, Saul asks, “Who art Thou, Lord?”

The answer: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

It was a moment of total reversal. The man who had hunted Christians became their most passionate advocate. Blinded, Saul was led into Damascus, where a disciple named Ananias – risking everything – laid hands on him. Saul’s sight returned. More importantly, his vision changed. He was baptized. And he became Paul.

This wasn’t just a personal awakening – it was a seismic shift in religious history. Paul didn’t just join the movement he once tried to destroy; he carried it across continents. His education, his Roman citizenship, and his command of Greek gave him access and authority few others possessed. His letters – sharp, urgent, and deeply human – would come to shape much of Christian theology.

Paul never forgot who he had been. He referred to himself as the “least of the apostles,” even as he became one of the most influential. He worked with his hands, making tents to support his travels, never far removed from the dust and grind of daily life. But his message was clear and unwavering: the gospel wasn’t just for the chosen few. It was for everyone.

That belief would carry him out of Syria, across Asia Minor, and eventually into the heart of Greece – where ancient cities would become the stage for a revolutionary message.

Macedonia Calling: The Vision in Troas

The mission to Greece began not with a plan, but with a vision.

Around 49 AD, while staying in the ancient city of Troas on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), Paul experienced a moment that would alter the direction of Christianity. As recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 16:9), he saw a man standing before him – Macedonian, by appearance – pleading: “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Paul didn’t hesitate. He interpreted the vision as a divine summons. Until that moment, his travels had taken him across regions familiar to the Jewish diaspora. But this call pointed west – across the Aegean Sea, into the underbelly of Europe. It marked the first leap of the Christian message from Asia into what we now know as Greece.

And so, Paul set sail.

He wasn’t alone. Traveling with him were Silas, Timothy, and Luke – the physician and author of Acts. Their first stop after leaving Troas was the island of Samothrace. According to local tradition, Paul came ashore near the port of ancient Palaiopolis. A three-aisled Christian church was later built on the site, using stones from older pagan temples – a symbolic fusion of old faith and new.

Philippi: Baptisms by the River

From Samothrace, the group sailed on to Neapolis – modern-day Kavala. Paul’s feet touched European soil for the first time here, in the winter of that year. What took two days on his first voyage would take five on his second, a reminder of both the challenges of ancient sea travel and Paul’s unwavering resolve.

Twelve kilometers inland, along a stone-paved stretch of the Via Egnatia, Paul and his companions reached Philippi – a Roman colony planted in the fertile plain between mountain and sea. It was no provincial outpost. Philippi was a military stronghold, a thriving commercial hub, and a cultural crossroads. For Paul, it was the ideal place to plant the seeds of a faith meant to transcend boundaries.

There was no synagogue, so Paul went outside the city gate to a riverbank, where a group of women had gathered for prayer. Among them was Lydia of Thyatira, a merchant of purple cloth – a luxury associated with wealth and power. A Gentile who worshipped the God of Israel, she listened to Paul, and something within her shifted. She and her entire household were baptized in the waters of the Gangites River – the first recorded Christian conversion on European soil.

But Philippi’s story wasn’t all peaceful baptisms. Paul soon encountered a servant girl possessed by a spirit of divination (Acts 16:16–24). She followed him, proclaiming his divine mission. Though her words were true, Paul, disturbed by the exploitation behind them, cast out the spirit. Her masters, angry at the loss of income, had Paul and Silas dragged before the authorities.

Beaten, humiliated, and thrown in jail, the two men sat in chains, singing hymns in the dark. Then, in the middle of the night, an earthquake shook the prison to its foundations. Doors burst open. Chains fell away. But Paul and Silas did not flee.

Their refusal to escape stunned the jailer Expecting death for failing his duty, he instead found something else: a reason to believe. The jailer washed their wounds – and he and his household were baptized that same night.

Philippi was the first European city to hear the gospel – and the first to witness how that message could disrupt economies, challenge power, and create unexpected community. It was here, on the fringe of empire, that Christianity began to take root in the West.

Thessaloniki and Veria: Resistance and Receptiveness

After leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas pressed westward along the Via Egnatia to Thessaloniki – a bustling city on the Thermaic Gulf and one of the key urban centers of Roman Macedonia. It was the autumn of 49 AD, and the tone of the mission was shifting. Though technically free from direct Roman occupation since 168 BC, Thessaloniki was a city brimming with political and social tension.

