Philippi was a city of Macedonia, in the region that is now Greece, founded by Greek colonists and later expanded by Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, in the 4th century BC.
Under Roman rule it became a colony, with citizens who enjoyed the same legal rights as Rome. It stood on the Via Egnatia, the great road that linked the East to the capital of the empire.
It was in Philippi that the apostle Paul, guided by a vision received at Troas, preached the gospel for the first time on European soil, during his second missionary journey.
There the church of Philippi was born, marked by the conversion of Lydia, a merchant of cloth, and by a dramatic episode: Paul and Silas unjustly imprisoned, singing hymns at midnight, when an earthquake opened the prison doors and led the jailer to believe the gospel.
Years later, imprisoned in another city, Paul wrote to the Christians of Philippi one of the most affectionate letters of the New Testament, full of gratitude for their partnership in the gospel.
Philippi reminds us that the gospel crosses borders and that a church born amid persecution can become a source of joy and support for the one who brought it there.
