The History Of St. Paul, The Apostle With David Suchet (Part One) | Our History

I am David Suchet and I am on a journey through the Mediterranean following in the footsteps of a man who 2,000 years ago traveled more than 10,000 miles around the Roman world on foot and many more by sea. This is extraordinary. It must seem that size from there for the last 25 years. I have been fascinated by Saint Paul. He was a tremendously controversial figure in his time. He still is today. For some, he is the man who did more than anyone to transform Christianity from a small level. Jewish sect in the most powerful religion in the world for others, is a preacher of prejudices that have resonated throughout

history

and they must have thought that the arrogance of man here is based on a vision, so he says that he is telling everyone that they will change everything. the rules a man of contrasts and confusions but if ever there was a historical character that I longed to play, he is complete, so for me this is a very personal search, I could look like this, what do you think I will be a little bit?

Searching for clues in the places he visited, deciphering new evidence from the latest archaeological research and meeting expert witnesses from across the region to help me discover this extraordinary man hidden within the pages of the New Testament. Every year, millions of visitors from around the world make pilgrimages here to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem to what they believe is the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, but the reason they remember this crucified carpenter is because to a single extraordinary man: we know him as Saint Paul more than any other The individual Paul was responsible for transforming a fledgling Jesus movement from a minor sect of Judaism to a new religion that would one day be known as Christianity.

Without it, the new faith might have died out two thousand years ago. Paul was the first international ambassador of Christianity in

history

. of jesus to the pagan world sowing the seeds of a new idea that would spread throughout the roman empire and change the course of western civilization. Paul's story is told in the Book of Acts of the New Testament and preserved in a remarkable series of his own letters written to small communities of believers scattered throughout the Roman world. It was one of these letters I read when I was filming in America. about 25 years ago now I read it in a hotel room it was simply addressed to the Romans even after the year 2000 years the extraordinary passion of Paul's words jumps off the page the time has come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is Closer now than we thought at first The night is almost over The day is almost here Paul's letter to the small Christian community in Rome inspired and formed my own faith.

I was fascinated by him as an actor. I actually felt like I'd like to play him. What kind of man was he? What gave him this power? How did Western thinking really change to understand this man I need to understand? a sense of your world my journey of discovery begins here in jerusalem the spiritual home of the jewish people it is so good to be up here and look at this extraordinary city today jerusalem is home to three of the world's major religions for jewish christians and muslims it is one of the most sacred places on earth.

I don't think you can forget when you are here that this is possibly the most religious city in the world two millennia ago, Judaism and the strict requirements of Jewish law dominated this. The city and all aspects of Paul's life are still revered today. The Western or Wailing Wall is a remnant of the massive Jewish Temple that once stood here in Paul's time. He was the heart and soul of the Jewish religion, but to really go back to his time. I need to look beneath the surface of the modern city. Now we go underground to a tunnel and the data was built under the main street of Jerusalem.

You see how deep you go. Jerusalem is one of the richest archaeological sites in the world and recent excavations offer tantalizing. Glimpses of the city Paul would have known Archaeologist Elie Shukron took me beneath the streets to a recently discovered drainage canal full of historical clues This is very narrow Yes, you're in the city I'm in a tunnel, yes, yes, this is an experience, yes you saw that stone yes, this is the base of the dwelling wall, let's see it up close this is the original stone original original base of the western wall the world of the well the wailing wall so we are right underground we are right underground in the bedrock you see this is the bedrock and this is the first stone of the western world how old is it two thousand two thousand years old that's mind blowing actually absolutely look at the size of them what am I going to do now I'm going to go to dig Yes, of course, we are in the excavation.

I'm going to dig in our dig. I'm going to uncover a bit of the Western Wall for the first time in 2,000 years, and then what do you have to do to get the dirt out of here? between the stone of the western wall okay and here we have a piece of pottery oh piece of pot the room of the pot two thousand years ago let's do it in it and this is the room you can see the edge of the pot there it is look and I'm discovering the western wall now now I have the western wall for the first time yes, you never know, you never know, with every move I make, this will be discovered.

I would like to spend more time. here change your career maybe you love your job now I love my job scraping the foundations of the western wall had literally put me in touch with

paul

's time but darker clues about

paul

's world had survived in these tunnels jerusalem may have been jewish but it was also occupied by a brutal foreign invader eli just told me this stone is the main street above us this is the main street so that is the main street and we are at the main drain the tunnel had been built to drain the water from temple mount rain Site of the Jewish temple, but would become a secret escape route for rebellious Jews in 6 AD, around the time of Paul's birth, Jerusalem fell under the direct rule of the Roman Empire.