Near the port stood a synagogue, and for three Sabbaths Paul preached there. “As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,’ he said.” (Acts 17:2–3)

Some were persuaded – Jews, “God-fearing Greeks,” and “quite a few prominent women.” A church took root. But not everyone welcomed the message. “But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city…” (Acts 17:5)

Accused of defying Caesar’s decrees by proclaiming another king – “one called Jesus” – Paul and Silas faced serious danger. Under cover of night, a group of believers helped them slip out of the city. Tradition holds they escaped through a small gate in the city walls near where the Vlatades Monastery now stands. Not far from that spot is a spring known as Apostle Paul’s Holy Water, later revered as a pilgrimage site. Today, a modern church marks Paul’s brief but impactful stay in Thessaloniki.

From Thessaloniki, the missionaries traveled southwest to Veria (Beroea), crossing the fertile lands near ancient Pella. Veria was no less important in size or influence – and here, Paul encountered a markedly different response.

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

The community listened with openness and discernment. Many believed – Jews and converts alike, including several members of the city’s elite and, again, many women. But the peace didn’t last. News of Paul’s activities reached Thessaloniki, and soon agitators arrived to stir up opposition. To protect him, the believers quickly sent Paul away, while Silas and Timothy remained behind.

From Veria, however, Paul gained a new companion – Sopatros, son of Pyrrhus, who would later travel with him back into Asia.

The legacy of Paul’s time in Veria endures at the Apostle Paul’s Tribune, a monument marking the traditional site where he preached. Since 1995, the city has hosted the annual Pavleia Festival – a celebration of religious, cultural, and academic life inspired by his visit and message.

Athens: Sermon on the Areopagus

By the time Paul arrived in Athens around 51 AD, the city’s Golden Age was long behind it. The streets no longer echoed with the voices of Pericles, Socrates, or Plato. Roman occupation had dulled its political clout, and many of its great works of art had been carted off as trophies. Still, Athens remained a symbol – the intellectual heart of the Greco-Roman world, home of philosophy, democracy, and reason.

Paul landed at the port of Faliro and followed the road inland to the city. What he found disturbed him:

“He was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16)

He spoke in the synagogues and debated in the Agora, the bustling marketplace at the foot of the Acropolis. His message of Jesus crucified and risen caught the attention of some local thinkers, particularly Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Intrigued but skeptical, they brought him to the Areopagus – the rocky hill just west of the Acropolis, once home to Athens’ high court and still a place where ideas were weighed and debated.

There, standing before a crowd of educated pagans, Paul delivered one of the most famous speeches in Christian history:

“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship – and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” (Acts 17:22–23)

Rather than attack their beliefs, Paul used them as a bridge. He spoke of a Creator not confined by temples or idols, a God who “gives everyone life and breath and everything else,” and who “is not far from any one of us.” To make his point, he even quoted their own poets. But at the heart of his message was the Resurrection – a concept that divided his audience.

“When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’” (Acts 17:32)

Some scoffed. Others walked away curious. A few believed – including Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the council, and a woman named Damaris.

Paul’s stay in Athens was brief and relatively calm. Unlike other cities, he wasn’t chased out or imprisoned. But his impact was quieter, more philosophical – a seed planted in the skeptical soil of the ancient world.

Today, a bronze plaque on the Areopagus marks the spot where Paul stood, inscribed with the words of his sermon in Greek. The nearby Church of Apostle Paul in Athens, built in the late 19th century, honors his visit and his bold effort to speak across cultures and religious traditions, bridging the known and the unknown.

Corinth: Letters from a Restless Church

After his thought-provoking but mixed experience in Athens, Paul journeyed west to Corinth – the beating commercial heart of Roman Greece. If Athens was a city of marble and memory, Corinth was a city of business, indulgence, and noise. Perched on the narrow isthmus between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, it thrived on trade, cultural diversity, and a fair share of vice.

Paul arrived in Corinth around 50 AD and stayed for 18 months – his longest recorded stop during this phase of missionary work (Acts 18:11). He may have left Athens feeling frustrated by the philosophical aloofness of the Areopagus, but in Corinth he encountered something more raw and immediate: a city teeming with conflict, energy, and spiritual hunger.

Here, he met Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish tentmakers recently expelled from Rome. Like Paul, they worked with their hands and understood life on the move. He lived and labored alongside them, funding his mission through manual work while preaching in the synagogue every Sabbath. 

“Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:4)

As in other cities, Paul faced opposition – particularly from segments of the city’s Jewish population. When resistance peaked, he turned his focus fully to the Gentiles, moving in with Titius Justus, a God-fearing man who lived next door to the synagogue. One of Paul’s most significant early converts in Corinth was Crispus, the synagogue leader, who, along with his household, was baptized.

