Lydia

Overview

Lydia was a seller of purple cloth from Thyatira, a trade associated with wealth given the expense of purple dye, who had relocated to Philippi in Macedonia. Described as one who 'worshipped God,' she was likely a Gentile God-fearer attracted to Jewish monotheism without full conversion. On the Sabbath, Paul and his companions went outside the city to a riverside place of prayer, where they found Lydia and other women gathered. As Paul spoke, Scripture records that 'the Lord opened' her heart to respond to his message, and she and her household were baptized. She immediately urged Paul and his companions to stay in her home, saying, 'If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there,' and Scripture notes she 'constrained them.' Her home subsequently became a gathering place for the believers in Philippi, and she is traditionally regarded as the first recorded convert to Christianity on the European continent.