The Jews never accepted the Roman occupation. His very presence desecrated the holy city. But any protests were ruthlessly quelled. The Roman army maintained its tight control over Jerusalem throughout Paul's life in 70 AD. A few years after his death they would raze the city, destroy the Jewish temple and upon discovering these tunnels they would massacre everyone they found. you find Roman artifacts here yes, we found this sword, a Roman saw a Roman soon yes, God, I wouldn't have liked to have escaped in this towel, it's very unlit, yes, there's no light, you know, it's very, very, very , very, very, very, scared people, yes. people fighting and the woman above you walking in the street, my God, Paul spent his entire life under the dark shadow of Roman rule.

I really wanted to find out how that influenced the man and his beliefs, since ancient times the Jews have sought to be buried here on the Mount of Olives where they believe the leader chosen by their long-awaited messiah god will appear for the first time to usher of the end of days a new era free of wars and conflicts by being buried here they hope to be among the first to rise from the dead it was a good place to meet the Jewish historian danny schwartz, but next to the family members they added the names of the family members who were murdered in auschwitz, oh my god, including the son of the person who is buried here and the grandson and wife of the jewish grandchildren like paul believed themselves to be a chosen people, their history and their destiny were controlled by god, but now rome, not god, seemed to be in charge to many, the end of days when god would send his messiah to free them couldn't come soon enough.

They once thought it could be the beginning of the end of times. They probably did. The Roman occupation pushed people into a kind of apocalyptic mood that the time will have to come very soon when this will work. God can. Let's not stand by and let everything like this be trampled Jerusalem was in political and religious turmoil, how should the Jews respond to the Roman occupation? end Paul at this time still known by his Jewish name Saul chose to join the Pharisees a strictly Jewish sect that believed that the end of days could be brought forward in time by strict observance of Jewish law Paul was Jewish but we are also told Who had Roman citizenship and who had spent his childhood not in Jerusalem but in Tarsus, in modern-day Turkey, could a confused sense of belonging help explain Paul's personality?

One of the world's leading authorities on Paul is Father Jerome Murphy O'Connor. He had a surprising theory about how Paul obtained his Roman citizenship and how it had affected him. I think he was the son of slaves. I believe he became a Roman citizen when his parents were freed. No one kept a slave until he was forty. not economically productive and the children of a Roman citizen's slaves automatically became Roman citizens upon being freed. The book of Acts states that Paul left Tarsus for Jerusalem. Paul arrived in Jerusalem, I think he was about 20 years old. He was a searching Jew.

His roots when he came to Jerusalem and became a Pharisee, the law became the focal point of his life, perhaps becoming a Pharisee responded to some of Paul's need to belong and he launched into a zealous defense of Jewish law, but then, around 32 AD, a radical. a new jewish sect appeared on the scene inspired by the recent execution of a rabbi from galilee the jesus movement threatened everything paul loved most basically i'm walking the vietnamese, which is the way they say jesus walked to his crucifixion carrying his cruz en It is an extraordinary feeling to be

part

of a group like this.

You are almost trapped in it. You can not avoid it. Today, Christianity is the largest religion in the world. It's easy to forget that 2,000 years ago it was just a minor sect of Judaism. The Jesus movement. It could easily have withered and died with the death of its leader, but soon after the crucifixion, Jesus' followers became convinced that God had raised him from the dead, that he was the Jewish messiah, and that claim sparked a violent response. of Paul and his fellow Pharisees. The problem, what was going on with this sect that would have angered Paul so much?

So Paul is at that stage showing his zeal for the law. These mistaken Christians believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but if Jesus was the Messiah, then the law no longer existed. had some place and the law was what made Paul's life at that stage as a Pharisee and I think that is why he persecuted the Christians they wanted him to have both to be Christians and practicing Jews Paul said no, it is either the Observance of the law was everything to Paul. How dare these Jewish heretics claim that Jesus was the long-awaited messiah? If so, then a new era had begun and the law was no longer important in Paul's eyes.