But even as the community grew, tensions simmered. Paul was eventually dragged before Gallio, the Roman proconsul, by opponents accusing him of “persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.” Gallio dismissed the case, viewing it as an internal religious matter (Acts 18:12–17). His decision allowed Paul to continue preaching, and the Gallio Inscription – found at Delphi – helps modern historians date Paul’s time in Corinth with unusual precision: 50 to 52 AD.

Before departing, Paul visited Kenchreai (Cenchreae), Corinth’s eastern port, to fulfill a vow – possibly a Nazirite commitment – by cutting his hair (Acts 18:18). He then sailed for Ephesus, accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla, before eventually returning to Antioch via Caesarea.

But Paul’s connection to Corinth didn’t end there. Far from it.

During his later stay in Ephesus, troubling news arrived from the Corinthian church: divisions, jealousy, lawsuits, sexual immorality, confusion over worship and doctrine. This wasn’t just a young church – it was a fractured one. Paul responded with a pastoral masterstroke: The First Epistle to the Corinthians.

In it, he tackled everything from factionalism – “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas” – to questions about marriage, idol worship, spiritual gifts, and resurrection. His tone was urgent, direct, and deeply personal. He called them back to the core message they had received and challenged them to live it with unity and humility.

The ruins of ancient Corinth still bear witness to Paul’s presence. Visitors can stand before the “bema,” or speaker’s platform, where Paul likely stood trial. The faint outlines of streets, temples, and marketplaces still crisscross the site, but it’s the echoes of Paul’s letter – bold, anxious, and full of conviction – that continue to animate the stones.

Today, Paul is honored as the patron saint of Corinth. A church bearing his name stands near the ancient city. His words, penned in response to a restless and complicated church, remain among the most enduring writings in Christian theology – and a reminder that faith rarely takes root in perfection, but rather in the midst of struggle.

A Trail of Faith: Reflecting on Paul’s Greek Legacy

Paul’s journey through Greece was more than a missionary tour. It marked the beginning of Christianity’s expansion into Europe – a shift that would reshape the religious, cultural, and political contours of the Western world. From the riverbanks of Philippi to the intellectual courts of Athens and the markets of Corinth, Paul laid the groundwork for churches that would outlast empires.

He returned to Greece twice during his third missionary journey, continuing to strengthen these early Christian communities. His letters to the Corinthians – written from Macedonia and later Corinth – grappled with the struggles of a restless church: internal division, moral confusion, and spiritual immaturity. With passion and patience, Paul offered guidance rooted in the teachings of Christ, urging believers to stay united, forgive freely, and live as reflections of God’s grace.

His Second Epistle to the Corinthians, likely written around 55–56 AD, is among his most personal, balancing rebuke with affection. He wrote of hardship, generosity, and the responsibilities of apostleship, even as he prepared for another visit. From Corinth, during a three-month stay, Paul also composed his towering Epistle to the Romans, laying out a theological vision that remains foundational to Christian thought.

But Paul’s mission wasn’t without peril. After leaving Greece, he planned to return to Jerusalem – until a plot against his life forced him to reroute through northern Greece. He passed again through Philippi and several Aegean islands before finally reaching the city.

A few years later, Paul arrived in Rome, where he spent two years under house arrest, continuing to preach, teach, and write. His final fate is not recorded in the New Testament, but tradition holds that he was martyred during the emperor Nero’s persecution following the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. Early Christian writers agree that he was beheaded, likely on the Via Laurentina. According to legend, where his head struck the ground three times, three springs emerged – today remembered at San Paolo alle Tre Fontane (“St. Paul at the Three Fountains”).

Paul’s legacy endures not only in scripture but in stone. The ruins of Philippi, Thessaloniki, Veria, Athens, and Corinth still echo with the memory of his voice. The “bema” in Corinth, the bronze plaque at the Areopagus in Athens, the baptistry at the river outside Philippi – these are more than historical sites. They are waypoints on a spiritual path.

Epilogue: Walking the Path Today

Today, pilgrims from around the world trace Paul’s footsteps through Greece, seeking a deeper connection to his message and mission. From the rugged trails of Macedonia to the sacred hills of Athens, his journey invites reflection – not only on the roots of Christian faith, but on the nature of conviction, endurance, and transformation.

As Holy Week reaches its solemn climax, Paul’s story offers a powerful reminder: that even the fiercest persecutor can become a builder of hope; that truth spreads not just through revelation, but through the wear of the road, the weight of struggle, and the passing of time. In walking where Paul once walked, we remember that faith doesn’t stand still. It moves.

All Bible quotes sourced from the New International Version (NIV).