Hello Steem people 😀!!!   

During a Gulf Air conference in Bahrain, I was introduced to some officers of the US Army, who asked me about my birthplace. When I told them that I come from Corinth, one of them appeared to be really amazed. "Oh my God!!!! I thought Corinth was just a Biblical place and that no longer exists,"  he told me. 

"But how? I was born and raised in Corinth," said I. 

Ever since Scott (that was his name), pronounced me "Alina the Corinthian"😀!!! 

That was the first time I ever realized the vast impact of my hometown on a global scale. The reason why it is so popular within the Christian Circles, is Paul the Apostle!

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One of the most significant routes of religious  attentiveness in Greece is the Steps of Apostle Paul. Paul, although not an original member of the twelve disciples of Christ, is an extremely important figure of Christian Faith and is often referred to as the Apostle of the Nations.

Following the footsteps of the apostle Paul, your journey will take you to Greece, a country with an immense legacy and influence to the cultural heritage of the world. 

Stations of the course of Apostle Paul in Greece

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Samothraki 

Kavala (Neapolis) 

Philippi 

Amphipolis-Apollonia

Thessaloniki 

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Veroia

Athens

The Agora was the heart of Athens in ancient times and the meeting point of St. Paul with the first followers of Christianity  in Athens. 

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Arios Pagos, the hill under the Parthenon of Athens. 

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Apostle Paul in Corinth

After Apostle Paul was expelled from Athens he visited Ancient Corinth, which was one of his beloved cities. Today, visitors have the chance to visit the Ancient Market and the Bema of Apostle Paul or Galionas - a large elevated rostrum standing prominently in the centre of the Roman Forum in ancient Corinth and from where the city’s officials addressed the public - and walk at the same paths that Apostle of Nations walked and preached hundreds of years earlier. 

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The city of Corinth was the burgeoning capital of a Roman province in the Greek East and a great cultural center. It had two ports: one on the Aegean side and one on the Adriatic side so that it served as one of the major crossroads for Roman shipping throughout the Mediterranean. 

When Paul arrived in Corinth in the year 50 AD, he would have come up the slopes to the center of the city and seen the rise of a great Roman splendor. A kind of monumental city built around the remains of the older Greek city, the center of which was the temple of Apollo with its great monolithic Ionic columns standing up above the rest of the city. 

He must have gone among the merchants and the artisans who would have been the key figures in the economic growth of the city. 

The city of Corinth was a bustling cosmopolitan place with people from all over the Mediterranean world at the time, a fact that made Paul just another visitor really.

Somehow, Paul was involved in the tent making or leather working industry. It is believed that his family  owned similar business back in Tarsus, which helped him to become a successful tradesman in Corinth. 

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Among these artisans and businessmen of the rich Greek city Paul decided to talk about his message of Jesus. According to 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul "introduced" Jesus to the Corinthians for the first time by making the following statement, "For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified." 

Can you imagine the shock and curiosity of the cosmopolitan and pagan Greeks listening to these words? 

They must have reacted as if this is some sort of a strange, divine message. Of course, it wasn't intelligible to most of them and that's why Paul decided to stay longer in Corinth so his teachings would be understood by the masses. 

From other sources within Paul's writings, we learn about the rudiments of his preaching message. He talks about how the Corinthians turn from pagans into Christians and serve a living God.

Secondly, he talks about the wrath to come, a kind of apocalyptic image of a coming judgment on all who worship fake gods or idols, and don't serve the ONE AND ONLY God. Further, Paul preaches about Jesus the Messiah as the one who will deliver the universal message of love and forgiveness.
Apostle Paul is now the patron saint of Corinth, and a church dedicated to him is constructed in his honor. 

According to the sacred tradition, the place where Paul preached is called Bema, the great platform that was at the center of the Corinthian Agora.

Due to its association with Paul, the "Step" was transformed during the Byzantine period into a Christian temple.

The partial restoration of the Step of the Corinthian Agora was funded by the Operational Program "Western Greece-Peloponnese-Ionian Islands 2007-2013" (NSRF) and was implemented during the period 2011-2013 by the LZ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the project "Fixing, Maintenance, Restoration and Promotion of Ancient Corinth Monuments".

And a photo of me, taken by my friend @onceuponatime in front of the gates of Corinth's Museum 😀!!

Until next time,stay tuned and keep smiling my beautiful people 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗 💗

Sources:

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=20964