They should be wiped off the face of the earth because you've heard of it. my previous way of life in Judaism how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was extremely zealous for my parents' traditions according to the book of Acts. Paul focused his anger on one of the leading figures of the Jesus movement. A young man named Stephen who had managed to convince Jews like Paul to convert Stephen was dragged outside the city gates and brutally stoned to death. We were told that Paul stood watching, apparently guarding the executioners' coats in those cases where you hear of people being stoned in Jewish antiquity, I think it's generally a mob action, why starting with stoning is something popular, anyone can do it, you don't need special equipment, it's all around you, just pick it up, pick it up and do that.

The kind of thing mobs can do must have been pretty ugly, then being stoned by mob rules. I'm sure being stoned was a very ugly thing. It doesn't leave much of the body when there are so many stones. been thrown out, so being a Pharisee would be a kind of normal reaction to that, certainly opposing people who preach the abrogation of Jewish law would be normal how far you go with that doesn't lead to stoning is another issue that seemed like paul consumed by hatred towards the Jesus movement, but there was something about this man that he just didn't understand love is patient love is kind does not envy does not boast is not proud is not rude is not selfish is is does not get angry easily it keeps no record of wrongs love does not delight in evil it seems strange to me that someone who can witness and even tolerate such an atrocity of stoning another human being to death is also able to write some of the most beautiful words ever written and used in wedding ceremonies around the world to this day, which transformed this zealous persecutor of the Jesus movement into its greatest ambassador according to the Bible.

The answer is found on the road to Damascus in one of the most fantastic and dramatic stories. never told Pabloso he had developed a very open mind. James was a very wise old man and did not reject Paul's argument. This has really been a kind of thank you, thank you very much, in fact, you are welcome, thank you, the conflict was resolved in favor of Paul, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, what counts is the new creation that Paul had won the day when he was now free to convert Gentiles directly to the Jesus movement. without first bringing them to Judaism it was going to be a key moment in the evolution of Christianity which was now on its way to becoming a new religion separate from Judaism the entire Gentile world was now before Paul it was time to take the path through the In the middle of the century In 1 AD, a network of good paved roads and clear sea routes crisscrossed the Roman Empire.

Travelers like Paul could now cover enormous distances more quickly and safely than ever before. It is estimated that during Paul's travels he covered more than 10,000 miles. on foot, look, I had to find a way to Puerto, but once I found it, it helped me a lot with the character and now this is helping me understand Paul, how he walked, where he walked, the kind of path he would have walked at the speed he would have walked tells me a lot about that man I think he was a fast man very fast the path would take paul to ephesus the largest city in all of roman asia a pagan fortress the city was absolutely dedicated to the goddess of fertility Artemis her cult attracted worshipers from all over the ancient world and Ephesus had grown rich from the tourist trade.

Paul's message that there was only one true god and it was not Artemis was destined to cause trouble at the ancient entrance to the city. I met the archaeologist julian bennett at the time st paul would have been here this would have been full of ships, probably about 100 ships up to here, up to here we are actually more or less at the edge of the harbour, we are standing at the entrance to the harbor here , when you look into the distance, you can see. the hills surrounding there the river would have reached here the sea would have reached here also what would Paul have found when he first arrived here in terms of religion what would he have faced with art lord goddess the goddess the main goddess of the city this is her birthplace this is where she belongs she has a wonderful temple on the outskirts of the city one of the seven wonders of the world would have been standing built beautiful white marble, I mean paul I would have seen this when he sailed to port.

I would have known that he was entering into ernest paganism, if you will. I have always read that Paul first went to the synagogues to preach every time he visited somewhere. Was there a Jewish population here? Yes, there. It was a very large one, um, certainly, from 300 years before the time of the poor, we don't know exactly how large, but possibly between five and ten thousand, and the population remained here even after Paul continued to be Jewish, too. We can see that quite clearly. of the menorah, oh my God, the library here someone sat one day carving this carved on the steps of a library yes, Ephesus had no problem tolerating other gods, even the Jewish god was being worshiped here, but Paul threatened the status quo, his new way was exclusive and his message to Ephesus was forceful the end of the world is approaching you waste your time with idols artemis is no god and cannot save you you must follow jesus a dark crucified carpenter from galilee one thing you have What to say about Paul He certainly wasn't bothered by the conflict.

This is a statue of the goddess Artemis from the first century. I wonder if this could have been the same one that Paul could have looked at and tried to imagine what he would have felt when he saw this image for the first time. The first time he probably thought the same things that actually came out of her mouth, you're just made of stone, they push you around and you break into hundreds of pieces. We know that the cult of Artemis dates back a thousand years before Paul arrived and what. What kind of man he must have been to come to a city like this who had been worshiping the goddess Artemis for a thousand years and believed he could change his belief system, but Paul was not only adopting a long-established religion, but which also threatened the very economy of Ephesus, few worshipers left the city without first purchasing a small copy of the goddess as a souvenir and the opposition to Paul's preaching led by the city's idol makers finally led to a revolt, all They gathered here in this theater and Demetrius, who was a silversmith who was making idols of Artemis, addressed the crowd.

Men, you know that we receive good income from this business and you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray a great number of people here in Ephesus and practically in the world. Throughout the province of Asia he says that the gods created by man are not gods at all. There is a danger that not only our trade will lose its good name but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and the goddess herself who is worshiped throughout the world. the province of asia and the world will be stripped of his divine majesty and he really did it, he whipped the crowd into a frenzy and they started shouting great it's artemis of the ephesians the greatest artemis of the ephesians the greatest artemis of the ephesians can you hear it They rang around the theater and it was very soon after this that Paul probably realized that his life was in danger and after two years he decided it was time to leave.

Paul had been forced to leave the city, but it seems that his work here was not in vain. Ephesus was one of the great centers of the empire and visitors to the city eventually returned home. Some of them took away Paul's message. His words were spreading throughout Asia Minor. Ephesus is still being excavated, but so far there are no churches dedicated to Paul nor any trace of his. time here have been discovered within the city but high above Ephesus in a cave on the side of a mountain. They told me there was a reminder of him.

I'm here on the hillside above Ephesus and my guide, sir, is going to show me a cave associated with some Paul. I really want to do it, in fact it's a big climb, but I think it will be worth it. It was discovered in 1906. It is believed that some Paul's grotto was a sacred Christian site from the 1st or 2nd century. I received my torch. Ha ha, look there, but there it is, my God, I've been hearing about it and talking about it a lot and that's extraordinary, it's a little scary, actually, isn't it? Because if I grew a beard it wouldn't be very different from me a little bit it wouldn't take much although would we go down there what's down here oh there are some fresher ones oh God these look like saints and there are a lot of them it's one two three four five six the grotto was Decorated with frescoes and inscriptions over many centuries, Paul's portrait was added in the 6th century along with that of Sentecla, famous locally as a follower of Paul.

Yes, he looks like me, doesn't he? That's very strange anyway, bye. bye thanks you're welcome seeing the picture of paul and tackler in paul's grotto really inspired me to find out more about his story and i was reading a book called acts of paul and tekla and there was what i think is the only physical description of paul ever written and I wrote it down in my notebook he was a medium sized man and his hair was sparse and his legs were a little crooked and his knees stuck out and he had big eyes his eyebrows met his nose was somewhat long and he was full of grace and mercy at one moment he looked like a man and at another time he looked like an angel now a

part

from the physical description I was also very interested because I think that also describes his personality at one time he could seem very direct very human very earthly he certainly didn't suffer fools with pleasure and at other times he could be very paternal and very gentle.

Paul's travels through Asia Minor helped lay the foundations of the faith that would one day become Christianity. Even though Turkey is now a Muslim country, his influence endures to this day. Today, something I have no doubt about is that he was a man of total extremes. There was no gray area around Paul. He was black or white. What happened to him on the road to Damascus was extreme and changed his view of the world to always, but what is really interesting to me is that he did not change his personality or character, he was a man of total conviction and extreme behavior, he could be very angry, imperious, proud, he could be very boastful in my own way. not yours, he also had a fanatical drive and energy because he really believed that Jesus was going to return soon and for him the end of the world was really imminent, so I have learned a lot about this man and I am not sure.

At this moment I really like it. Would you have dinner with him? Well I don't know, maybe just one dish, but so far I've found out about it and there's a lot more I need to know to have a full experience. rounded character there is much more I need to discover about this extraordinary man after approximately 10 years of travel through what is now Turkey, paul managed to establish small christian communities in the main cities of the eastern empire of rome and these cities were always located in the main roads or in the main seaports and it was from these cities that the message could spread to the surrounding countryside, but in a letter to the Romans, Paul wrote: there is no more place for me to work in these regions and so in certain sense, i suppose paul's work in asia minor was over and so he set his sights firmly westward.

He wrote again it had always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known and so his journey to Europe was about to begin and this put him on a collision course with the power of Rome.